Seasoned Field Pea Nachos

I am excited to be discussing nachos in this weekend's So Many Cooks in the Kitchen show So Many Comfort Foods! - and we are now streaming not just to facebook but also YouTube and twitter. I have a draft of my section of the recipe document and will try to remember to link the whole document here once it is published. In it, I collected and named some references to "cheese" sauces that I have made in the past - bit.ly/veganCheeseSauce1, bit.ly/veganCheeseSauce2, bit.ly/veganCheeseSauce3, bit.ly/veganCheeseSauce4, and bit.ly/veganCheeseSauce5.

I had leftover field peas from yesterday (by the way, I updated my pressure cooking table, available for free download at at bit.ly/DilipPressureCookingNotes, to include field peas) and decided to try a new way of making nachos with seasoned field peas.

The basic approach was to put the cooked field peas in a pan along with chunks of bell pepper, celtuce, broccoli stem (small 1/4" or smaller pieces), and spices (cumin, smoked paprika, garlic powder, and a pinch of salt). I had intended to mix in some red onion at the end but forgot.

I also made a "cheese" sauce by blending 1/4 cup "raw" cashews, a small clove of garlic, between 1/8 and 1/4 cup water, 2T nutritional yeast, 1/2 t garlic powder, a small red bell pepper, 1 t lime juice, and a dash of salt (there was plenty leftover). I made nacho chips by taking tortillas, cutting them into triangles, and air frying them at 350°F and checking them after 3 minutes; they were almost done and another 30-45 seconds got them nicely browned (be careful as they can burn easily).

I served the chips, field peas, cheese sauce, and some salsa. On the side I had fresh tomato and broccoli. 

Results

We all loved the meal! Field peas by themselves can be bland but both yesterday and today we were quite pleased by the way I had prepared them. Nachos don't have to have black beans!

Ideas for the future

I should make nachos more often; made this way they are nutritive and tasty. I look forward to this weekend's show as my talented colleague Mark Cerkvenik is coming immediately after me and making "Pub Nachos"; his dishes always look great and I bet I'll have something to learn about new ways to make nachos.

Experimenting with Chinese Vegetables Sweet Conehead Cabbage and Celtuce (with Field Peas) (No Added Fat)

Kiddo's Vegetable and Chickpea Soup, Cauliflower with Spinach (No Added Fat)

Kiddo is going to be making vegetable soup with chickpeas for this weekend's So Many Kids in the Kitchen program (12:30p on Saturday the 13th, east coast US time - facebook.com/somanycooks) and practiced a batch tonight. It was good! I made a simple side dish of waterlessly cooked cauliflower with spinach, as well as a salad of artichoke, tomato, and olive. It was a filling and tasty meal!

Rainbow Chard and Beet Greens with Sweet Potato, Beet, and Potato, served with Brown Rice with Baby Lima Beans (almost no added fat)

My daughter and I were invited again today to be on a PCRM nutrition class streaming for free to hundreds of people. She is one of the Kids in the Kitchen who do bimonthly cooking and nutrition shows live on facebook. It was fun and, we hope, helpful.

For dinner, I prepared some greens with sweet potato, beet, and potato. I made a simple side dish with brown rice and baby lima beans. 

Late this spring it will be 22 years that I will have known my wife and I am proud that I have never repeated a dinner for her. It doesn't so much reflect on me as it does on how easy it is to be plant-based. There seem to be just so many ways to create tasty, healthy, and nice looking meals from plants!

Today I wanted to cook some root vegetables with greens. I normally like to add some legume or perhaps soy product in my main course but decided instead to simply use frozen baby lima beans and mix them in with brown rice. Incidentally, regarding rice, for years I have been simmering brown rice in a 1 part rice to 2 parts water ratio for about 50m but lately I've been soaking rice, cooking in ample water uncovered, then pouring off excess water and letting it steam, off heat but covered, for a few minutes as I've seen suggested due to possible arsenic in rice.

