Bird Egg Bean Puree

I’ve been really infatuated with bean purees lately.  You can spread it on sandwiches, use it as dip for carrots and chips, or just serve it along side some rice and veggies for dinner.  Earlier this fall, during the few short weeks that I could find them at the farmer’s market, I made the most wonderful puree out of bird egg beans.  I first discovered bird egg beans last fall, when I moved to the DC area.  They are so delicious!  But if you can’t get them at your farmer’s market, use any hearty bean instead, such as Roman, large Lima or Italian white bean.

Ingredients:

2 C shelled bird egg beans

1 TBS dried herbs – rosemary and oregano

2 tsp extra virgin olive oil

0.5 – 1.5 tsp salt (to taste)

2-4 C water for simmering the beans

Instructions:

1.  If using fresh beans, shell, rinse and simmer for 30 minutes, or until tender.  If you using dried bean, soak overnight, rinse and simmer for 1 hour, or until tender.

2.  Drain the beans, but save the cooking water.

3.  Puree the beans, herbs, olive oil and salt in a food processor, along with a 1/4 C of the beans’ cooking water.  Add small amounts of water, until desired thickness is reached.

4.  Serve as a snack, appetizer, or as part of your meal, and enjoy!

On this Day in History: Chickpea Chili Flatbread.  I had totally forgotten about this recipe, but wow, it looks tasty!

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Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Freshly roasted pumpkin seeds are a wonderful (but addictive) snack.  If you’re slicing a pumpkin for carving, or cooking, don’t thrown the seeds away, roast them!

Ingredients:

fresh pumpkin seeds

dash olive oil

dash salt

Instructions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350°F degrees.  Cut pumpkin in half.  Spoon out pulp and seeds, and put in a medium bowl.  You can use the pumpkin flesh for soup or pie.

2.  Add enough water to the bowl to cover the seeds and pulp.  Pull out the larger pulp sections, pull the seeds off, and discard the pulp.  After you get the large pieces of pulp out, the seeds will be floating in the water, with some smaller pulp bits underneath.  Skim the seeds off the top and put in a strainer.  After you have all of the seeds, give them a quick rinse and drain.

3.  In a small bowl, add a dash of salt and olive oil to the seeds.  Spread in a single layer on a cookie sheet.

4.  Bake for 10 minutes at 350°F degrees.  Toss the seeds around to redistribute and bake another 10 minutes.  Allow to cool and enjoy!

On This Day In History: Fruehstuck

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Halloween Candy!

As we know, maybe all too well…that Halloween can be a taunting time for vegans. With all the chocolates and various other candies swirling around in our faces (that make us go, “ugh, why can’t they be vegan?”), who could blame us for wanting candy?! Well, unless you have the wherewithal to make your own peanut butter cups (which I certainly do, mostly because they are one of my favorite chocolate treats and I’m not going to let anything get in my way of enjoying them while maintaining my compassion) and candy corn…you may wonder what candies out there pass vegan inspection! Now, if we could only get all the houses to give out only these candies – or better yet, make all the candy companies turn vegan – it might be a step towards Candyland Peace (awww…). Ok, so here’s a list that PETA has comprised of vegan-suitable mainstream candies. <– I linked to the entire list, but I’ll only list the ones that are mostly Halloween-appropriate. Enjoy!

• Airheads Taffy
• Big League Chew Gum
• Blow Pops
• Brach’s Cinnamon Hard Candy
• Brach’s Cinnamon Hard Candy
• Brach’s Orange Slices
• Brach’s Root Beer Barrels
• Brach’s Star Brites
• Bubble Tape Gum
• Charms lollipops
• Chew-ets Peanut Chews (Original)
• Chick-o-Sticks
• Chocolove Dark Chocolate bar
• Chocolove Orange Peel (Dark Chocolate Bar)
• Cracker Jacks
• Cry Babies
• Dem Bones
• Dole Madarin Orange Fruit Gels
• Dots
• Dum Dums (these are my candy of choice to hand out at Halloween…and eat myself!)
• Entenmann’s Fudge Delights Fudge & Mint Cookies
• Everest Gum
• Famous Amos Sandwich Cookies (Chocolate)
• Famous Amos Sandwich Cookies (Oatmeal Macaroon)
• Famous Amos Sandwich Cookies (Peanut Butter)
• Famous Amos Sandwich Cookies (Vanilla)
• Ferrara Wafer Swirls With Chocolate
• Fireballs
• Food Lion Animal Cookies
• Food Lion Ginger Snaps
• Food Lion Oatmeal Cookies
• Food Lion Sandwich Cookies (Assorted)
• Food Lion Sandwich Cookies (Chocolate Creme)
• Food Lion Sandwich Cookies (Chocolate Fudge)
• Food Lion Sandwich Cookies (Double Creme-O’s)
• Food Lion Sandwich Cookies (Duplex)
• Food Lion Sandwich Cookies (Mini Chocolate & Vanilla Cremes)
• Food Lion Sandwich Cookies (Peanut Butter)
• Food Lion Sandwich Cookies (Vanilla)
• Food Lion Snack Crackers
• Food Lion Sugar Cookies
• Fruit By the Foot
• Ghirardelli Twilight Delight Intense Dark
• Goldenberg’s Peanut Chews (Original)
• Grandma’s Peanut Butter Sandwich Cremes
• Hubba Bubba Bubblegum
• Hubba Bubba Gum
• Jolly Ranchers (lollipops and hard candy)
• Jujubees
• Jujyfruits
• Keebler Animal Crackers
• Kool-Aid Gels
• Kozy Shack Jammin’ Gels
• Krispy Kreme Fruit Pies
• Lance Choc-O Cookies
• Lance Sugar Wafers (Strawberry Creme)
• Lance Sugar Wafers (Vanilla Creme)
• Lance Toasty Crackers With Peanut Butter
• Lance Van-O Lunch Cookies
• Mambas
• Mary Janes (regular and peanut butter kisses)
• Munchos
• Murray Butter Cookies
• Murray Cinnamon Grahams
• Murray Coconut Bars
• Murray Southern Kitchen Iced Oatmeal Cookies
• Murray Sugar-Free Vanilla Wafers
• Nabisco Double Delight Mint’n Creme Oreos
• Nabisco Ginger Snaps
• Nabisco Halloween Oreos
• Nabisco Iced Oatmeal Cookies
• Nabisco Oatmeal Cookies
• Nabisco Oreo Chocolate Ice Cream Cones
• Nabisco Oreo Cookies
• Nabisco Oreo Thin Crisps
• Nabisco Original Graham Crackers
• Nabisco Teddy Grahams (Chocolate and Cinnamon)
• Nabisco Uh-oh Oreos, Spring Oreos, Chocolate Creme Oreos
• Nature’s Path Deep Chocolate Cookies
• Nature’s Path Ginger Spice Cookies
• Nature’s Path Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies
• Nestle Double Chocolate Thin Mints
• Now and Later
• Orbitz Gum
• Pure De-Lite Coconut Bars
• Ring Pop lollipops
• Smarties (U.S. version only) – another personal fav
• Sour Patch Kids
• Super Bubble
• Tropical Source mini chocolate bags
• Utz Puffed Caramel Corn
• VeganSweets marshmallows
• Velamints Mints
• Zotz

Happy Halloween!

Update: I found another list of vegan-friendly candies through Farm Sanctuary…check it out at Veg For Life! It’s got some repeats, but also some that aren’t on PETAs list.. 🙂

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Salsa Italiana Fresca

A fresh Italian salsa, which is similar to a bruschetta but not quite the same – what could be more refreshing?! This salsa works well on tortilla chips, but toasted baguette slices lightly brushed with some olive oil or Earth Balance would be phenomenal! This makes a small “appetizer for 4” size portion, so if you’re in the noshing mood feel free to scale up the recipe.

Ingredients:

12 oz cherry or grape tomatoes
1/2 red onion, diced
fresh basil, chopped-
juice of 1 lime
1 tsp sea salt
fresh cracked black pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, combine halved cherry tomatoes, diced red onion, chopped fresh basil, and fresh-squeezed lime juice. Stir to combine.
2. Sprinkle with 1 tsp salt, and pepper to taste. Cover and let marinade in the fridge at least 1 hour. Stir to refreshen and enjoy!

