Easy Peasy Nacho/Taco/Burrito Mix.

I love the whole concept of 15 minute meals but realistically if you're actually making a meal in 15 minutes, then you are a god/goddess. I actually remember watching this show once where a lady was testing all of Jamie Oliver's 15 minute meals and some of them literally took her 2 hours to make. 15 minute meals = sham. 

Now I'm not going to claim that this recipe will take you 15 minutes, because realistically that probably won't happen and then you'll think I'm a big hypocrite for slamming other supposedly 15 minute meal recipe creators. So I'm going to state right here and now that this is potentially not a 15 minute meal, but that isn't to say it cannot be made in 15 minutes. However!!!! This recipe is inspired by the whole concept of a quick and easy recipe, so that's exactly what it is. Quick and easy and, most importantly, delicious.

For this series of images to accompany the recipe, I've used the nachos/taco/burrito mix in some soft shell tacos, but this is merely a serving suggestion and with the simple yet highly tasty mix, the options are literally endless!

Ingredients;

425gm red kidney beans OR black beans

400gm canned diced tomatoes
1 handful fresh cherry tomatoes, halved

3 cloves garlic, crushed

1 brown onion, finely diced
3 sticks celery, finely sliced
1 large carrot, finely diced

3 tsp paprika

1 tsp chilli flakes/chilli paste
2 cups cooked quinoa (optional, though highly recommended!)

1. Add the onion, celery and garlic to a pan over medium heat and cook until slightly brown. (I use a stone pan, so don't need oil, but if you're using a regular pan, a splash of oil is necessary for this step!)

2. Take the beans and rinse with cold water really well. Washing them gets rid of all the nasty stuff that typically makes you pass a lot of gas a few hours later (no one wants that!!!). Add to the pan along with the canned tomato, the fresh cherry tomatoes, the diced carrot, paprika, and chilli flakes. Allow to simmer over a medium to low heat for approx. 15 minutes. If you're adding quinoa, which you should because it's a damn tasty addition, chuck it in the mix towards the end of the simmer period. Then...DONE! EASY PEASY PASS THE BURRITO PLEASY. 

Bonus Guacamole Recipe!! (EXCITING, also very simple)

1 avocado

2 shallots (spring onions)
Juice of 1 fresh lime
Light sprinkle chilli flakes (optional for some extra pizzazz)

1. While the bean mixture is cooking, take the avocado and slice in half. Remove the seed and scoop the flesh into a blender. Roughly slice the shallots and add to the blender along with the lime juice. Blend this until well combined with no chunks of shallot. You might need to scrape the sides down a few times during the blending. Scoop out of the blender, then sprinkle the chilli flakes on top and give everything a quick mix through. 

BONUS BONUS Fruity Salsa Recipe!!! (WOW!)

1 cup finely diced pineapple (fresh or canned works)
1/2 red onion, finely diced
Handful fresh coriander, finely chopped
A generous sprinkle of cracked black pepper
A sneaky squeeze of fresh lime juice

1. In a small bowl, combine all the ingredients listed above. Mix them through well, then use this delicious fruity salsa on top of the easy peasy nachos/taco/burrito mix to take things to the literal next level of tastiness.

Serve as either nachos, tacos or burritos! The options are endless. Go to town. Eat all the food. 

Fully Stuffed Sweet Potatoes.

I'm going to share a little fun fact with you - if you eat large amounts of sweet potato, you will eventually turn a light orange colour. This probably sounds like some kind of hilarious joke to most, but I'm being 100% legitimate. 

See, one day I was sitting down and I looked down at my legs and I thought to myself 'wow, I already have orange hair and I swear that I've now got orange legs too. What. The. Heck.' So, as always in strange and seemingly unexplainable circumstances, I turned to Google, and typed in 'skin colour turning orange' and was gifted with a lovely, albeit rather unexpected explanation from Dr. Google. Apparently this predicament is a legitimate condition - "Carotenemia is a medical term for a condition that causes the skin to turn orange-ish due to increased blood carotene levels. In the vast majority of cases seen, it is associated with large consumption of carotene in the diet; as in too many carrots or sweet potatoes."

This explained everything because I absolutely have an addiction to sweet potato and many would probably say that I consequently have uncharacteristically large consumption of carotene. It probably sounds crazy - who would want to be orange - but what actually happens is that you start to look tanned. As in tanned as though you've just been on a lovely beach holiday in the Caribbean. Because of that I have absolutely no plans to stop eating sweet potatoes because now they not only taste delicious, but they apparently also leave me looking like a beautifully bronzed beach bum. No complaints here!!!!

