This is one of those meals I make when we haven't been shopping in a week. I always have beans and rotel in stock.

It's simple, really:

Blackbeans + Tomatoes + Green Chilles + Spices = Delicious!

I thought I hated blackbeans for so long, but you know what it is? Some restaurants just don't cook them long enough (or properly) so they're hard.

With this recipe, I can put a big can of black beans on the stove to simmer while I walk away. It gives me a chance to make some rice, fix some veggies or make some tortillas. Once the beans are soft, I add in the rest of the ingredients and it's pretty much done.

I use the following as a guideline but deviate from it often. Sometimes, I add more comino or want to use up some onion and peppers. I just toss them in to saute before I start. Definitely use fresh garlic if you have it on hand. Saute whatever you can before adding the beans and you really can't go wrong.We ate this over rice, covered in hot sauce with some of our vegan flour tortillas.

Did you notice the mountain of fresh tortillas? I changed my flour tortilla recipe completely and it's so much better than the original I posted.Fluffier, bigger, more authentic flour tortillas. You definitely want to make these. They're really easy to roll out too.

Even better than rice, add these blackbeans to your salad!

INGREDIENTS

• 1.5 lb can Black Beans
• 1 1/2 cup Water
• 1 can Original Rotel (or any kind of canned or fresh tomatoes & green chilles)
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Comino
• 1/4 tsp Garlic Powder
• 1 Tbsp Red Wine Vinegar (optional)

(Also optional: garlic, onions, bell peppers for sauteing)

DIRECTIONS

*If you want to saute garlic, onions, any other aromatic veggies do that before adding the beans to the pan)*

1. Pour blackbeans + water into pan on MED heat.
2. Cook for 20 minutes (stirring once or twice)
3. Test 1 or 2 beans. Are the still hard or soft? If soft proceed. If hard, keep cooking.
4. When beans are very soft lower heat to LOW.
5. Add rotel in (or other tomato/green chilli substitute). Drain it unless you want spicier beans.
6. Add in salt, comino, garlic and stir. Taste often and adjust it as you like. Sometimes I like garlicy sometimes we add more cumin. Consider adding your favorite hot sauce as well.
7. Add in the red wine vinegar if you have it on hand.
8. Simmer for 10 minutes and serve.

I'll just reiterate how amazing this is with corn or flour tortillas with veggies or on top of your favorite salad. A squeeze of lime, your favorite hot sauce or a dallop of vegan sour cream would taste amazing with this.

I posted a little tutorial here for making flour tortillas (rolling, cooking & storing) some time back.I liked my original flour tortilla recipe enough but I felt it wasn't perfect. I'm happy to report that I'm back with an all new tortilla recipe that tops the last one in a huge way. These are fluffier, bigger, easier to roll out and so soft. Oh, and very authentic. If you liked my original recipe, you'll love these.

You can mix the dough by hand or mixer.

You'll need:

• some type of roller (or tortilla press)
• comal (griddle)
• tortilla warmer (or ziplock back w/ napkins)

INGREDIENTS

• 5 cups All Purpose Flour
• 2 tsp Baking Powder
• 1 heaping tsp Salt
• 1/2 cup Shortening
• 1 1/2 cups + 2 tbsp Very Hot Water

DIRECTIONS

1. In bowl or mixer: mix flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
2. Add in shortening (or cut it in with your hands) until it's evenly mixed with the other ingredients.
3. Add in water SLOWLY while mixing. Note: You may or may not need all or more of the water depending on where you live.
4. If it seems too dry, add more water. Just play with the dough and knead it into a big fluffy ball.If there are any dry pieces of flour at the bottom of your bowl, you can toss those out.
5. Once you've kneaded your dough, set it aside.
6. Oil a new bowl. Place tortilla dough in the oiled bowl.
7. Lightly oil the top of your dough ball.
8. Completely cover it with a damp towel (not wet. you don't want your dough to get wet.)
9. Allow it to rest, covered, for atleast 20 minutes. The more it rests, the softer and fluffier the tortillas are.

ROLLING OUT THE TORTILLAS

1. Uncover your dough and knead it a bit making sure it isn't too sticky or dry.
2. Portion out your dough into balls. I can make about 16 balls from the dough. Don't make them too small, they need to be able to roll out and maintain some fluffy thickness.
3. Once you have 18 dough balls ready to become tortillas, prepare your work surface.
4. Flour your work surface liberally. Grab a rolling pin and get to work.
5. Grab 1 dough ball, pull the sides of the ball back into itself (gathering it in the back and making a disc)
6. Once you have a nice round disc of dough place it on your surface.
7. roll your rolling pin across the dough vertically. This will make a vertical oval shape.
8. Take your dough, flip it over and turn it clockwise 90 degrees.
9. Lay it down and roll the pin vertically across it again. This should turn your oval more circular.
10. Keep kneading, flipping over and turning the dough until you have ideal tortilla shape and thickness. You want to keep it a bit thick and fluffy. If you roll it super thin, it could end up hard unless your have a tortila press.
11. When you are done with one raw tortilla place it on a plate (covered) and move on until you've rolled out all of your dough.

COOKING THE TORTILLAS ON A COMAL (OR GRIDDLE)

1. Put your comal or griddle on Low-Med Heat
2. Drop your raw tortilla on the griddle. Do not let it burn.
3. Flip it when you see that it makes bubbles. Check the underside often and once it starts browning you can flip it over.
4. Cook on both sides
5. IMPORTANT: when the tortilla is finished cooking you have to place it in a tortilla warmer or zip lock back with napkins inside. I don't have a tortilla warmer so I take a ziplock back, stick 2 napkins inside and place my tortillas between the napkins. I make sure to seal the bag while I'm cooking the other tortillas. This is to keep them soft and pliable. air - exposed tortillas mean tough 'tillas.

