A Very Vegetarian Thanksgiving...

     So you guys know I totally love me some Thanksgiving sides, but I realized I haven't posted any main dishes for vegetarians, so I thought I'd do one up.  And then I decided to do a couple more sides.  Because whatevah, I do what I want.  For those of you with ovens full of turkey, this vegan bean dish is perfect for the slow cooker!

Slow Cooker Herbed White Beans

1.25 lbs bag of Emergo (aka white runner) beans, pre-soaked, other options are cannellini, navy beans*
6 C water
1 tsp butter
1/2 C chopped scallion
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1 3-inch sprig rosemary
3 2-inch sprigs thyme
6 leaves fresh sage
2 tsp.salt
pepper

Quick-soak the beans in salted water by bringing them to a boil, turning the heat off, and letting them sit for an hour.  Drain.  Melt butter in a pan and cook scallion till soft.  Press in garlic and cook till fragrant.  Pour beans into crock pot, add water and salt, stir, then add the rest of the ingredients.  Cook for 8 hours.  (Cooking time/water ratio may vary with different beans)

*If you decide to sub another kind of bean, be cautious using kidney beans in a crock pot, they can make you very sick if they are under cooked.  Using a modified quick-soak method on red kidney beans is the ideal way to make sure you have removed the poison, making sure you boil them for 10 minutes before leaving them to soak.

Roast Green Beans with Balsamic Thyme Reduction
Yield: 6-8 small servings

2 lbs fresh green beans, stems and strings removed
1 Tbs sea salt
1/2 C balsamic vinegar
2 sprigs thyme
1/2 tsp honey (optional)
1/2 C raw pecans

Preheat oven to 350°.  Rinse greenbeans and drain slightly spread them in a single layer on a baking sheet.  Sprinkle with salt.  Bake greenbeans for 10-15 minutes until beans are tender, but not too browned.  Timing may vary depending on how wet they are when they go in.   On a smaller separate tray, spread a layer of pecans and bake for 2-3 minutes until roasted.  They will burn easily so keep an eye out!   In a small pan, add vinegar and thyme and heat balsamic until it boils.  Stirring constantly, to keep from burning, boil vinegar until it thickens and becomes syrupy.  It doesn't take long.  Sweeten with honey if you'd like.  Pour reduction over beans and stir to combine.  Sprinkle with pecans.

     Most people know how to make mashed potatoes and there are tons of recipes and discussions on the best potato type out there so I won't bother.  Instead I will give you a good ratio for making as many mashed potatoes as you need no matter how large your guest list.  Incidentally, this ratio applies for mashed cauliflower, turnips, rutabagas, or even sweet potatoes.  Mix it up a little this Thanksgiving!

Ratio Mashed Potatoes:
1/2 lb potatoes per guest
3 Tbs milk per 1/2 lb*
1 tsp butter per 1/2 lb
2 tsp sour cream per 1/2 lb (or plain yogurt)
1/4 tsp salt per 1/2 lb
1/8 tsp pepper per 1/2 lb
chives, parsley, thyme, or rosemary as garnish
*liquid ratio may vary depending on potato type

Peel, cube, and boil potatoes until tender.  The smaller the cubes, the faster this will happen.  Drain.  Mash with a potato masher or use a ricer.  Stir in milk, butter, sour cream, salt, and pepper.  Taste for any adjustment.  Top with garnish when serving.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!  I'll keep you posted on my heritage bird adventure!

Getting Chili...

We've had stunningly beautiful but really, really cold days here in the Pacific Northwest this past week.  As my Grandmother used to say, "I'm cold as a frog!"  A constant supply of soup, baked goods, and warm drinks have been issuing from my kitchen lately.  Last night's offering was 4 Bean Vegetarian Chili.

 

I started making chili like this in college when my Mom sent me a recipe that looked pretty simple.  Just open a bunch of cans, dump it all in, and boil it for a while.  Since then, I've refined the recipe some.  I no longer buy canned beans and I use tomatoes I've canned myself.  I added jalapeños too to give it a little bit of heat.  Uh, and I changed the spices, too.  So basically, nothing is the same except it's vegetarian and it has beans in it...

