The Trader Joe's Gourmet Presents: Pollo Asada Black Bean Chili w/ Farm Fresh Cilantro

Pollo Asada Chili.  Extremely simple and yummy!

So I'm not "officially" the Trader Joe's Gourmet, but I might as well be. I buy pretty much everything there and a lot of my recipes on here consist of ingredients you'll find at Trader Joe's. If you live in an area where it's too far away or you simply don't have one - GASP! - (my condolences) you can always find stuff similar elsewhere. After all, it's just food. BTW, I completely feel your pain if you like Trader Joe's but you don't have one in your area. There aren't any Trader Joe's in Hawaii and we lived there for a few years when we were first married and it was VERY hard for me to get used to not getting pretty much everything there. We also didn't have a Target. It was bad. I mean, no Target and no Trader Joe's?  You call that paradise? jk.

sorta.

So, this was dinner last night. I threw it together from stuff I had on hand and stuff that needed to be cooked so it didn't go bad and I also wanted to use some of the cilantro that had just popped up in our garden. The dish turned out to be pretty yummy which is always good when you don't follow any type of recipe so I wanted to post it here so I don't forget how to make it.

*I pretty much never follow a recipe and I usually forget what I've made so I'm trying to make a point to write recipes down so I can make it again. 

This made up the bulk of the dish. I didn't drain the cans before I added them to the sauce pan but will drain the beans next time so it's not too soupy. 

Fresh organic cilantro from our little family farm. Isn't it beautiful? And it smells AMAZING!

 There's nothing like fresh produce that you grow yourself. "Kids, run out to the farm and pick mommy some cilantro for dinner!" Awesome. 

I don't have a pic of the pollo asada. The next time I buy it I will update this post with a pic. But I bought a package of fresh, marinated pollo asada from Trader Joe's in their fresh meat/poultry section. It was a bit salty - more than we are used to anyway because I usually cook stuff from scratch and I don't add much salt at all. But it was still good. A little too hot for the kids. They didn't eat it. Good thing I had left overs from the other night of turkey, rice and veggies!  Hubby and I liked it though and plan to buy it again and throw it on the BBQ next time.

I sauteed the chicken in the pan with the juices and a bit of water added from the bag.  I browned it until the juices reduced down to a glaze on the pan. I de-glazed the pan with some water (you can also use chicken stock). I then sliced the chicken into chunks and added it and the de-glazed juices into my pot of black beans. (see below)

So far this was black beans, diced tomatoes, 1 garlic cube (see pics below), Hawaiian rock salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste and fresh cilantro from our garden torn into small bits. Next time I won't add the extra salt to the beans since the chicken was salty enough and I just saw that the black beans contain sea salt. My fault for not reading the can. 

                                                         

I added in half a bag of frozen organic corn (about 1 heaping cup+)

1 pouch of frozen, precooked rice medley of brown rice, red rice and black barely* (see pic above)

Fresh cracked pepper and more fresh cilantro. 

I cooked it until it was bubbling. 

*The box of rice comes with 3 (10oz) pouches. 

I topped the dish with some shredded jack cheese and more fresh cilantro because that was all we had on hand. Next time I might add some more toppings and I will squeeze in some fresh lime for sure. Can't have enough fresh lime. Yum!

Optional Toppings:

-Sour Cream

-Diced avocado

-Diced fresh tomato

-Diced raw onion

-Fresh salsa

-Squeeze of fresh lime

I don't have a pic of the finished dish because it was time to eat. Plus it was the first evening we ate al fresco on our patio since last summer and I didn't want my dish cooling off too much while I went to get the camera. (We have a no cell phone rule at dinner time so my cell was in the house.)

If you make this let me know how you like it and what you did differently. 

Enjoy!

Looking for more recipes using black beans and rice?  This one also has shrimp!  Yuuuuuuum!
Hawaiian Basil Buttered Shrimp with Black Beans and Wild Rice

Coming soon to this recipe: Homegrown organic tomatoes and homegrown organic corn. 

Just waiting for them to grow. ;-)

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Juicing with Mommy A.K.A "The Veggie Sneaker!"

I love my juicer.  Or I should say, "I LOOOOOOOOOOVE MY JUICER!!!!!" because that is how I really feel about it.

Today I made Watermelon Juice and it was a big hit. However, I didn't really mention exactly what was in it.  If I did that I knew I wouldn't get many takers. Including the big kid of the family - my husband!

