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Archive of ‘beans’ category

25
Jun
2013

Indian Dinner

categories: beans, indian cooking, pakoras, Uncategorized, vegan

Chickpea and Cashew Coconut Curry

I love Indian food but I don’t make it as often as I would like as is the case with most of my favorite foods. As always I blame my children and there reluctant taste buds. One night though I didn’t care. I made us an Indian feast for dinner and the kids ate quesadilla’s with a side of what we were having. My rule is they have to at least try it. They did and they didn’t like it.

For the curry I sauteed onions, garlic, ginger, carrots and string beans in oil until almost tender and then added some curry powder and some curry leaves then cooked it for a minute longer. After that I added a can of diced tomatoes, a can of coconut milk, a can of chickpeas that were rinsed and drained plus about 2 cups of raw cashews. Stirred it all up. Seasoned with salt and pepper then let it cook for another 30 minutes on a low simmer until the vegetables were soft. A few minutes before it was done I added some fresh cilantro. If you are a cilantro hater you could sub parsley or just leave it out.

Onion Fritters

Halfway through the cooking of the curry I had the idea to make some onion fritters. I had no idea what I was doing since I’ve never made them before. I sliced some onions, chopped some cilantro, added some chickpea flour, cumin, salt, pepper and some water. They came out pretty good but not exactly what I was going for. I have better ideas of what to do differently next time. I think the batter needs to be much thinner then mine was. Even with the recipes shortcomings they were a lovely additions to the meal especially after I mixed some orange marmalade with a bit of tamari to use as a chutney inspired topping!

The full meal

Here is the full meal together! Earlier in the day I visited an Indian Grocery and picked up a package of flat bread to heat up and serve along side.

This meal was a lot of work to put together and it created a big mess. It was worth it in the end and I look forward to making it again..especially the fritters!

19
Jun
2013

Recent events and holidays

categories: baking, beans, chocolate, cupcake, event, ice cream, instagram, peanut butter, vegan, vegan baking, vegan cupcakes take over the world

Brownie Sundae’s

We have had lots of celebrating going on lately. Miles birthday, Reno’s summertime birthday celebration at school, Fathers Day..BBQ’s..etc…I’ve been baking a lot of desserts for all these events. First up was my son’s 2nd birthday. We packed our backyard with family and friends. I was originally going to make cupcakes and then quickly realized I’d have to make 4 dozen of them. Then realized that most of the time the kids just lick off the frosting and leave the cupcake behind. I didn’t want that experience! I decided to make a double batch of my Double Chocolate Brownies and then got the idea to make a Brownie Ice Cream Sundae bar. My sister was kind enough to stop at the store and pick us up some vegan ice creams. It was hugely popular and I’ve decided to do this for all hot weather parties. Since this was a last minute idea all there was were my brownies, ice cream and berries. Next time I’ll have other toppings and whipped cream available.

Vanilla Vanilla Cupcakes

For my daughters summertime birthday celebration at school I made 2 dozen Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World. I love this recipe and it alway’s goes over well with kids and parents because the cake isn’t too sickening sweet. I piped the buttercream on top after it was in the carry case to make less of a mess and was lucky to find some hot pink sprinkles in the spice cabinet. According to my daughter a few of her friends wanted seconds, some kids didn’t want them at all and I’m sure some just licked the frosting. C’est la vie.

For the record..my daughter ate 3 of them.

Double Dare Peanut Butter Cake

Peter’s cousin was kind enough to invite the whole family over for a BBQ last weekend. She saw the peanut butter cake I made from Robin Robertson’s Nut Butter Universe book and asked if I would make it for her party. I jumped at the chance to make it again. Its so easy and everyone loved it the first time I made it. The pic above is the same as in the review post. I was so embarrassed with how the second cake looked! The piping bag dropped on the cake and the piped border started melting…it was hot mess but it was still delicious. His whole family really enjoyed it though and they thought it looked nice. I’m sure I’ll be making this cake again soon.

Father’s Day BBQ

Our last celebration was Father’s Day and I again made my brownies. Instead of talking about them I’ll show you our feast. My sister made some of the best grilled vegetables I’ve ever had. She didn’t do anything special with them at all and they were amazing! My mom was kind enough to set aside some macaroni salad and potato salad before she put mayo on them. I was then able to add some vegan mayo and enjoy the salads along with everyone else. (she even put the macaroni salad aside before she added peas to it! she knows me well!) My mom’s famous doctored baked beans were served also. You can find a recipe for the baked beans right here on the site.

