Category Archives: Mexican

Whole Food Plant-Based Mexican Recipes

Mexican Rice

rice and beans
Most Mexican restaurant entree’s include rice and beans. The rice is a quintessential side dish which uses tomatoes and various herbs (garlic, cumin, cilantro) to lightly season the rice. Sometime, however, the rice includes jalapeno and can be quite spicy.

In our house Mexican rice is a more robust dish. We use herbs and spices liberally and it is much more than a side dish. We use it for breakfast rice and eggs, we add black or pinto beans and use it as an entree, we stuff it into green peppers and have been known to just sit down and eat it all by its self.

My grandkids asked me for my recipe recently and I realized I had never written down. I promised to do it. So Lauren and Kaitlyn, this is for you! (more…)

by Genene Cote Posted on June 25, 2015
Posted in additive-free food, diary-free food, gluten-free food, Mexican, plant based diet, rice, Whole Food Plant-Based nutrition | Leave a comment

Amy’s Kitchen – Healthy Prepared Vegan and Gluten Free Food

We are packing away. It is amazing how much junk you can accumulate in a couple of years. The hardest part is making decisions – what to do about those little but useful items. For example all the special use kitchen items, the myriad little items hidden away in cabinets and drawers or the box of hooks, picture hangers and rug grippers. None of them are particularly expensive or irreplaceable. It just cost money and time to replace them. To keep or not to keep? My rule of thumb is that if I haven’t used it since we moved here 2 years ago, out it goes either for a yard sale or donation. But there are still a lot of “iffy” items. This part drives me nuts!! Which means all I want to do is eat! amy tamaleThat is the long way of saying that we are either too busy or too tired to think much about cooking. Terrible, when you a chronically hungry (something called stress eating). Interestingly, this time out, I am finding it important to not eat junk. So, last Thursday we took a little trip to the local health food store to see if we could find something prepared that would work. (more…)

by Genene Cote Posted on April 29, 2013
Posted in additive-free food, diary-free food, entrée, gluten-free food, Italian, Mexican, plant based diet, vegan, vegetarian, Whole Food Plant-Based nutrition | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Flavoring Whole Food Plant-based Diet

Taste is a funny thing; part biology  part learned and always infused with expectations. We expect certain flavors to meld. An expectation many cooks fail to meet! A great example is in an interview excerpt shown in Forks Over Knives, The Extended Interviews.  In it Doug Lisle tells a story about trying to get his father to switch to a whole food plant-based diet. After one meal, his Father stated that if he had to eat like that for the rest of his life he would rather die of a heart attack.  I just started laughing! Not exactly funny, but very often a too common story. Some of worst tasting food ever created is passed off as vegetarian, vegan or  “healthy!” Lots of people, for good reason, think healthy food and think bland, tasteless and/or ill-conceived.

stuffed peppers

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by Genene Cote Posted on December 11, 2012
Posted in additive-free food, fresh veggies, kitchen basics, Mexican, vegan, vegetarian | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Butternut Squash Tostada

Butternut SquashLast week I met my friend Susan in my old neighborhood. When we were trying to figure out a restaurant, she suggested Real Food Daily. The restaurant is literally a block and a half from my old condo so it was easy for me to find.

This is a true plant-based whole food diet restaurant! The menu is an intriguing mix of plant-based food (vegan), local and organic dishes. The thing I appreciated most about the menu was there was no guessing about content. The selections were all marked for easy reference:  Soy-Free, Gluten-Free and Nut Free. The only problem was making a decision. I am not used to having that many selections on a menu. As a vegetarian I usually have 3 or 4 choices so making a decision is simple. (more…)

by Genene Cote Posted on November 24, 2012
Posted in additive-free food, diary-free food, gluten-free food, Mexican, plant based diet, vegan, vegetarian | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Home Again! And Tacos in a Hurry!

imageWe had a great time in New Orleans, but were very glad to get home. No place like it!

We got in late, tired and very hungry – bad combination! The fridge was bare and all the frozen entrees would take at least 20 minutes to thaw.  Fortunately we have canned food in the pantry and a garden to raid. (more…)

by Genene Cote Posted on September 17, 2012
Posted in Beans, Cote Home Grown Fare, fresh veggies, gluten-free food, Mexican, Protein, vegan, vegetarian | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

EASY Killer Chili

We very often have chili is our fridge. It heats quickly, is satisfying and full of protein. We eat it as traditional chili in a bowl topped with extra onions (and cheese), over rice or with cornbread.  We use it in our breakfast “omelets,” or as a mid-afternoon snack.  For me, there is nothing more comforting on a cold rainy night than a big bowl of piping hot, spicy chili.

Best of all it is a quick and easy dish to make.  From the time I walk into the kitchen until I have cleaned up and am ready to leave is about 20 minutes.  Admittedly, the cooking takes hours, but not prep. And finally, the smell of the cooking chili is it’s own special treat! (more…)

by Genene Cote Posted on August 14, 2012
Posted in Beans, Mexican, vegan, vegetarian, Whole Food Plant-Based recipes | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment