Kitchen Clean Out = Beans & Rice

Spring-cleaning has still got a hold of me! The past few days I have been throwing clutter away (which is really, really hard for me) and reorganizing the whole apartment. Part of my reorganization plan is cleaning out the kitchen cabinets/fridge and using up items that I know are getting a bit old.
On my last trip to Tampa, my Dad shared his pillow-sized sack of jasmine rice with us, so I needed to use my old supply. We also have way too many dried beans (if there is such a thing) and so I decided to make plain old black beans with rice, with a side of fried plantains and an avocado tomato salad. The beans were cooked in water, garlic, onion, olive oil, dried oregano and sofrito (that has been lurking in my fridge for way too long) for a few hours. The beans weren't nearly as good as my Dad's but they filled me up none the less. The rice wasn't all that. I don't think my (almost always) trusty steamer cooked the rice very well. It was a tad on the al dente side, which is not a good feature in rice. The avocado and tomato salad was simply an avocado, tomato, red onion, red wine vinegar, salt and olive oil. The plantains were perfectly sweet and fried in canola oil. Dessert and side dish all in one!
Since I have been so busy with stuff around the house, this meal not only got rid of a few items in my kitchen but also gave me a much needed energy boost.

Enchilada Casserole

At the beginning of the year, I vowed to eat beans everyday. I was doing well but unfortunately, beans became a weekly thing instead of a daily thing. We all know that beans are an important part of the diet, especially for vegans and vegetarians, so I am trying my best to makes beans an everyday thing again. I had a hankering for a Mexican themed dish so I came up with this enchilada inspired casserole. I fried up small pieces of tofu in a little canola oil until they were very crisp and brown. In a separate pan I sautéed red onion, red bell pepper, corn and black beans with salt, cayenne pepper, chipotle powder, chili powder and a little store bought enchilada sauce. I add the tofu to the bean mixture and combined. In a casserole pan, I coated the bottom with a touch of canola oil (to prevent sticking) and put a layer of corn tortillas, then the tofu bean filling, then another layer of corn tortillas and finally I drenched the whole thing with enchilada sauce. I baked the casserole at 375 for about 15 minutes. It didn't "hold up" like I would have liked but it was so good! Once plated, I added chopped Roma tomatoes, green onions and a little tofu sour kream.

Quadruple Bean & Double Corn Pie with Avocado

I'm not gonna lie. This meal was a lot of work. Although it was very tasty, between cooking chickpeas, black beans and dark red kidney beans, prepping the tomato/chili base and making a double corn cornbread, this is not something I will be making all the time. I started by boiling the three beans together in water, garlic and veggie bouillon cubes for about 2- 2 1/2 hours until just tender. I drained the beans and sautéed a sweet onion in a little olive oil along with chipotle and regular chili powders, cumin, paprika, garlic, salt, black pepper and cocoa powder. I added 2 cans of crushed tomatoes, which I further broke down with my immersion blender. I added the three beans into the tomato chili base and swirled in the forth bean component, a can of spicy refried pinto beans. In a separate bowl I made a cornbread topper that had pureed corn, applesauce, canola oil, sugar, all purpose flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt and chopped green onions. Once the chili beans were in a casserole dish, I topped it with the cornbread mixture and baked it at 450 for about 25 minutes. I think I might have dipped into it too soon because the chili beans hadn't thickened up as much as I would have liked and the very center of the cornbread wasn't completely done. While I did have a small plate of this with some sliced avocado, I did end up putting the casserole back in the oven for the cornbread to get completely baked. Not bad, but not worth cooking in a hot kitchen all day!

Black Bean Soup, Fruit Salad

As I mentioned in my last post, I haven't been feeling all that great. I'm congested, have a nasty cough and a bit of a sore throat. Since Saturday, I haven't been too excited about being in the kitchen but wanted to use up some of the produce I got last week. To soothe me, I decided to make a simple and quick Black Bean soup and Fruit Salad for dessert.
The Black Bean Soup had black beans (dried that were soaked over night and cooked), red onion, garlic, oregano, salt, black pepper, chipotle powder and veggie stock. I mashed up the beans with a potato masher and added the veggie stock until it got to a soupy consistency. I topped the soup with quartered cherry tomatoes and avocado that was left over from the sandwiches I made for our picnic this past weekend. Very comforting!

