Recipe: Salisbury Bean Steak

This is a great meatless recipe which can also be made entirely from food storage items!

INGREDIENTS:
2 cans beans (I used 1 can black beans and 1 can kidney beans)
1/8 C water
1/2 C Bisquick
1/8 C dried minced onion
salt and pepper
2T olive oil
2 C brown gravy, prepared from mix

DIRECTIONS:
1. Rinse and drain the beans. Use a food processor or blender to cut up the beans (add the water first). I like to stop while there are still some larger pieces, to give it a bit more texture.
2. Transfer beans to a large bowl and mix in Bisquick and onion. Season to taste. Shape mixture into 6 oval patties. Wrap each individually in plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 hour.
3. Heat oil in a large skillet pan over medium heat. Coat each chilled bean patty in a thin layer of Bisquick. Cook for 2-3 minutes on each side. Pour brown gravy over patties, cover, and simmer for 5 minutes.
4. Serve with mashed potatoes and green beans (we used dehydrated mashed potatoes and canned green beans, which we heated up while the patties were simmering).


We liked the texture of the patties (the first time I tried, they completely fell apart), but thought we should season the beans more. I'll have to update this when we figure out a better spice blend.

Recipe: Angel Hair with Cauliflower and Parmesan

So I started watching The Chew, and it is definitely my new favorite show. So one day they made Angel Hair with Cauliflower and Parmesan, and I decided it looked so amazing, I wanted to try it out myself. I made a few changes, based on what I had and what sounded good to me. It turned out so good, I think it is one of my new favorite dishes. You can follow the link to the original recipe, but this is what I did. (My recipe is for a single, but quite large, serving.) Also, when I made this for my husband, I added some grilled chicken to the mix. He really liked having the meat in it, but I think it's great without it.

Ingredients:
2 oz. whole wheat spaghetti noodles (1 serving)
salt (optional)
1 T olive oil
1 C chopped cauliflower
1/2 C sliced mushrooms
4 green olives, sliced
3 cloves garlic, sliced
1 pinch red pepper flakes
1 C spinach
1 T Parmesan

Directions:
1)Cook pasta according to package (I add salt to my water).
2)Meanwhile, saute cauliflower and mushrooms in oil. Add olives, garlic, and red pepper flakes.
3)One minute before pasta is done cooking, add about 1/4 C water from pasta pot to the saute pan. Drain the rest of the water and add the noodles to the pan. Add spinach and cook until water boils out.
4)Sprinkle with Parmesan and enjoy!