WIAW: Ugly Sandwich

July 13, 2016July 13, 2016 / Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 4 Comments

It’s Wednesday already? Thank goodness – only three more full days until the weekend and it’s also What I Ate Wednesday! For those of you new, it’s a time for sharing and checking out a random day of eats. I love seeing everyone’s eats and sharing my own! These were my eats from Monday. I was at home with FW and had lunch with Cuoghi.

Breakfast was eaten fast with a crying baby before heading out for a walk to sooth crying baby and consisted of a few bites of a nectarine, yogurt and handful of blueberries with one hand. And no phot.

Lunch, however, was different. My friend Cuoghi brought me a sandwich from Herb & Twine and it was delicious! BUT it may have been the ugliest sandwich ever. It was a vegetarian meatball sub and not very photogenic. I meant to eat half Monday and the rest Tuesday, but I couldn’t help but eat it all.

20160711_124043

We ate outside in the new Public Square which was great, and FW slept the entire time. On the way back we took a break and met up with Nicole.

20160711_140746

After lunch, I finished off a cookie (or two) that I had made on Sunday.

20160711_164911 20160710_163004

And then, FW was fussy so I put him in the baby carrier and he slept for 30 minutes! While he slept, I made some of Arman’s black bean brownie bars – they were great! I of course had to taste test them.

baking with a baby isn’t as easy as it looks

20160711_164311

We didn’t get to eat dinner until late, so for a pre-dinner snack, B and I had some bread and cheese.

20160711_190203

And dinner was toast with pesto and chicken and pasta soup. My mom had brought us a big container of soup when she came and visited and it was SO nice just to be able to take it out of the freezer and heat it up for an easy and satisfying dinner.

20160711_191720

And that was it! I typically have dessert after dinner, but I was so exhausted I passed out on the couch shortly after eating.

Some questions for you:

Do you have dessert every night? Any go-to desserts?
Have you ever made any black bean-type of desserts? Or chickpea? Or snuck other healthy ingredients into desserts (like zucchini, carrots, avocado, etc.)?

Meatless Monday: Summery Kale, Quinoa and Black Bean Salad

September 8, 2014August 31, 2014 / Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 3 Comments

I realllly wanted to call this salad The Best Summer Quinoa Salad Ever, but that was too ambiguous. Or even Quinoa, Kale, Black Bean, Avocado, Tomato, Onion, Hot Pepper, Corn Salad with a Lemon Vinaigrette but that just seemed like too long of a name and you would probably would have stopped reading then. So just go with it.

Anyway, I love a good summery salad. Something with a good light vinaigrette, add in corn and avocado and I’m sold. So when I realized we had pretty much all of my favorite ingredients for a salad thanks to our Fresh Fork CSA and some farmer’s market finds, I knew I had to just put it all together and make the best summer salad ever. Add in some quinoa and a can of black beans and it was perfect for a vegetarian main meal. Oh yeah – even B ate it as a main dish without meat. That’s how I know it’s a success.

Don’t be fooled by the name, I may just be making this salad this fall and winter too. Because we all need some summer meals all year round, don’t we?

Kale, Quinoa and Black Bean Salad

Here’s what you need:

1 tablespoon olive oil and 1/3 olive oil (divided)
2 cloves garlic, finely diced
1/2 large onion, finely chopped
2 hungarian hot peppers or jalapenos, diced
1 cup quinoa
2 cup water
1 lemon
1 tsp cumin
3 c. thinly chopped raw kale leaves
1 c corn (approximately one giant cob)
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 medium tomato, diced
1 avocado, chopped into cubes

Here’s what you do:

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium to medium-high heat. Add garlic, onion and hot pepper, and saute for about 3-4 minutes. I also added a few slices of kale, but feel free to use all the kale in step #4 and keep it raw.
Add quinoa and two cups water. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat and simmer until quinoa is cooked through, about 15-20 minutes.
While quinoa is cooking, prepare the rest of the ingredients for the salad. First prepare the dressing. Mix 1/4 c lemon juice (about one whole lemon) with 1/3 cup olive oil and cumin.
Finely chop the kale (remove the large thick middle stems from the leaves and then roll up kale into rods before finely chopping) and add to the salad dressing. Coat kale thoroughly in dressing. Add in corn and black beans.
By now the quinoa should be nearly done cooking. After letting cool for a minute, add cooked quinoa, onion and pepper to kale, corn and tomato. Mix well. Gently add in chopped tomato. Just before serving, add in avocado.
Enjoy! Mine made 3-4 vegetarian main dishes.

kale, quinoa, black bean and avocado salad

More Crock Pot Deliciousness: Slow Cooker Spicy Chicken and Black Bean Soup {recipe}

July 18, 2013July 17, 2013 / Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 1 Comment

Have I told you how much I LOVE my crock pot? I know I have. I’m sure I have. Well, if I haven’t – let me tell you now: I LOVE MY CROCK POT.

check out my skills. i made this.

I came across this recipe when we had a pot luck for work a few months ago. When I saw the list of stuff people had planned to bring to our crock pot luck (get it?) and saw it was buffalo chicken dip, chicken paprikash, some desserts, and so on, I knew I had to bring something healthy. So naturally I scrolled through one of my favorite blogs, Skinnytaste, and decided on this recipe. I made it and REALLY enjoyed it. I enjoyed it again and again actually – because there were tons of leftovers! Why’s that? Apparently “spicy” and “black beans” are scary at potluck. Yup, scary. A few of my coworkers shied away from it when they heard it was “spicy” (it’s not really) or it had “Black beans” in it. Which meant – more for me! (and it also meant that when half the office got sick from the potluck the next day everyone agreed it WASN’T my bean soup that got them sick … because none of the sickos tried it. It feels good to be cleared of the food poisoning charge) And more for B, who really liked it as well. So this week when I noticed my crock pot was looking kinda lonely (as tends to happen when its 80+ degrees out) I decided to make some of it again. Not only does cooking in the crock pot mean I’m not cooking on a hot day (it cooks for me while I’m at work!) but it also means that I can stay outside and enjoy the sunshine a little longer knowing that dinner is ready when I get home 🙂 Oh, and did I tell you that it’s low fat? (Yup, one large bowl that’s 1.5 c has less than 6 grams of fat and 300 something calories) crock pot chicken and black bean soup spicy Slow Cooker Spicy Chicken and Black Bean Soup (modified from Skinnytaste, very slightly. but look at her recipe because her pictures are way better!) Here’s what you need:

2 (15 oz) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
3.5 c low sodium chicken broth
About 20-30 oz canned tomatoes with green chilies (I found 10 oz cans and 15 oz cans and used 2 of the 10 oz this time, last time I used 2 of the 15 oz cans)
1 red bell pepper, minced
2 jalapenos, minced
4 oz can diced green chiles
1 tbsp ground cumin
2 tsp ancho chile powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
2 skinless chicken breast

Here’s what you do:

Using a food processor, combine one can of beans with 1.5 cups of the chicken broth. Puree them together and add to your slow cooker.
Add the other can of beans and the remaining 2 c of chicken broth to the slow cooker.
Add canned tomatoes, bell pepper, jalapenos, diced green chiles, cumin, chile powder, garlic powder, onion powder and chicken breasts.
Set your crock pot to High for four hours, or Low for 6-8 hours (mine took 6).
Before serving, remove the chicken and shred. Place back in the slow cooker. Serve!
Original recipe suggests serving with avocado, cilantro, sour cream, etc. I just had mine plain and enjoyed it tremendously! B added more hot sauce to his.