Black Bean Fritters with Cilantro Cream Sauce

We've decided we need to eat more vegetarian dishes, which means I need to learn some! This is another recipe I found on Pinterest (gotta love Pinterest right!?) that I've tweaked just a little to my liking. These were phenominal! I'm sure being "fritters", they are meant more as an appetizer or side dish, but I just made them a little bigger, served them with spanish rice, and called it dinner! That was the longest sentence ever. Anyway, try them!

You will need:
2 cans of black beans, drained

1 large yellow pepper, remove seed, chop into small pieces

1 small white onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 large tomato, chopped into small pieces
3 tablespoons chopped cilantro
1/2 cup all purpose unbleached flour
2 eggs, room temperature
salt and black pepper
corn oil, for frying

Combine everything together in a big bowl. ( I used my hands so that I wouldn't mash the beans up too much) Season with salt and pepper. Add more flour if it's not binding.

 

 

 

Add 3 tbsp oil to a skillet and heat over a med-high flame. Once the oil is hot, form fritters with a big spoon and carefully put them into the oil.

 

Fry for about 3 min per side, or until golden brown.

Set them on a paper towel-lined plate. Season with salt again.



For the sauce you need:
1/2 cup sour cream
1 small can of diced green chillies
1 garic clove, minced
2 tbsp chopped cilanto
1/2 tsp. sugar
salt and pepper

Blend all ingredients together and serve with fritters.
Enjoy!

 

 

My Veggie Lasagna

My Veggie Lasagna

 

I came up with this dish a few years ago. I'm sure that I was just using up left over veggies I had in the fridge at the time, but the ingredients I used were just perfect. I make it often and haven't changed a thing about it. You could definitely switch up the choice of veggies though. Spinach and/or tomato would probably be a delicious variation.

 

 

You will need:

12 lasagna noodles (always prepare a couple extra in case any of them break while handling)

15 oz container of ricotta cheese

1 cup cottage cheese

1 jar of alfredo sauce (I use Bertolli)

1 egg

4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1 tbsp. italian seasoning, plus a little dash later

1/2 tsp. minced garlic

salt and pepper

2 cups chopped fresh broccoli 

2 cups chopped fresh cauliflower

1 whole zucchini, chopped

1/2 large white onion, chopped

2 carrots, shredded

 

Preheat oven to 350.

Prepare the lasagna noodles by boiling them just until they're almost done, but not quite. They are easier to handle if they're a little firm still. They will have plenty of time to finish cooking in the oven.

 

Spoon a little of the alfredo sauce into the botto of a 13 x 9 baking dish so that your noodles don't stick later.



Once all your veggies are chopped, boil the broccoli and cauliflower for about 3 min, just to soften them a bit.

In a big bowl, combine the ricotta, cottage cheese, alfredo, egg, 1 tbsp. italian seasoning, garlic, salt, pepper, onion, and carrot.

Drain the broccoli and cauliflower and add them to a big bowl with the remaining ingredients. Gently fold together.

Layer 3 of the noodles in the pan.

Spoon 1/3 of the veggie mixture over the noodes.

Then toss on 1 cup of the mozzarella cheese.

Repeat these steps 2 more times. You want to end with noodles, and cheese on top of them. So it should go from bottom up, noodles, sauce, cheese. Noodles, sauce, cheese, Noodles, sauce, cheese, then noodles, and finally cheese.

Sprinkle with a dash more of italian seasoning and salt and pepper.
Bake uncovered for 40-45 min. Once finished baking, let it cool for about 15 min before cutting into it.
Enjoy!