White Bean Chili

White Bean Chili

(adapted from a friend's recipe)

Ingredients

4 cups dried white beans (navy, black eyed peas, great northern, etc.)

7 cups water

3 medium onions chopped

5 Tablespoons vegan broth powder

8 oz frozen corn kernels (optional)

Juice of 5-6 limes

A bunch of fresh chopped cilantro

Few dribbles of hot sauce (won’t taste, but adds flavor)

Soak the beans overnight, Drain, and add the fresh water, followed by all other ingredients. Some people prefer to add the cilantro and juice at the end. I've done it both ways and not noticed much of a difference.

Cook for 8-10 hours on low, 5-7 hours on high. Use a stick blender to blend about half of it. This will make it creamy, while leaving some whole beans for texture.

This makes about 3 quarts of soup.

Senate Bean Soup

This recipe is adapted from the American Wholefoods Cuisine cookbook, by far my all-time favorite cookbook. Seriously. It's not fancy, there are no pictures, but for $16.22, you get 1300 awesome recipes, many of which are easy to adapt to be gluten free and dairy free. Here is one such adaptation.

Senate Bean Soup
1 pound dried white beans (I use navy beans, but great northern or any whit bean would work)
6 cups water or broth
1 bay leaf
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
1/2 pound potatoes
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt (or another teaspoon if not using broth)
3 tablespoons vegan broth powder (optional)
1/4 cup milk (I use coconut milk beverage)
1/4 cup chopped parsley (optional)

1. Soak the beans in water overnight. Drain in the morning. Put them back in the crockpot with the water, and turn it on high.
2. Chop all things that need to be chopped, and shred the potatoes. The recipe actually calls for mashed potatoes, so if you happen to have leftover mashed potatoes, that would work to.
3. Add all chopped things and spices to the crockpot pot. Save the parsley and milk for later.
4. Cook on low for 8-12 hours.
5. Try and fish out the bay leaf, and then use a stick blender to make this smooth and creamy.
6. Add milk and optional parsley, if your children are not afraid of floating green things. Mine are.

Crockpot Vegetarian Chili

I'm in the process of gathering up recipes to use for freezer meals. I'll create 8 vegan, gluten free, dairy free and soy free bean-based freezer meals, and share the process with you all. Many of them would be good with meat added, if that's your preference.

I'll post the recipes here that I haven't shared already.

Vegetarian Crockpot Chili

1 cup each 4 types dry beans (I use black, kidney, garbanzo, and pinto usually)

1 can tomato sauce, about 14 ounces

2 cans diced tomatoes, totaling 32 ounces

2 teaspoons chili powder

3 teaspoons cumin

1 teaspoon oregano

½ teaspoon salt

1 large onion, pealed and chopped

½ head of garlic, pealed and chopped

2-3 cups of water

Whatever veggies you want (I shred zucchini and carrots into this recently. Veggies will basically disintegrate if you have picky children. A great way to use shriveled veggies).

1. Soak the 4 cups total of dry beans overnight. Drain in the morning.

2. Dump all other ingredients into the crockpot. I cook this on high because I have an older crockpot (doesn’t get as hot or cook as fast) and because I use kidney beans.

3. Cook until beans are soft (about 8 hours).

Cranberry Bean Hummus

I picked up a bag of dried cranberry roman beans at an Amish store in Pennsylvania for 40 cents. I remember buying them before at a post-Thanksgiving sale and liking them.

I couldn't remember what I made with them last time, but googling found me this. I used its vague memory to create this recipe.

Cranberry Bean Hummus
1 pound dried cranberry beans
1/2 small onion, peeled
2-3 dried bay leaf
1 large zucchini {about a 9 inch veggie}
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons tahini
2-3 small clove garlic, chopped
Juice of 1 freshly squeezed lemon juice
Sea salt

Soak the beans overnight. Drain, rinse, and put back in the crockpot. Add sufficient water, the onion and the bay leaves with a pinch of sea salt. Cook until cooked :) Mine cooked on low about 8 hours because I was at work, but I think they're done a lot faster than that.

