image via smittenkitchen.com

Before we left on our trip last week, I mentioned I was making these potstickers from smitten kitchen. They turned out amazing! I had planned on freezing some of the half-batch we made, but good thing they’re healthy because between the three of us there weren’t any leftovers. ;)

I won’t post the recipe here, (see the link above) but I will tell you I took the liberty of making a few minor changes. For our vegetable filling, I used a combination of asparagus, leeks, green onion, garlic, tofu and toasted sesame oil. It was AMAZING and was the perfect combination of flavors. I kept eating it right out of the skillet before it even made it to the wrappers! :) I will experiment in the future with whatever is in season.

Also note:

• I crumbled up the tofu into small pieces and cooked that until golden brown, and then added the veggies. I didn’t really add them in a particular order – I just cooked them all for a couple of minutes and finished the mixture off with the toasted sesame oil.
• I also chopped everything pretty finely as the recipe says, but ended up pulsing the mixture in the food processor after it was cooked anyway. I didn’t puree it, but rather made it finely minced. It was easier to fill (and eat) the potstickers that way.
• It was much quicker than I expected to actually fill the potstickers. If you go to the original post, you can see through her pictures a little bit about how it’s done. Basically make sure the edges are wet, and just crimp/fold the edges closed in one direction. I made about 20 and it took me ten or fifteen minutes, tops.

I hope you guys try them! They seem intimidating, but if you buy wrappers (found in the refrigerated section by the produce or tofu) it’s actually more like a 30-minute meal. I served it with leftover asparagus (broiled), rice, and the scallion dipping sauce.

If there’s one thing I excel at as a wife and mother, it’s feeding my family. I seem to have honed a natural talent for finding good recipes. I can’t create recipes, but I sure know how to pick them. ;)

This one didn’t sound incredibly appetizing so I’ve been putting off making it for weeks. But after finally making it last night (with a few tweaks to the original recipe to suit our family’s flavor palate) I realized it tastes almost identical to the veggie rice bowls at Chiptole. We loved it, and I bet you will too.

Chipotle Veggie, Rice & Bean Bowls

• 1 T. olive oil
• ½ medium onion, finely chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, finely chopped
• ½ cup frozen corn
• 1 cup pinto beans (drained and rinsed if using canned)
• 1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce (remove seeds and mince finely)
• 2 tsp. of adobo sauce
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 2 cups brown rice
• Toppings: lime, cilantro, sour cream

While your rice is cooking, heat the olive oil in a nonstick pan. Saute onions until soft and starting to turn golden. Add the chopped bell pepper and cook for a few more minutes until soft. Turn off the heat and add the corn, beans, chipotle pepper and sauce*.

Serve with hot rice. Top with lime juice, chopped cilantro, and a dollop of sour cream if desired.

*The pepper and sauce are quite spicy, but the chipotle flavor is really what makes this dish work. The heat of the pepper is toned WAY down when you remove the seeds. Add a little bit at a time and keep tasting until it’s at a spice level you/your family can handle. The rice and beans really cut the heat as well.