Black Bean Chili with Avocado Mousse {Recipes from Avocado Lovers}

June 18, 2012 By

Quick and Easy Cheap and Healthy: Black Bean Chili with Avocado Mousse We are avocado lovers around here. Well, my boys and I are. My DH doesn’t much care for them (although he enjoys my Chicken Pizza with Avocado Ranch Sauce well enough). But ever since my boys were babies, they’ve been eating avocado straight up like it’s candy. Delicious, wholesome, healthy candy.

I’ve experimented with avocado in baking - still working on that one - and in smoothies (Shamrock Shake, and Choc-Ocado Smoothie), as a pasta sauce, and - naturally - in guacamole. Recently, though, Avocados from Mexico challenged some of us bloggers to create new Mexican-inspired recipes using avocados. My mind naturally goes to guacamole when I think of Mexican avocado dishes, but I wanted to do something a little different. As yummy as guacamole is, and as fun as it is to create different variations of it, I embraced the opportunity to come up with something I’ve never done before.


Avocado Mousse is what I ended up with, although not the typical dessert variety (I’ve had the chocolate one - it’s yummy!). Nope! I went with a savory version, and served it atop some black bean chili. Yum! Black beans and avocado were made for each other, don’t you think?

If you’re an avocado lover, too, you can find a whole treasure trove of avocado inspiration at Recipes from Avocado Lovers. There’s a whole section there devoted to guacamole if that’s your preferred method of avocado delivery, but if you’re a little more adventuresome, you’ll find ideas for Avocado Ice Cream, Baked Eggvocado, Mexican Lasagna, and a whole lot more. You can also upload your own favorite avocado recipes so others can enjoy them, too.

Quick and Easy Cheap and Healthy: Black Bean Chili with Avocado Mousse

Black Bean Chili with Avocado Mousse

Ingredients

Chili:

  • 1 lb black beans (rinsed, soaked, and drained)
  • 5 cups broth (chicken or vegetable)
  • 4-5 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/2 cup chopped onion
  • 1 cup corn
  • 1-2 jalapeno peppers
  • 1 small sweet red pepper
  • 1 TBSP cumin
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 1 tsp chili powder
  • 2-3 bay leaves
  • 1-2 tsp salt

Avocado Mousse:

  • 2 small avocados
  • 1 TBSP lemon juice
  • 1 TBSP fresh cilantro (or a few sprigs)
  • dash salt
  • 1/4 cup plain yogurt or sour cream

Instructions

Chili:

  1. Place the beans and broth in a slow cooker and cook on high for 2-4 hours or until beans are softened.
  2. Add garlic, onions, corn, peppers and spices, and cook for an additional hour or two. Serve topped with avocado mousse.

Avocado Mousse:

  1. Pulse the avocados, lemon juice, cilantro and salt in a food processor or blender (I used my VitaMix on speed 3-4) until smooth and thick. Remove from blender and fold in yogurt or sour cream. Pipe or spoon onto chili before serving.


It’s not exactly QUICK because you have to soak the beans and everything. But the hands on time is minimal. And the avocado mousse is a special touch that takes less than a few minutes.

The slow cooker makes it EASY! So does the VitaMix.

Beans are CHEAP, so they make a great frugal meal anytime! And I found Organic Avocados from Mexico at Trader Joe’s in a package of 4 for less than $4, so they were pretty cheap, too.

Wow, this dish is so HEALTHY! The healthy fats from the avocado and yogurt, combined with the protein and fiber from the beans make it a delicious combination that is really good for you.

Submit a recipe to the Recipes From Avocado Lovers website from Avocados From Mexico

Are you an avocado lover?

 

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Stuffed Shells… With Pumpkin, Naturally!

October 10, 2011 By

Even though I love stuffed shells - Who doesn’t? It’s pasta in a cute little package. - I have never actually made them, not even once in my entire life. I’ve collected quite a few recipes for different variations thereof - chicken, tuna, fish, and more - but I’ve never actually buckled down and really tried one of the recipes.

The only thing holding me back? The shells. I know, silly, right? For one thing, I usually prefer to buy pasta that is whole grain or semi-whole grain, and those varieties don’t usually come in the jumbo shell size. For another, I almost never buy anything at the grocery store unless it’s on sale, and for some reason, jumbo shell pasta never goes on sale. Soooo… I never bought shells, and therefore never made any stuffed shells.

pumpkin stuffed shells

The Secret Recipe Club this month was the impetus I needed to actually get to the store, buy some shells and try a stuffed shell recipe for once! Funny how a deadline will do that for you. I found an amazing recipe for butternut squash and sage cannelloni on my assigned blog, Katherine Martinelli, and knew instantly that it would work perfectly for my October theme of Pumpkins, Spice and Everything Nice.

