Taco Cups with Sweet Potato Black Bean Cumin Filling

Taco Cups?

It is the first official day of Spring Break in the Caulfield house. So what to cook when the kids are home all day and wanting to be entertained, driven everywhere, and have friends over (sometimes it feels like all at once)? Taco cups of course. I say that very sarcastically because who has ever heard of taco cups? Not me.

I was drooling over two recipes on Pinterest last week: Mexican Sweet Potato Skins by Pinch of Yum and Mini Mexican Pizzas by Dashing Dish. This is sort of a hybrid of the two you could say or just inspired by both. I made the cups from corn masa instead of store bought tortillas and then made several fillings including a sweet potato and back bean one. Now all week we can fill them with whichever topping we want. If we need a protein boost: meat, cheese, and salsa.  If we need more veggies for the day: Mexican Salad. For something well balanced: Sweet Potato Black Bean filling. 

First how to make my taco cups. The Dashing Dish used storebought flour tortillas in a muffin pan, which I know would turn out great, but so is using Masa and I always have some on hand. Whichever way you to choose to do it is great. 

Taco Cups 

1. First I mixed the dough by following the directions for making tortillas on the Masa bag (see below). Make sure it is Masa for making tortillas. Combine corn flour, water and salt. 

2. Roll out a 1 1/2 inch ball of dough with either a tortilla press or a rolling pin. 

3. Oil a muffin pan with a brush or use an oil spray. 

4. Using a round cookie cutter the size of the bottom of the muffin pan bottoms and place in the cups. You can get 3 rounds out of one ball of dough. 

5. Roll out another ball of dough. Cut the pressed circle in half and line the sides of the muffin cup pressing to connect it to the round. 

6. Brush the inside with olive oil. 

7. Bake at 420 until browned. If you take them out and the bottoms are too soft place them upside down on a cookie sheet and bake for a little longer until the bottoms are crisp. 

• Black Bean Cumin Taco Cup Filling

This stuff is so yummy. I used canned Cumin spiced black beans which I really love. I drain and rinse them really well but the beans still hold so much of the cumin flavor. The liquid the beans sit in DOES contain some gluten so if you are highly gluten sensitive or have celiac's disease, then use regular black beans and add some cumin into the recipe. I don't usually use a processed roduct like this but they are so good and I try and rinse away the bad stuff (I hope).

 

• 
  15 oz Canned CUMIN Black Beans rinsed well and dried
• 3 Small Sweet Potato
• 15 oz Canned, Whole Kernel Corn, No Salt Added rinsed and dried
• 3/4 cup Sweet Red Peppers chopped
• 1/2 cup Yellow Onion chopped
• 1 tsp Adobo All Purpose Seasoning
• 2 cloves Garlic Clove
• 1/2 tbsp Olive Oil
  
• 2 garlic cloves minced

Directions

1. Rinse and dry beans and corn. Don't combine.

2. In a medium high skillet add your corn (with OUT oil) and let it roast a little. Sprinkle with 1/2 the Adobo seasing while roasting. Pour in a large bowl. Add rinsed and dried beans to the bowl.

3. Chop your onions and peppers small and sautee on medium high with olive oil and minced garlic until starting to soften but still has a crunch. Season with rest of Adobo seasoning while cooking. Add to the large bowl.

4. Stir and add more seasoning if you wish., If not using cumin beans, add a tsp of ground cumin or cumin seeds.

Cheesy Zucchini Egg Bake

I was going to call this a crustless quiche, but it really isn't very much like a quiche at all.  It's a breakfast casserole and not very different from the Omelet Muffins that I like to make.  This is kind of the lazy version of omelet muffins and also a little easier to wrap for mealpods than the muffins are.  The cheese seems to give this enough fat that it freezes and cooks well from frozen.  It works best if you put the mealpod in the fridge the night before and just pop it in the microwave for breakfast.  

Cheesy Zucchini Egg Bake

Prep Time: 10 min                

Cook Time: 30 minutes             

Yield: 6

INGREDIENTS:

6 eggs

¼ cup heavy whipping cream

¼ cup feta cheese

½ cup Parmesan cheese, grated

½ cup shredded mozzarella

¼ cup tsp garlic powder

½ tsp parsley

½ cup onion, diced

2 cups zucchini, shredded

Paprika

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350˚

Grate Parmesan cheese, zucchini and dice onions

Whip eggs in a bowl and add remaining ingredients, except Paprika

Grease 11 x 7 glass casserole dish with butter and pour egg mixture into dish, 

sprinkle the top with paprika

Bake for 25/30 minutes or until knife inserted into the center comes out clean

Once cool, slice into 6 square mealpods and freeze.

Nutrition:  238 calories, 17g fat, 450g sodium, 4G carb, .5g fiber, 17g protein

nutrition information estimated at Livestrong.com:

http://www.livestrong.com/recipes/cheesy-zucchini-egg-bake/

 

Need to get some more veggies in? This stew has a bunch!  Sweet potatoes, green beans, baby spinach, carrots, tomatoes, coconut milk and curry powder - need I say more? Oh and chickpeas - I say this last because Sis doesn't like them but I LOVE chickpeas. 

It is warm here in New Hamphire this week like most places in the US, so I decided to crock pot the Mealpods.  This recipe was so quick and easy and then a whole bunch of wait while it was simmering, but it is worth it. 

Vegetable Curried Stew

Ingredients

• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 medium onion chopped into large chunks
• 2 cloves garlic minced 
• 1 1/2 cup baby carrots
• 1 1/2 cup frozen green beans (rinsed and dried)
• 2 small sweet potatoes peeled and chopped 
• 2 cans chickpeas rinsed
• 2 cans diced tomatoes
• 2 cans lite coconut milk
• 1 cup (or more if you like) vegetable broth
• 1 tbs curry powder
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 3 cups baby spinach

Instructions

1. Turn your crockpot on high and add 1 tbs olive oil. Add garlic and onions and put the lid on while you get everything else chopped.
2. Chop your carrots, green beans, yams and add to the crockpot. Add in the rest of the ingredients making sure to drain the tomatoes and rinse the chickpeas.
3. Cook on high for about 6 hours or until the potatoes are soft.
4. Add in the spinach. Let it wilt, then serve.
5. I like this even better the second day and will be keeping it in the fridge all week for lunches and snacking.