Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Beans (from dried beans) & Rice, Demystified. + Homemade Veggie Stock!

Cooking beans using dried beans was for a long time, something that was largely a mystery to me.  I remember watching my Granny soak beans in a lot of water overnight, and knew it had something to do with preparing dried beans, but the package directions were pretty vague.  Maybe not so much vague as direct and to the point.  It's a skill worth knowing, though.  Dried beans are cheap, and beans are healthy for us!  They're a great source of protein!  This recipe will work with any type of dried beans: pinto, black, garbanzo, red, etc.!

Homemade veggie stock is another component of this recipe that I knew was simple, but it seemed SO HARD.  Primarily because no on had ever explained it to me.  Here's a quick tutorial  that will have you breezing through it in no time.

Veggie Stock:

1.  Save all of your vegetable scraps.  Onion peelings, onion tops, carrot peelings, carrot tops, the bits of celery that you chop off and don't use, kale stalks, bell pepper hearts/stems, mushroom stems, broccoli stems, and on and on and on.  There are some vegetables that won't work well...corn, lettuce, tomatoes, are a few examples.  Cabbage tends to stink up your house, so I generally leave that out.  Anything that won't work in your stock, you can throw in the compost.  I try to buy organic food, and it makes a difference in your stock, too (especially since you're cooking the peelings and such with stock).  Keep a gallon-sized freezer bag in the freezer, and throw your scraps in your stock bag each time you chop veggies.  Once you have a substantial amount, it's time to make stock!

2.  Put your frozen vegetable scraps in a crockpot, cover them with water (fill it up), put the lid on and turn it on low.  I usually do this the night before I'm using it (and this works well if you're making beans because it's ready when your beans are finished soaking) and it's ready the next morning.  

3.  In the morning, you need to strain out the vegetable scraps.  I use a large container (to catch the stock) and a colander to catch the veggie scraps.

4.  You're done!  Cool the stock if you're not using it right away (put that container you dumped it in into the fridge).  Once it's cooled down you can separate it into smaller containers for freezing or even freezer bags for use later.

Beans (from dried beans):

1.  Choose a bag of dried beans (one or two pounds will fit in a standard crockpot).

2.  The night before you plan to serve the beans, put them in a colander and rinse well.  Pick out any rocks or beans that look bad.  Do this as you're starting your veggie stock.

3.  Put the beans in a large container, and cover with water.  Make sure the water covers the beans by several inches, as the beans will expand as they rehydrate.

4.  Cover the container with plastic wrap or a dish towel, and go to bed!

5.  The next morning, drain your beans in a colander, and rinse them.  Once you've drained the veggie scraps out of your stock, pour it back into your crockpot, add your beans to the crockpot, put the lid on it, leave it on low, and leave it for the day.  Make sure there is plenty more stock than beans.  It's best to stir the beans a time or two throughout the day, but it's not absolutely necessary.

6.  IMPORTANT!!!  Do NOT add salt to your stock/beans until they are finished cooking.  Salt makes the skins tough, and it will take days to cook them this way.  Feel free to add herbs or bay leaves if you like (but it's not necessary...all those veggies will lend a ton of flavor on their own).

At dinner time, your beans will be done!  Make some white rice and serve with vegan cheese, vegan sour cream and salsa.  Or serve on a tortilla!  With hot sauce!  Enjoy!

Monday, July 30, 2012

Rocky Road Cupcakes

Makes 12 servings



Cupcakes

1 ¼ cups flour
¾ cup sugar
½ cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon instant espresso powder (optional)
1 cup nondairy milk
1 teaspoon vinegar
1⁄3 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
½ cup vegan chocolate chips (optional)
Sweet & Sara Vanilla Marshmallows
1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Line one 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake papers. Set aside.
3. Sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, salt, and optional espresso powder. Mix in the milk, vinegar, oil, and vanilla. Mix together until smooth. Add optional chocolate chips.
4. Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about two-thirds full. Add one Sweet & Sara marshmallow in the center of each. Bake for 16 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean.
5. Cool the cupcakes completely before icing with chocolate frosting (recipe below).