Here is how I made the main course:

Ingredients

• 2 medium beet roots, scrubbed, skins intact, with very bottoms removed and composted and leaves rinsed and reserved
• 1 medium Russet potato, scrubbed
• 1 sweet potato (I used Japanese sweet potato, my favorite, but any kind is fine), scrubbed
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/8 cup onion cut into approximately 1/4" cubes
• 1 clove garlic, finely (1/8" or smaller) minced
• Bunch of collard greens, rinsed and bottom 1/4" removed and composted, then sliced crosswise with the stem in the middle into 1" strips
• Bunch of beet greens (I used golden beet greens but any beet or even other greens would be fine), rinsed and then carefully atop parchment paper that covered the cutting board (to avoid stains) chopped into approximately 1" squares
• 1/2 t garlic powder
• 1/2 t lemon pepper (or freshly ground black pepper)
• 1/4 t salt (more or less according to preference)
• 1/2 t finely chopped herbs like basil and/or oregano and/or sage (I use a grinder with a mix of dried herbs)
• (optional) 1/8 t smoked paprika
• 1t lemon or lime juice (I used fresh squeezed meyer lemon juice)
• 1 1/4 cups carrot cut into 3/8" slices (3 small-medium carrots)
• (Optional cheese sauce)  1/4 cup water, 3-4 T unprocessed cashews, 4 T nutritional yeast, 1/2 t garlic powder, pinch of salt

Process

1. I put the beet roots, sweet potato, and potato atop a trivet in my Instant Pot pressure cooker and added water (about 1/2 cup or maybe a bit more, but to stay below the level of the trivet), then pressure cooked (the Instant Pot calls this "steam" mode when the food doesn't touch the sides) for 10 minutes.
2. While the pressure cooking was happening, I took the onion and garlic and put into a large Saladmaster stock pan; any good heavy pan would do, but I favor stainless steel. I cooked over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for a few minutes.
3. I added the greens and cooked waterlessly - i.e., I covered the pan and heated it on medium high until the vapor release started jiggling, then I reduced the heat to low till the jiggle stopped. I let it cook for about 10 minutes. (Without such a pan, I could simply have cooked on low heat, covered, and stirred occasionally.)
4. When the pressure cooking was done, I carefully opened the Instant Pot, waiting a few minutes before gently releasing pressure and then opening the pot away from me.
5. After a few minutes when the root vegetables were easier to handle, I roughly chopped the potato and sweet potato into approximately 3/4" cubes and added to the greens.
6. I put the beet under cold running water and easily rubbed the skin off, then chopped (over parchment paper and with a wet paper towel handy) into 1/2" cubes after discarding the very top. I added the beet to the greens.
7. I made the optional "cheese" sauce simply by blending the sauce ingredients and mixed the sauce into the dish.
8. I mixed in the seasonings and lemon juice and served.

 

Results

Dinner was very good. I love what a bit of lemon does to cooked beets. The greens were a good visual and texture backdrop to the root vegetables. The rice and lima beans went well together. The sauce was just a nice subtle flavor to contrast and uplift the other flavors.

Ideas for the future

I should cook with beets more often! I've enjoyed the past week or so with many beet recipes. By the way, I have several beet recipes, like bit.ly/Beets1, bit.ly/Beets2, and bit.ly/Beets3, referenced in our recipes document from the So Many Cooks in the Kitchen show from last weekend on heart-healthy recipes - there are many other recipes from other Cooks, as well as details on handling beets and a nutrition guide from my friend Brenda Davis, RD.

The dish was almost no fat but did have the cashew; each tablespoon of cashew has about 5g of fat, and this main course was more than enough to serve my family of three with some leftovers. The dish would have been fine without the "cheese" sauce but it was a nice addition.

I could have included carrots when cooking the greens as they would add nice color, nutrition, and taste. A bit more onion would also be fine.

Golden Beet and Chickpea with Greens (No Added Fat)

I am excited about our next So Many Cooks in the Kitchen program, this one on Heart Healthy Dishes. I wasn't sure what I'd make as whole food plant-based eating is in general very heart healthy, but I decided to feature beets. I experimented today and love what I came up with. Here is what I did.

Ingredients

• Chickpeas
• EITHER 1 cup dry chickpeas, soaked overnight then drained
• OR 3 cups cooked chickpeas, such as approximately two 14 1/2 ounce cans of prepared chickpeas
• 2 medium beets, washed, peeled, and cut into 1/2" cubes
• 4-5 large kale or chard greens OR all leaves from a bunch of beets, rinsed, stems removed, and roughly hand chopped into small fistfuls of perhaps 4" square
• 2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped/minced into pieces smaller than 1/4"
• Just enough water to cover chickpeas (if starting with dry chickpeas)
• 1 14 1/2 ounce can of diced tomatoes (alternately, use 2 medium tomatoes diced to less than 1/2" cubes)
• 1/2 cup onion cut into 1/2" cubes
• 1/2 t lemon pepper
• 1t dried oregano (I use ground mixed dried herbs)
• 1/2 t turmeric
• 1/4 t salt
• 1T lemon or lime juice

Process

1. If using dry chickpeas, put chickpeas and just enough water to cover them in the Instant Pot pressure cooker
2. Put beets, garlic, greens, and diced tomato into pressure cooker and cooked for 10m
3. After the cooking is done, wait a few minutes and gently released pressure
4. If using precooked/canned chickpeas, mix them in
5. Mix in the onion, spices, and lemon juice

Serve with rice or other grain and a salad.

 

Results

My family enjoyed the meal, as did our neighbors for whom I dropped off some of the main course. I was originally going to go with a white bean but decided to use chickpea - and am glad that I did, as the flavors worked very well together. I wasn't originally going to include diced tomatoes, but they too worked out well for a touch of a contrasting flavor.

Ideas for the future

Beet greens (like I described several times in March 2007) are even more nutrient dense than the roots and I had wanted to integrate them but the beets that I had found were roots only. I'd love to make this dish with beet greens.

Chili with Leftover Beans, Seitan, Vegetables, and Roasted Red Bell Pepper (No Added Fat)

I had a fun demonstration (check it out on Facebook or Twitter, or outside of social media) of the PCRM 21-Day Kickstart day 2 menu of 10-Minute Mixed Vegetable Stir-Fry and Ambrosia. After that I wanted to quickly put dinner together and made a simple chili. I had baked beans and other beans as leftovers; I reheated them and cooked with them some seitan crumbles, celery, corn kernels, and roasted bell pepper pieces. It was good with some hot sauce!

Below are some pictures from the demonstration, including a shot that my wife took of me. I love cooking PCRM recipes - they're always healthy, easy, and so tasty!

3-Bean and Vegetable Soup

Nachos with Broccoli

I've been wanting to use my air fryer to make almost no fat tortilla chips for a while and today followed simple guidance I found from Leanne of crumbtopbaking. I used sprouted corn tortillas that have only 1.5g of fat for 2 tortillas; I cut the tortillas into triangles and put them with nothing else - no oil or anything - in a single layer in my Cuisinart air fryer's frying basket. I cooked them in air fry mode for 7 minutes at 350°F. They came out a nice light brown color and crispy!

I had made a pot of black beans with spinach, onion, salt, garlic powder, and a little bit tabasco sauce in my Instant Pot pressure cooker. I also made a cheese sauce like I have in the past in my blender, but I only had a few cashews, so I also used almonds.

I simply served plates of the chips topped with the beans, onion, tomato, and cheese and salsa. I put a ring of cooked broccoli florets around the outside.

 

Results

Pending

Ideas for the future

Pending

Jacob's Cattle Beans (No Added Fat)

I have only cooked with Jacob's Cattle Beans once last October when I had made a stew out of fresh beans that I had found at a farmers' market - and now when I search the internet to look at how to prepare them (I found them this past weekend at Whole Foods Market in bulk) from dried beans, I have that earlier blog entry that comes up as the top or second hit! So now that I have dried I thought that I would experiment and, after rinsing and soaking overnight, I cooked in my Instant Pot pressure cooker for 10 minutes.

I loved the beans freshly cooked - they were creamy and full of flavor. I snacked on a bit of them before continuing to prepare the dish.

I mixed in some onion, garlic, two kinds of hot sauce, roasted red bell pepper, spinach, a bit of salt, lemon pepper, lemon juice, garlic powder, and fresh basil leaves. I also made brown rice and a cucumber-olive salad with dried oregano, lemon juice, ume plum vinegar, and a touch of salt and lemon pepper.

