Meatless Monday

It's Monday, time to get another week started with a Meatless Monday. (In honor of that, here's a Monday blast from the past.) And while you're listening to The Bangles, check out today's six yummy vegetarian recipes, including Texas-Style Chili and Whole Roasted Pineapples. Enjoy!

BARBECUE COWBOY PINTO BEANS (SLOW COOKER)

This is from the infamous long-since-forgotten emailing list.

Ingredients

16 oz package dried pinto beans, rinsed and picked over

4 cups hot water

2 medium onions, chopped

1 Tbs chili powder

3/4 cup hickory-flavored barbecue sauce

1/2 cup ketchup

1 1/2 tbs prepared yellow mustard

Dash of Tabasco sauce

In crock pot, mix together the beans, hot water, onions, and chili powder. Cover and cook on low heat setting about 7 hours, or until the beans are tender but not falling apart.

Drain off all cooking liquid. Stir in barbecue sauce, ketchup, mustard, and Tabasco sauce. Cook, uncovered, 10 to 15 minutes longer, until heated through.

CHEESY, SPICY BLACK BEAN BAKE

This is from Ali Slagle in The New York Times cooking e-newsletter. Ali wrote, "Whether or not you’ve fallen for this cheesy white-bean tomato bake, we’d like you to meet its bolder counterpart, smoky and spiced, with lots of melty cheese. Black beans shine in a deep-red mixture of fried garlic, caramelized tomato paste, smoked paprika and cumin. The whole skillet gets coated in a generous sprinkling of sharp Cheddar or Manchego cheese, then baked until melted. The final result is what you hope for from a really good chili or stew, but in a lot less time. For a spicier rendition, add a pinch of cayenne with the paprika, or douse the final skillet with hot sauce. Serve with tortillas, tortilla chips, rice, a baked potato or fried eggs."

Yield: 4 servings; Time: 15 minutes

To view this online, go to https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1020705-cheesy-spicy-black-bean-bake.

Ingredients

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

5 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced

1/4 cup tomato paste

1 1/2 teaspoons smoked paprika

1/4 teaspoon red-pepper flakes

1 teaspoon ground cumin

2 (14-ounce) cans black beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 cup boiling water

Kosher salt and black pepper

1 1/2 cups grated Cheddar or Manchego cheese (from about a 6-ounce block)

Preparation

Heat the oven to 475 degrees. In a 10-inch ovenproof skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high. Fry the garlic until lightly golden, about 1 minute. Stir in the tomato paste, paprika, red-pepper flakes and cumin (be careful of splattering), and fry for 30 seconds, reducing the heat as needed to prevent the garlic from burning.

Add the beans, water and generous pinches of salt and pepper, and stir to combine. Sprinkle the cheese evenly over the top then bake until the cheese has melted, 5 to 10 minutes. If the top is not as browned as you’d like, run the skillet under the broiler for 1 or 2 minutes. Serve immediately.

TEXAS-STYLE CHILI

This comes from Vegetarian Times, and begins, “Texas-style chili is a bean-free stew that’s usually made with chunks of slow-cooked beef. Here, eggplant stands in for meat in the traditional thick, spicy sauce. Serve with chopped green onions, cilantro, jalapeño, tomato, shredded cheese, sour cream, and corn chips.” Serves 6.

To view this online, click here.

Ingredients:

3 mulato or pasilla dried chiles

2 costeno dried chiles

1 cascabel dried chile

2 Tbs. olive oil

1 red bell pepper, cut into chunks

1 medium onion, cut into chunks

4 cloves garlic, peeled

1 15-oz. can whole tomatoes

1 1/2 Tbs. chili powder

2 tsp. light brown sugar or 1 tsp. molasses, optional

1 tsp. ground cumin

1 tsp. dried oregano

4 medium Japanese eggplant, peeled and cut into 2-inch chunks

2 Tbs. masa harina

Instructions:

Place dried chiles in medium bowl, and cover with 1 1/2 cups boiling water. Let stand 20 minutes, or until soft, pushing chiles under water occasionally. Let liquid cool until chiles are easy to handle.

Remove tough stems and seeds from rehydrated chiles, using soaking liquid to rinse away seeds. Coarsely chop chiles, and strain liquid to remove seeds. Set aside.