While the beans are cooking, wash and chop the zucchini into stick-shaped pieces. Saute in olive oil until soft. I actually cooked these the night before for ease. Set aside.

Once the beans are cooked, drain again, saving some beans water. Take out the bay leaves, but leave the onion. Put beans and onion in food processor with zucchini, tahini, garlic and lemon juice. Puree. Add sea salt to taste. Add beans water if you want a thinner consistency. Mine was quite soupy, but very yummy.

This is great served warm or cold. You cannot taste the tahini (a plus for us because my husband isn't a huge fan). Even my 4 year old loved it. We dipped veggies in it.

Red Lentil Soup with Lemon: Gluten, Grain & Dairy Free

I resurrected an old favorite today.

I hesitate to show you a picture. It is so much tastier than it looks.

Red Lentil Soup with Lemon
2 medium onions, chopped
5 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoon tomato paste
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, more to taste
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon chili powder
Pinch of ground cayenne, more to taste
2 quarts chicken or vegetable stock
1 1/2 cup red lentils

1 1/2 cups cooked butternut squash, or the raw equivalent
2 large carrots, peeled and diced
Juice of 2 lemon, more to taste
4 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

Throw everything except cilantro & lemon juice in the crockpot. Cook on low for 8-10 hours.

Using an immersion or regular blender or a food processor, purée half the soup then add it back to the crockpot. Soup should be somewhat chunky.

Reheat soup if necessary, then stir in lemon juice and cilantro. You can cook the soup with lemon juice & cilantro, but my kids don't like the lemon juice much.

This soup is 3 points+ per cup if you're a Weight Watcher.

Great Foods For After Long Runs

I ran 11.25 miles this morning at a 9:18 pace. That's a spritely pace for me :)

When I got home, I started eating and haven't stopped.

I thought I'd post about some great post-run foods. Being that I'm a Lifetime member of Weight Watchers, I count all the points, of course!

I started with Poor Man's Pancakes as we always have tons of overripe bananas in this house. I had scrambled eggs with veggies on the side.

Lunch was a variation on this falafel recipe with tahini dressing.

Falafel Muffins

4 cups cooked garbanzo beans (chickpeas) (I soak them overnight and cook them in my slow cooker)

1 onion, chopped

2 T dried parsley

6-8 cloves minced garlic

2 egg

2 t kosher salt

1/4 t black pepper

4 t ground cumin

2 t ground coriander

1/8 t cayenne pepper

2 large slices gluten-free bread

Put it in a food processor and process! Rather than try to fry these as patties (I can't get them to hold together) or make them in the slow cooker (same issue), I scooped about 1/4 cup into greased muffin tins. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. Makes 12 falafel muffins, 3 points plus each.

Tahini Dressing

6 T tahini

Juice of one lemon

2-5 cloves of garlic, to taste

A tiny sprinkle of cayenne pepper

1/2 t - 1 t salt (to taste)

Sprinkle of dried parsley

Water

Put this all in your high-powered blender. Add enough water so it's 15-16 ounces. Blend until it's, well, blended!

This makes 15-16 2 tablespoon servings, 1 points plus each.

Dessert was Chickpea Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough because I had extra chickpeas!

Chickpea Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
2 cups warm chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
1/8 cup agave with 10 drops vanilla liquid stevia mixed in
1/4 cup natural peanut butter (I prefer salted)
1/4 cup dairy-free semisweet chocolate chips*

Mix the first 3 ingredients in the food processor. Transfer it to a bowl and mix in the chocolate chips*. This comes out to be about 1 3/4 cups. Each 1/4 cup serving is 5 points plus.

Yum! A full day of fulling food and one full mama.

Next week, I'm running my 2nd half marathon, the Half of Quincy. Looking forward to totally rocking it!

