Laura Wright is a vegan cookbook author and blogger based in the Niagara region of southern Ontario, Canada. Her most recent post is 25 Vegan Appetizer Recipes and can be accessed at https://thefirstmess.com/. Y’all might remember my earlier posts 25 Vegan Soup Recipes – the First Mess and 25 Vegan Chickpea Recipes – The First Mess. To repeat, I take no credit for these recipes and Laura isn’t paying me any royalties for advancing her brand. This is merely another Giant Sticky Note that serves as a reminder to Self to try these recipes. And before I forget…
Laura Wright is a vegan cookbook author and blogger based in the Niagara region of southern Ontario, Canada. Her most recent post is 25 Vegan Chickpea Recipes and can be accessed at https://thefirstmess.com/. Y’all might remember my earlier post 25 Vegan Soup Recipes – the First Mess. Again I take no credit for these recipes and Laura isn’t paying me any royalties for advancing her brand. This is merely another Giant Sticky Note that serves as a reminder to Self to try these recipes. And before I forget…
A few weeks ago I cooked too many chickpeas. Some got roasted with this Veggie Burrito Spice Blend. The rest got tossed into this concoction. The problem I have saving a recipe to revise at a later time is I tend to forget to revise and post. Then I can’t remember what stopped me from posting earlier. Like this recipe which I thought needed revisions but actually didn’t. I think.
4 cups MOL vegetable broth and bean cooking liquid (MOL= more or less)
salt and pepper, to taste
Add the onion, garlic, and ginger to a soup pot with the olive oil and sauté over medium heat
After a few minutes toss in the curry powder, smoked paprika, sweet paprika, cumin, and red pepper flakes. Keep sautéing for another few minutes.
Add the potatoes, tomatoes, carrots and chickpeas to the pot. Pour enough vegetable broth and/or bean cooking liquid to cover the ingredients by an inch.
Turn the heat up and bring to a boil. When boiling, turn the heat down to low and simmer for about an hour, lid on partially covered. Stir occasionally. Add more broth/cooking liquid as the stew thickens.
After an hour taste and adjust your seasonings. The amounts of seasonings I used results in a very mild stew that allows all of the flavors to shine.
This blend of spices is literally stolen from the chefs at https://www.badmanners.com/. The last time I took a theme on a spice blend the author tracked me down and threatened something close to legal action if I didn’t give her credit and a link to her website. So this time around I’m giving credit AND three links. I’m also not going to write down any instructions for making a roasted vegetable and chickpea filling for burritos. I suggest you go to the original recipe at https://www.badmanners.com/recipes/roasted-chickpea-and-broccoli-burrito if you need detailed instructions.
My Tips, Hints, and not too Secret Secrets
A really good tortilla makes all the difference. But today I’m going to wrap this filling in a Greek style whole wheat pita for lunch. I tend to roast vegetables for at least 40 minutes with a good stir midway through to prevent sticking. You can also add more olive oil at this point too. I hope I have a lime in the fridge. The last time I made this filling The Boss used it as a topping for a Taco Salad. She liked it. I hope she was telling the truth because when you cook up a pound of dried chickpeas it is a LOT of chickpeas. One cup dried will produce between 6 and 7 cups of beans. I used about 4 cups for today’s mix. The other 3 cups went into a Sweet Potato and Chickpea Stew (no link yet, recipe is still in draft form).
I used some metal pie pans as roasting pans because I didn’t want to use the big pan which is a pain in the ass to clean because of its size. Preheat your pan(s) before roasting. I leave the mixing bowl uncleaned and use it again once the veggies are roasted and done. Let the mixture cool for a bit, toss everything back into this bowl, mix well again to capture the spices that have stuck to the bowl and then adjust your seasonings.
Before we get to this year’s chili recipe I’ve decided my Three Bean Chili Madness was a pain in the rump to make because I cooked the beans and meat/veggie mixture separately. This year’s version is more of “everyone in the pool” which truly becomes less of a pain in the rump. So here we go.
