Recipe: Fiesta Vegan Bean Salad

Do you ever have one of those days where you just don't feel like cooking...but you don't want to go anywhere to get food, either? Yeah. That happens to me sometimes. Last week I was trying to use us some food in my house and after doing a quick scan of my cupboards, I decided to google the various ingredients I had on hand to see if I could find anything that sounded good to me.

And so I found the Fiesta Bean Salad. I liked the sounds of the recipe and had most of the ingredients it called for, but I decided to jazz it up a little to take it from a side dish to an entree.

Fiesta Vegan Bean Salad

Ingredients:

• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 tbsp fresh lime juice
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive
• 1 tsp cumin
• pinch crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 15 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
• I cup fresh or defrosted corn
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1/4 cup minced red onion, finely diced
• 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
• 1 medium avocado, diced
• 2 or 3 Gardein Scallopini cutlets cooked and cut into bite sized pieces

Method:

1. In a large bowl, combine the garlic, lime juice, oil, cumin, crushed red pepper, and salt.
2. Add the black beans, corn, tomato, Gardein, onion and cilantro; mix well. 
3. When ready to eat, gently mix in avocado and serve right away.

I can't take credit for making this tasty dinner. My boyfriend did everything but add the corn and the fake chicken. The recipe came together really quickly and was pretty tasty. Think Chipotle rice bowl minus the rice and with some protein. I think this would be a great dinner to have on a hot night when you don't feel like cooking...or would make a great side dish at a picnic. (probably minus the avocados  though...they turned brown pretty quickly)

Lean Cuisine's New Veggie Cuisine - Featuring Gardein

Oh, happy day!  Gardein - my absolute favorite meat substitute - is now available in select Lean Cuisine entrees.  Dubbed "Lean Cuisine Veggie Cuisine," these vegetarian microwaveable entrees (not vegan, sorry folks - maybe they'll add a vegan one down the line if these sell well) feature nice little slices of Gardein along with what you'd typically find in a Lean cuisine - pasta, rice, etc. 

As soon as I saw a random tweet about this new product line, I ran to my local grocery store.  One that doesn't sell Gardein, but does sell every kind of Lean Cuisine known to man.  I wasn't really expecting to find these new entrees there, but I found all 4 of them - Roasted Red Pepper Fettuccini (pictured, post microwaving), Indian Style Masala, Enchilada Rojo, and Tuscan Style Vegetable Lasagna. 

Feeling lazy and needing something to blog about (ahem), I decided to have the Red Pepper Fettuccini entree for dinner.  I'm picky about my frozen entrees (I'm pretty sure I've tried all of the vegetarian and vegan ones on the market - everything from Amy's to Candle Cafe and everything in between), and to be honest, I had lowered expectations for this one.  I find that Lean Cuisine zucchini tends to get mush-tastic in the microwave.  And sadly, that was the case with this meal.  Great flavor - the Gardein was a nice touch - more like an afterthought than the center of the meal - but the veggies were a little mushy.  But in a pinch, this would be a great quick meal with a decent amount of protein and veggies.

I plan on trying the remaining Veggie Cuisine entrees this week...more to come on that.  Have you tried them yet?  Or more importantly, do you love Gardein as much as I do? 

The best fake chicken I've ever eaten - Gardein Chick'n Scallopini

I was first introduced to the deliciousness of Gardein fake meat products when I was in LA in 2008.  My friend decided to take me to Veggie Grill (best fast food type vegetarian restaurant in the nation - hands down) in El Segundo, where I had the best fake chicken sandwich.  Ever.  (or at least what I thought was the best chicken sandwich ever - I was in LA a couple weeks ago and tried a fried chick'n sandwich...amazing!)

Ever since that glorious evening, I've been not so patiently waiting for Gardein products to be sold in a store near me.  (Whole Foods, I love you...but you're so slow to get new products!)  During my weekly trek to Whole Foods (in a snow storm, no less) I was SO excited to see Gardein Chick'n Scallopini in the frozen section.

 

And what did I discover once I bit into one of these lightly seasoned, still ok if you microwave them and not bake them beauties?  They're the same kind of chick'n patties my beloved Veggie Grill uses!  Or at least incredibly similar.  And freakishly good.  This is now my absolute favorite frozen fake meat product.  With only 90 calories per decent sized cutlet with only 2 grams of fat, I could probably eat these daily.  Heck, after eating one, I could have eaten the other three cutlets that come in the bag because it was THAT good.  

It's so exciting to see various varieties of meat alternatives pop up...it's a far cry from my childhood when the options were so limited.