*Given that Passover is approaching, it is fairly easy to get regular-sized dairy & soy free chocolate chips at stores that sell Passover-safe foods, as opposed to the mini chips I usually buy from Enjoy Life/Amazon. Amazon is selling the regular sized chips at a fair price, but I found them at Roche Bros (if you're in MA) for $3/10 oz bag.

Turkey Meatloaf, Gluten free

Last week, I did an experiment and made a turkey meatloaf. I really enjoyed it.

Turkey Meatloaf
1 lb ground turkey breast
1/4 cup ground quinoa
1/4 cup gluten-free oats
3 tablespoons ketchup (optional)
3 tablespoons mustard
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/4 teaspoon salt
Dash ground pepper
Chopped parsley and celery leaves (optional)
1 carrot
1 medium onion
3 cloves garlic
2 stalks celery

I sent the veggies through the food processor for ease. I added the parsley and celery leaves simply because I had them from this summer's farmshare. The quinoa had been ground in my blender in an attempt to make flour.

Mix everything together in a bowl, and put it in a greased loaf pan. Bake this at 350°F for about 45 minutes. If you have a meat thermometer, it should reach about 170°F in the middle.

I might cover it with foil next time, as I cooked it a bit too long! This is 8 servings and 3 PointsPlus per serving if you're a Weight Watchers person :)

Garlic Scape Pesto, Dairy-free

Today, I modified this recipe to make a new & improved garlic scape pesto.

Garlic Scape Pesto
3/4 cup water
15-20 garlic scapes
1/4 cup raw pine nuts
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
3 large kale leaves
Juice of one lemon

Soak the pine nuts in water for about an hour or more. Drain the water and rinse. Trim the garlic scapes of the stringy end (but leave the flower/bud thing) and the hard end on the other side.

Throw all ingredients into the blender. Blend it really well. This makes 2 cups of pesto, and is only 12 points plus for the whole recipe in the Weight Watchers system. That means you can add just over 2 tablespoons to your pasta and it's only 1 point.

I boiled brown rice fusilli and steamed some chicken breast, green beans & summer squash with a side of corn. All veggies were from our farmshare!

Poor Man's Pancakes

I made this up because I had nothing planned for dinner and I have a ton of overripe bananas in the fridge. I am desperate to find uses for them.

So I made up a pancake.

I'm not sure why I chose the name for the pancakes. Forgive me.

Poor Man's Pancakes
1 overripe banana
1 egg
1/4 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Blend the banana & egg in your blender. Pour into a bowl. Mix in flour, baking powder & baking soda.

I quadrupled the recipe, used peanut flour, buckwheat flour, almond flour & brown rice protein powder for "flour" to give them a protein boost.

Spoon about 1/4 cup of batter at a time onto a hot griddle or pan. Flip when bubble. Eat with or without syrup (I put almond butter on mine).

This made 16 pancakes. We ate them all.

Acorn Squash Potato Pancakes

I had some leftovers boiled potatoes from the CSA (I think they were russet), half a roasted acorn squash (roasting instructions here) and only a small appetite for dinner. So I decided these sounded good :)

Acorn Squash Potato Pancakes
1/2 a roasted acorn squash
about 1 cup boiled potatoes
2 eggs
Salt, pepper and onion flakes to taste
Olive oil for frying

Mix squash and potatoes, mashed them well, then mix in eggs and spices. Fry on a flat skillet in a little bit of olive oil, cooking both sides. Serve plain or with honey (above picture), maple syrup or ketchup (below!). Yum :)

Gluten-free Pasta with Garlic Scape Pesto

I don't know if it's because I walked 3.6 miles in hilly terrain, or I was really hungry - but this dinner was so good! Gluten free, dairy free and fresh from the farm.



Garlic Scape Pesto
4-5 ounces water
15-20 garlic scapes
30-40 fresh basil leaves
1/4 cup raw pine nuts
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Soak the pine nuts in water for about an hour or more. Drain the water and rinse. Trim the garlic scapes of the stringy end (but leave the flower/bud thing) and the hard end on the other side.