I've been making these since I had to use a chair to reach the counter. Add home made tortillas to your rotation.

This is a Mexican food staple. It's simple, hearty, cheap and could feed a small army. Isn't that what Mexican food is about?

There's always enough to share and every bite is tastier than the last. What I love about picadillo (pee-kah-DEE-yoh) is that it isn't an exact science. You can cook it down thick and hearty (perfect to fold up in a tortilla). Or, if you're in the mood for stew, leave it more saucy and pour it in a bowl, maybe over some rice, grab a couple of corn or flour tortillas for scooping and you're set. A perfect weeknight meal! if you have more time, this is the perfect filling for empanaditos (mini empanadas).

So what is picadillo? It's traditionally ground beef (veganized using your favorite vegan crumbles), cooked in a tomato/cumin/garlic sauce with tender diced potatoes and red bell pepper. You can add in carrots, green beans, peas, jalapenos or corn. Other types of picadillo invite green olives or raisins to the party. Doesn't sound too bad. I'm a sucker for family tradition though and this simple version hits home. This is my kind of comfort food! Unfortunately, it's not too photogenic. I've made this 3 times in the past 2 weeks, in hopes of snapping a great picture (ha!). This was the best we could do. It doesn't make us love it any less, though. Sometimes you just pick your battles and share the recipe!

INGREDIENTS

• 1-2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup vegan "beef" crumbles (I use lightlife brand. Any brand is fine. If you use plain TVP make sure you season it a bit before moving forward with other ingredients)
• 1 cup tomato sauce
• 1 cup water (2 cups if you want it more saucy & stew-like)
• 3 large potatoes, peeled & diced
• 1 red bell pepper, diced (green is fine, too)
• 1-1 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2-3 teaspoons ground cumin (comino)
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

DIRECTIONS

To prep: Peel & Dice potatoes. Then, dice bell pepper.

1. Heat oil in a pan over MED heat.
2. Add in vegan crumbles. (if using tvp: season w/ taco seasoning before proceeding.)
3. Brown a bit before adding in tomato sauce. Stir and add in water.
4. Add in diced potatoes and bell pepper.
5. Add salt, cumin and garlic powder.
6. Stir. (Add in 1 cup of green beans, peas, carrots, jalapeno or corn at this time)
7. Cover and simmer on LOW-MED heat until potatoes are completely tender (About 25 minutes)
8. Adjust spices. (I often add more cumin,garlic or salt to taste.)
9. Once potatoes are tender, scoop picadillo into a bowl with rice, inside warm tortillas or filled in savory empanadas!

NOTE: I made a basic version without any added vegetables. The peas were cooked separately and plated under the picadillo for the sake of the picture. Add your vegetables in the picadillo as per the recipe.

Sue, owner of Counter Culture, asked us to take some pictures of her yummy menu items. How could we say no? We love her food and snatch up every opportunity to work together. We're a great styling/photography duo, you know. How delicious do these vegan Philly Seitan and raw Donut Holes look? You're in stitches over the PacMan Caesar salad aren't you? So are we. Here are four of the shots from our last trip to Counter Culture. Enjoy! Thanks Sue!

P.S. If you want us to take pictures of your food for your book/restaurant/website just send us an e-mail. Thanks.

On Oct 29th, Chris took me to our favorite boat rental place. I thought we were having another boatride + picnic date. He went to pickup our boat which was locked up and they couldn't find the key. I couldn't understand why he was so stressed about not having the boat but he quickly suggested walking. We walked down our favorite path on Town Lake.

We came to a spot near the bottom of a bridge when Chris stopped me. Just as I ask why we stopped, I heard a violin! I realized the violinist was playing "Something" by The Beatles when in a confused voice I asked "is that for us?" I looked around and by the time I looked back, there Chris was on one knee. He told me how much he loves me, and thanks God for me every day. He told me that he's always known it was me and that he wants to take care of me. And many other precious words that I'll always remember.

When I said "YES!" (about a million times through the tears) I heard the violinist play "I Will" by The Beatles. Chris walked me over to the waters edge and across the bridge I see "Crystal, will you marry me?" Everyone was clapping for us! The people walking, biking and jogging the trail and even the people on boat tours going under the bridge were ooh-ing and ahh-ing. I'm so blessed and I'm so glad that my best friend likes me too!

Oh! And, if that wasn't enough. On Halloween I turned 23! I got a vegan chocolate tres leches cake. It said "Happy Birthday & Engagement!" Chris gave me my favorite perfume, too. I was on cloud 9! With the over the top romantic proposal to the thoughtful perfume, I told Chris that this birthday "I have no wishes. Instead I'll just give thanks!"

He later told me that my other gift was still at the store and he asked if I wanted to go pick it out. I wanted to just die right there. What more could I ask for? Well, he thoughtfully suggested that he give me a laptop for my birthday so I can get started on wedding planning right away and I won't have to inturrupt his work to borrow his laptop for a few hours a day. He took me out and found me an amazing notebook with windows 7 and I'm positive he's going to be playing with it for quite some time. It's so cool!

So just wanted to say "Yay! I'm engaged to the only person in the world: The guy who I have had a crush on since I was about 15! The one who convinced me to start singing again, showed me compassion to animals and patience for humans (ha), showed me how to really cook, moved to a new city with me where we started with nothing, has taken care of every sniffle and ache and the only person I can look at and be next to for 24 hours a day and still think is the most handsome guy in the universe."

I have the HUGEST crush on him, so I'm really glad he wants to get old with me.