Scott

“Traditional” refried pinto beans

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We served these at my birthday party a few weeks ago and some friends (Hi, Kasha and Debbie!) wanted the recipe and we said, “Sure, we’ll send that to you later this week!” and that never happened so this is our apology to them for our tardiness…

As much as I don’t have a drop of Hispanic blood in me (23andme says I’m 99.9% Northern European…) I like to think I can make a good pan of refried beans–the original of this is from Helen’s mother and grandmothers (…) but has been modified to use oil instead of lard or bacon grease–I’m not sure if Helen misses the original or not, but she prepares them this way also, so I’ll take that for what it’s worth!

Ingredients

  • 3 cups dried pinto beans
  • olive oil; other oils such as sunflower will work, too.  Not sure exactly how much on this as we pretty much just add until it seems right
  • salt.  Lots of salt.  At least it seems like a lot of salt–at least a couple of teaspoons in the end
  • freshly ground black pepper; to taste

Preparation

So the beans obviously take a long time to cook and there are different ways to get that done depending on time available and whether or not you remember to soak them the night before.  There are just a few key things to know about it:

  • use enough water; it should be inch(es) above the top of the beans.  If you are pressure-cooking them, then follow the guidelines for the pot as you don’t want to plug the valve (we have a few stories about that)
  • bring the beans + water to a boil for a couple of minutes, then drain the water and refill with fresh water.  This supposedly gets rid of some of the compounds that cause digestion problems for some people.
  • cook them for a long time–or what seems like forever.  If they’re gritty (my description) or crunchy (Helen’s word) at all, then they’re not done.  For non-pressure-cooked beans this will likely be more than an hour and a half even after soaking.  Of course, you don’t want them too soft either so pay closer attention after they’re almost done…  This is where cookbooks fail, if you ask me–they say things like “cook for 5 minutes” and you think “oh, I need to cook it for 5 minutes” but you really need to just cook it until it’s the right amount for whatever you’re trying for…

Once the beans are done, do not discard the water!  Get a big cast-iron skillet pretty hot–on our electric stove (I know, I know, real cooks use gas stoves) I set it to about an 8 out of 10 and let it get hot.  When it’s hot enough (it doesn’t need to be max as you’re not trying to really fry the beans) start ladling in the beans with some water from the pot.  You want some water in there but it should be mostly beans.  Think of just using a measuring cup to scoop the beans up getting mostly beans.

Anyway, once you have the skillet mostly full, add a bunch of oil–just drizzle it around the top and mix it in.  We probably end up using 3+ (or more–it’s really hard to tell!) tablespoons in a batch.  Add at least a teaspoon of salt and grind some black pepper on top and mix it all up and let it heat up and bubble.

At this point you should start mashing/stirring the beans using something like a potato masher (in a pinch, you can use the back of a large spoon, but that’s somewhat masochistic).  I like leaving a bunch of beans unmashed but I admit that tastes vary on that–a lot of people like smooth refried beans, but not me!  (I also like lump mashed potatoes–some say I’ll write that recipe up!)

Reduce heat and keep stirring until it’s able to simmer without burning on the bottom and let cook for a few more minutes.  Add more salt.  Yeah, it’s “to taste” but everyone seems to like the “salt” part of “beans, oil, salt”.  Add some of the reserved bean water if it needed.

 

Blistered Green Beans with Shishito Peppers and Mushrooms

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I admit it, I saw this in a Whole Foods mailer and thought it sounded good and so we tried it for *Thanksgiving 2018 and people loved it.  Go figure!

The original calls for including 1/4 teaspoon salt when blistering the ingredients but that just seems to end up with a bunch of what looks like ash on the pan bottom so I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest just truly dry blistering followed by the sprinkling of salt after it’s out of the pan.

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons miso paste; I used white miso paste
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice; I used a whole medium lemon and have no idea if that was even close to 2 tablespoons
  • 1 tablespoon water (measured that one, I did!)
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 12 ounces haricot verts (French green beans), ends trimmed
  • 1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt; Morton’s seemed too plain so I used Redmond’s
  • 6 ounces shishito peppers
  • 6 ounces mushooms; I used crimini
  • lots of caramelized onions

Preparation

Caramelized onions (as topping) can be made by chopping 1 medium yellow onion into longish pieces and medium-cooking them for a long time in a skillet.

In a small bowl whisk miso, lemon juice, water, and olive oil until smooth and set aside.

Place large cast-iron skillet over high heat and when very hot add green beans and red pepper flakes.  Let sit undisturbed until blistered on the bottom–maybe 2 minutes or so, then attempt to rotate so that blisters are upside so you can blister other parts.  Note that this is easier said than done and that in the end you’ll probably just have to scooch them around to get them evenly blistered.  Sigh.  Anyway, remove them when they’re starting to soften and put them in large enough serving bowl.  Do the same with shishito peppers, but after you take them out, I highly suggest clipping the stems off of them with scissors (it’s kind of a pain to try to pick out the stems when eating them otherwise).  Ditto with mushrooms.

