A few days ago I made a vegetarian dinner from the Weight Watchers Turn Around Program book. It’s called Tex-Mex Mushroom Ragout and this is how it’s made:
Makes 2 Servings:
1 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 lb fresh cremini or white button mushrooms, quartered
1/2 lb fresh portobello mushrooms, stems removed and diced
1 (15oz) can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1 (4.5 oz) can chopped green chiles
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 fresh ground pepper
4 tsp fresh lime juice
In a pan, cook onion until soft, about a minute. Add the garlic and stir constantly for about 20 secs then add the mushrooms. Cook until mushrooms have released their liquid and then reabsorbed it, about 5 mins. Stir in the beans, chiles, spices, and salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer and cook until thickened (I’m not sure what they mean by this because I didn’t notice any “thickening”) for about 15 mins. Serve and squeeze some of the lime juice on top. I sprinkled some shredded Havarti cheese.
It was tasty and flavourful…but not as fantastic as I thought it could be. It’s more of a side dish than as a main meal as the book says it should be. It’s very good because it has lots of protein and fibre but if you’re eating a whole bowl of the stuff, it can be a little boring. Needless to say I didn’t eat a full serving and I put the rest away in a container.
Two days later my little sister came over and she was hungry. “You have food at your place right? I’m reeeeeaaaally hungry.” Unfortunately I hadn’t done any groceries yet and I didn’t have much in my fridge except the leftover ragout. I brought out the container and told my sister to try it but she didn’t seem too keen on it, “Hm, smells spicy…do you have anything else?” Sigh.
1/4 of a jar of Classico pasta sauce
3/4 of a can of diced tomatoes
generous splash of heavy cream
1 1/2 servings of leftover Tex-Mex Ragout
Make 2 servings of whatever pasta you like, I used angel hair. Heat the ragout in a pot along with the tomatoes and pasta sauce, stir. Once it’s heated, add the cream and stir until it’s all blended and heated through. Serve over noodles.
So very yummy! I think I’ll be making more pasta sauces like this one.