This is how I made our breakfast Watermelon Juice: (Everything went in raw with skins on unless otherwise noted.)

Watermelon (Several large slices - remove rind)

2 handfuls of chopped up organic Kale*

1 1/2 small organic Zucchini

1 large organic Cucumber

1/2 organic Bell Pepper (orange)

2 large stalks of organic Celery and 2 small (with leaves still on)

4 large organic Carrots 

This made enough juice for my husband to take some to work in a large travel mug, the kids each had about 1/2 of a sippy cup worth and I had about 16+ oz over ice.  Everyone thought it was pretty yummy!  Kale* is a bit hard for us to eat raw since it's very strong in flavor so we are only using a bit of it at first to ease into it.  It's very good for you though so I try to add it into all of my juices, but if I put too much it overpowers it and no one drinks it, including me.  Trader Joe's finally has a prepackaged, washed and chopped up bag of raw organic kale so this is what I got the other day and I've been really happy with it since I can just reach in and take a handful. 

A Note On Using Organics: Since I'm not removing any skins for my juice except for the watermelon rind I like to use as much organic produce as possible to reduce the amount of pesticides and harmful chemicals we're ingesting.  
Buying Guide: When buying organic produce I tend to follow the Dirty Dozen list that was put out by EWG (Environmental Working Group) who tested each fruit and veg on the list to see which ones contain the most pesticide residue. You can print out this list and keep it in your purse or wallet so you'll always have it with you at the store or farmers market.  According to the EWG website, "You can lower your pesticide intake substantially by avoiding the 12 most contaminated fruits and vegetables and eating the least contaminated produce."  
What is the #1 most contaminated fruit on the list? Apples! 
Farmers Markets: It's important to know too that not all produce at the farmers market is organic. To be sure you are buying and paying for organic produce, you need to ask each stand before you buy. I always try to ask the farmer who owns the stand if they are there, or the manager of the stand as they are your best bet in getting an honest answer regarding the produce. 

Be sure to buy a rainbow of colors and don't forget your reusable bags!  

Happy Juicing!

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What's For Dinner?: Hawaiian Basil Buttered Shrimp with Black Beans and Wild Rice

I've never been one to follow a recipe despite the fact that I have a million cookbooks.  I've developed a collection of cookbooks over the years and although I don't really follow anything to a T, I do use them often to get inspiration, ideas and to create a new dish out of several recipes of the one thing I'm trying to make.


Some of my very favorite cookbooks are the beautifully illustrated ones by Susan Branch.  I also love Ina Garten "Barefoot Contessa" because although she has a rep for being "too fancy" like her French stuff, she actually tries to recreate fancy dishes in a simple way. So I love that!  Her from-scratch cakes still take me F-O-R-E-V-E-R to make though.  Like 4 hours from start to cooled and in the process of getting frosted and decorated. 


But oh-so-worth-it!


So for dinner I usually just throw things together that I have in the cupboard, freezer and fridge and it's usually never the same thing twice.  Which can be kinda bad since I don't ever remember how or even what I made a week or so before.  A bummer if it was a big hit.


So this is my attempt at keeping a "recipe card box" of stuff I've made that is a hit with the whole family.


Forgive me for not using traditional "exact" measurements.  I typically only measure things out when I'm baking since baking needs to be exact.  Or so I've been told by my very close friend Ina.  ;-)  Which reminds me...I need to book our flights to the Hamptons and RSVP to her garden party...


Hawaiian Basil Buttered Shrimp


Ingredients:
-About 20 raw shrimp (previously frozen 31-40 weight shrimp)
-About 1/2 stick of salted butter (Don't use the fake crap. Real is better and better for you too!)
-About 1-2 TBSP of grapeseed oil (I ran out of coconut oil)
-Kauai "Red Dirt" Hawaiian Sea Salt (to taste)...Ok fine, it doesn't have to be from Kauai.
-2 tiny frozen cubes of chopped basil from Trader Joe's. (Those little ice cube tray thingies of crushed basil. They have garlic and cilantro too. Get all three and just leave them in your freezer. They come in handy for all sorts of things when you don't have fresh on hand!)




Directions:
I actually got the pan too hot because I got side tracked and forgot it was on. Cooking with 2 kids underfoot can do that to a person. Even if your kung fu is strong. So it ended up being "browned" buttered shrimp, which actually turned out quite good. And "browned butter" is totally a thing, so I had that going for me. There is a difference between browned butter and burnt butter though. It's a fine line and once it's crossed...it's nasty.


