Easy Pantry Meal: Black Bean Stew

Hey There! I am slowly trying to get back into my blogging grove! Thanks for hanging in there with me and welcome to all the newcomers who found me by way of Stacy Makes Cents!

Today I wanted to share a SUPER EASY recipe that is pretty much a pantry meal. It is so filling though and makes great leftovers. And, it is SO GOOD! It comes from a recipe I found via Rachel Ray but I went on to make my own adjustments according to what I have in my pantry. The recipe is so versatile, you can change it up however you like.

Black Bean Stew

Ingredients
4 strips bacon, diced (or coconut oil if you are out of bacon)
24ish ounces of black beans, cooked (if you don't presoak/cook your beans and store in the freezer, which I highly recommend!, two cans of black beans works fine!)
1 Onion
2 stalks Celery
4 Garlic Cloves
1 heaping tsp, Cumin
1 tbs Coriander
1 tsp of chilli powder
1 tbs worchester sauce
1.5 tsp hot sauce
1 can diced tomatos - I like fire roasted for this stew
1 jar tomato sauce
1 quart chicken stock
1 cup rice (not the quick cooking kind)

Directions
Cook your diced bacon in your dutch oven pot (or heat your coconut oil if you have no bacon).

When bacon is done, remove and leave grease to sautee the onion/celery/garlic in. Sautee until veggies start to soften. Then add in your beans. (If you do not have an immersion blender, take 1/4-1/2 of the beans and mash them before adding to make the soup more of a stew consistency)

Add your spices, Worchester & Hot Sauce. Stir in to combine.

Add your tomato ingredients and chicken stock. Bring to a boil. Add rice, take to a nice simmer and cook 15 minutes or so until rice is done.

When rice is done, if you have an immersion blender, go ahead and give the soup a few whizzes now to make it more of a stew consistency. Salt and Pepper to taste.


This 'stew' is seriously SO GOOD. We like it with a dollop of sour cream and a side of tortilla chips on the side for some dipping :) Hubby likes to add some cheese to his as well. Try it soon on a chilly night. It sticks to your ribs and makes great lunch leftovers Day 2. My toddler loves it too. Don't worry - it isn't too spicy!

Weekly Meal Plan: June 24, 2012

It was a hot one this past week so I had to get a littler creative [aka, hubby cooks on the grill] so I didn't have to heat up the house with the stove!


Monday: Ground Beef & Mushroom Lasagna (We had a cold spell on Monday, so I fired up the oven!)

Tuesday: Pork Chops & mixed veggies on the grill


Wednesday: Cheeseburgers and Broccoli with Parmesan


Thursday: Homemade Egg McMuffins and Hashbrowns


Friday: Salmon on the grill & baked potatoes

I also wanted to share a few frugal ideas for lunches if you have to pack yourself, your kids, or your significant other a lunch on hot days during the summer. Here are a few things I have been doing.

- Homemade fruit salad - whatever fresh fruit is in season by you, cut it up into pieces to make your own fruit salad for lunches. This week in ours, we have watermelon, cantaloupe, grapes and blueberries. Obviously, the only thing that is fresh and in-season right now for our area is the blueberries. I purchased a half of each melon at the store as well as the grapes.

-Fresh Veggies - I have been cutting up pieces of fresh green peppers, carrots and celery and packing them up for lunches with homemade ranch dressing.

-And, one more frugal, time saving time you'll love yourself for when you have nothing to take for lunch! Burritos in the freezer. I just cooked up six burritos left over from a chicken we had for dinner. TOO EASY. Sprinkle some mexican seasoning on the chicken and put it in a tortilla with cilantro, cheese and tomatos (or whatever you like), roll, bake at 375 degrees for 10 min, wrap in wax paper and throw into a ziploc in the freezer. Grab one for lunch when you have no other options!

Weekly Meal Plan: June 18, 2012

This past weekend was a busy one with cook-outs and birthday parties! This coming weekend will be our first CSA pick-up and I believe this time around, it will be two chickes - yahoo! I can't wait!

Sunday: Shrimp Sauerkraut Eggrolls

Monday: Grilled Chicken and Roasted Cauliflower

Tuesday: Chicken Quesadillas on the grill with leftover chicken from Monday night :) And fresh Cilantro from the herb garden.

Wednesday: Caprese Meatballs & Spagehtti (recipe coming this week!)

Caprese Meatballs & Spaghetti

Thursday: Burgers on the grilled with steamed broccoli & parmesan cheese

Friday: BBQ Chicken Drumsticks

Saturday: Hot Ham & Cheese


I am trying to be creative with meals since it has been so hot and I don't want to turn on the oven in the house. We are doing a lot of grilling - and clearly, this past week was chicken week!

Simple Shrimp Eggrolls...with Sauerkraut!

This recipe happened kinda by accident.

I needed to make something for lunch on Sunday. A few thoughts I had didn't work because I was missing ingredients. I had some mini frozen shrimp still in the freezer from when I made Fishmarket Salads. I had some frozen eggroll wrappers leftover from a previous eggroll adventure. And I had some Sauerkraut fermenting on the counter in my Ferment-O! Duh, Shrimp Eggrolls, right?

Don't expect precise measurements here. For one, I rarely follow measurements to the 'T' ...drives my sister nuts :) For two, I threw these together with what I had on hand.

Ingredients

1/2 bag of frozen shrimp

egg roll wrappers

sauerkraut

soy sauce

Defrost the shrimp and then let it sit in a bowl of soy sauce for a little bit in the fridge.

Chop up your sauerkraut fine enough to be stuffed into egg rolls.

Make sure your wrappers are thawed.

Preheat your oven to 400* F

Mix your Shrimp and Sauerkraut together, place a dab onto each wrapper, roll them up and place them seam side down on a baking sheet lined with foil or a silpat. Brush the tops with some olive oil and bake for 10-12 minutes.

When they are done, give them a few minutes to cool and dip in soy sauce!

Other ideas for filling - some shredded carrot. I was going to add bean sprouts but I figured the kraut was enough!

Other dipping sauce ideas: add some sriracha to your soy, or some wasabi!