The Fruit Salad was super easy. I just diced up a golden delicious apple and mango and coated them with juice from half a lemon and then threw in the blackberries, blueberries and cut up strawberries. I think fruit based treats are my favorite way to end to any meal.

Happy and Amazed

I went to the farmers market today to stock up on produce and bulk items. I got a TON of food for only about $50. There is no way I could go to any grocery store and get all the beautiful herbs, fruits, veggies and grocery items for $50. In fact it'd probably be double that! I have been to the farmers market probably a hundred times by now and I am still amazed by this place! I get such quality and quantity for so cheap.
Starting with these beautiful herbs, I got a huge bunch of basil, a big bunch of parsley and a small bunch of cilantro for $3. I have already washed and bagged the herbs and I got about 4 packed cups of basil. WOW! I am making pesto with it for veggie sandwiches tomorrow and I am going to freeze the rest for future use.

I have been eating a lot of fruit lately because some of my favorites have been the cheapest they've been in a while. Today I restocked our apple supply (not all pictured) with Empire, Gala and Golden Delicious varieties. I also got blueberries (2 packages), strawberries, blackberries, bananas and a mango. The fruit cost $17 but I did buy a lot of apples since they were 20% off.

Jared and I cook a lot on the weekends, so most of these veggies will be used by Monday. We tend to do a lot of veggie plates, sandwiches and pasta or bean dishes on the weekends. Today I got zucchini, broccoli, ginger, asparagus, carrots, avocados, cherry tomatoes, shallots, garlic, green onions, kale and a green bell pepper. All of these veggies came out to be $13.

Lastly, I picked up a few pantry/fridge items including locally made tofu, tempeh, tofu crumbles, soy milk, sesame oil, organic whole wheat pastry flour, organic spelt flour, organic whole rye flour and organic dried black beans. This all came out to be $18. I see tofu crumble tacos with black beans and brown rice in our future.

a lower fat hummus: southwest meets mid-east

I love hummus. Unfortunately, hummus can be very fattening from the chickpeas themselves, tahini and olive oil. In the past, to the cut fat I would use the bean cooking liquid but still used tahini and olive oil. This time around I decided to not use olive oil at all and only use a little tahini and a lot more of the bean cooking liquid. To make up for the missing fat, I had to pump up the flavors from the add ins.
What resulted was a Smoky Chili Lime Hummus.
I cooked 1 cup of dried chickpeas that I soaked over night, with garlic salt and 3 bay leaves for about 2 hours (this gives around 2 cups of cooked chickpeas). I drained the chickpeas and reserved the cooking liquid. I added to the chickpeas, the juice of one big lime, about 1 tablespoon of tahini, a dash of cumin, a couple heavy dashes of chipotle powder, a dash of regular chili powder, 1 garlic clove and sea salt. I used my immersion blender to get a very smooth consistency, adding the reserved cooking liquid as needed until it got to the consistency and texture that I like in a hummus. I topped the hummus with lime zest and sweet paprika. This hummus inspired snack turned out bright, smoky and spicy. If I make this again, I might add a little chopped cilantro on top (just a little though, a little goes a long way).
I divided this batch of hummus into 8 servings, each serving has about 110 calories and 2 grams of fat, and 4 grams of fiber and 5 grams of protein. I ate this for lunch with cauliflower florets and carrots sticks and I didn't missed all the fat.

Tofu Scramble, Po' Boy, Beanballs and Lemon Squares

We had lots of yummy food today. We started off with a scramble with soy sauce-marinated tofu, fingerling potatoes, red pepper, onions, and fresh herbs.

Then, one of the best things I have had in a while. The Chile Cornmeal-Crusted Tofu Po' Boy from V-con. Holy crap was this good. It was a bit labor intensive but well worth it. We made a tartar sauce to go with the fried tofu, cole slaw and pickles.

Bonus pic of the endless sandwich.

For din din, we made some Spaghetti & Beanballs, also from V-con. Lori helped out with these quite a bit. We just made the beanballs and used a jarred sauce. Ours turned out a bit mushy, but they were still delicious. I think we will bake them next time instead of frying.

I made desert, too. Once again, from V-con (I love that book, btw), we had the Lemon Bars. Lori just walked by and said how good they were as I writing this. And she is right; they were super good.

I <3 the Farmers Market

I think I am seriously in love with the The DeKalb Farmers Market. It is a warehouse sized building packed to the brim with loads of wonderful things. They do carry meats, fish and dairy BUT they also carry a huge selection of soy milks/yogurts/margarines, faux meats, organic produce, loads of international foods and the name brand grocery items you'd find at Whole Foods for way cheaper. Basically, it’s my version of heaven (you know, when you take away the non-vegan stuff). They also have several kinds of nut butter machines (such as cashew, almond and peanut), a very lovely cut flower section, fresh coffee, a deli with olives and various pickled items, a bakery with lots of vegan breads/muffins/bagels and a wine/beer section with quite a few organic choices. One thing I really, really love about this Farmers Market is the bulk items they have. Think of just about any dried fruit, nut, seed, spice, grain, bean or snack you'd like and they have it already bagged and reasonably priced (and most of the time organic). Another cool thing is that they have a HUGE recycle center in the parking lot so I always bring my recyclables and drop them off before shopping! So, if you are ever in Atlanta, this is a must go to place. The best time to go is in the mornings or the afternoons during the week (the weekends are PACKED). Oh yeah, and they have a fantastic cold salad bar and hot bar with lots of vegan items for lunch and dinner (open 11 a.m til 8 p.m.) but a lot of people go there during lunch. I had lunch there at about 1 p.m. today and it was still full of people on their lunch breaks. I got a plate full of salad and some tofu from the hot bar and it was under $3! Now on to the groceries!
The veggie items I got included white creamer potatoes (20% off), fresh herb packet with rosemary, thyme and sage, cauliflower, zucchini, green onions, an English cucumber, garlic, shallots, a red onion, daikon radishes, Roma tomatoes, asparagus (really cheap!) and carrots. All of the veggies were about $15 and mostly organic!

The fruits included organic bananas, Granny Smith apples, Empire apples, Gala apples, Fortune apples, a lime and a few lemons. All of these fruits added up to about $7 (all the apples were discounted by 20%).

Finally, the bulk/grocery items included organic pearled barley, organic dried kidney beans, organic almonds, nutritional yeast, Herbes de Provence (for 68 cents!), garlic salt, red Thai curry paste, organic canned whole peeled tomatoes, organic canned tomato sauce, organic canned diced tomatoes, dried cranberries and organic dried garbanzo beans. This stuff was the priciest coming in at around $25 but most of these items will last a very long time.

As you can tell, today's trip to the Farmers Market was basically to restock my pantry, counter tops and fridge. I think I did pretty good coming in at around $50 and I got to have a delicious meal before I shopped.

back from sunny Florida

Well, it was a whirlwind trip. I managed to see about 15 family members and most of my old co-workers (which is a LOT) in seven days time. It was fun but I'm glad I am back in Atlanta with Jared, Sweetpea, Peeny and the colder weather.
First things first: I got to meet my new nephew Gabriel. He is a cuddle bug! He's winking at you.

I got to hang with my dad watching cooking shows, talking about, making and eating food. Always fun!

I managed to still eat beans everyday while on vacation.
My dad made this white bean stew which was very tasty.

I also made this very colorful salad with my famous House Dressing.

I did make these naughty cookies for myself and the family:

But I justified a few cookies since I was eating some of my Grammie and Poppie's lovely pink grapefruit from their trees.

picadillo with white rice, avocado tomato black bean and corn salad

Yes, more Spanish food. This time I made some Cuban inspired picadillo with white rice, which is an adaptation of picadillo my step mom makes. I started with sweating a sweet onion and green bell pepper in olive oil. I added tomato sauce, tomato paste, tofu crumbles and a touch of vegan Worcestershire sauce. Once that heated through, I added about a third of a cup of raisins and a couple tablespoons of pimento stuffed green olives . . . YES, I know, two things on my list of foods I dislike but part of my new year's resolutions is to eat more of the foods I think I don't care for. I'm not completely sold on raisins or green olives, but these are traditional ingredients in picadillo and I can't mess with tradition. I also splashed in a bit of red wine vinegar at the last minute.
I decided to make picadillo because my step mom emailed me about a avocado tomato salad she made that she added corn to. I decided, in honor of her picadillo, to also make a version of the salad she emailed me about. My salad started with lime juice, red wine vinegar, black pepper, sea salt and natural sugar, chopped avocado, diced tomatoes and diced sweet onion. I then drained and rinsed a can of black beans and a can of sweet corn and added them to the salad along with a glug or two of olive oil. Perfection!
I plated the dish with the picadillo on white rice and the salad separate, but I decided to mix the picadillo and white rice with the salad and it was even better! THANKS FOR THE IDEA DELIA!