Throw all ingredients into the blender. Start with 4 ounces of water and add another ounce if the blender is struggling. Blend it really well. This makes almost 2 cups of pesto, and is only 12 points for the whole recipe in the Weight Watchers system. That means you can add just over 2 tablespoons to your pasta and it's only 1 point.

I boiled brown rice penne and steamed some chicken breast (yes, I know that's weird - but I'm on a diet & the chicken was still frozen). In the last 3 minutes of the chicken cooking, I added big cubes of zucchini and lightly steamed that.

I tossed together 1 1/2 cups of pasta with a few cubes of chicken, 2 tablespoons pesto and threw some zucchini on top. You have to try this. My goodness! Could dinner get any better?

Gluten-free Dairy-free Taco Soup

Taco Soup
1/2 pound lean ground beef or turkey (optional)
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 1/2 cups water
1 (16 ounce) can chopped stewed tomatoes, with juice
2/3 cup dry beans (I used pinto & small red beans)
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
2 tablespoons taco seasoning (except when I make the recipe, I half the chili powder to make it easier on the toddler's tastebuds)
1 avocado - peeled, pitted and diced

1. Soak the beans in water overnight. Drain, rinse and put in crockpot on low with everything but the ground beef.
2. In a large saucepan over medium heat, cook ground beef until meat is evenly brown; drain excess fat. Throw in the crockpot with everything else and cook on low for 8-10 hours.
3. Ladle hot soup into serving bowls and stir in the avocado. Top with cheese like Daiya if you're so inclined.

I doubled this recipe. It fit nicely in my crockpot, and it was very good.

Gluten-Free Dairy-Free Cornbread Casserole

I got the idea for this by making Impossible Cheeseburger Pie, a recipe I found over at $5 dinners, but she must have taken it down. You can find a similar recipe at Bob's Red Mill. I thought, "That'd be good with cornbread and beans!" Here's what I came up with.

Gluten-Free Dairy-Free Cornbread Casserole
4 cups cooked beans, more or less (I used a combo of kidney, black & pinto)
Some ground turkey or beef, up to 1 lb (optional)
1 14oz can diced tomatoes, chopped finer if you want
1 tablespoon taco seasoning (except when I make the recipe, I half the chili powder to make it easier on the toddler's tastebuds)
1/2 chopped onion (optional)
8 oz package corn (optional)

If you're using meat, brown it, drain the fat, add a little water & add taco seasoning. I've done it with or without meat - it's good both ways. Add all other ingredients to pan & heat those up. Dump in the bottom of a greased casserole dish. I use an oval-shaped dish, as you can see in the picture.

The following is the cornbread topping. It's a basic cornbread recipe, with an extra egg and 1/2 cup liquid added.
1-2 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk substitute or water
1/4 cup oil or soy-free margarine
1/4 sugar (optional - I leave it out)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup corn meal
1 1/4 cups baking mix or gluten-free flour plus 1 teaspoon xanthan gum

Mix together liquids, and then add dry ingredients. Dump this on top of the bean mixture and bake at 350 for 30 minutes. It'd be good with melted cheese (maybe some Daiya?) and/or avocado cubes/guacamole.

The picture below is from the first time I made it. I don't think I used a full cornbread recipe. If you want the topping to be thinner, use 1/2 or 3/4 of the cornbread recipe.

Crepes! Gluten-free Dairy-free, Of Course :)

My husband called when he thought I was coming home from the store tonight and asked me to pick up a pumpkin spice latte for him. But alas, I was already at home :) So while I was making him one with our latte machine, the topic of crepes came up. I've honestly never eaten a crepe, but since I found a recipe I could adapt and my son loves pancakes, I figured I'd try it! The recipe was called "Dinner Crepes', but honestly, I have no idea what the difference is :)

Gluten-free Dairy-free Crepes
1 cup baking mix
1/2 cup garbanzo bean flour (to boost protein)
2 tablespoons oil
2 eggs
1 cup milk (I used vanilla coconut milk by So Delicious)
1 cup (or more) water

Mix all ingredients well.

