Vegan Enchiladas

These vegan enchiladas are over the top delicious! Stuffed with black beans and guacamole, they’re doused in a zesty homemade red enchilada sauce. WOW is all we can say about this vegan enchiladas recipe! It tops the charts (with our vegan lasagna and shepherd’s pie) as one of our most crowd-pleasing plant based recipes…ever. Tortillas are wrapped around a veggie filling oozing with flavor, and it’s all doused in a zesty homemade enchilada sauce. With the crunchy veggie topping, this dish looks simply incredible. And it tastes even better than it looks! Alex and my goal was a whole food plant based (WFPB) enchiladas recipe with no cheese substitutes or need for vegan cheese. With a few tasty tricks, it turned out even better than expected! Here’s how to make it. What’s in the best vegan enchiladas? Don’t let these vegan enchiladas fool you: they’ll satisfy people of all diets! They’re packed with zingy flavor and full of nutrients. Even better, there’s a lazy version and a version for when you have lots of time. Here’s what’s in these enchiladas (can you see it peeking out?): Veggie filling: The tasty filling features black beans, red onion, bell pepper, and portobello […]

A Couple Cooks - Healthy, Whole Food, & Vegetarian Recipes

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Roasted Black Beans

Roasted black beans are the best easy healthy snack! Crunchy and spiced with cumin and garlic, they’re plant based…and hard to stop eating. You know crispy roasted chickpeas? These crunchy salty bits have become popular as a healthy snack, and they’re now sold packaged at stores and airports alike. So why not try the same idea with black beans? Meet our new very favorite snack: roasted black beans! Make up a big batch and you will fall in love with this irresistible crunchy plant-based snack. Alex and I can’t stop eating them…and neither can our 3 year old Larson. The might not be the most photogentic snack (just what are those?), but they’re absolutely delicious. Crispy roasted black beans: an easy healthy snack! Why make crispy roasted black beans? So many reasons. Isn’t it hard to find easy and healthy snacks? Alex and I often opt for roasted salted nuts and dried fruit, but sometimes that gets a little boring. (Truth.) We are big salty snack people over here, so salty snacks that are healthy too? Perfection. Here’s why you should add these to your repertoire: They’re healthy, vegan and gluten free. Made simply with olive oil, black beans and […]

A Couple Cooks - Healthy, Whole Food, & Vegetarian Recipes

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Mac and Kim-Cheese

What do you get when you mix tangy, spicy Korean kimchi into an ultra creamy, white cheddar mac and cheese? A downright delicious dinner, that’s what!

Mac ‘n cheese aficionados: this one’s for you! Quite possibly the creamiest mac and cheese EVER (thanks to a super secret sciency ingredient), we’ve added spicy kimchi for a unique take on a comfort food classic.

Kimchi mac and cheese.

Mac and kim-cheese.

Get it?

I crack myself up sometimes.

But this pun-derful recipe is more than just a clever name. While it may have originated there, when we made our first test batch we were blown away by the combination of tangy, spicy kimchi and creamy white cheddar cheese. It’s simply unreal.

That said, this recipe did not come together easily.

I have a thing about texture, and especially when it comes to mac ‘n cheese, the texture is paramount to my ultimate enjoyment.

Most mac ‘n cheese recipes start out with a flour roux; this is how I’ve always made it (and indeed my past mac ‘n cheese recipes have done just that) but for whatever reason this time I just wasn’t satisfied.

Roux-based cheese sauces have a tendency to get somewhat pasty, a texture that really isn’t ideal when you’re craving an ultra creamy mac ‘n cheese.

I tried changing proportions of flour and cheese. I tried different kinds of cheeses. I compared baked vs stovetop versions. Either I’d have a thick cheese sauce that maybe stayed creamy for 5 minutes before going pasty, or a thin and watery one; there was no perfectly creamy middle ground.

Then I discovered a secret ingredient that is nothing short of magic.

