Peasant Supper Sundays: Beans, Beans, the Magical Fruit...

"Beans, Beans For Every Meal!"

That's what I was thinking when I whipped up a huge batch of Rosemary Navy Beans for dinner tonight. It will last me for lunch all week ("all week" = 3 days...short week, YAAAAAAAY!).

Just your basic navy beans recipe with chopped onion, carrot, celery and minced garlic. I added a bunch of stuff to it, like hot sauce, 2 small sprigs of rosemary, S & P, coriander (just a pinch), vegan Worcestershire, and some dried marjoram. After cooking all together in one big, happy pot for about an hour (provided you soaked or cooked your beans ahead), you are rewarded with a toot-inducing bounty. Yup.

On to another crap-tastic week. At least it's short. Maybe I'll eat these beans on toast...or with ketchup! :)

Jes

Seitan Said to...

After the failure of my post yesterday, I vowed to reclaim past glory. So, I made The Hubs take the pics tonight :) At least he remembers to use the memory card. Right.

He also did most of the cooking tonight. This is one of those special meals we get to eat together: Seitan Teriyaki Stir-fry.

The Hubs cooks the seitan until it like starts to almost burn to the pan, and scrapes up the bits when he deglazes the pan with sauce. It turns a light brown seitan into a jewel of a color, deep and rich, tasty and substantial.

I eat mine with loads of veggies, usually green bell pepper and onion. This time we tried out a carrot on the new mandoline (using the hand guard! I still have nightmares after seeing the cut hand last week on the MoFo board. DID YOU SEE THAT? HOLY SMOKES!!). Served over light jasmine rice and topped with sesame seeds and green onions.

I have a MoFo Tribute in mind for sometime soon. I'm really going to miss it...

Jes

Vegan MoFo: Green Soup

It's time for Vegan MoFo, y'all!

What I really want right now is some Green Soup, which I made a week before the wedding. It lasted for my lunch/dinner like allll week. I think I might whip up a batch tomorrow using my super new stock pot (thanks to Aunt Sherry & Uncle Pat!!!!!). This time, I have pre-made mushroom stock though, as I've been too busy to make my own.

However, on the night I made this beautiful soup (a WEEKNIGHT, I might add), I made the soup from scratch. That's right. I came home from a long day at work and started my soup by making a veg stock. Then, I used said veg stock to make my Green Soup. It was exhausting, but sooo sooo hot and good.

Basically, I added spinach, edamame, peas, corn, celery, onion, carrots, garlic, and some cut spaghetti noodles.

You start with your onions, carrots, and celery cooking in the pot, add garlic, and then add the stock once you figure your veg has cooked long enough. Then proceed to add whatever else you want. I made this a Green Soup, so I added peas, spinach, and edamame. YUM!

Happy MoFo-ing to you! Here is a picture of Phil and I at our wedding Saturday taken by my friend, Amber, to leave you with a sigh in your heart :)

Jes

Yowza!!

Since I had the night (well, most of it) to myself, I figured I'd crank The Smiths and whip up a recipe from the new issue of Vegetarian Times. I chose the pasta with roasted red pepper sauce. I didn't have really high hopes for this, but DAAANNNGGG! It's FANTASTIC. BEYOND fantastic.

It was just garlic, onion, carrot, and roasted red pepper all chopped and sautéed. Throw it in a blender and then toss in pasta, and WHAM!

It had this wonderfully-rich orange color. And it was the perfect recipe for a night at home with just Enu and I.

In other news...WEDDING DRAMA, AHHHHHHHH! *sick*

Jes

Who loves free stuff? I DO!

I would have to thank Robin Robertson and her superb cookbook, Vegan on the Cheap (VOTC), for the idea of saving my veggie scraps to make vegetable stock. Seriously, genius idea.

I made my second batch ever (I had to try it out before posting anything on here. I'm a perfectionist who can't take constructive criticism. I'll admit it). I first made it several weeks ago. Saving vegetable scraps (ends, peels, inedible bits) has been pretty easy, so I've found. I have a large tupperware stowed away in my tiny freezer, and I just pop bits of carrot/onion/celery/cabbage/etc in there when my fiance and I prep them for meals. It takes us about a week to two weeks to get a sufficient amount for stock (I know it's time once I have to man-handle the tupperware lid to get it closed!).

Just throw the veggies in a large pot, fill with enough water to cover the veggies, add spices (salt/garlic/peppercorns), heat to boiling, then cover and reduce to simmer. Then, all you do it strain the liquids and store in containers of about 2 cups each. I usually freeze 3/4 of what I make. Phil's always complaining about how stuffed our freezer is, but it's FREE STOCK. The boxed and canned junk is super expensive, anyway.

After I simmer the veggies for about an hour and put them in a strainer, I smush the crap out of them to get all the liquids I can!

YAY FOR FREE STUFF!!

Jes