This chili cooks all day long but I didn’t use a slow cooker. I was hunkered down in the house and the chili got the stove top treatment. You could easily use a slow cooker but you would still need to brown the meat and veggies before everyone goes in the pool
The beans get an overnight soak and a quick rinse before adding to the pot. Don’t make the same mistake I made. I soaked six cups of dried beans and had way too much beans. So approximately 3-4 cups of soaked beans went into the chili while the remainder is being turned into Sopa de Frijol con Vegetal – Updated 11.10.20
This is a mild chili and you can add heat to your liking. Always easier to add the spice than to put too much in and figure out later how to tame the flame.
So now that you know this is not a pain in the rump recipe…
1 T extra virgin olive and 1 T grape seed oil 1 large sweet onion, diced 2 stalks celery, diced 1 large green pepper, diced 2 tsp garlic powder or several cloves fresh garlic, chopped (or both) 1 tsp each oregano, paprika, chili powder, cumin, dried cilantro 1 can (15 oz) stewed tomatoes 1 can (15 oz) no sodium chicken broth1 small can mild green chilies 3 T tomato paste 1 C each dry Mayocoba beans, pinto beans, and cranberry beans 1 lb ground turkey 85/15 Salt & pepper to taste Cayenne pepper to taste
Place the dried beans into a bowl large enough to hold the beans when fully plumped up. Rinse the beans with water several times. Fill the bowl with fresh water and soak overnight.
In the morning drain then rinse beans. Drain again and set aside.
In a large stock pot heat the oils and saute the onion, celery, and green pepper until softened. Add the chopped garlic and saute for another minute.
Add the meat and brown.
Time to toss everyone else into the pool. Spices, tomatoes, paste, chilies, broth, beans.
Simmer for several hours. Stir occasionally. Add more water or broth if the chili gets too thick. Adjust your seasonings.
Serve with grated cheese, sour cream, and your favorite hot sauce.
Yum.
More odd tips
Don’t add salt until the end. The Mayocobo beans will break apart and make this chili creamy and thick (unless you add more broth or water). The recipe will make approximately eight servings. I used chicken broth and as the chili cooked down and got too thick I added vegetable broth. Note you can use either fresh or dried garlic. I used both. You can never have too much garlic.
Don’t forget to make Texas Corn Bread because if you forget it, you’ll regret it.
Aliens wearing headlamps skinning up a mountain somewhere Aspen CO
I make black eyed peas once a year for New Year’s Day. For good luck and good leftovers.
I was at the grocery store yesterday and a lot of the shelves were bare. New Years plus an upcoming Oklahoma ice storm with predictions of up to 8 inches of snow sent a lot of people to the stores to clean out the shelves. I didn’t realize at the time that this year there would be no Badass Black Eyed Peas for the New Year. Not a single package of ground turkey. The only ground beef in the meat section were 10 pound rolls. I was fortunate to find some 80/20 in the butcher case. This too was almost gone. I forgot the bacon. The celery looked bad (but I knew I had one stalk left at the house). This year’s black eyed peas was definitely a Pandemic Pantry version.
Before we get to this year’s throw together recipe here are a few odd tips and tricks for this year’s version.
The beans still need to simmer for several hours.
The beans get an overnight soak in filtered water and you will change the water several times before preparation
Everyone in the pool? No, not this year.
Unlike other chili recipes this recipe has hints of chili. But due to limited ingredients this year’s black eyed peas will be more chili-like.
So now that you know this isn’t Badass here’s what I had to do.
1 medium sweet onion, diced 1 stalk celery, diced 1 large green pepper, diced 3 cloves garlic, minced 1 tsp each smoked paprika, chili powder 1 T Mexican oregano 1 T cumin
1 14 oz can tomatoes with chilies 1 qt no sodium chicken broth (or more, see odd tips) 2 T tomato paste 1 lb black eyed peas 1 lb ground beef 80/20 Salt & pepper to taste Cayenne pepper to taste
Place the dried beans into a stock pot large enough to hold the beans when fully plumped up. Rinse the beans with water several times. Fill the pot with fresh water and soak overnight.
In the morning drain then add fresh water to the beans. Change the soaking water at least twice.