Ingredients;

3 sweet potatoes, washed

½ red onion, finely diced

¼ cup thinly sliced red cabbage

2 shallots (spring onion), sliced

Handful fresh coriander (cilantro)

Small red chilli, finely diced

 ½ avocado

Cracked black pepper

2 tbsp pure-state tahini OR sweet chilli sauce

½ fresh lime

1.  Preheat your oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Place the potatoes on a lined baking tray and bake for approx. 40 minutes, or until a knife can easily slice through the whole potato (depending on the thickness of the potato, you may need longer than 40 mins).

2. When the potatoes are baked, remove from the oven and slice lengthwise. Then, carefully pull either side apart using a fork so they open up. Use the fork to kind of mash the insides a bit and to make a bit of an opening/whole to put all the fun stuffings in!

3. Stuff the potatoes with the cabbage, shallot, red onion and coriander. Take ½ the avocado and slice into thin pieces using a knife. Lay half on each potato, and garnish with the diced chilli and pepper.

4. Drizzle the tahini/sweet chilli sauce (take your pick!) over each potato along with a squeeze of fresh lime and serve immediately.

Cacao and Peanut Butter Tarts.

I woke up a few days ago and I had the overwhelming, in actual fact all consuming, need to make tarts. Don't ask me why or how, I just got up one morning and it felt that it was imperative that I make tarts that day. But I found myself with a bit of a conflict because I couldn't decide if I wanted vanilla and orange tarts or chocolate and peanut butter ones. So, I asked some friends, who very surprisingly unanimously said I should make orange and vanilla ones. But I'm that person who asks for advice and inevitably does the precise opposite, which in this case turned out perfectly because these delicious morsels came into existence.

I am a long-term fan of the entire Mayver's range. I've always loved peanut butter, but the Mayver's peanut butter is by far my all time favourite and one of my kitchen staples. I can't actually recall the last day in my life in which I did not eat some, which should give some kind of indication of how addicted I am to the PB. I've taken it upon myself to experiment with the Mayver's range lately and try some of their products that I haven't used before. This is by no means a sponsored post, Mayver's actually have no idea I'm even doing this, I purchased all the products and ingredients myself and my opinion is 100% my own unbiased appraisal of the product. Let me say this; YOU GOTTA GO AND GET YOURSELF SOME MAYVER'S PEOPLE. THIS STUFF IS THE ACTUAL GOODS. If you're in Australia, it's available at Woolworths and Coles supermarkets and if you're not in Australia, get on skyscanner.com and book yourself some flights to get here NOW.

As if peanut butter wasn't delicious enough on its own, Mayver's went and put some cacao into it which has taken this spread to the next level. I used the spread as my inspiration, and added a whole heap of healthy foods and these are what I ended up with. In actual fact, not only is the spread the actual next level, but these tarts are just the next level in general. They've got PB and chocolate, they've got some more chocolate, they've got a whole heap of nuts and dates and then they've got some more chocolate on top. They're refined sugar free, oil free, dairy free and delicious. You need these in your life basically.

Ingredients;

The Base
1 cup raw almonds
6 medjool dates
2 tbsp Mayver's Cacao and Peanut Butter (if you are not in Aus, use 2 tbsp pure-state peanut butter and 1 tbsp raw cacao powder)
2 tbsp rice malt syrup

1. Put all the ingredients above into a quality blender and whizz away until you get a sticky mixture without any big chunks of nuts. Some chunks are okay though - they add a good texture to the base.
2. Take some tart moulds (cupcake/muffin tin also works in the absence of tart tins) and line with some baking paper/parchment. Take a spoon and put some of the mixture in each tin. Use your fingers and/or a spoon to press it down really well into the tin and up the sides so you end up with little cups. Place the tin in the freezer to set while you make the filling.

The Filling
1 1/2 cups raw cashew nuts (soaked in cold water overnight)
4 tbsp raw cacao powder
3/4 cup coyo (recipe here)
4 tbsp organic maple syrup

60gm dairy and oil free dark chocolate (I used Loving Earth)

1. Drain the cashew nuts. In a clean blender, combine the cashews, cacao, coyo and maple syrup on big speed until the mixture is not at all gritty. The cashews will take a while to blend properly but be persistent and keep blending and scraping down the sides until you have a super smooth and delicious chocolate mixture.
2. Remove the tart tins with the base from the freezer and pour/scoop the filling into each mould. Depending on how thick your coyo was, the mixture may be quite runny or somewhat hold its shape - both are fine because the tarts will be frozen, just be careful not to overfill (it ends up a lil messy!).
3. Place the filled tarts in the freezer overnight in an airtight container to set.
4. When you wish to serve the tarts, remove them from the freezer and set on the bench while you prepare the chocolate.
5. Take a small bowl and melt the chocolate. I did so in the microwave which I think is the quickest/easiest/least messy way to do so, being careful to keep an eye that you don't overheat and burn it!
6. Take a spoon to drizzle the chocolate over the tarts. Because they're frozen, the chocolate will set almost immediately. Serve or enjoy yourself and best of luck in not eating them all at once even though that would be kinda naughty...!