Happy Chopping!

On This Day In History: Red Beans and Rice

 

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Oven Baked Potato Chips

Who doesn’t like potato chips?  Nobody!  But I’m sure many of us don’t eat a lot of them since they’re so oily.  Luckily, you can make chips at home and control the oil and salt levels.  Since they’re baked, not fried, I just toss them with a little bit of olive oil.  Of course, it’s easiest if you have a mandolin to slice the taters quickly and easily.  Otherwise, a cheese slicer leftover from your pregan days can work.  Or, you can just practice your knife work. 🙂  For the best chips, you’ll want a starchy russet or yukon golds.  Blue potatoes definitely add some interesting color, but they crisp up unevenly.

Ingredients:

potatoes

olive oil

salt and pepper – to taste

Instructions:

1.  Preheat oven to 475 degrees (aka hotter than the sun).

2.  Slice potatoes with a mandolin, as thick or thin as you like.

3.  In  a large bowl, toss potato slices with olive oil.

4.  Spread in a single layer (not overlapping) on a cookie sheet.  Bake thin slices for 20 minutes, or thick slices for up to 40.  Check every 10 minutes and remove any chips that have browned, then let the rest keep cooking.

5.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and enjoy!

On This Day in History:  Summer Rolls

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Tart Apple Turnovers

I’ve never been a huge fan of cooked apples.  Apple pie, apple sauce, apple crumble… I could take it or leave it.  But then my CSA delivered to me some Lodi apples.  I tried to eat one and it was so tart, I just couldn’t do it.  So the time has come for me to cook up some apples.  I thought that I’d make up some turnovers and then give them all away, since I wouldn’t want to eat them myself.  But, it turns out that cooked apples aren’t so bad under certain circumstances, like when the apples are really tart and you give them a shot of lime juice because you don’t have any lemons on hand.  At least for me, these tart apple turnovers are a winner!  Any tart green apple will work, like Granny Smith, or whatever crazy thing you find at your market.

Ingredients:

Crust
1.5 C AP flour
1 C walnuts
1 stick Earth Balance
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 C cold water
Filling
1.25 C apples
1/4 C brown sugar
1 tsp lemon (or lime) juice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
dash nutmeg
few tsp cinnamon sugar

Instructions:

Crust

1.  Put all dry ingredients in a large bowl, or food processor.  Cut in the “butter” with two sharp knives, or a few quick pulses of the processor.

2.  Slowly add the water, stirring, or pulsing, adding just enough for the dough to hold together.  

3.  Form the dough into a ball and wrap in plastic.  Refrigerate for at least an hour while you make the filling, or up to a day, if you need to make it in advance.

Filling

1.  Peel and core the apples.  Cut into small chunks.

2.  In a medium bowl, combine the apples, sugar, lemon juice, and spices.

Turnover

1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface.

2.  Cut out 6-8″ circles.  Drop a few spoonfuls of apples on one side and turn the other side of dough over it.  Pinch the edges together.  Sprinkle with some cinnamon sugar, if you like.

3.  Bake on a cookie sheet at 375 for 25-30 minutes, until they are golden brown.

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‘For the Love of Heirloom Tomatoes’ salad

This heirloom tomato salad is definitely for the lovers of tomatoes! It’s so simple, yet so delicious. It makes a perfect light dinner, or appetizer, served alongside some crusty vegan-buttered bread – at least it did for me.. I got it straight from the newest Food & Wine magazine (Aug 2009), and only had to make two changes – no cheese grated on top, and I included some fresh thyme. So keeping in line with simplicity, I’ll just go straight to the recipe!

Ingredients:

2 pounds heirloom tomatoes – cored and sliced 1/4-inch thickness
salt, to taste – I used a blend of sea salt and mineral salt
Extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling
2 TBSP minced chives
2 TBSP chopped fresh basil
1 TBSP fresh thyme
*optional: some fresh ground black pepper, if you roll like me

Directions:

Arrange tomato slices on a platter. Sprinkle with salt, pepper (if using) and drizzle with oil. Scatter the chives, basil, and thyme. And enjoy!

