Cheesy White Bean Tomato Bake

 

Cheesy White Bean Tomato Bake

This was excellent! I needed something quick I can make while baby wearing, and this looked interesting. It's super flavorful, creamy and a wonderful comfort food. My husband said it was okay, but that was expected lol. I made the recipe as written and the smokey gouda really made a difference. We dipped the bread in and just also ate it with a spoon. The garlic bread was just a baguette that I cut in half and smeared with butter, garlic & parm. I was going to have it with a salad but the lettuce went bad, so no greens tonight oops. 

 Click here for the Cheesy White Bean Tomato Bake recipe by The Food Charlatan 

Cumin Lime Black Bean Lentil Salad

 

Cumin Lime Black Bean Lentil Salad

Terrible picture, I just wanted to save the recipe before I forgot. It's loosely based on the recipe linked below. I chopped up 4 little cucumbers, 2 bell peppers, 3 jalapenos, 1 pint cherry tomatoes, and 1/4 red onion. I also added 1 can black beans and 1 can of lentils. I forgot I wanted to add some corn, so I'll do that tomorrow. I also forgot to order cilantro so I added some squeeze tube cilantro to the dressing mix. 

For the dressing mix I did 1 tsp oregano, 2 tsp cumin, 1 tsp salt, pepper, a giant glob of jarlic, about a tbs of tube cilantro, 1 lime, 1 tbs dijon and some avocado oil to help it go a little farther. I might add a scoop of greek yogurt when I have a bowl of it tomorrow too just for extra protein.

The flavor is so good! I love the dijon and the extra seasoning. I find sometimes that veggie salads like this can be bland so this is the first time I doubled the seasonings, and I'll be doing that again. 

Click here for the Black Bean Lentil Salad with Cumin-Lime Dressing recipe by The Garden Grazer

Another pregnant bell pepper!

For snack I had some with a side of cottage cheese, really good and filling!

Butternut Squash and Black Bean Soup

 

Butternut Squash and Black Bean Soup

 This I improvised some. I used a bag of frozen butternut squash and 1 sweet potato instead of just 2lbs of squash like the recipe called for. I roasted the sweet potato with salt & pepper for 20 minutes in the oven first. I also added in a jalapeno, some chipotle in adobo sauce that I had extra from the meatloaf I was making for dinner, and a bay leaf. It's SUPER good, I really love it! Craig wont eat it because he doesn't do black beans, but I know Ethan will at least try it. I just wanted a quick lunch that I can grab that's super healthy. I've been way into sweet potatoes and beans lately.

Instant Pot Pinto Beans with Chorizo and Cornbread Muffins

 

  I love chorizo and eggs for breakfast, but unfortunately no one else in my family does. So I had some chorizo left and I was searching for recipes to use it up and came across the Instant Pot Pinto Beans with Chorizo recipe by Budget Bytes. I always keep dried pinto beans around because if all else fails, it's easy to make homemade bean and cheese burritos for dinner. 

  I wasn't super impressed with this recipe, I probably wouldn't make it again. It was a little dry and you could barely taste the chorizo. But I doctored it up with cheese, onions, sour cream and jalapenos. We also had some plain 'ol boxed cornbread muffins which are always delicious.

Quick Red Beans & Rice

 

  Quickie Red Beans and Rice recipe by Budget Bytes!

  I've made this a few times throughout the years, sometimes it just sounds good and I'm not sure why since I don't particularly care for sausage. Maybe because beans and rice are just healthy filling comfort food, high in protein and fiber. It always comes out a little on the dry side for me, maybe I cook it to long or something....but a splash of beef broth fixes that right up. 

  Everyone likes it and it's super budget friendly!