refried beans!!

I loved refried beans! When I went to Mexico a few years ago, I had them with just about every meal. I also found out that I love Mexican crema-like sour cream only a million times better-but thats another post. So when I was in the store and saw refried beans I of course threw them in the cart.

I comtemplated what to do with them and decided to make enchildas-ish (not authentic ones). I cooked a little diced onion in olive oil until it was soft. Next the refried beans went into the pan with some enchilada sauce.

delicious refried beans

I filled the tortillas with the refried beans mixture, folded them, and topped them with enchilda sauce.

enchilda

Not especially authentic but very delicious!

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farmer’s market

I don’t always make it to Chicago’s Green City Market-which is amazing. It’s in Lincoln Park but I live in West Lakeview (or Southwest Ravenswood according to an old map or Lincoln Square according to a realator -no one completely agrees on neighborhood boundaries). But there is a nice farmer’s market less than a half mile walk from my apartment. The Northcenter Farmer’s Market is small but they have great stuff.

farmer's market finds

I picked up some great foccacia and asparagus.

3 cheese foccacia

The 3 cheese foccacia with a little butter made a great lunch. I haven’t decided what to do with the asparagus yet but it looks beautiful…

asparagus

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Easy dinner

Trader Joe’s saved me tonight. I ran there after work to get something quick but still real food. I found this wrap in the deli section:

Thai chicken wrap

A spinach wrap with chicken, noodles, carrots, and peanut sauce was a great dinner!

plated Thai chicken wrap

Trader Joe’s isn’t great for everything but they are a great place to hit up for real food when you are in a hurry. The peanut sauce could have been a little spicier but it was still very tasty!

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swizzle

A  cool article in the NY Times about swizzle sticks and drinks made with them.  Ihad no idea they were anything other than plastic sticks…

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Quick healthy dinner

I’ve mentioned Laura and I are doing a half-marathon (13.1 miles) this summer and as you might expect you run alot and need to eat  meals with protein, carbs, and some good fat afterwards. To this end, I’ve been working on meals where I prep all the ingredients, go running, and set up the final step to cook while hit the shower.

After work but before running, I prepped the ingredients for a pasta dish:

I defrosted frozen spinach and wrung it out, while heating a tbsp of olive oil with chopped garlic, a link of chicken sausage crumbled, and 1/4 cup white beans. The spinach and about 1/2 tbsp of hot pepper paste went into the pan.

pasta sauce

I put water in a pan and weighed out 4 oz of whole wheat penne and I set out on my run. I came back home started the water boiling and cleaned up. I threw the pasta into the water and heated up the sauce. The pasta was drained and added to the skillet with some chiffoned basil.

well balanced AND delicous

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