Quinoa Black Bean Chili

Ingredients:
1 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed
2 cups water
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
2 (19 ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 zucchini, chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
1 tablespoon minced chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
1 teaspoon dried oregano
salt and ground black pepper to taste
1 cup frozen corn1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Directions:
Bring the quinoa and water to a boil in a saucepan over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the quinoa is tender, and the water has been absorbed, about 15 to 20 minutes; set aside.
Meanwhile, heat the vegetable oil in a large pot over medium heat. Stir in the onion, and cook until the onion softens and turns translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, chili powder, and cumin; cook and stir 1 minute to release the flavors. Stir in the tomatoes, black beans, green bell pepper, red bell pepper, zucchini, jalapeno pepper, chipotle pepper, and oregano. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, stir in the reserved quinoa and corn. Cook to reheat the corn for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat, and stir in the cilantro to serve.


[This recipe is taken from allrecipes.com.]

Fresh Salsa

Ingredients:
4 14 oz cans stewed tomatoes (there are many different types of stewed tomatoes, try them all)
1 large onion
1 bell pepper
4-5 Cloves Garlic
Cumin
Cilantro
Mrs. Dash Table Blend
Mrs. Dash Garlic and Herb
[Crushed Red Pepper
Cayenne Pepper
2 Jalapeños
1 Habanero ]*
1 Tbsp Vegetable oil
~4 oz Corn (canned or frozen)
~6 oz Black Beans

*Alter these ingredients as desired to satisfy different tastes for heat. Leaving in seeds greatly increases the heat. I generally use jalapeños or habanero, not both.


Directions:
1. Put about 1 tbsp vegetable oil in a small saucepan and bring to a low heat.
2. Sprinkle in Mrs. Dash Garlic and Herb/Table Blend, Crushed Red Pepper, Cayenne Pepper, Cumin (Be most generous with the Cumin) and finally about 5 chopped cloves of garlic. Make sure the stove is on a low enough setting not to burn the garlic.
3. While that simmers, gently blend the stewed tomatoes to get a salsa-like consistency. Put the blended tomatoes in a mixing bowl leaving a small amount in the blender.
4. Next, add the chopped onion, bell pepper, corn and black beans.
5. Put chopped jalapeño/habanero (whatever the amount decided), 2 tbsp of dried cilantro (1/4 cup fresh cilantro) and the simmered seasonings/garlic into the blender with the small amount of tomatoes. Blend to a fine saucy consistency. Add this into the mixing bowl and stir it up.


Enjoy this in burritos, with chips, with rice and beans, beans and rice or with ice cream.

Homemade Coconut Milk

First, acquire a few coconuts, preferably dried and de-husked. (The brown coconuts most are
familiar which have already been de-husked).

Find the part of the coconut with three soft holes (almost like indentations). Take a knife or nail
and twist a hole in one of the indentations. Drain the coconut. This will be the “coconut water”.

Next, use a hammer or an axe to crack open the coconut (or Belizean's use a machete).

Continue hammering the coconut until you have more manageable sized pieces.

Once the pieces are small enough, then shuck the coconut meat from the shell using a butter
knife. It should easily detach once you have a good knife hold under the coconut meat.

With a blender, puree a handful of coconut chucks in water until the mixture has a milk-like
consistency.

Then, take a strainer and place over a pot. Pour the pureed mixture over/through the strainer.
Squeeze the pulp until dry. This separates the liquid from the solid.

Re-use the coconut pulp several times in the blender (along with more water) to extract the
maximum amount of milk.

Repeat process until coconut chucks are gone.

Once all milk has been extracted and strained into the pot, place pot on stove and bring to a boil.
This will pasteurize the coconut milk. Set aside to cool. And then place in container of your
choice in the refrigerator.

Finally, enjoy!

A special thanks to Dawn Bell for teaching volunteer staff how to make coconut milk.

Side Dish: Rice and Beans

Side Dish: Rice and Beans

1 lb red beans

1 ½ lb white rice

1 whole coconut

1 small onion

2 scallions

1 tbs butter (optional)

Directions:

Soak beans the day before (first rinse them; then add water for soaking).  Begin the next day with preparation of the coconut milk:  In the eye of the coconut, poke a hole and drain the water.  Crack coconut on a hard surface to break open.  Carefully scrape out the meat of the coconut (a thin part of the husk may still be included).  Cut into pea size pieces (unless your blender can handle more).  In blender, add a portion of the coconut pieces and water (approx double the amount of water but not more).  Blend together until coconut pieces are shredded.  Drain milk through a strainer.  Continue process with the rest of the coconut pieces.  (Repeat the process with the blended coconut if necessary to squeeze out as much as possible). 