my favorite rice dish: Arroz con Gandules

Growing up, my mom's ex-husband's mother lived with us. She was the cutest, most sweet grandma you could have. She was from Puerto Rico and we of course called her Abuela (Spanish for grandma). There are a handful of people in my life who have helped define how I cook, eat and taste food and she was for sure one of these people. We had beans and rice with plantains just about every night with whatever else we were having. On special occasions (Christmas, Easter, etc.) we had Arroz con Gandules, which is rice with pigeon peas. This is a dish that is simple to make and was very easily veganized. Typically it has some sort of pork product, used mostly for flavor. Instead of pork, I just used extra oil since we all know fat is flavor. You can use canned pigeon peas (gandules) but today I cooked a half-pound of the dried peas for about an hour and a half, drained them and set them aside. In a large pan I heated up 1/4 cup of olive oil and 1/4 cup canola oil with 2 packets of Sazon with Coriander and Annatto (this would be a seasoning blend you should be able to find in the Spanish/Ethnic section of your grocery store). Next, I added 2 1/2 cups of long grain white rice and lightly cooked the rice in the seasoned oil for a few minutes (like you would when you pilaf a rice). I then added 1/2 cup of Sofrito, which is a tomato, green bell pepper, onion and garlic sauce that is used as a base to many Spanish dishes (you can make this homemade, but I used a bottled store bought kind . . . again, you should be able to find in the Spanish/Ethnic section of your grocery store). I also added in about 3/4 of a can of diced tomatoes but ALL of the juice from the diced tomatoes (or you could just use 1 can of tomato sauce and not use any diced tomatoes). I squeezed the tomatoes in my hands before adding them to the pot so there wouldn't be huge chunks of tomatoes in the dish. Next, I added 4 cups of veggie stock, the reserved cooked gandules, 2 tablespoons of pimento stuffed Spanish green olives (left whole), sea salt and black pepper to taste. I stirred the pot once, covered it with a tightly fitted lid and cooked on medium low heat for about 20 minutes. DO NOT STIR THE RICE WHILE IT COOKS. Doing so will make the rice all sticky, starchy and just plan gummy (called "amogollao") Yuck!
There is something magical that only an Abuela can make happen to the bottom of this rice dish which is called "pegao" (a crispy layer of rice that everyone fights for when it is served). It takes a great deal of oil and a watchful eye. I attempted but failed at being able to have "pegao" and I think it was because my heat was to high (cos, it got a bit burnt) . . . Although, I think, I just don't have that special touch my Abuela had.
Not yet any way.

groceries, lentils, almond milk

Today is day three of the elimination diet. Like before, I feel hungry a lot of the time even when I just ate . . . side effect of not eating whatever I want. It is hard to watch cooking shows and I have to leave the room when Jared eats something that I love but is not on my plan. To make sure I do have a lot of options, I stocked up on some groceries. I got raw/blanched almonds, mango, dried lentils, dried pinto beans, quinoa flakes, sunflower oil, peppermint tea, napa cabbage, bananas, watermelon, baby bok choy, sugar snap peas, green grapes, cucumber, pears, sweet potatoes and fresh thyme.

I think the things I have missed most in my cooking have been onions and garlic. I made these lentils today that had carrots, celery, brown lentils, fresh thyme, sea salt, sage, rosemary, oregano and basil, on top of steamed jasmine rice. I think a lot of people would enjoy this dish but I think it would have been a lot tastier with onions.