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Simple Guacamole

Here’s the best simple guacamole with the perfect flavor! Creamy, savory and perfectly balanced, you’ll hear a chorus of “Wow’s” every time you serve it. Guacamole is like potato salad and coleslaw: everyone has their family favorite recipe. And this simple guacamole is ours. It’s a home run every time! When we serve it, a chorus of “Wow’s” fill the room. (Really. Not hyperbole!) What makes it so great? It’s classic and has the perfect balanced flavor: perfectly savory, creamy, and tangy. Serve it up with tortilla chips and your guests — and you — won’t be able to stop eating it. What’s in the best simple guacamole? Alex created this easy guacamole recipe and man is it good! One of our favorite Mexican restaurants in town closed (sadly), and they had the best guacamole on the planet. This one reminds me of theirs! It’s just the right balance of flavors. Here’s what you need for this simple guacamole: 3 ripe avocados: The avocados must give when you squeeze them. If they’re firm, don’t even consider using them here! White onion: White onion has the most authentic Mexican flavor Ripe roma tomato: Again, make sure it’s fresh and ripe! Cilantro: […]

A Couple Cooks - Healthy, Whole Food, & Vegetarian Recipes

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Chili Baked Potatoes

This easy chili baked potato recipe works for weeknights or family dinners for a crowd! This trick lets you cook the potatoes in half the time. What’s for dinner? Yes, it’s a struggle for all of us! Alex and I have found it’s especially difficult when feeding a crowd. But here’s a solution that’s a perfect dinner for a crowd: chili baked potatoes! Bake up some potatoes, top them with chili and all the fixin’s, and it’s an easy dinner everyone can enjoy. Chili is a hearty match for fluffy potatoes, and really: who doesn’t love a baked potato bar with all those fun toppings? This recipe is gluten-free and vegan, so it fits a variety of diets around the table. Here’s how we make them: with our trick for baking the potatoes quickly! How to make chili baked potatoes Chili baked potatoes is a truly easy concept: make chili, bake potatoes, serve! It’s a great option for entertaining, like a big family dinner. Alex and I served this to a group of 12 people for a dinner party, and it went over very well! Everyone loved the toppings, and it made our pot of chili feed more people! Here […]

A Couple Cooks - Healthy, Whole Food, & Vegetarian Recipes

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Pecan & Veggie Mini Frittatas

These easy mini frittatas are just what you need for a quick nutritious breakfast or lunch! Filled with pecans and veggies, make them ahead to grab and go. This post was created in partnership with the American Pecan Council. All opinions are our own.  Looking for nutritious breakfast or lunch ideas? Aren’t we all. Many readers have been asking us for quick nutritious recipes for busy mornings and office desk lunches. So Alex and I put our heads together and came up with a new trick: mini frittatas! Basically a muffin made of egg, they’re easy to meal prep and grab as you’re headed out the door. Refrigerate or freeze ’em, and you can eat off them all week. The best part: they’re so tasty! They’re filled with colorful veggies and crunchy pecans for added protein and nutrients. Why make mini frittatas? So many reasons. What’s so great about these pecan mini frittatas? Alex and I had never made them before, but they’re now part of our easy breakfast and lunch recipe staples! They’d also work for a fancy brunch. When you’re hangry, they’re the perfect snack. (Or to satisfy a cranky child…or spouse. You get it!) Some great things about […]

A Couple Cooks - Healthy, Whole Food, & Vegetarian Recipes

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Black Sesame-Stuffed Matcha Sugar Cookies

Ultra soft matcha infused sugar cookies with an unexpected surprise inside: a pocket of sweetened black sesame paste for a savory richness that you’ll absolutely adore.

The black sesame proves to be a perfect foil to the saccharine sweetness of the sugar cookie: it’s nutty and sweet, but also slightly savory at the same time (and the result is downright amazing.)

This isn’t the first time I’ve combined matcha and black sesame.

And it most certainly won’t be the last. 😉

I mean, these two ingredients were made for each other, united with a bit of sugar into a practically perfect union. The subtle grassiness of the matcha and the roasted nuttiness of the black sesame is a unique flavor combination that is sure to raise some eyebrows, but trust me on this one: it works.

I played around with a few different filling options before settling on black sesame, including raspberry jam and a raspberry cream cheese filling, plain white chocolate, as well as 3 different black sesame mixtures.

While the raspberry jam filling was quite tasty (I didn’t care for the cream cheese), I ultimately felt the raspberry was too strong a flavor that overpowered the matcha.

The black sesame, on the other hand, complemented the matcha perfectly without overpowering it. Perfection!

(The white chocolate was probably my second favorite but considering I already did that in a stuffed chocolate cookie I decided I needed some variety).

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