 

Results

Pending

Ideas for the future

Pending

"Around the Power Plate" Beans with Wheat Berries, Kale, and Peach (No Added Fat)

Today was our third show of So Many Cooks in the Kitchen, a group that I help to organize where we go kitchen-to-kitchen cooking and talking nutrition among Food for Life instructors (check out our 1-minute promo). The show was live, but a recorded livestream can be viewed. Eventually, this will be edited into approximately half hour parts and aired on Plant-Based Network for which I am on the Advisory Committee.

I presented on peaches and nectarines. Our team of about a dozen instructors put a document together with our recipes; that is available at bit.ly/soManyFruitsRefs.

I am pretty good about coming up with new recipes. I guess the fact that in more than 16 years of knowing my wife I haven't repeated a dinner for her helps. I had made some general comments in the episode document last night but then thought I should be more specific, so I created a recipe and only tried the results after I demonstrated making it. My family loved it; I suspected that this unusual combination would work.

In the Food for Life program, we recommend eating from the Power Plate of Legumes (our first SMCK show), Vegetables (our second show), Fruits, and Grains (our next show with date TBD but likely in mid-August 2020). I thought that it would be neat to make a dish that featured ingredients from each of the sections of the Power Plate. Here is what I did, demonstrating this quickly at the tail end of my cooking segment on today's show.


Ingredients

• 1/2 cup hard (or soft) wheat berries, rinsed
• Pinch of salt
• 3 cups prepared beans; I recommend black beans or red kidney beans, but other kinds will work
• 1 1/2 cups kale leaves hand-torn and cut into roughly 1" squares (stems excepted; they can be composted or otherwise discarded); alternately, use a cup of Swiss Chard, stems and all, cut into 1" strips perpendicular to the stem
• 1/4 cup sweet onion cut into approximately 3/8" cubes (you can substitute yellow onion)
• 1 or 2 medium peaches or nectarines, ripe or still just firm (not very hard) but with no green, cut into approximately 1/2" - 3/4" squares
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh squeezed lemon or lime juice
• (optional) 1/2 teaspoon (or to taste) salt; try fleur de sel
• (optional) 1/4 lemon pepper or freshly ground black pepper

Process

1. Put the wheat berries with three times as much water in a pressure cooker (I used my Instant Pot) and cook for 30 minutes; alternately, cook for 40-50 minutes stovetop (bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer and cover); set aside till warm or at room temperature (the wheat berries can be made in advance and refrigerated)
2. Work with the beans
• If using prepared (canned, for example) beans, mix in the greens, onion, and peaches, and warm for a few minutes until the greens cook down a bit and the fruit glistens, gently and partially caramelized
• If making beans, as I did, just add the greens, onion, and peaches to the hot beans when they are ready, and mix. Depending on how hot the beans are, the greens and fruit will be ready within a few minutes, but you can also cover and let sit for a few more minutes to cook a bit more
3. Mix in the lemon or lime juice and, if you are using it, the salt and/or pepper, as well as the room temperature or cool wheat berries
4. Serve with a garden salad or tomato wedges

Results

I served this for dinner several hours after the show. My intuition was right - the combination worked well! My whole family loved the meal; we each had seconds - and had enough to share with neighbors and keep for leftovers (I increased the quantities of ingredients by about a quarter so they would be easier to show up on camera; realistically, then, the quantities I have here would be enough for a family of five or so).

I served with just a little bit of salt and no black pepper. Salt just didn't go so well with this dish, though my wife did prefer a little salt. When I had seconds, I used some citrus fleur de sel, which was fine, but I don't think really necessary.

Ideas for the future

In today's show, I also made skillet peach/nectarine (so yummy and easy; just cook for 3-4 minutes over medium-low to medium heat, flipping once) and deglaze with lime/lemon juice mixed with cinnamon if you wish) and peach/nectarine "ice cream" (just blending frozen fruit with plant milk or a vegan creamer). I should cook with peaches/nectarines more often and not just obvious desserts. I like how the fruit contrasts with the other ingredients in this kind of savory dish and how all the ingredients differentiate themselves from each other. I also should cook with wheat berries more often; the chewy texture is inviting.

