Black bean soup

I have a love hate relationship with black beans. Mostly I don't like them. They tend to be bland and boring, so unless they are hiding in a burrito under a boatload of salsa I won't order them. However, I do like them when I make them. My secret is to cook the beans with a whole chipotle en adobo from start to finish, this makes them super yummy. I also rinse them before and after cooking to keep the recipe from becoming too murky from the color coming off the beans.

As with all my beans I pre-soak them overnight to 'activate' the nutrients. I tried soaking beans to almost sprouting before, but they ended up tasting too vegetal, overnight works just fine.  For the soup I wanted it to simmer in the crock pot all day since we were going to be out. If you want to cook it on the stovetop you don't have to worry as much about cooking the beans through as they can cook in the soup, but if you are using a crockpot your beans need to be fully cooked, they won't cook through in a crockpot.
 

beans, onion, carrots, garlic, salt, pepper, cumin, oil, jalapeno, and the chipotle

soak the beans overnight in salted water w/the chipotle pepper

drain and rinse

simmer beans and chipotle until cooked through

drain and rinse again

chop onion and carrots, and mince garlic and jalapeno

add to crock pot with oil

add beans w/chipotle, cumin, and water to cover, (I decided to add two of my tomato yum cubes)

let cook all day

before serving blend to desired consistency removing the chipotle first, I like mine chunky

now taste, I needed more salt and a little acid so I used vinegar

fry up some tortilla strips

and serve with hot sauce and sour cream/supreme

Tummy warming goodness!

Adai

We have been eating adai for breakfast for about two months now. They take a little work to get the batter made, but I make it in big batches and keep it in the refrigerator. The hardest part is remembering to start making the next batch when you are down to half a jar. You need all the soaking time to get the right sourness to the batter. Adai are great topped with an egg or filled with leftover veggies or cheese or daiya and then topped with chutney, ketchup, or hot sauce. I have even done the kimchi and cheese quesadilla knock-off with the adai instead of a tortilla.

I found this recipe on g+ from alternative vegan http://altveg.blogspot.com/2012/03/adai.html. I have made very few modifications as it is soooo good. We have used both white and brown rice and omitted the hot peppers for when the kids will eat it, but we like it with the peppers ourselves.

rice, dal, onions, oil, fenugreek, and salt

equal parts rice and toor dal

soak for two days, rinsing twice a day

then add urad dal and fenugreek

and soak a few more hours

once soaked process in a food processor with salt and onion (and hot peppers if using)

add water as needed until you have a thick batter

store in jars in the refrigerator

to cook, spread in an oiled pan over medium heat (you can add veggies here)

flip once browned and top with daiya or cheese if you want

serve with chutney or my chutney replacement, good organic ketchup!

Yummy and healthy!

Chili

Chili is one of our favorite easy meals. I love to make it from scratch and since it freezes well, I make it in really, really big batches. It takes a bit of work up front, but the pay off lasts and lasts. I always start with dried beans and dried chiles as it makes the chili that much better. We like our chili by itself, as frito pie, on veggie dogs, on pasta (yes my husband lived in cincinnati), but never on cornbread. That is my issue, I really only like cornbread with honey and butter, not slathered with chili, so I don't serve our chili with cornbread. I also make my chili relatively mild now that I have kids, which means my husband and I add tapatio later. Anywho, this recipe is really a throw it together and taste as you go adjusting as needed.

Note: I usually blend the dried chiles into a paste with a little water, but for some reason I didn't this time. That meant I had to pick out chili skins later, which really isn't fun, so blend, blend, blend.

start by soaking five types of beans overnight in salted water

boil the white beans with oil and bay leaves, the red/black beans with chipotle en adobo

I make the beans a day or two in advance and refrigerate them until ready

toast your chiles

saute chopped onions and carrots in oil

add some veggie meat if you want it (we do it both ways) and brown it all up

stir in beans, roasted chiles (blend them), home canned tomatoes, and water to cover

then add your spices: tumeric, cumin, salt, a bit of sugar, and cayenne then let simmer

here are my skins I had to pick out once all the chili flesh cooked off

umami! yes, that is ketchup to taste

oh and some beer after simmering for about 3 hours

cover and leave on low until you are ready to serve

serve with cheese, chopped onions, sour cream, sour supreme, and more hot sauce

Yum, yum!

Long beans

And now for the long beans... This recipe I found in Food and Wine years ago and I have modified it to suit my kids taste, for instance sometimes I add the black pepper after pulling my middlest's serving out, and I think the original calls for vinegar of some sort. This dish goes really well with anything Asian.

long beans, whole black pepper, and oil, ignore the rest

rinse your beans

cut into 2 inch slices

saute in a hot pan with oil and shallots

once brown spots appear, add a splash of water and a dash of sugar, cover and cook on low

now crack some whole black pepper

and toss in with soy sauce to finish

serve with spicy tofu and vermicelli

Xiang Shou!

Tunisian chickpea soup

This is my second favorite soup to eat in cold weather, the first being borscht(we will get to that one eventually). It is another recipe from Food and Wine that has mutated over the years. Now the original recipe did call for veal stock as I remember, but obviously that wasn't going to happen. Most of the other ingredients we kept, except that I don't used canned beans. I always make my own. When you are making the soup, it is very bland and basic, and that is on purpose. At the end you add all sorts of yummy condiments similar to pho. So don't over salt or over season the soup thinking it needs more umpf, it will get that from all the stuff you add at the end.

start with the basics

soak your beans overnight with salt

cook the beans, skimming the muck, but in this case, don't over season

hard boil some eggs

saute onions in butter and oil

add beans, veggie stock, and tumeric - that's all, and simmer for an hour, adding more water if needed

gather your condiments, chopped olives, capers, harissa, cumin, lemon, and oil

start with an egg, add generous amounts of condiments, (hold the harissa for the wee ones)

then top with the soup and serve

Definitely chickpeas showing how awesome they are.