Mex - a - role

I made this up tonight - wanted something easy to pop into the oven.

2 chicken breasts - boneless skinless
1 red or green pepper
1 cup of frozen corn
2 cups cooked quinoa (can use cooked rice if you don't have quinoa)
bunch green onions, chopped
small bunch cilantro, chopped
1 jar of salsa (medium sized)

1 can of refried beans
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese (or any cheese you like)

Cook the chicken breasts in a frying pan. I cooked them 3/4 of the way, then took them out of the pan to cut them up into chunks. I then put the chunks back into the pan to finish cooking. When I returned them to the pan I added the chopped pepper, frozen corn and salsa. I covered the pan to let the chicken finish cooking and to cook the peppers and corn.

Once this was all cooked, I added 1/2 of the green onions, quinoa and cilantro to the chicken mixture. Mix well. Put this in a casserole dish. Spoon out the refried beans and spread on top of the chicken/quinoa mixture. It sometimes is not that easy to spread so you will have to work at it. Once it is spread, sprinkle on the cheese and then the remaining green onions on top of that.

Bake at 400 for about 20-25 minutes. The refried beans should be all bubbly on top - delicious.

Serve with sour cream or plain yogurt if you like!
Enjoy.


Vegetarian option: substitute tofu for chicken.

Easy Lentil Soup

Teaspoon or so of olive oil
1 onion chopped
2 medium carrots chopped (similar sized pieces to the onion)
2 stalks celery chopped (similar sized pieces to the onion and carrot)

1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon or one cinnamon stick (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

2 cups of mixed lentils (see http://kamalkitchen.blogspot.com/2010/11/ajwaini-panch-daal-five-lentil-mix.html for a photo of what dry mixed lentils look like)

8 cups of water or chicken/vegetable stock (I use whatever I have on hand - usually it is a combination of the water and stock)

Put the oil in a large pot, add the onions, carrots and celery. Cook until onion is translucent. If the pot gets too "dry" add a bit of stock or water to cook the onion mixture - don't add more oil.
Next add the spices and stir around for about 15-20 seconds.

Add the lentils and water and stir.

Bring to a slight simmer and cook until the lentils are tender - covered. Check every once in a while to ensure that the liquid is evaporating or soup is getting to thick. You may need to add some water. This will probably take about an hour.

As usual, this is gluten-free

Slightly Spicy Tomato Soup

I made a chicken curry with turmeric rice and peas last night. I also made a soup that turned out delicious. It was very easy to make and tasted great.

1/2 onion chopped into small dice
large can of tomatoes - preferably organic (can be diced or whole)
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
1 cinnamon stick (If you don't have this add 1/4 teaspoon of ground cinnamon at the same time as the other spices)
bit of olive oil
1 cup of chicken stock (can add more if you like a thinner soup)
bunch of green onions sliced (I used about 8 green onions)
handful or two of fresh arugula chopped (optional)

Saute the onion and the cinnamon stick (with a bit of olive oil) in a pot until almost translucent
Add the ground spices and stir around for about 5-10 seconds
Add the tomatoes and chicken stock
Let simmer, uncovered, for about 30 minutes to let the flavours combine and the soup to reduce a bit
Add the green onions and fresh arugula at the last 2-3 minutes of cooking, just enough to heat through.

Salt and pepper to taste.

This was delicious!