Although my family loved the dish, I think it could be improved. I knew salt wouldn't really complement the dish, but I wonder if fresh basil or celery seed (my wife doesn't like the taste of celery; I used to commonly use celery seed and should try it with her - I can't remember how she reacted to it) might work.

Another idea is to make some sort of a vegan "cheese" sauce, perhaps out of cashews. However, my whole family remarked at how creamy the dish was, so I don't think more creaminess is needed; also, the dish has no added fat and I don't see the benefit of adding creamy fat to it (on the other hand, it would be worth experimenting with vegan "cheese" chunks with skillet cooked fruit!). Maybe a small amount of chopped walnuts? I would have enjoyed some crispness in the dish.

At any rate, I should experiment with more fruit-savory dishes. I love the idea of going around the Power Plate, and should do that with main courses occasionally.

Massaged Kale Salad with Mango, Kale with Beans (No Added Fat)

Today we had our second So Many Cooks in the Kitchen show, So Many Vegetables, and I worked with kale. I made a massaged kale salad with mango, as well as a bean and kale dish. Along with tomatoes, it was our yummy dinner!

Kala Channa with Greens and Tomato (No Added Fat)

I loved kicking off the new show So Many Cooks in the Kitchen (the livestream is available online and an edited version will soon be on the Plant-Based Network!) this past Saturday all about beans. I came up with this idea a few weeks ago - I love working with fellow Food for Life instructors; they're all so knowledgeable about food and nutrition. We formed a group to periodically go online and teach in rapid-fire fashion kitchen-to-kitchen.

This time, our topic was beans and next time we'll move on to vegetables. Each of us had about 6-8 minutes to share from our kitchens. I showed how to cook beans and talked about a few varieties.

Today, I made kala channa  (a chickpea variety, also known as black chickpea or Bengal gram; it takes longer to cook but results in a nice, nutty and more textured result). Combined with a few spices, greens, and fresh tomato, it made a healthful, easy, tasty, and colorful dinner. Here is what I did.


Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups dried kala channa (you could also just use dried chickpea - or even canned and skip cooking - and cook for less time)
• 3/4 cup frozen chopped or fresh kale; if fresh, roughly hand tear from stems (composting or otherwise discarding stems) into approximately 1 1/2" pieces
• 2/3 t turmeric
• 1 t ground cumin
• 1 t garlic powder or garlic granules
• 1/2 t lemon pepper (or freshly ground pepper)
• 1/2 chili powder (to taste; can certainly be omitted or increased)
• 1 t salt
• 1/4 cup sweet onion or, if not available, yellow onion, cut into large 1" pieces
• 2T lime or tangerine juice
• 2 medium tomatoes, cut into 1/2" cubes

Process

1. Sort through the chickpeas, removing any debris like leaves or branches, rinse, and soak in ample water for at least 3-5 hours, but ideally overnight. Discard soaking water, and rinse again.
2. Put chickpeas into Instant Pot pressure cooker along with just enough water to cover the chickpeas.
3. Add the kale and spices and cook under pressure for 40-45 minutes. Black chickpeas do take significantly longer to cook than regular chickpeas. If you are using regular chickpeas, cook for 20-25 minutes.
4. While the chickpeas are cooking, put the onion in a cast iron pan with no oil and cook, stirring once in a while, over medium high. Let the onion get nicely charred for a tasty carmelized touch.
5. After the cooking is done, you can wait a few minutes and gently released pressure, or do as I did, and cook at least a half hour in advance and let the pressure naturally reduce.
6. When I was ready to serve, I opened the pot slowly, and added lime juice and tomato. I added the onion at the table since my daughter doesn't like much onion (but she loved how carmelized the Vidalia onion was).

I served with brown rice and an avocado piece.

Results

We all loved dinner. It's been a while since I've made kala channa; it has a stronger flavor than regular chickpeas and is fun to make and enjoy. The spicing was good, though I'd add more cumin or perhaps garam masala for spice lovers, as well as more heat, perhaps including some serrano or jalapeno pepper.