Frosting

½ cup soy margarine, melted
2⁄3 cup cocoa powder
1⁄3 cup soy, rice, or almond milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups confectioners’ sugar

Toppings

Sweet & Sara Mini Marshmallows
Sweet & Sara Rocky Road Bark (chopped into pieces)
Sweet & Sara Cinnamon Pecan Marshmallows
coconut flakes (optional)
1. In a large bowl, mix margarine and cocoa together until combined.
2. Add milk and vanilla; beat until smooth.
3. Gradually beat in confectioners’ sugar until desired consistency is achieved. Adjust with more milk or confectioners’ sugar if necessary.
4. For Rocky Road Cupcakes: Top with Sweet & Sara Mini Marshmallows, Sweet & Sara Rocky Road Bark pieces, or Sweet & Sara Cinnamon Pecan Marshmallows.
5. For Snowball Cupcakes: Top with coconut flakes (for a special touch, add natural coloring made from beets).

This is from:

http://www.humanesociety.org/news/magazines/2010/07-08/a_rocky_road_to_sweet_success.html

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Vegan Sausage

I'm tired of searching my gmail account for this recipe every time I want to use it! So here it is, Megan's Famous Vegan Sausage Patties: http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/breakfast-sausage/Detail.aspx Replace the pork with about 2 cups of granulated TVP that has been simmered in Bragg's and nutritional yeast.  You may need to add some flax meal "egg white" as a binder. Enjoy! Flaxseed meal "egg whites": One tsp flaxseed meal and three tsp water equals one egg. Mix well and heat in the microwave for 15 seconds. Stir. If it's not yet hot, heat it another 15 seconds. Stir, and set aside to cool until the consistency is raw egg-like.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Nut Milk

I was excited to see a recipe for nut milk on this non-vegan newsletter. Yum!!! http://us1.campaign-archive1.com/?u=1363cc32663bcfcce23fb405f&id=899bf67eec&e=f9004783da


Saturday, March 24, 2012

Mac & Cheese

Here is an amazing recipe that Megan found:

http://bittersweetblog.wordpress.com/2011/06/24/reunited-and-it-tastes-so-good/

She added a little bit of broccoli once, and OMG!!! So good.

Spaghetti Bolognese

This is a fantastic recipe from food.com. Enjoy!!! http://www.food.com/recipe/vegan-bolognese-285382


Ingredients

    • 1 -2 tablespoon olive oil
    • 1 onions, chopped
    • 1 carrots, diced
    • 2 garlic cloves, minced
    • 1 tablespoon basil
    • 1 tablespoon oregano
    • 1 tablespoon thyme
    • 1 bay leaves
    • 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
    • 1 cup textured vegetable protein, not re-hydrated
    • 2 -3 tablespoons soy sauce ( or Braggs liquid aminos)
    • 1 cup vegetable stock
    • 1 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
    • 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
    • 1 (28 ounce) cans crushed tomatoes
    • 1/2 cup fresh parsley or 1/2 cup basil, chopped
    • 1 lb whole wheat spaghetti




    • Directions

      1. In a large dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium heat.
      2. Add the chopped onions and carrots and saute for about 5 minutes, until they begin to soften.
      3. Add a pinch of salt and pepper to taste. Don't add too much as you will be adding soy sauce later for color.
      4. Then add dry italian seasonings and crushed red pepper, if using. Mix well and add a bit more olive oil if pan looks dry.
      5. Add minced garlic and stir until fragrant.
        1. Next add the dry TVP, and stir to coat evenly with onion, carrot and spice mixture.
        2. Then add the soy sauce, which will give the TVP great flavor, and a bit darker color.
        3. Pan will be dry, so quickly add the cup of vegetable broth to rehydrate the tvp.
        4. Stir to coat all the tvp well, scraping the sides of the pan if needed.
        5. Let simmer for a minute or two.
        6. Next add your can of tomato paste, mix well and cook for a minute or two before adding the large can of crushed tomatoes.
        7. As sauce begins to bubble, be sure to stir in the tomato paste into the crushed tomatoes.
        8. Reduce heat to low, and simmer while you cook pasta.
        9. Cook whole wheat pasta in a large pot f boiling salted water for 7-9 minutes, or until al dente.
        10. Drain pasta and place in large serving bowl.
        11. Top with bolognese sauce, chopped fresh basil or parsley and serve.