What does that have to do with shells? Just do a mental leap with me from cannelloni to shells; it’s not really that far of a leap, both shapes of pasta having that desirable stuff-able quality. For one thing, my store didn’t have cannelloni, and for another, I decided to fulfill my lifelong dream of making stuffed shells.

And I did, only I didn’t use butternut squash, I used - and I know this just shocks you - pumpkin! And, um, I didn’t use sage either; I had a bottle of Chinese 5-spice in my cupboard that had been calling my name and seemed like the perfect enhancement for a savory pumpkin dish.

And, Katherine, I really did make your recipe, I swear it! But the adaptations didn’t end there. Since I am currently dairy-free right now, I had to come up with substitutions for the dairy products. What I used:

  • chicken broth instead of heavy cream
  • faux buttermilk instead of sour cream (I would have used plain non-dairy yogurt if I had it on hand)
  • extra-virgin olive oil for the butter
  • rice milk for the whole milk
  • mozzarella for my DH (because that’s what I had) instead of parmesan; no cheese for mine

I call my version of the Bechamel Sauce “Poor Man’s Bechamel”, not because rice milk is any cheaper than regular whole milk - unfortunately, that is not the case! - but because rice milk is a rather poor imitation of the real thing. If you drink cow’s milk, do yourself a favor and use that instead. But if you’re dairy-free for any reason, non-dairy milks make a fair representation of bechamel sauce.

pumpkin stuffed shells


Pumpkin Stuffed Shells with Chinese Five-Spice

adapted from Katherine Martinelli

Ingredients

Pumpkin Filling:

  • 2 small-medium pie pumpkins
  • 1/2 head garlic
  • 1 tsp Chinese Five-Spice Powder
  • 2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
  • 1/2 cup “buttermilk” (milk or non-dairy milk with lemon juice) or plain yogurt or sour cream
  • salt and pepper to taste

Poor Man’s Bechamel:

  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1/4 cup flour
  • 4 cups rice milk
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp Chinese Five Spice Powder

Shells:

  • 6 oz. jumbo shells
  • 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese, optional

Instructions

  1. Use a sharp knife to poke holes in the pumpkin. Microwave for 1 or 2 minutes, and let cool. Using a sharp knife, cut each pumpkin in half; scoop out seeds and pulp. Place cut side down on a baking sheet. Wrap the garlic head in foil and place on the sheet with the pumpkins. Bake at 350F until pumpkin can easily be pierced with a paring knife, and garlic is cooked through, about half an hour.
  2. Scoop out the pumpkin flesh into a large bowl. Squeeze the roasted garlic, one clove at a time, into the bowl. Add Chinese Five-Spice Powder, and stir all together, mashing the pumpkin flesh as necessary until you have the texture you desire. (You can also use a stick blender to puree it.)
  3. Pour the pumpkin mixture into a pot, and stir in the broth and buttermilk or yogurt. Bring to a boil; then simmer until desired thickness and consistency is achieved. Salt and pepper to taste; set aside.
  4. Heat oil in a large deep skillet over medium-low heat; add flour one TBSP at a time, whisking until well blended. Slowly stir in rice milk until it is incorporated. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly and simmer until for about 10-15 minutes. Stir in seasonings.
  5. Cook and drain shells according to package directions.
  6. Spread a thin layer of the bechamel sauce in a 9×13 and a square pan. Place the shells on the sauce. Gently stuff each shell with a spoonful or two of the pumpkin filling. Spoon the remaining bechamel sauce over all the stuffed shells. Bake at 350F for about 20 minutes; add mozzarella cheese if using, and bake for 5 minutes or until cheese is melted and lightly browned.


I absolutely love Katherine’s whole concept of using squash as the filling for the pasta, and my next butternut squash is going to go to making this recipe with her chosen flavors of squash, sage, and nutmeg.

pumpkin stuffed shells

This is not my normal QUICK dinner recipe, which is what I love about the SRC: It forces you to step outside of your comfort zone on occasion and try something new.

It’s also not super EASY, with the multiple steps. Katherine’s cookery is a lot fancier than my usual lazy style, but I also love to have recipes like this for special occasions and guests.

It’s not CHEAP, either, that’s for sure. Like I said, pasta shells are not usually in the budget, and I had to use a whole carton of rice milk for the bechamel. Totally worth it, though!

As far as pasta recipes go, though, it’s pretty HEALTHY with the super-food pumpkin serving as the main component.

Does the Secret Recipe Club Sound like fun? Read more about it here.



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