A lot of this recipe is easily substituted.  The small sweet peppers can be replaced with a green pepper and you can add any bean you want to this really. White or cannellini  beans would be great in this, for example.  I have made this with hamburger for friends who simply must have meat in their chili, and I used to use vegetarian "beef" crumbles in it before I cut back on meat substitutes.  Nobody really misses either of those, but you can certainly add them if you want.  The hamburger I would fry up with the onions and peppers, and the soy meat should be added toward the end of cooking time.  Also, I made this one on the stove tonight, but this is an excellent slow cooker meal.  Just add all the ingredients to a crock pot and heat for 6-8 hours.  

This is a great one to feed a crowd as it makes enough for 8 or 9, easily!

4 Bean Vegetarian Chili
1 Can garbanzo beans (1/4 lb dry)
1 Can black beans (1/4 lb dry)
2 Cans pinto beans (1/2 lb dry)
1 Can kidney beans (1/4 lb dry)
1 Tbs Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 medium to large onion, roughly chopped
1 large jalapeño, sliced
7 small sweet peppers, sliced
3-4 large cloves garlic, roughly chopped
2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne powder
1 jar of tomatoes (or a can)
1 Tbs tomato paste
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper

If you use dry beans, soak them overnight separately and boil them each until they are cooked through or do them in a pressure cooker.  I cooked the kidneys and pintos together for one hour and the black beans and garbanzos together for 30 minutes.  Don't worry if something comes out a tad underdone, as you will be cooking all of it for another hour at least.

Once you've got your beans taken care of, heat the oil in the bottom of a large, heavy-bottomed stock pot and sauté the onions and peppers until the onion begins to brown.  Add the garlic, chili, cumin and cayenne and stir until the garlic is fragrant and the spices have bloomed (just a few seconds).

Deglaze the pan with the juice from the tomatoes and then add the tomatoes to the pot. Add all the beans and stir to combine.  Stir in tomato paste and salt and pepper.  Adjust seasonings to your taste, keeping in mind everything will be simmering for some time.

Bring everything to a boil, stir and reduce heat to a simmer.  Allow to simmer uncovered at least an hour stirring occasionally.  Once the liquid has reduced by half, the chili can be served.  The longer you let it simmer, the more the flavor will develop and of course, this is even better the second day!

Notes:
Serve this with shredded cheddar cheese, crackers, corn chips, olives, sour cream, cornbread or avocado or any combination of the above.  Also, a dash of ginger will serve to insulate you from any "musical" properties so many beans my induce in your GI tract without changing the flavor noticeably. 

Review:
My boys are crazy about this stuff!  The jalapeño adds just enough heat to let you know you're eating chili without being so overpowering the kids can't eat it.  If you're not serving it to sensitive palates add more, by all means, or do like I do and sprinkle a little over the top for adults!

02/01/14 UPDATE:
Hi folks!  I've got another great healthy Super Bowl menu this year if you're interested!

Crockpot Cooking FTW!

A cassoulet is generally a bean dish that's full of meat and baked in an oven all day.  This recipe is a very nice, vegetarian, slow cooker recipe.  You do need to exercise caution with your slow cooker when making some bean dishes.  Particularly those with kidney beans.  Kidney beans must boil or the beans will be underdone and toxic.  These beans were very well done and we all survived.  This recipe was submitted by "Liz" to AllRecipes.com.

Vegetarian Cassoulet
Yield 8 servings
2 T olive oil
1 onion
2 carrots, peeled and diced
1 pound dry navy beans, soaked overnight
4 C mushroom broth
1 cube vegetable bullion
1 bay leaf
4 sprigs fresh parsley
1 sprig fresh rosemary
1 sprig fresh lemon thyme, chopped
1 sprig fresh savory
1 large potato, peeled and cubed

1. Heat a small amount of oil in a skillet over medium heat.  Cook and stir onion and carrots in oil until tender.
2. In a slow cooker, combine beans, carrots and onion, mushroom broth, bullion, and bay leaf.  Pour in water if necessary to cover ingredients with water.  Tie together parsley, rosemary, thyme and savory, and add to the pot.  Cook on Low for 8 hours.
3. Stir in potato, and continue cooking for 1 hour.  Remove herbs before serving.
Liz says, "If you are home while this recipe is cooking, give the beans a stir every couple of hours."

My substitutions/additions:
I didn't change much on this one, but I did use vegetable stock instead of mushroom and Better than Bullion mushroom base instead of the bullion cube.

Review: Fan-freakin-tastic.  I loved this recipe.  I could do without the bay leaf because I don't like it, but otherwise, this is perfect.  It's great the second day, too.  The boys and the man liked it too!  Keeper!