Without draining the water from the beans that have been soaking, add the fresh coconut milk.  Bring to a boil, then cover and cook on low until beans are 90% cooked (approx 30 min). In the mean time, quarter an onion and trim the scallions, then add to the cooking beans.  Once the beans are finished, the coconut milk should still be above the level of the beans (about 1 to 1 ½  inches – or add more coconut milk).  Add white rice.  Bring to a boil, then cover and cook on low until mixture is thoroughly cooked.  Stir occasionally to ensure proper texture.  Bon Appétit! 

 

Lessons in Living:  Known as “rice and peas” in Jamaica, the Belizean’s call this dish “rice and beans” which includes coconut milk.  “Beans and rice” is stewed beans with white rice – this is a different dish.  For best results, soak the beans for a full day (24 hours).  Adding too much water while preparing the milk will water down the coconut milk – you want it as creamy as possible.  

Dinner: Kevin's Italian Alfredo

Dinner:  Kevin's Italian Alfredo

Dinner:  Spaghetti with Alfredo Sauce
1 lb. Wheat pasta
2 jars of Alfredo sauce

1 lb ground turkey (or sausage)

crushed red pepper

Italian seasoning

2-3 scallions diced
1 green pepper diced

1 yellow or red pepper diced

2-3 cloves of garlic (diced)

2-3 cloves of garlic (minced or shredded)
Garlic Bread/Toast

Butter

Directions: 
Dice up vegetables and garlic in preparation.  Cook ground turkey in covered sauce pan/skillet.  Add crushed red pepper (double portion) and Italian seasoning as the turkey is cooking. Prepare water for pasta and turn on high.  In separate pan saute garlic, green (and red/yellow) peppers, and scallions on low/medium heat until soft.  Add pasta to boiling water.  Prepare bread with butter and garlic then put in the oven.  Drain turkey and vegetables.  Mix Alfredo sauce, ground turkey and vegetables all together and keep on low/medium heat until pasta and bread is ready.  Finish Alfredo with seasons:  Italian seasoning and crushed red pepper. 

Lessons in Living:

Garlic butter spread is made by grading or mincing garlic cloves then mixing with butter. "Al dente" is an Italian term for pasta when cooked as to be still firm when bitten.  Seasonings are based on preference; however the key to this meal is spicing it up with crushed red pepper to make it taste like sausage.  Other seasonings can be substituted for “Italian Seasoning” such as lots of parsley flakes, lots of basil, lots of garlic powder, and a couple sprinkles of oregano. A true Italian would make the Alfredo and pasta homemade, but this meal is absolutely delicious!  Another favorite of volunteers. This meal feed 4-6.

Breakfast: Flour Tortilla Quiche

Breakfast: Flour Tortilla Quiche

1 lb ground turkey

1 frozen package of spinach

1 can salsa

12 eggs

Directions:

Cook ground turkey and drain (add spices as desired).  At the same time, cook spinach in separate pan and drain.  Crack eggs and add to bowl with salsa, cooked ground turkey and spinach.  Mix all ingredients.  Cover ingredients with Belizean tortillas or ground up bread crumbs.  Place in baking pan and back for 30 minutes. 

Lessons in Living:

Spinach is a water based plant so we purchase frozen packages in Belize that are produced in the States; therefore bacteria that volunteers are not accustomed to (being in another country) is avoided.

Dinner: Dawn’s Curry Chicken with Brown Rice

Dinner:  Dawn’s Curry Chicken with Brown Rice

1 lb. brown rice

1 whole chicken

herbs and spices

curry (3 times the amount of herbs)

1 whole onion diced

2-3 scallions
1 green pepper diced (optional)

Directions: 
First wash and prepare the chicken by cutting into sections then pieces.  Cut onion and pepper into chunks and add to pot.  Add spices and three times the amount of curry over chicken and vegetables.  Cover on medium heat until vegetables produce water.  Watch closely the first ten minutes or so to see if some water is needed depending on the vegetables.  Approximately one hour.

In another pan wash brown rice. Add enough water over the top of the rice and let it boil on medium heat then turn down to low for duration of cooking. 

Taste to see what else you might need to add as it simmers. 

Lessons in Living:
Boiling vinegar while cooking the curry, helps to mask the smell of curry throughout the kitchen.  Same recipe can be used with soy sauce instead of curry.