Turn burner up to high and heat up a large stock pot. When the pot is hot brown the beef and break up well. Don’t add any oil to the pot because you’ll have plenty of fat in the 80/20.
When the meat is browned take off the burner and drain well.
Bring the pot back to the burner and turn heat up to medium. Add the onion, celery, green pepper, garlic and saute until softened about five minutes.
Add the spices and saute another five minutes.
Drain the beans (it’s OK if there’s a little water left).
Now toss everything else into the pool. Tomato paste, broth, tomatoes with chilies and the beans.
The chicken broth needs to barely cover all of the ingredients.
Bring to a boil then simmer for several hours with the pot partially covered.
Check the pot and stir occasionally. Add more broth as the peas cook and the dish thickens.
Serve with grated cheese, sour cream, and your favorite hot sauce.
Yum. Makes about 10-12 servings.
More odd tips
Don’t add salt until the beans are cooked through and soft. There is plenty of salt in the chili powder and broth so salt last. As you adjust the seasonings you may want to add more chili powder and/or oregano. I tend to use garlic powder (my less than top secret favorite flavor enhancer). I also added dried cilantro. I would have used beef broth but I didn’t have any. As the dish thickens add more broth (I had an open container of organic vegetable broth so this is what I used).
This dish might taste better on day two but I haven’t even tasted it on day one yet.
It’s snowing today so clearly chili had to be made. I made a trip to the grocery store yesterday but didn’t have chili on the brain so I was missing some ingredients. I know I had two green peppers in the fridge but somehow I used them both yesterday. No worries because part of the Pandemic Pantry mindset is to use whatever is on hand, improvise, and try not to waste any food. So if you don’t have two cups of leftover sauteed onions and peppers sitting in the fridge, it’s OK. Use a fresh pepper. No stewed tomatoes? No problem, use what you have on the shelf. Sub ground beef for ground turkey. Let your provisions and imagination be your guide.
1 T extra virgin olive or grapeseed oil 1 /2 medium sweet onion, diced 2 stalks celery, diced 2 cups leftover sauteed onions and green pepper from last night’s dinner of faux fajitas OR 1 large green pepper 2 tsp garlic powder OR 2 cloves fresh garlic chopped 1 tsp each oregano, paprika, chili powder, cumin 1 can (15 oz) stewed tomatoes 1 cup low sodium beef broth
1 small can mild green chilies 3 T tomato paste 1 cup red wine 1 pound dried pinto beans 1 lb ground turkey Salt & pepper to taste Cayenne pepper to taste
Place the dried beans into a stock pot large enough to hold the beans when fully plumped up. Rinse the beans with water several times. Fill the pot with fresh water and soak overnight OR use the quick soak method of bringing to a boil, cover and let sit for one hour.
Drain then add fresh water to the beans. Bring to a boil, add your soup recipe seasonings, then lower the heat down to a simmer. The seasoning for the beans is based off my Sopa de Frijol con Vegetal soup recipe. Leave out the tomatoes until later. (No salt and no chili powder yet).
Allow the beans to simmer for several hours.
In a different large stock pot heat the oil and saute the onion, celery, and green pepper (if using fresh) until softened. Add the garlic (fresh or powder) and saute for another minute.
Add the meat and brown.
Add red wine and cook off the alcohol.
Add the stewed tomatoes and break up the tomato chunks into smaller chunks. Add tomato paste, stir well and simmer until mixture thickens.
Time to toss everyone else into the pool. Spices, tomatoes, chilies, broth, cooked beans.
Simmer for several hours. Stir occasionally. Add more broth if the chili gets too thick.
Serve with grated cheese, sour cream, and your favorite hot sauce.
Yum.
More odd tips
Don’t add salt until the beans are cooked through and soft. If your chili powder has salt in it I would add after the beans have softened. The recipe will make approximately eight servings. You need Texas Corn Bread with this or ANY chili. I’m not kidding. As always this chili is mild because you can always add the heat but if you make the chili too spicy to begin with…good luck. I had some kidney beans but decided not to put them in this chili.
This recipe is not in the book pictured. But I always flip through the book to see what other cooks put in their chili. Besides, I love the cover.