With the raw/blanched almonds, I made almond milk. With my immersion blender, I ground up a cup of the almonds with about 1/2 cup of filter water until smooth. I then added 2 tsp of maple syrup and a sprinkle of cinnamon along with 4 more cups of filtered water. I strained out the ground almonds through a very fine strainer. I think next time I will leave out the cinnamon, use less water and use a bit more maple syrup.

last splash

Before the holidays start and my sister's baby shower is around the corner, I have decided to do an Elimination Diet for food allergies and intolerances. I have done this once before and it's not a diet really but a systematic way of tracing foods back to chronic body reactions. For years I have had digestive issues and I am once again at a point where it is making me crazy and need to know if food is to blame. Last time I did this, I discovered greens like collards, kale and most lettuces as well as broccoli and cauliflower do not agree with me. Last time I did this I was not a vegan so I am also curious to do this as a vegan. Some common food sources of allergies and intolerances are already out of my diet such as dairy and eggs, but soy, wheat, corn and nuts can be HUGE allergens, so this time I can focus on those.
To get rid of some of the food I cannot eat for the next few weeks, I made some of my favorite things. This plate of food was fingerling potatoes that were first boiled then roasted in olive oil and garlic pieces along with sliced tomatoes, alfalfa sprouts and homemade guacamole. I also made a dressing inspired by the amazing dressing from Soul Vegetarian that has nutritional yeast, soy sauce, water, agave nectar, both fresh and powdered garlic and olive oil. I drizzled the dressing over the tomatoes and potatoes.

I also made cranberry jelly with fresh cranberries, natural sugar and lemon zest. This tasted so good on a toasted English muffin . . . actually it tasted good on everything!

Today I started the first part of the diet, which is a modified whole foods diet. I will still be posting about my food, since I still have a lot of options. For lunch today I had pinto beans that were soaked overnight and cooked in water and sea salt along with a sliced and roasted sweet potato that had olive oil, sea salt and maple syrup. It's kind of refreshing to taste things for what they are.

Adventures in (Mung) Bean Sprouting

When I was a kid, my dad always made various sprouts in our kitchen. I do not recall him making bean sprouts but I do remember him making alfalfa sprouts. I decided to give these a try in my own kitchen. I bought both alfalfa seeds and mung beans to sprout, I decided to 1st make mung bean sprouts.
I bought a cheap kit that came with 3 screen tops (fine, medium and course), a large mouth mason jar and very thorough instructions.
Here is a picture of the screen tops:

I started with a 1/4 cup of mung beans and a very clean mason jar topped with the medium sized screen top.

The mung beans were soaked over night in water (4 to 1 ratio of water to beans).

On day 2, the beans were rinsed twice in lukewarm water and rinsed a 3rd time in cold water. The drained beans were placed on an angle upside down for proper ventilation and drainage . . . otherwise they mold quickly.

On day 3, the beans, beginning to sprout, were once again rinsed twice in lukewarm water and rinsed a 3rd time in cold water. Once again they were placed at an angle upside down.

On the night of day 3, I changed the screen to the course setting and began to rinse away the green hulls, since these are what cause the beans to mold quickly. They were again placed upside down at an angle over night.

This morning I awoke to these lovely sprouts that I rinsed one final time to get most of the green hulls to wash away. I dried them and placed them in a bowl to keep in the fridge.


TIPS:
* The initial soak water should be warm.
* The subsequent rinses should be with lukewarm water and the last rinses should be with cold water. There were a total of 6 rinses a day, 2 luke warm rinses and 1 cold rinse, twice a day (morning and night).
* The ideal sprouting temperature is 65-75 degrees.
* Mung bean sprouts like a dark, warmer temperature. Keep in mind, this is not true for every sprout/bean/seed.
* In addition to mung beans and alfalfa seeds, you can sprout lentils, wheatberries, blackeyed peas, garbanzo beans, peanuts, radish and cabbage sprouts.

pinto stew, biscuits

So, this was probably one of the brownest meals I have ever made but it was very delicious. I broke out the crock pot for this pinto stew. I started with about a half pound of dried pinto beans, 2 carrots, 2 celery stalks and an onion all chopped rather large. I added veggie stock, water, 2 vegan bouillon cubes, whole garlic cloves, sea salt, black pepper, oregano, chipotle powder, chili powder, cumin, a bay leaf and liquid smoke. I added 3 red potatoes and about 3 tbsp of tomato paste later on in the cooking. After about 6 hours on the high setting, this broth was super rich and the beans and veggies tender.

These biscuits came out of Vegan with a Vengeance. They are the Baking Powder Biscuits (pg.26) which were really easy to make. They weren't spectacular on their own (you have to know I grew up on my Grammie's biscuits which are hard to beat) but dipped in the pinto stew they were amazing. I will make these again.