We have many other events and holidays to celebrate over the summer months..I’ll be very busy baking for them!

03
May
2013

Speaking of side dishes

categories: beans, gluten free, vegan

My post yesterday reminded of this one day, a weekday no less, that I went crazy and made 3 side sides for our weekly Rice and Beans meal. I’m not sure what got into me that day. It took crazy long and made a complete mess but it was worth it. Here is what I made:

Rice and Beans with hidden zucchini and carrots.
Cashew Cream.
Sauteed Kale with Apricots and Almonds, this was amazing!
Sweet Potato Fries.
Guacamole.

12
Mar
2013

Nacho’s

categories: beans, sauce, Uncategorized, vegan

Black Bean and Tomato Nacho’s

I’m sure I’ve said it before but I hate store bought vegan cheese! I hate when restaurants use it instead of making their own! I hate when it is added to recipes that already have a homemade vegan cheese in it. I hate it with a passion.

I wish I liked it for the convenience of it and am open to trying any new brands that come out. I do buy a certain brand of vegan cheese for the kids when I make pizza. They get their own separate pizza though. My husband and I will eat a pizza that is either cheeseless or with a homemade raw cashew cheese on it.

One thing my husband won’t eat, besides vegan cheese, is nachos. Not even with a homemade cheese sauce for it. Just telling him about these nacho’s last night made him freak out. Like truly freaked out and wanted me to stop talking about it! I used to wait until he was away on a business trip to eat a nacho dinner but yesterday I thought what’s stopping me from making it for lunch? So I did.

It’s a much simpler version of nacho’s then I would make for a dinner portion. Its just blue and white corn chips, rinsed canned black beans, chopped up cherry tomatoes and a homemade nutritional yeast nacho sauce. The sauce is made from 1/2 a small onion minced, 3 cloves of garlic, a pinch of red pepper flakes, chili powder, cumin powder, onion powder, earth balance, olive oil, nutritional yeast, gluten free all purpose flour, almond milk, salt and pepper. The sauce was divine! I loved the heat that the red pepper flakes and chili powder provided. I’m looking forward to making this lunch version again really soon. I’ll wait until my husband is on his business trip before I make a dinner portion when the kids are already in bed. I am used to not sharing my nachos and I don’t intend to start to. (They wouldn’t eat them anyway.)

01
Jan
2012

Chickpea-Broccoli Coconut Curry (recipe)

categories: beans, indian cooking, recipe, seitan, vegan

Chickpea-Broccoli Coconut Curry

Curry! It has been AGES since I made any sort of curry/Indian food. I use to make it all the time. My pantry was stocked with all types of Indian ingredients and spices. Then Reno started eating “real food” and I stopped cooking a lot of foods that I liked to cook because I refuse to cook two dinners, one for us and one for her. Well I wanted a curry the other night. Knowing she wouldn’t eat the curry part of the meal I took out some of the broccoli before I added the curry spice. Unfortunately I forgot to take out some chickpeas for her as well. At least she ate the broccoli. Not pictured above was some seared seitan that I served on the side. Made mostly for Reno to have more protein with her meal but also for us seitan loving parents. This is a quick dinner to make on busy weeknights when you want something warm and comforting. I’m definitely adding it to our somewhat rotation of regular meals.

2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 small-medium onion, small diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and minced
4 cups of broccoli florets
1 15 oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 Tablespoons curry powder
1 chicken-less bouillon cube
1 15 oz can coconut milk
salt and pepper to taste

Heat olive oil, over medium-low heat, in a medium-large size saute pan. Add the onions, garlic and ginger and saute until the onions are translucent. Add the broccoli florets and continue cooking 8-10 minutes until the broccoli is cooked through but still has a crunch to it. Now add in the chickpeas, the curry powder and the chicken-less bouillon cube and cook for 3 minutes. Stir in the can of coconut milk. Cook the curry, stirring occasionally, for about 10 more minutes. The coconut milk is thick and will thicken some more as it cooks. If you want you can thin it out with 1/2 cup of water or more if necessary. I personally didn’t thicken mine but I like the thickness. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve immediately over white rice.

I served ours with a side of seared seitan which isn’t pictured above.

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