So...hot pan, medium heat, add oil, then butter then Hawaiian salt and cubes of basil and melt/mix together.


Add in a single layer of shrimp in a circle (have flipping tongs and bowl ready!) Raw shrimp cook super fast and that fine line of over-cooking, well it really applies to shrimp* big time!  Following a circle in your pan place the shrimp in the butter sauce noting the first one in. There is usually room left for 3 or so in the middle and I always have to do this process at least twice depending on how much I'm making. By the time you put the last one in the first one should be pinkish already and is ready to flip.  Don't hesitate, just get after it. Flip all over in the order they were placed. After the last one is flipped I usually do that tricky sauce pan flip thing about 3x's-ish because I think I'm a Top Chef. Beware of too much sauce when you try the flip thing though. It can all go horribly wrong if there is any insecurity regarding your skillz or just too much sauce in general.


...Let's see...where was I? This is why I'll never be a good cookbook writer. Too much gibby gab.


Oh yea, if you're too 'fraid to flip then you can use a big spoon to toss them around one last time but then get_them_out!  This method insures that each shrimp is pretty much cooked for the same time and is the same doneness.




Shrimp Tip:
*Overcooked shrimp is tough and rubbery and a waste of good money. You might as well have gotten the fish sticks. In my opinion, if you are going to keep frozen shrimp in your freezer get the raw ones because if it's precooked and you re-cook it, your dish will be rubbery. It's best to start with fresh raw or frozen uncooked.


Side Dish:
The beans and rice is basically a lazy man's version because all the work has been done for me. I use Trader Joe's frozen cooked wild rice mix and a can of their organic black beans. As far as the black bean juice goes I drain some and keep some. Combine in a bowl and microwave. Which I just read in a blog that depressed me that this is horrible and we're all going to die from using our microwaves and we should stop the poisoning at once. My first thought was not about dying a slow toxic death but, "how the heck am I supposed to heat my latte now?" I'm usually a three-time latte heater on any given lazy Sunday. So, please I ask you...beg you really..."how do I heat my latte sans microwave?"  Blink-blink-blink.


Restaurant Stuff:
I like to serve this in a pasta dish - or any type of shallow bowl to keep the sauce on the food and not all over your table and also keeping you from feeling like you are eating a bowl of cereal. Which brings me to the question: WHY do restaurants serve a dry side salad on a tiny plate and it's piled super high and then I'm supposed to add dressing?  I'm a mixer and this is not a good situation to find myself in..... Shrimp dish >> I ladle the basil butter sauce over the beans and rice, top with shrimp and sprinkle some fresh, dry, salty parmesan if I have any.


Kid Stuff:
I cut the shrimp in small chunks after it's cooked and everything is cooled of course and mix with the beans and rice and I might even add in some green peas in theirs too. I know, cruel. I also do not ladle any extra sauce because it's pretty rich and there is already sauce on the shrimp.  My Big Girl who is 4 said at dinner tonight, "I love pork, shrimp, green juice,* and...(yelling) candy!"   Love the "candy" part thrown in there along with an electric, firey-eyed, devilish grin.  The last candy she had was at Easter and it's now June. But even at 4 I still hold fast to my candy and kids rule.  >> There will be a day where I can't totally control what goes into her mouth and as a stay-at-home-mom I have been able to do that almost 99% of her life. So for the baby/toddler/preschooler years I do not feel the need to have regular candy and junk in the house for everyday consumption because someday I know she will not be able to live without it. I remember being 8. It will come all too soon. And I also never had candy and junk as a wee one. I survived. Baby Boy is 20 months today in fact and he loves him some shrimp! "Mo! Mo! Mo! Peeeeeeeeeeeas!"  As he's frantically pointing to the bowl of extra shrimp that is scooting way-to-close-for-comfort next to Daddy. (Peas is 'please' in baby speak in case you are not fluent.)


*'Green Juice' is not the same as 'Green Drink'.  One has high fructose corn syrup and the other one has spirulina.  ;-)




"How easy is that?"


Sorry no picture.  Well cooked shrimp needs to be devoured right away!  Maybe next time I'll have the camera ready along with my flipping tongs.


Let me know if you make it and if it was a hit!

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