Refried Black Beans (with a side of greens!)

These refried black beans were served with the butternut squash and sweet potato soup. Since I'm not able to eat salads, or any foods that require chewing, I snuck in a pile of spinach to compensate for missed greens. Sure, cooked greens are never as healthy as fresh, but you have to make due with what you got, right? :)

Anyway, these beans can be whipped up in a snap. I used canned black beans, but you can soak your own beans prior to following the recipe below. Be sure to top it with cojita cheese or another spicy cheese to get the traditional flavor of black beans - you'll never know the greens are in there!

Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato Soup

The cooler fall weather calls for a warm soup - not that I'd know as I've been cooped up in my apartment taking care of my teeth. It looked cold out and I needed a soft food item, so it's a win-win.

This soup is a mega-soup. It contains four vegetables and one fruit, packing a punch of health and strong fall flavors. I served it with a side of vegetarian refried black beans to strike a balance with protein.

Peace Out, Mac & Cheese: Round Two!

It's been well over a year since my last post on Peace Out, Mac & Cheese. My blog was dying a slow death of intermittent, uninspired posts. Cooking is just not as fun when you don't have anyone to do it with/for.

Shortly thereafter, life changed for the better. I met a very special guy, Kirk, who is now my fiancé. The relationship totally reinvigorated my love of cooking - it's something we do together very often. Although we've made some pretty amazing, blog-worthy dishes, posting just wasn't as important as enjoying a meal without a photography session. However, many folks have asked for our recipes, and rather than use one-way communication, the blog seems like the best outlet.

Kirk!!

Scallops? Sure!

There's two other reasons I decided to start up again: a temporary, soft-food-only diet and a healthy lunch club with my coworkers.

Soft-Food Diet (to clarify, this does not mean cat food)
I had some substantial dental work done and, as a result, I'm following a soft-food diet from now until November 10. While it's quite limiting, I thought it would be a fun challenge to prepare soft foods that are nutritious and creative (remember...no mac & cheese!). I also follow a Paleo-inspired diet that adds another layer of consideration. More on that below...

Healthy Lunch Club

Shalini, Rebecca, and me!

One of the highlights of my job are my coworkers, and they're just not any coworkers, they're coworkers who are all in on eating healthy! Inspired by my office-mate, Rebecca, who takes the Paleo diet very seriously (with the exception of cheese and the occasional trip to FroZenYo), my coworker Shalini, Kirk (who works two blocks away), and myself joined forces with her to create the Healthy Lunch Club.

Basically, we each bring lunch for the group one day a week, and it can only contain protein, fruits, veggies, and light dairy (no beans, grains, bread, etc). We also choose an ingredient of the week that we all have to use in our dish - past ingredients include lamb, lemon, pork belly, and jicama, to name a few. It's a lot of fun and forces us out of our culinary comfort zones while keeping us trim at the same time!


The Healthy Lunch Club always has a great meal to share so I plan to post those recipes from time to time. Who knows - maybe I'll even have some guest writers from the club :)

Happy eating!