Tag Archives: lime

Black Bean and Avocado Lime Quinoa

I love simplicity on a weeknight. And though the plethora of ingredients in this recipe may lead you to believe that it’s complicated, it’s not! You cook the quinoa and simply stir everything else in. I’ve made this many times, and the add-in ingredients are flexible and can be adjusted depending on the state of your pantry. So while it’s delicious just as written below, have fun playing and substituting!

This dish can function as a side, but I love it as a main dish. And my love will remain unshaken.

Ingredients

(Serves 4)

1 cup quinoa
2 cups water
Juice and zest of 1 lime
1 tsp kosher salt
2 TBS olive oil
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp sugar
1 small bunch cilantro
3-4 Roma tomatoes
1 15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 15 oz can corn
2 avocados
1 sprinkle lemon juice (for the avocado)
1 hard boiled egg
1 TBS melted butter
Optional: crumbled feta cheese

First: resist the urge to be overwhelmed. Yes, there appear to be a good many ingredients in that picture, but nothing complicated is happening with or to any of them. Take a deep breath and stick with me!

Now, quinoa. I used to be intimidated by it. It was an unknown, and it always takes a little extra energy to tackle something mysterious in the kitchen. Well let me assure you: this delicious little grain is nothing to be afraid of. Its tiny couscous-like pearls are simply cooked in boiling water, and then sit for 10 minutes to steam and soften. And that’s the extent of the Quinoa Threat.

Let’s see this funky lil’ grain in action!

Boil the 2 cups of water in a large pot. When boiling, adjust the heat to medium, add the quinoa . . .

. . . and cook (uncovered) for 15 minutes, until the water is absorbed. After 15 minutes, cover the pot and turn off the heat.

Let the quinoa sit for 10 minutes and get happy. See? Nothing to fear at all.

Hard boil that egg. After 7 minutes of boiling and a couple minutes sitting in the hot water, mine was perfection.

Dice up the tomatoes and cilantro:

Bam! Bam! Toss them in a bowl.

Peel and cube the avocado, sprinkling the pieces with a little lemon juice to avoid browning.

As you can see, I left a few of the prettier slices whole, to use as a garnish.

Drain and rinse the black beans:

And drain the can of corn while you’re at it.

Chop up the hardboiled egg too–and now all the chunky ingredients are ready to be added once the quinoa is done:

Beautiful! Colorful. Healthy.

Zest and juice the lime into a bowl:

Add the salt, sugar, and pepper . . .

. . . and whisk in the olive oil and butter to form the dressing.

As you can see, I couldn’t be bothered with melting the butter, knowing it would simply melt in the hot quinoa.

Once the quinoa is done, mix everything together in the pot:

This dish can be eaten hot or cold, but I like it at least warm, so if you do too, heat everything for a couple minutes over low heat.

Serve it up! You can sprinkle a little feta on top too, if you’re in the mood for some dairy bliss.

I, surprisingly, wasn’t. I also didn’t have any feta on hand, so maybe that was part of it.

It’s so good. I love, love, love this dinner–there’s no rolling away from the table with a rock in your stomach after a bowl of this veggie-licious combo. I hope you guys like it too!

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Cilantro Lime White Bean Soup

I left a glowing review of this recipe on Tasty Kitchen–and for good reason.

What a perfect weeknight meal! It’s filling, quick and easy to make, super tasty, and healthy to boot (creamy without the cream). I served it with some goat cheese sprinkled on top, which was delicious. This recipe is awesome and everyone should make it immediately.

I was a little worried that since the texture of the soup is creamy it wouldn’t be interesting enough to have as a stand-alone dish. But I was wrong! I couldn’t get enough of this stuff, and continued to eat spoonfuls of it straight from the pot after finishing a bowl and a half of it for dinner. You can also serve it with some crostini, as the lovely author of the original recipe suggests.

Though great by itself, since the cilantro and lime flavors scream “Mexican!” to me, I couldn’t help envisioning that this would also be great alongside some tacos or enchiladas.

Ingredients

(Serves 5)

3 TBS olive oil
1 onion, chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
3-15 oz cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
2 limes, zested and juiced
2 cups vegetable stock
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste
Optional garnishes: cilantro, lime wedges, goat cheese, crostini

Here’s our humble assembly, which in under 30 minutes will be transformed into an addictive, filling soup.

Start out by chopping the onion and mincing the garlic.

Everything is going to be pureed at the end, so there’s no need for a pretty dice.

Heat the olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium high heat, add the onion and garlic and cook for 5 minutes, until softened.

While that’s cooking away, zest both the limes.

You’re probably tired of me extolling the virtues of my microplane zester, but bear with me one more time–it’s amazing. Zesting a lime on a regular box grater = danger untold. (i.e., the skin shaved off your knuckles as the citrusy acid burns the cut). With the microplane, zesting things is safer and easier. Just remember: Safety First, Safety Always. Thus endeth my small sermon.

Now, squeeze the living daylights out of those limes to extract every drop of juice.

Add the cannellini beans and lime zest to the pot . . .

. . . and cook for 2-3 more minutes, stirring occasionally.

You should have enough time at this juncture to give the cilantro a rough chop:

Set aside a little cilantro and maybe a wedge or two of lime to garnish the soup later.

And it’s back to the pot! Add the stock . . .

. . . the lime juice . . .

. . . and the cilantro.

Lovely!

Bring to a boil, then cover the pot and lower the heat.

Simmer for 5 minutes. During those 5 minutes, please haphazardly toss bowls, spoons and napkins on the table and call it a ‘tablescape’ as you shout “Dinner in ffffiiiiiiive!”

Using an immersion blender, blend the soup until creamy.

Now give the soup a taste . . .

. . . and season it with salt and pepper until it’s to your liking.

Serve hot!

Oh yes.

There are so many choices for garnishing this soup. Personally, I really loved the goat cheese.

You could also do crumbled crackers.

It’s just so dang good, people.

I can’t wait to personally devour the leftovers.*

*As this post was written over a week ago, the leftovers are long gone. So please don’t go looking in my fridge for them, because if you do, you will only find heartache and despair.

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