Happy Slicing!

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Chai Spice Shortbread Cookies

We’re big on tea here at the primate, as you may know. The second best part of afternoon tea is, of course, some cookies (that’s biscuits to my British friends) to go along with it.  Sometimes you won’t be able to brew up a batch of homemade chai, so some chai spice cookies to go along with your regular tea can give you your cardamom fix.

Ingredients:

2 C flour

1/3 C confectioner’s sugar

1/3 C turbinado sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cardamom

1/8 tsp cloves

1/4 tsp nutmeg

2 tsp vanilla

2 sticks Earth Balance

few spoonfuls of cinnamon sugar

Instructions:

1.  Place all dry ingredients in a food processor, and give a few quick pulses to blend.

2.  Cut “butter” into pieces and add to food processor, along with vanilla.  Blend for 20-30 seconds, or until the mixture resembles course cornmeal.

3.  Turn onto lightly floured surface and kneed a few times to form a dough.  Roll into a ball.

4.  Cover with plastic and refrigerate for 1 – 24 hours.

5.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Roll dough out onto a lightly floured surface and cut with cookie cutters.

6.  Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.

7.  Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes.

//

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Squash Pancakes

These tasty farmer’s market – inspired patties can work as a veggie burger, finger food, or accompaniment to any rice or quinoa dish you like.  Make them silver dollar sized for a party appetizer, or the size of a slice of bread for a sandwich maker.  

Ingredients:

1 C chickpea flour 

1/2 C water

1/2 tsp each turmeric, coriander, cumin, paprika, salt

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/8 tsp baking soda

1 medium shredded potato

2 small spring onions

1/2 C chopped chinese cabbage

1/2 C shredded squash

1 hot pepper (optional)

Instructions:

1.  Heat a saute pan over med-high, with enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan.

2.  In a medium bowl, mix the chickpea flour, water, and spices and set aside.

3.  Chop the onions, pepper and cabbage.  Shred the potatoes and squash.  Your Cuisinart will make short work of it!

4.  Mix veggies together is a large bowl.

5.  Stir in the chickpea batter.

6.  Spoon mixture into the pan and cook for 3 minutes, or until browned.  Flip and repeat.

7.  Drain the patties on a towel, since they will be oily.

8.  Serve hot!

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Tender Chickpea Pancakes

These chickpea pancakes, called socca, are popular street food in the south of France (according to Food & Wine 2005 which is from where I adapted this recipe – I don’t have first-hand experience of this knowledge). Similar to a crêpe, griddling experimentation is required to be sure they are completely set before flipping them.  My first one was not the prettiest, but it certainly tasted the same. So no worries if it takes a few cakes to get the hang of it. If a denser, thicker pancake is what you’re after, use more batter and finish them in a 400-degree oven in order to ensure they are cooked through completely. This recipe makes about 8-10 pancakes.

Ingredients:

2-2.25 C water

2 C chickpea flour

2 TBSP extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for frying

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper (a few turns of my grinder)

2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp brown sugar

nectar for drizzling on top!

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, whisk the water into the chickpea flour until smooth.  Whisk in the 2 TBSP of olive oil and the salt and pepper.  Let the batter rest for 10-15 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350°F.  Preheat at 10-in cast-iron or non-stick skillet over medium heat.  Using a pastry brush, coat the bottom of the skillet with a thin film of olive oil.  When the skillet is hot (but not smoking), add a rounded 1/4 C of batter and tilt the skillet to distribute evenly.

3. Cook the pancake until browned around the edges and set on top, about 2-3 minutes.  Turn the pancake over with a spatula and cook for 1 minute longer.  Fold into quarters and transfer to a baking sheet, keeping them warm in the oven.  Repeat with the remaining batter, lightly re-oiling the skillet each time.  Reduce the heat to moderately low if the pancakes begin to stick.

4. When all of the pancakes are cooked, drizzle with some agave nectar and serve. If not serving immediately, cover them loosely with foil and reheat in the oven before serving.

Happy Cooking!

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