I think I probably used about 1/3-1/2 cup of batter per crepe. I cooked these on a regular cast iron griddle with a little oil. I cooked them on very low heat and flipped once the bubble started popping.

We rolled them up with bananas inside and sprinkled with walnuts and honey. My husband thought they were so good he took a picture. Yum!

Gluten-free Pigs in a Blanket

I made pigs in a blanket last week for fun, and they came out quite well!

"Pigs" in a Blanket
2 cups baking mix
1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon Earth Balance soy-free margarine
2 ½ teaspoons gluten-free baking powder
1 egg or egg replacer
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup water

I also added :
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast (for a "cheese-y" flavor)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Mix the above ingredients to make the "batter".

Then:
6 hot dogs, cut in half & boiled (I used chicken dogs)

I put about a tablespoon of the batter on a greased cookie sheet and flattened it. I did this 12 times, and then put the half dogs on top. I put about another tablespoon & a half of batter on top of the dogs and sort of mushed it together with my fingers.

Before the oven:

I baked it for about 12-15 minutes at 400 degrees F and then served it with fresh salad with my lemon mint dressing. Yum!

Here's the cooked evidence (don't mind the blur; it's an iPhone photo):

Turkey Sausage Gravy & Biscuits

Yesterday, I made a variation on the theme of Ginger Lemon Girl's Gravy & Biscuits. I served it with fried eggs & gluten-free biscuits. This came out really well!

Turkey Sausage Gravy & Biscuits
1 lb. ground turkey (I used a 20 ounce package)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried sage
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 teaspoon ginger
2 teaspoons garlic powder
*********
3 cups milk & water (I used hemp & coconut milk & some water)
2 tablespoons potato flour/starch
3 tablespoons nutritional yeast (*optional)

In a heavy bottomed skillet, brown ground turkey with the salt, dried sage, ground black pepper, cayenne, ginger & garlic powder. Once browned, sprinkle flour over browned ground turkey. Stir to coat. Add liquid & nutritional yeast, stirring or whisking with ground turkey until thick and creamy; add more liquid if it's too thick. Let simmer for another 5 minutes.

Chipotle-Kissed Chicken, Red Bean and Sweet Potato Chili

I've been inspired by Gluten-free Homemaker's "What’s for dinner? Wednesday" to do better about posting my recipes. And I'm really excited to be able to try out and share this new one!

Chipotle-Kissed Red Bean and Sweet Potato Chili

1 1/3 cup dry kidney beans
2 T olive oil
2 medium-sized yellow onion, chopped
2 medium-sized red bell pepper, chopped
2 large garlic clove, minced
1 T chili powder
3 lbs. sweet potatoes, peeled and diced into 1/2 inch cubes
2 14 oz. can of diced tomatoes (can use 28oz if you really like tomatoes)
3 cups water
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cubed chicken breast, raw
2 T minced canned chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, or to taste

1. Soak the kidney beans overnight. Drain, rinse, and return to crockpot.
2. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and pepper. Cover. Cook until softened; about 5 minutes.
3. Transfer the mixture to a 4 - 6 qt. slow cooker (I have a 4-quart, and it is very full!). Add all other ingredients except the chipotle peppers. Season with salt. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours.
4. When ready to serve, stir the chipotles in to the chili. Taste and adjust seasonings.

I have been wanting to make this recipe for a very, very long time, but could not for the life of me find a can of chipotle peppers that did not have soy in them. I found some by Goya yesterday, but they have that ever elusive general "vinegar" in them. I read from a blog that these are gluten-free, but I could not verify it on Goya's site. Since we are just wheat free (soy & dairy free too) and Bear can tolerate vinegar, this is not a huge deal for us. However, I JUST found this link on how to make your own gluten-free chipotle peppers!

