Simple Food, Fancy Napkins

Tag: tomato

Easy Weeknight Veggie Gnocchi

Easy Weeknight Veggie Gnocchi

You know how delivery places give you a timeline for your product or it’s free? I am confident saying that this meal will be ready in twenty minutes or less (or it’s free). That’s why this Easy Weeknight Veggie Gnocchi is going to be a…

Fancy Naps’ Quinoa Salad

Fancy Naps’ Quinoa Salad

I think I am going to start holding contests where people can name my recipes, because this is outrageous.. Fancy Naps’ Quinoa Salad, I mean, really!? Anyway, recently we ate 1/2 pound burgers and deep fried some potatoes so the next night was obviously gonna…

Million Ways Bean Salsa

Million Ways Bean Salsa

Million Ways Bean Salsa

Honestly, I don’t even know if this is considered a salsa, but I originally had written it down as a dip and it’s not that either. It’s way more a salsa than a dip, so that is what I’m calling it. Unless we want to call it: Bean Salsa Dip for Scooping with Chips or Filling Tacos. All I know is that you can literally use it in a million (that’s an overstatement) different ways such as: quesadillas, tacos, lettuce wraps, with tortilla/corn chips, on white fish (suggestion by my aunt for summertime). Okay, that might not be a million, but its close. Oh! You could totally use a cream cheese/mayo/sour cream base with taco seasoning and add it to the top. Yummm!

I tried this recipe twice. If you followed along with my Instagram story, you know that it didn’t turn out quite that wonderfully the first time. Well, we are in luck, because try number two was a success!

I used canned black beans and canned kernel corn for this recipe. If I’m honest, use frozen corn or if it is in season, take it straight from the cob. Canned corn has a weird smell and it just lingers and was all I could think about the first time I was eating this. Just make sure if you use a cob, you cook the corn first!!

One Roma tomato was enough, but if you’re a big fan of tomato, I say go ahead and add more than that! This is another recipe that you can easily tailor to your own tastes if you prefer more of an ingredient to another. I would also recommend not being shy about chopping up an entire avocado because it’s creaminess is really nice amongst the beans and corn. Different ingredients you can try adding might include iceburg lettuce, onion, chickpeas or jalapeno!

I searched for a Mexican cheese called Cotija, with no luck, but Google says a close alternative is feta. Which is awesome, because there was already feta in the fridge! You can buy it crumbled, or as a block (I like to buy the block and crumble it myself in my hands.. weird, I know) and this is probably one of those situations where you could say the more the merrier.. I mean, who doesn’t love a little extra cheese?

Make sure you prepare this ahead of time so you can let it sit for at least a half hour (The longer the better! The avocado won’t turn brown because of the lime juice) to let the flavours really set in. I kept some of this in the fridge and tried it again the following afternoon. It was still really tasty and the avo was still green. As I mentioned, you can enjoy this in quite a few ways so if you think of something I didn’t mention, I would love to hear your ideas! Comment below or email me.

Million Ways Bean Salsa

This salsa can be used in so many ways, you'll never get bored of it!

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup corn kernels
  • 1 cup black beans drained and rinsed
  • 1 Roma tomato diced
  • 1/2 avocado diced
  • Juice from half of one lime
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

  • In a medium size mixing bowl, add corn and beans
  • Chop the tomato and add to the bowl
  • Next, add chopped avocado and season with salt and pepper
  • Squeeze juice from half a lime over the ingredients in the bowl, stir
  • Add cumin and crushed red pepper to ingredients, stir well
  • Add more salt to taste, if necessary
  • Cover with plastic wrap (or lid if your bowl has one) and leave in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before eating
Simple Spaghetti Squash

Simple Spaghetti Squash

It’s Squash Season! Pumpkin and squash is are everywhere you look. So clearly, this Simple Spaghetti Squash is on the docket! Lucky for me, Ian brought home a cute little spaghetti squash for me recently. The weather has turned cold (I don’t know how I’m…