Any salad worth its weight has to have protein and fat to keep me full. The below salad has both, is super tasty and silly simple to prepare. Hope you enjoy.
Simple Summer Salad
2-3 cans black eyed peas, rinsed and drained
bag of raw cauliflower rice
green olives, sliced or chopped (Costco has a chopped version w veggies!)
red onion or shallot, chopped
2-4 T olive oil, 2-4 T vinegar* (substitute lemon or orange juice)
salt to taste or feta cheese
Stir to combine. Taste and adjust. Then refrigerate.
When you make the same thing twice in a week and it evaporates quickly, you know it’s good. It is a perfect pool side snack or dinner.
*My name is Julie and I collect vinegars. I used a sweet vinegar this week but red wine vinegar would be good too. If white vinegar or apple cider is all you have, go slow with the addition.
What Else We’re Eating During a Move
In case you missed it, we moved to Louisville, KY for my husband to be the pastor in the church where he grew up. We live 2.5 miles from the church and 5 miles from my in-laws. It was so fun this week to drop in last minute for burgers at their house! We’ve eaten lots of sandwiches. Last weekend both of John’s brothers’ families ate dinner at our house…the first time in 21 years! I made a double batch of what I call enchiladas. Apologies to all the Texans who find this is an adulteration to what you know as enchiladas.
Enchiladas
Brown in a large skillet:
1 lb ground beef
1 chopped onion
2-4 cloves garlic, chopped
1t sea salt,
When cooked through add:
1 chopped green bell pepper (I like mine a bit crunchy, so I add the pepper after turning off the stovetop.)
1-2 cans of black beans, drained and rinsed
In a separate pan combine to make enchilada sauce:
1 28oz can of tomato sauce
2 T chili powder
2 T cumin
1 t sea salt or more to taste, depending if your chili powder is made with salt.
Taste sauce and adjust seasonings. If you're not in a rush, the sauce will taste better if you let it simmer for a bit.
Pour 3/4 of sauce into large skillet with meat and onions.
Spoon into flour tortillas with shredded cheese. I use fajita size but any size will do. (That’s the step where Texans cringe. Corn tortillas are traditional for enchiladas. I just prefer flour here.) Lay seam side down into 9x13 pan. Cover with remaining enchilada sauce and top with more shredded cheese.
Alternatively, make this like a Mexican lasagna and gluten free: layer the meat/bean/cheese combo with corn tortillas between layers. End with more sauce and cheese.
Bake covered at 350* covered till warm through and cheese is melted on top. If desired, remove foil the last minutes for the cheese to brown. If baking shortly after cooking the meat and sauce, I don’t cover while baking because the contents are already warm. Be sure to dollop sour cream on your portion.
Serve with a green salad. A simple homemade dressing is equal parts lime juice, honey, olive oil and pinch of salt. Be sure to taste as you go. I prefer mine on the tart side with a bit less honey and more oil.
Notes
Recipe is easily doubled or quadrupled and frozen. It freezes well pre-assembled in a pan or save space by freezing the filling in a zip top bag and assemble later.
Substituting chicken: buy a rotisserie chicken then saute onions/garlic separately. Skip the sauteing completely if crunchy/stronger onions aren’t a hinderance to your palate. If freezing, the saute isn’t necessary since the onions mellow while frozen. Onions are cheap and super good for the immune system so I start almost every meal with an onion. Here’s a newsletter I wrote to convince people to eat more onions.
Beans: substitute pintos or any other bean. For a more economical and healthy version - soak and cook beans. Use about 2 cups of cooked beans for 1 can.
Sauce: I've made the traditional red enchilada sauce from Nourishing Traditions with dried peppers and this one is so much easier and tastes just as good. If you choose to buy jarred sauce, please be careful and read the ingredients. A friend who worked at Trader Joe’s said their enchilada sauce is MSG-free.
I’ve been a crazy label readers for years. MSG makes my husband very sick (foggy thinking and flu-like symptoms). Other code names for MSG are autolyzed yeast extract and hydrolyzed vegetable protein or commonly "natural flavors." Additional variations are natural flavorings, natural beef flavor, natural chicken flavor, malt flavoring, chicken flavoring, seasoning, spices, enzymes and simply "flavoring."
Settling In
Most boxes are unpacked. We’re at the uncomfortable stage of “where do I store this random thing in this house and maybe we should just toss the entire box.” We don’t have attic space but we do have a gigantic RV garage (big enough for a bus!) that we’re calling a barn since that’s one syllable.
We plan for a kitchen renovation at some point and are loving our outdoor space (3 acres!!) I’ve been busy planting tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and zinnias in multiple spots of sunshine. The soil here is fertile and soft. I don’t need a pick axe to dig a hole. I’m so happy!
The kids have same age/sex friends just a few blocks away that go to our church. Eight cousins were here over the weekend. My parents bought them a new trampoline and a spring-fed creek is at the bottom of our property. We brought a rescue puppy with us from Arkansas. She is sweet and smart but has yet to notice the deer, squirrels and moles that plague our yard. The kids are, as my grandmother would say, “happy as a ‘coon up a tree with the axe lost.”
Life is hard, food doesn’t have to be,
Julie