Heat oil in large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add bell pepper, onion, and garlic, and sear 1 to 2 minutes, or until beginning to brown. Add chiles with soaking liquid, tomatoes with juice, chili powder, brown sugar (if using), cumin, oregano, and 4 cups water. Season with salt and pepper, if desired. Cover, and simmer 30 minutes.

Remove pot from heat, and blend chiles and vegetables with immersion blender until smooth. Stir in eggplant chunks, then cover pot, and simmer 30 minutes over medium heat, or until eggplant is tender, stirring occasionally. Stir in masa harina, and season with salt and pepper, if desired.

Nutrition Information: Calories: 148; Protein: 4 g; Total Fat: 6 g; Saturated Fat: less than 1 g; Carbohydrates: 21 g; Cholesterol: 0 mg; Sodium: 242 mg; Fiber: 7 g; Sugar: 10 g

SPICY BEAN & RICE BURRITOS

This is from Eden Foods, and is very yummy. Prep Time: 10 minutes; Cook Time: 10 minutes; Serves: 4

To view this online, click here.

Ingredients

16 ounces Eden Spicy Refried Pinto Beans or Eden Spicy Refried Black Beans

1 Tbsp Eden Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 cup onions, minced

1/4 cup red bell pepper, minced

1 cup cooked brown rice

4 whole whole grain flour tortillas

1/2 cup prepared salsa

Directions

Place tortillas in a covered casserole dish and heat in a 300°F oven for 10 minutes.

Heat oil in a skillet and sauté garlic, onion and bell pepper for 2 to 3 minutes. Add refried beans and rice, mix and cook until hot, stirring frequently.

Spread 1/2 cup bean mixture on each tortilla. Top with salsa and roll up. Slice and serve.

Nutritional Information: Per serving - 409 calories, 10 g fat (21% calories from fat), 13 g protein, 71 g carbohydrate, 10 g fiber, 0 mg cholesterol, 642 mg sodium

TOFU-SPINACH LASAGNA

This is from PETA's website. Whether you like PETA or not, they do have good vegetarian recipes. This one makes 6 to 8 servings, and can be viewed online at https://www.peta.org/recipes/tofu-spinach-lasagne/.

Ingredients

1/2 lb. lasagna noodles

2 10-oz. packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained

1 lb. soft tofu

1 lb. firm tofu

1 Tbsp. sugar

1/4 cup soy milk

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

2 Tbsp. lemon juice

3 tsp. minced fresh basil

2 tsp. salt

4 cups tomato sauce

Instructions

Cook the lasagna noodles according to the package directions. Drain and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Squeeze the spinach as dry as possible and set aside.

Place the tofu, sugar, soy milk, garlic powder, lemon juice, basil, and salt in a food processor or blender and blend until smooth. Stir in the spinach.

Cover the bottom of a 9-inch-by-13-inch baking dish with a thin layer of tomato sauce, then a layer of noodles (use about one-third of the noodles). Follow with half of the tofu filling. Continue in the same order, using half of the remaining tomato sauce and noodles and all of the remaining tofu filling. End with the remaining noodles, covered by the remaining tomato sauce. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes.

WHOLE ROASTED PINEAPPLES

This was in an article titled "Vision Quest, Recipes for Eye Health" in the July 2020 issue of Taste for Life (page 15).

I had picked up a copy of Taste for Life at Rollin' Oats, a Florida health food store with two locations (Tampa and St. Petersburg). Since I live close to the St. Pete store, I try to go there as often as possible (though not often enough, as far as I'm concerned). If you're ever in the area, I highly suggest giving them a try.

This recipe has a prep time of 30 minutes and serves 6.

Ingredients

2 Tbsp coconut sugar

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1 Tbsp coconut oil

2 pineapples, peeled

To Garnish

Toasted coconut flakes

Dairy-free ice cream

Fresh mint

Maple syrup

Lime zest

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Add coconut sugar, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper to a small bowl and mix together.

Place a large non-stick pan over a medium heat and add coconut oil. When hot, add whole peeled pineapples. Turn pineapples so they color on all sides. Sprinkle over sugar mixture while they are cooking.

When pineapples are golden, place them onto a baking sheet and then into over for 15 to 20 minutes.

Once pineapples are baked, carve them at the table. Serve with toasted coconut flakes, ice cream, fresh mint, a drizzle of maple syrup, and a little lime zest.