Veggie Mexican with Refried Beans

I needed to use up the veggies that were left in the fridge so decided on a veggie Mexican with some of the refried beans that I'd made and frozen. All good!

Veggie Mexican with Refried Beans

After my last foray into the world of refried beans I decided that they were worth the effort but that I would make up a batch of all the beans that were left in the cupboard and then freeze portions rather than make all that effort every time. Part of my batch made it into last night's Mexican with my spiced veggies and quorn and lovely soft flour tortillas.

Veggie Mexican with Refried Beans

Mr VST and I have both read and really enjoyed Chris McDougal's book Born to Run. It's a fantastic book about running, barefoot running and the Tarahumara Indians who live in the Copper Canyons and live a running lifestyle. There diet is very simple and when they go on their 50 mile runs they eat chia seeds, pinole and pinto beans. We were shopping a while back and Mr VST spotted some pinto beans. I think he was hopeful that eating a few beans might turn him into a super-runner without thinking too much about all the running that the Tarahumara do their whole lives.

I hadn't cooked beans from scratch before. It seems like a lot of hard work and it was. The packet says soak them in cold water for 8-10 hours and preferably overnight, which I did. It then says to rinse them, add fresh water, bring them to the boil and boil for ten minutes followed by simmering for an hour. I looked up some healthy refried beans recipes and came across a couple here. I decided to simmer the beans for 50 minutes, then add some crushed garlic, ground cumin, a dash of olive oil and tomato purée and let them simmer for a further 20 minutes before mashing them roughly.

They were surprisingly tasty and went really well in a flour wrap with my usual veggie mix and some salad.

Quorn tortilla stack (Low-calorie version) with baked potato wedges

Mr VST and I really enjoyed the Quorn tortilla stack last time but it was a bit hefty on the calories at 525 per portion. I decided to make it again with fewer calories this time. The recipe says between 4-6 tortillas so I used 4 this time and it says to grate cheese between each layer so I just put some on the top and it still tasted great and nearly 200 calories less per portion at 330 per quarter of the stack.

The potato wedges are from Kurma Dasa's 'Quick Vegetarian Meals'. I love this book. I found it when we were travelling in Australia and staying with Mr VST's cousins who had a copy. It is such a lovely book even if his idea of quick isn't quite the same as everyone else's. The wedges are covered with spray oil and then a mixture of cumin, tumeric, paprika, salt and pepper and baked in the oven for 20 mins.

Veggie Mexican

I've finally managed to motivate myself to get back onto the fitness wagon and started counting my calories again today after I weighed in and realised that I have gained 4lbs over the Christmas period. I've also signed up for a half marathon and started running again. Tuesday's run made me feel as though I was broken, today's was much better thankfully. When I got back I grabbed all the veggies out of the fridge and fried them up with a spray of oil, added some quorn pieces too, some cumin, paprika and chilli powder and a tin of chopped tomatoes and let all the flavours simmer away together while I had a shower.

The result was a tasty, easy to cook low calorie dinner (one wrap with veggies is about 200kcals).

Veggie Mexican

Had veggie Mexican for dinner tonight and then baked and maked some more fudge (a batch of peanut butter fudge and a batch of white chocolate and Bailey's) and a batch of cinnamon mince pies - phew! I'm tired now.

Quorn mince tortilla stack

Thought I'd try a new recipe for meat-free Monday today. I don't know why I feel the need to make extra effort for Mondays as all my days are meat free but I'm sure I've had curry a few times on a Monday (it's so easy!). So tonight I went for a new recipe from my Quorn Kitchen cookbook. Not too difficult to make and surprisingly tasty, its one I'll be making again and it even looked like it did in the book!

It's quite high in calories per portion though which is the only thing that put me off. The recipe says to put cheese in each of the layers and to be honest I don't think it needs it so will try it without next time, just putting some on the top.

Veggie Mexican

Veggie Mexican tonight. So quick and easy to make after my run and delicious and filling too.

Veggie Mexican

There's a great Billy Connolly sketch where he describes a scene in a Mexican restaurant where the waiter has brought out the wrong meal and upon hearing this he folds the food a different way and presents it again!

My veggie Mexican involves veggies and quorn pieces cooked with cumin, paprika and chilli powder and the wrapped in soft flour tortillas with varying degrees of success.

Easy for a quick Monday night dish.









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