When the veggies (well, actually mushrooms are not a fruit or a veggie, but you know…) are all in the serving bowl, add the salt, drizzle the sauce over the top, turn a bit to coat everything, then put the caramelized onions on top.

*Notes from Helen

Thanksgiving 2018 at Delores’s house included: Delores, Lana, Deboro, Elle, Scarlette, Ivy, Ann, Karen, Helen, Scott, Anna, Maddie

We had a veggie Thanksgiving due to the fact that Delores tried to cook a frozen turkey in four hours. Lovely spread nonetheless. Little Svays played with cardboard jungle animals; Elle & Scarlette wrote thankful thank you cards for Aunts Karen and Helen; Lana shared her mindfulness work at her neighborhood charter school; Anna played piano in the background; Maddie enjoyed the little girls.

 

 

English peas, onions, and smoked vegan cheese

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A late-night snack that turned out better than expected:

  • a handful of English peas, pods and all.  These are the really big fat ones that you think would be good for dipping because they look like overgrown snap peas but whose shells are actually quite fibrous…
  • half an onion
  • a small amount of Aged English Smoked Farmhouse vegan cheese, from Miyoko’s Kitchen (www.miyokoskitchen.com).  Maybe a tablespoon or a bit more
  • olive oil, salt and pepper

Rinse and slice the pea pods into half-inch pieces; dice onion into whatever size pieces you like.  Saute both in, oh, a few tablespoons of olive oil for maybe five or more minutes.

Check on the tenderness of the pea pods and a few minutes before it’s where you want, add the chunk of the vegan cheese and cover with a pan lid.  The cheese will (eventually) soften enough to stir it into the rest–it really is mostly just for flavoring and not so much for eating cheese.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Helen was impressed with the flavor, real-cheese eater that she is!

(Note:  plan ahead on this as this smoked cheese–which is actually fermented vegan cheese–can only be ordered online…sad but true.)

White Bean Butternut Christmas Soup

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Adapted from http://fabtasticeats.com/2014/11/17/pancetta-winter-vegetable-soup/

Katie and I made this for her last sit-down family meal before she left to go back to Boulder, Utah with her cute and rambunctious Billy (her blue heeler puppy)

  • 2 or so tablespoons of high-oleic sunflower oil–enough for sauteing and taste
  • 1 large sweet yellow onion, chopped (larger pieces are nice)
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 3 carrots, sliced
  • 4 cups cubed butternut squash
  • 1 teaspoon dried basil
  • 1 teaspoon thyme
  • 1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
  • 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 3.5 cups veggie broth (we used 2 of the veggie bouillon cubes)
  • 2 cans (28 ounces) fire-roasted tomatoes
  • 2 cups fresh, sliced baby kale
  • 3+ cups “rice beans” (small white beans)

We had already cooked the rice beans (from Zurson Idaho Heirloom Beans) to just-ready-to-eat, but I suppose you could use canned white beans.

Just saute the onions in the oil for maybe 4 minutes, add the garlic and saute a minute more, then throw in everything but the kale and beans and cook for 20 to 25 minutes, until the squash is tender.

Add beans and kale and stir and let sit for a few and serve.

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

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We love this soup. Scott found it in the cookbook Vegan with a Vengeance by Isa Chandra Moskowitz.

Family notes from the page: 12/26/07: The Quinns and Sasha and Ben came over after sledding with the Peterson Brest Van Kempens and we ate this soup and masa cakes. We had fun. 

  • 5 pounds butternut squash (about 3), peeled, bulbous part cut from the stem part, then each part sliced in half, seeds removed
  • 4 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 medium-sized onion, diced
  • 1 serrano chile, chopped (any chile will do, or you can omit if you don’t want it spice at all)
  • 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 teaspoon salt (or more to taste)
  • 4 cups vegetable stock, or 2 cubes vegetable bouillon dissolved in 4 cups water
  • 1 tablespoon maple syrup
  • juice of 1 or 2 limes, to taste

Preheat oven to 425F

Lightly coat the squash halves with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and place cut side down on a nonstick or parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet (if you don’t have a rimmed baking sheet then use baking pans, to prevent the oil from dripping onto the oven floor).  Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until the squash is tender and easily pierced with a fork.

When the squash is about 15 minutes from being done, in a stockpot over medium heat saute the onions in the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil for 5 minutes.  Add the chiles; saute 5 minutes more.  Lastly add the ginger, garlic, and salt; saute 2 minutes more.

When squash is ready, puree in a blender or food processor along with the vegetable broth and sauteed onions, until smooth.  Return the mixture to the pot and heat through, add the maple syrup and lime juice, and serve.

Not a recipe but related to food…

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Just for grins and to see what my body would do, I tried a ketogenic diet for a few days (for various reasons that I don’t want to go into here).  Well, for about three days I ate a high-fat, medium-protein, and low-carb diet.  I ran two times–four miles on the first day and five miles on the last day–just to make sure all my glycogen was gone.