Ideas for the future

Some of my homemade vegan yogurt would go well with such a channa dish; if I did use the yogurt, I'd probably also want to increase the spiciness. I could use more vegetables, such as chopped carrot, additional greens like spinach and, to increase the flavor, mustard greens. Turnip greens would also be good. While the fresh tomato was good, cooked green tomato or tomato paste would also be a nice variation. 

Black-Eyed Peas Stew (No Added Fat)

I was going to make a simple black-eyed pea side dish but ended up focusing on the black-eyed peas. I rinsed about a cup of them, soaked them overnight in ample water, and rinsed them again. I put them in my Instant Pot pressure cooker and added a clove of garlic, minced finely; 1/4 of a bunch of rainbow chard, cut across into 1" or so lengths; a small-medium sweet potato cut into approximately 3/8" cubes; 2 medium tomatoes cut into 3/4" cubes; and 1/2 t ground cumin seed, 1/4 t lemon pepper, and 1/4 t garlic powder. I cooked under pressure for only 5 minutes.

In the meantime, I cooked without oil a little onion and frozen corn just for 2 minutes or so, and then added tricolor quinoa in a ratio, as usual, of 1 part quinoa to 2 parts water, plus a pinch of salt. I brought it to a boil and cooked for a few minutes on low, then turned the heat off and let it sit for 10 minutes.

I got some particularly sweet Vidalia onions last weekend, so quickly grilled some slices. When I was ready to serve, I mixed in to the black-eyed peas fresh squeezed pixie tangerine juice from one small tangerine (I've loved the pixies we're getting and using them instead of lime or lemon juice) and 1/2 t salt. I served the black-eyed pea dish with the quinoa and a salad of cucumber and white carrot, with onion atop.

Results

Pending

Ideas for the future

Pending

Baby Navy Beans with Field Peas, Brussels Sprouts, and Japanese Sweet Potato (No Added Fat)

I did the equivalent of soaking a cup of baby navy beans overnight in plenty of water (I put them in my Instant Pot pressure cooker with ample water anc cooked for zero minutes) and later rinsed them. I put them in my Instant Pot with 1/2 cup of field peas and enough water to just cover. I also added a Japanese sweet potato cut into 3/8" cubes, a half dozen Brussels sprouts each cut into about eighths, 2 cloves of garlic finely diced (1/8" or so), a carrot cut into 5/8" lengths and then quartered, a vegan bouillon cube, and pinches of curry powder and ground cumin seed. I cooked for 15 minutes under pressure.

When the dish was done, I mixed in a bit of lemon juice, 1/8 cup onion cut into 3/8" pieces, and salt to taste. I also served white rice (which I rarely do but I didn't have enough time to make brown rice) and tomato slices.

Results

Pending

Ideas for the future

Pending

Black Bean and Cornmeal with Brown Rice (No Added Fat)

I had soaked a cup or so of black beans to make some unspecified black bean main course I thought I'd come up with later. When I got to start cooking, I noticed some cornmeal around and wondered what a polenta-like black bean-cornmeal dish might be like. I rinsed the beans again and then put them in my Instant Pot pressure cooker with water 1/4" over the beans, plus maybe 1/2 cup of cornmeal and two cloves of garlic, minced, and pressure cooked for 27m.

Results

Pending

Ideas for the future

Pending

Waterless Cabbage and Black-Eyed Peas (No Added Fat)

I made a waterless dish tonight. I put, in this order, onion, garlic, black-eyed peas, chopped (1/4" cubes) Japanese sweet potato, and cabbage into a large Saladmaster stock pan. I cooked waterlessly - i.e., I covered the pan and heated it on medium high until the vapor release started jiggling, then I reduced the heat to low till the jiggle stopped. I let it cook for about 20 minutes. I mixed in lemon juice, salt, lemon pepper, cumin, and turmeric.

Results

Pending

Ideas for the future

Pending

Anasazi Beans with Roasted Cauliflower, Bhutanese Red Rice (No Added Fat)

I enjoy roasting cauliflower and decided to try it with a bean main dish. One day I'll try a bean-roasted cauliflower soup. Here is what I did today.


Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups Anasazi beans, soaked overnight in ample water
• 3 cups water
• 2 leaves kale, roughly hand-torn into approx. 3/4" pieces
• 2 cloves garlic, finely (1/8") minced
• 1/2 t ginger, finely (1/8") minced
• 1/2 t jalapeno pepper, cut into 1/4" pieces
• 1/2 head (I actually used frozen and estimate it was about equivalent to a half head) cauliflower florets
• 1T coconut aminos (or soy sauce or tamari)
• 3 scallions cut into 3/8" lengths
• 1/4 t turmeric
• 1t garlic powder
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/2 t lemon pepper
• 1 t oregano
• 3T nutritional yeast
• 2T Meyer (or other lemon) lemon juice

Process

1. I drained and then rinsed the beans and put them in my Instant Pot pressure cooker with twice as much water, and cooked for 15m.
2. After the cooking was done, I waited a few minutes and gently released pressure, then added the kale, 1/2 the garlic, ginger, and jalapeno and cooked for another 2 minutes
3. While the beans were cooking, I got my cauliflower roasting. I mixed the frozen cauliflower with the coconut aminos and the other 1/2 of the garlic, then oven roasted at 400°F for 15m.
4. When the beans and cauliflower were both done, I mixed them together, along with the scallion, spices, and lemon juice

I also made Bhutanese red rice by briefly cooking, stirring, in a pan with a little onion and ginger, but no oil or anything else. I then added twice as much water and a few pinches of salt, then brought to a boil. I reduced the heat and simmered for 40m, covered.

Results

Pending

Ideas for the future

Pending

Collard - Vegetable Rollups (No Added Fat)

I came home and got to work almost immediately making dinner. I had purchased collard greens several days earlier and wanted to use them; I thought of the idea of collard rollups and found a recipe that suggested blanching the collard leaves and then filling; I may try this interesting recipe with coconut curry sometime.

I didn't have time to cook beans so used a 13.4 ounce box of kidney beans and a bit of canellini beans that I had on hand. I cooked waterlessly (i.e., I covered the pan and heated it on medium high until the vapor release started jiggling, then I reduced the heat to low till the jiggle stopped for about 20 minutes) the beans along with a clove of chopped garlic, along with other chopped vegetables (a green onion, broccoli including stem, and about a half dozen olives), plus 1/4 t salt, 2T nutritional yeast, and 1/4 cup marinara.

I blanched the intact collard leaves one at a time by putting each leaf in a pan with about an inch of boiling water for 15 seconds a side, then setting aside. Once cool, I removed the thickest part of the spine, added the bean-vegetable filling, and rolled.

Results

Pending

Ideas for the future

Pending

Anasazi Beans with Fresh Tomato, Quinoa with Cranberry Sauce (No Added Fat)

I prepared Anasazi beans in my my Instant Pot pressure cooker by soaking for 8 hours then cooking with just enough water to cover for 23m. I put the beans in a large Saladmaster skillet pan after sauteing, without oil or anything else, shallot slices. I mixed in bell pepper, salt, and cumin, and cooked for a few minutes. I then added 1/2" cubes of fresh tomato and cooked for another 2 minutes or so.

I served alongside some quinoa that I had made (1 part quinoa to two parts water and a vegan bouillon cube, brought to a boil and then, with the heat off but covered, let stand for 10m or so). Originally, I was going to experiment with using cranberry sauce mixed into the beans, but I had purchased some tasty organic cranberry sauce that tasted so good that I decided to top the quinoa with the sauce so that the sauce could be used by itself, with the quinoa, or with the beans, as each of us desired.

Results

Pending

Ideas for the future

I should indeed experiment with mixing cranberry sauce - maybe even fresh cranberries appropriately sweetened or otherwise tempered - in with ingredients like beans.

Black Bean and Corn Pupusa, Sauteed Broccolini and Spinach (No Added Fat)

My family is traveling and I came home late from teaching, so a quick meal for myself was in order. I love the pupusas that Tres Latin Foods makes - each is only 3.5g of fat and they're so tasty! I heated two of the black bean and corn ones in a 350°F oven for about 10m. I also sauteed with no oil on a cast iron pan some onion, garlic, broccolini, and spinach.

Results

Pending

Ideas for the future

Pending