What is WIC?

WIC stands for Women, Infants, Children. It is a government nutrition program that babies, children, and pregnant or breastfeeding women may qualify for based on income. Through WIC, participants have available to them a wide variety of nutritious foods completely free!

Why Blog?

If you are anything like me, WIC foods just left me confused and bored. Seven hundred peanut butter sandwiches later, I decided to put my noggin to work to try and come up with a solution for the four pounds of corn tortillas laying to waste in my refrigerator. I figured I can't be the only one with this problem, so I decided to blog about it! Most of these recipes will include SOME non-WIC foods, but anything that you can typically get for free with WIC will have an asterisk (*) by it. If anyone has any ideas they would like me to post, please send them to me via the comment form on the individual blog entry pages!

Remember...

Legally, you can only EAT your WIC foods or THROW THEM AWAY. Legally, you cannot DONATE them to a local shelter or pregnancy care clinic, SHARE them with a friend, or MAKE ART projects out of them....
Showing posts with label beans. Show all posts
Showing posts with label beans. Show all posts

Friday, April 9, 2010

Vegetarian Mexican Lasagna!!

I made this for dinner tonight. Totally winged it as we had a whole boatload of beans to use!! My husband ate it, and that says a lot, as he is a super picky eater! It was delicious, if I may say so myself!

Ingredients:
Corn Tortillas* (6 for a smaller dish, 12 for a large one)
Pinto beans* (prepared according to directions on previous post) i imagine it would also work well with black beans
1/2 Red Bell Pepper*
1/2 Green Bell Pepper*
6-10 bulbs of Green Onions*
3-5 diced tomatoes* (to save time, you can use canned, but it wont be available on WIC)
1 bag of frozen corn*
1 can of green chiles
1 can of enchilada sauce
1 lb of colby jack cheese* grated

1. dice bell pepper, onions, and tomatoes. put into a large bowl with corn and chiles and mix with a large spatula, folding in so that veggies are fairly evenly distributed among the mixture
2. cut tortillas into wide strips (I cut mine into thirds)
3. begin layering your "lasagna" - i started with beans because they are nice and sticky and stay where you put them. from there i built it in this order: tortilla strips, veggies, cheese, enchilada sauce, tortilla strips, beans, cheese
4. cook at 350F for 40-50 minutes

Easy, delicious, and quite economical ;)

Since i only made a half-recipe, i only used about half of my veggies, which means...SOUP day!!! My friends <3 my soup :) my husband, not so much, but he's picky, like i said :) I always make a big batch and give some away!

Seasoning your pinto beans

here's how I made my beans...

ingredients:
dried pinto beans*
garlic*
green onions*
seasoning, herb blend, and black pepper
oh and water of course!

1. soaked them overnight 10-12 hours in enough water to cover plus an inch.
2. rinsed well and add to crock pot with amount of water specified on bag.
3. added a dash or two of an all purpose herb blend, a few sprinkles of salt free seasoning, a handfull of chopped green onions (2 or 3 bulbs, washed and chopped), four garlic cloves, and a couple or few dashes of black pepper. not real specific, as your seasonings will depend on your family's preference.
4. cook on high for 8-10 hours

voila, easy, healthy, and free thanks to WIC!

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Crockpot Vegetarian Tortilla Soup

*a handful of grape tomatoes (or any tomatoes will do)
*3 carrots
*black beans
*brown rice
*cheese - your choice - i used colby jack and cheddar
*1 clove of garlic
*1 green onion
*1.5 bell peppers
chicken broth or vegetable broth - or bouillon cubes - or water!
*frozen corn or fresh corn cut off the cob
*corn tortillas

all amounts are approximate, depending on your preference and how much soup you need to make!

seasonings:
parsley
cumin
chili powder
black pepper
paprika

***if you dont want to invest in a full bottle of cumin or chili powder, a packet of taco seasoning makes a great inexpensive substitute! (but really, you will save money in the long run just buying the seasonings themselves - and also save on strange chemicals - ha - i swear, check the ingredients!)

1. if you are using WIC approved dried beans, you will need to make those ahead of time. do it overnight in your crock pot and they will be ready to go the next day!
2. dice carrots, bell pepper, and green onion - add to beans or broth in the crockpot
3. if you or someone you are cooking for is squeamish about garlic, drop in the whole, peeled clove. otherwise feel free to crush it first.
4. add seasonings - i wasn't too precise here. just season to taste - a sprinkle of parsley, a dash of paprika, a good bit of black pepper. for the chili powder and cumin i used one of my son's baby spoons to measure - two spoonfuls of cumin, four of chili powder
5. cook on high for 2-3 hours
6. add in tomatoes, beans (if not already in), frozen corn, and cooked rice (optional). cook on high for another 2-3 hours.
7. just before serving the soup, cut corn tortillas into strips and lay out on a cookie sheet. bake at 450 for 5-7 minutes making sure not to over-cook.
8. serve this soup topped with shredded cheese and tortilla strips. if you dropped in a whole clove of garlic, remember to fish it out first and hide the evidence ;)



warning about this recipe - if you use regular tomatoes, dice them (obviously). if you use cherry/grape tomatoes, you might want to half them - i left mine whole and got a nice burst of scalding hot tomato seeds/juice on my tongue when i took a bite! oops! what will also work is if you have a can of diced or whole tomatoes or halves. add them a little later on though as they are already cooked, you dont want them to dissolve completely. also i dont think canned produce is covered on WIC?