I crashed late at night the last day.  I couldn’t get to sleep because my heart was pounding and I had started to wonder what I had done to myself.  So at 11pm I got up and “carbed up” a bit with a banana, some corn syrup (for that extra kick of carbs), and some garbanzo beans.  I could feel my heart doing less pounding but still wasn’t able to get to sleep.  The carb-kick lasted for a a few hours and then I was back to a pounding heart and a sleepless night.  I slept maybe 2 hours and got up at 5am to eat a big bowl of steel cut oats and to start my recovery from too few carbohydrates.

For any of you who do want to try a ketogenic diet (there are some benefits from a low blood glucose level), you might want to check into cyclic ketogenic diet (CKD) as you get to replenish weekly (even mid-week!) so it might be more maintainable!

Easy Hummus

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For those of you that want to make hummus easily, this one’s for you.

  • 1 25-oz can of garbanzo beans, drained (save the juice)
  • 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/3 cup tahini
  • around 2/3 cup of bean juice
  • juice of one medium to large lemon
  • 1 large garlic clove
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • pinch of cayenne pepper

(It’s the “third cup, third cup, two thirds cup” and the “1 teaspoon, 1 teaspoon” that makes it easier to remember for me.  If you use the smaller cans of beans, you’ll have to do the arithmetic to figure it out and I’m pretty sure it won’t be as easy to remember.)

Throw everything into a blender and blend it up on the low speed.  You want to make sure enough bean juice has been added so that the hummus has a nice flow in the blender so that you don’t need to keep pushing it down to get mixed up, but not too much juice (but remember that it will thicken up in the refrigerator).

If you want to have smooth(er) hummus you can do one of two things:  either peel each and every garbanzo bean by hand (a very meditative exercise–expect to meditate for 30-40 minutes for a 25-oz can) or do a mostly-effective chemical peel of them by bringing the beans to a quick boil in a solution of water and 1 teaspoon baking soda (followed by rinsing in cold water and sort of squishing them gently to get the skins off).

A few things of note here:

  • if you’re into BPA-free garbanzo beans, make sure you double-check the label because at least one supplier has moved to BPA-free for the smaller cans but not the larger cans (I even verified this by sending them an email to confirm…)
  • if you soak dried garbanzo beans you’ll probably have to figure out if the amounts are still reasonable.  However, do NOT boil them with baking soda–you’ll end up with bad tasting beans that are mushy on the outside and hard on the inside 🙁

 

Aunt Karen’s Spring Roll Dipping Sauce

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My sister Karen introduced us to this fine, very fresh meal.

Aunt Karen’s Spring Roll Dipping Sauce

To be served with a colorful array of sliced vegetables, prepared tofu, ground peanuts, rice/tapioca spring roll rounds, a bowl of hot water and napkins.

saute briefly:
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive or canola oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 shallot bulb, minced

add to pan:
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 Tbsp. sucanat (or brown sugar)
1 tsp. chili flakes
3/4 cup water

add after mixture comes to a brief boil; then pour into a small, attractive serving bowl:

1 tsp. rice vinegar
juice of half a fresh lime
add to steaming bowl, et voilá!
1 bunch green onions, finely sliced

suggested veggies:
red peppers
red cabbage
carrots
squash

also provide:
cilantro, mint and basil
ground peanuts
chopped limes

 

Family notes:

November 2015: Anna and Maddie prepared this meal for Scott’s 53rd birthday party. We had a small intimate dinner at their 9th East apartment downtown. –Helen

February 2016: Anna’s boyfriend, Tony, and the girls came over for Sunday dinner after an afternoon of sledding with little brother, Petey. We added portobello mushrooms marinated in the dipping sauce and then broiled to the spread. Highly recommended! –Helen

With a rare occurrence of having an actual Sunday off, eating these delicious spring rolls was like the cherry on the sundae of my Sunday. – Tony

 

 

GF Lactose-free Cornbread

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For all those gluten-free, lactose-free cornbread lovers out there!

Gluten-free, Lactose-free Cornbread for Everyone

flour option 1:
1 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup brown rice flour
3/4 cup oat flour

flour option 2:
3/4 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup bean flour
3 tbsp tapioca flour
1/4 tsp xanthan gum

flour option 3 for wheat eaters:
3/4 cup cornmeal
1 1/4 cup white wheat flour

add to flour:
1/4 cup sucanat or brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup soy milk
1/4 cup canola oil
1 egg

variation 1:
I made a fortuitous mistake and put in 1 1/2 cups cornmeal, so I added 1/2 cup water and 1/2 tsp baking powder. This version has more corny texture. Try it!

Combine dry ingredients. Mix. Add wet ingredients. Try muffins! Bake 20-25 minutes (less for muffins) at 400 F.

Kahuna Confection

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Sage’s Cafe’s Kahuna Confection (near as I can get it)

1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
1 15 oz. can pineapple chunks in their own juice, thoroughly drained and (important!) frozen
4 fresh dates, pitted and sliced
Put all ingredients in a food processor.

This is a delicacy…like caviar. Serve a small scoop in a small decorative dish after a really satisfying meal.

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