I'm No Chef...

...no matter how hard I try.

This fact was proven yesterday at dinner.

I've never been able to cook beans. Our whole marriage I've tried a handful (or two) of times to cook dried beans. Pinto beans. Lentils. Black beans. Over & over. What happens is it takes at least twice as long as it's supposed to for them to cook for me. Every time I've tried to cook beans, we either eat dinner way late or we just throw something else together & eat what we were supposed to have for dinner, the next day.

Last night was no exception to the rule.

We are striving to eat all whole foods now, so I was determined to make beans work, as they are going to be a major part of our diet.

On the menu for last night was black bean tostadas. I even started dinner 45 minutes before I normally do in an effort to have it done around 6:00 when Dustin would get home. A few minutes before he was supposed to be walking in the door, I checked the black beans... not done. What in the world is going on???

Dustin came in while I was in the kitchen, picked the lid up to look at the beans & asked me about them.
"So what did you do?"

"Well, just as it said. Bring them to a boil & let them simmer for 50minutes.... It's been more like, 90 minutes."

"But you've turned them down, or has it been like this the whole time?"
"Just like that, you know, simmering."
He stuck his finger in the pot, "Babe, this isn't simmering. This is luke warm."

"Huh?"

"Simmering is a low boil."

"Ooohhh... really? I thought it was just--"

"Low?"

Well, uh, yeah... We both got a good laugh at that. Explains the bean problems I've had for the passed 5 years. Wow. Embarrassing.

He told me he wouldn't be sharing that story with anyone... but I'm able to laugh at myself.

Especially since the end result- although an hour late- was absolutely delicious.

Black bean tostadas

Black beans & Mexican brown rice with

Lime cabbage slaw::: raw cabbage & red onions, tossed in olive oil & fresh lime juice, sprinkled with salt & pepper,

on a baked corn tortilla,

Topped with avacado, salsa & sour cream

Farmer's Marker Finds

The passed month or so I've been more intentional about shopping at a local farmer's market here in town. I'm learning how to cook with less meat, more veggies, and veggies that are in season (this is key... and also takes some getting used to). Here in the states we suffer much from INSTANT gratification. I know, I'm quite guilty. But truly, buying what's in season and locally grown is SO much better for us! Tastes better too. Cheaper? Not necessarily. But cheap food is not honest food (I highly recommend every American watching Food, Inc). I truly believe it all goes back to learning how to wait on the Lord, His timing is perfect... even down to the last strawberry.

This week the market was the biggest I've seen so far. More farmer's showed up and there was so much more of a selection! The passed few weeks there really has only been some radishes, green onions, and different green leaf veggies. Now, I'm not complaining, I do love greens. I've always loved salad and a few weeks ago I put together a really tasty salad made up of the things I found at the market. But this week.... YUM!

I called my mom and told her I "hit the farmer's market jackpot"! We came home with green leaf lettuce, radishes, broccoli, cauliflower, baby spinach, strawberries, squash, and sugar snap peas! I am so excited to get cooking this week. We will be eating a lot of salads :) And I'll probably be freezing some strawberries because I still want to go to the fruit and berry patch here in Halls before the season is over.

Then later for dinner I made vegetarian taco salad for the second time. I LOVE this meal. And so does the hubby! I cannot believe I would ever be saying that. Dustin has always been the typical male meat lover. But honestly, I haven't made a meal with meat in the passed week! Even then, I haven't actually bought meat in over a month. We're buying organic meats/ dairy and grass-fed beef now. Which is definitely pricey, but a thousand times healthier. Because of the increase there, we're cutting back on how much of it we buy. Decent trade-off. Dustin is venturing out, willing to try different things, willing do without meat. It's great :) Coming from the girl who was a vegetarian at one point in her life.

Here's the tasty taco salad:

Hubby gave me a funny look when he saw me taking this picture. I assured him, "Baby, if you made something this beautiful that was this tasty, you'd blog about it too!" ;) I can't take the credit for the recipe though. My go-to place for vegetarian and in-season recipes has been Eating Well.com.

The finished product:

Tomorrow's menu: veggie pizzas.