I am making this recipe now for the first time, so I may come back and make comments or adjustments later.

Easy Bean Dip

I made some super-easy, hummus-like bean dip yesterday that I wanted to share with you all.

Bean Dip
1 cup dry pinto beans
1 cup dry garbanzo beans
Juice of 2 1/2 lemons
3 cloves garlic
1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt
about 1/4 to 1/2 cup bean cooking water
A bunch of olive oil

Put the dry beans in the crockpot. Add lots of water, and soak overnight.

Drain, add fresh water, and cook on high for 4 hours, or low for 7-8. Drain cooked beans, saving water, and put beans in food processor. Add lemon juice, garlic, and bean water, olive oil and salt in small amounts, blending. Taste, and add more bean water, olive oil and salt as needed. It's great served warm or cold with rice cakes, bread or veggies.

Gluten-free Dairy-free Rancho Pizza

Yesterday, I made a fabulous pizza, if I do say so myself! And it was fun to try and morph one of my favorite recipes into something we could all eat.

One of our favorite stops after church was Ernesto's, this little pizza place in the North End of Boston. It's a hole in the wall with about 5 tables, but many would say it has the best pizza in Boston.

They have this Chicken Rancho pizza that is truly amazing. It sounds rather disgusting when you hear the ingredients (chicken, ranch dressing, bacon, fresh tomatoes, onions & cheese), but I've never known someone who tried it and didn't like it.

Roy yesterday randomly mentioned that he thought we could make this pizza on a biscuit crust. I made this ranch dressing recipe. I pretty much followed the recipe exactly (hard to believe!) except I used hemp seeds instead of cashews (so Bear could eat it) and I halved the vinegar to make it thicker. I made a biscuit crust, using all olive oil & no coconut oil, and simply added some parsley, basil and garlic powder to it. I flattened it out on a cookie sheet, using a rubber spatula that had been dipped in olive oil. and baked it for 10-12 minutes.

Then I put some ranch on the bottom and layered tomatoes (I used a 14 oz can of diced, but fresh would be better), onion slices (1 small onion), chunks of cooked chicken (about 2 small breasts) & crumbled bacon (12 slices, cooked), topping it off with a little extra dressing. I used too much dressing, but I think about a cup total would be good.

You could easily much this vegetarian by using black beans. Yum!

For other great pizza ideas, check out Gluten-free Homemaker's Pizza suggestions!

New Recipes: Sweet & Spicy Lentil Chili & Mostly Raw Chocolate Pudding

I made 2 new recipes tooday that I'd like to share with you.

The 1st is Sweet & Spicy Lentil Chili from the cookbook, Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker. This is 95% the same as what's in the cookbook, but of course I can't make a recipe as it's written :) Part of that is I didn't have all the correct ingredients!

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 1/2 cups brown lentils
1 can 28 oz crushed tomatoes
1/3 cup blackstrap molasses, unsulfured
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon salt
Cayenne pepper to taste
1 1/2 cup water
1 1/2 cup apple juice

You can either just put it all in the crockpot as is, or saute the onion, pepper & garlic in olive oil first. This time, I did actually go the saute route, something I rarely do.

This was awesome!

Then, I tried my hand at Green Smoothie Girl's Raw Chocolate Pudding. It's in chapter 11 of her e-book, linked above. Again, I didn't follow the recipe exactly. Here's what I did:

1 cup water
1/2 cup kale
2 cups baby Thai coconut meat (she has YouTube demos about these coconuts)
1 cup raw cashews
6 tablespoons raw chocolate
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup raw honey (or 1/4 cup raw agave for vegans)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 xanthan gum (or guar guam, soy lecithin, or some other emulsifier)

She recommends pureeing the kale & water first, but I didn't find that to be necessary. Blend this until smooth. We ate it at room temperature, but I think it'd be better chilled.

Check back in the next few days for more on young Thai coconuts, as well as my other East Bay food adventures :)