Mid-afternoon seasoning adjustments
You’ll need more than one cup of broth. I’ll end up using between one and two cups to get the consistency where I want it to be. I might change the OR for garlic powder and fresh garlic to AND. Added more onion powder, chili power, dried cilantro, salt and pepper. The beans are soft and will get softer because I’m letting the chili go another two hours on the stove.
To be honest I’ve not paid much attention to the Covid-19 numbers very much for quite some time. Yesterday though, the numbers caught my attention:
Holy Crap Batman!
My initial reaction was shock. But my thoughts quickly came back to food and preparing the pantry for the next lock down. I’m using this blog to maintain my personal pandemic pantry list and it is not intended to be THE LIST to follow. (At least I won’t forget where I put my pantry list.) IMO there are several reasons to keep your pantry well stocked:
government mandated lock downs.
self-imposed periods of sheltering in place either from direct exposure to an infected individual, becoming infected or living with an infected person, rampant uncontrolled viral spread in your community and/or social unrest.
Panic buying/hoarding.
Supply chain disruptions due to Covid-19 outbreaks at various points in the supply chain and/or panic buying behavior.
We just survived the worst ice storm imaginable and several days without electricity teaches you a thing or two. So I’ve started a list of non-food pantry items which over time will consist of stuff you need to have around when the lights go out. My shopping the past several months included picking up one of this and one of that to build up and back up the pantry. So here’s what the Pandemic Pantry looks like today with the supply on hand in parenthesis. Zero = no backup.
Pandemic Pantry Items – Last Updated 11.08.20
Mayo (1) Mustard (0) Salsa (1) Ketchup (0)
Pickles (1)
Canned tomatoes in 14.5 and 28 ounce cans. Diced, crushed, diced with green chilies and stewed (8)
Extra virgin olive oil (1)
Brown and white sugar (0 and 1)
Bay leaves, dried oregano, basil, and parsley (0)
Onion and garlic powders
Salt (1) and black pepper (0)
Baking powder, baking soda, corn starch (0)
Parmesan cheese (1)
Bread crumbs (plain, Panko, seasoned) (1)
Dried pastas (10 lbs)
Dried beans such as brown and green lentils, pinto, black, adzuki, mayocabo, yellow and green split peas, black eye peas and cranberry (5 lbs)
Canned beans such as garbanzos, black, black eye peas, pinto, great northern, navy (10)
Broth, vegetable, beef, chicken (3)
Rice – multiple varieties like basmati, brown, Texmati, arborio and plain long grain white (6 lbs)
Flour and corn tortillas (0)
Wheat germ (1)
COFFEE ground (0) — K-cups (50ish)
COFFEE FILTERS (0) — I suggest owning a single cup drip cone.
Tea (120 tea bags all green decaf plus a few normal ones for me)
Nuts (1)
All purpose and whole wheat flours (or alternative flours if you’re into that sort of thing)
Canned tuna (6)
Canned green chilies (1)
Oats (0)
Cornmeal (0)
Dried fruits (1)
Whole grain and fruit/nut bars (20ish)
Dry cereals and granola (0)
Crackers (3)
Vinegar (red wine, white wine,Balsamic, white Balsamic, apple cider, etc.) (1)
Hopefully you’ll find this list useful. Personally while updating the list I’ve thought of items to add to this list and to my shopping list. Stay safe, stay well.
Well I pulled one off the griddle and tried it. I froze the rest and heated one up for lunch today. It was good…but not great hence the RIP (recipe in progress) tag. I made a sandwich on whole wheat and swirled some Sriracha mayo on it and the burger tasted better than last night. The burger is missing something and we’ll just leave this as a RIP and keep experimenting. Definitely needs more heat. Maybe some corn kernels to balance the heat. I’m also thinking of fresh onion and garlic, not the powders which would make this burger less of a pantry mash up but oh well. Here’s where we stand today.
Update 10.08.20
I ate the last of probably five or six of these “burgers” which were in the freezer. The good news is they freeze well and taste OK. The bad news is they taste just OK so now this recipe is being retired. RIP now stands for Rest in Peace. I’ve decided they are not very “burger-like” and more like sweet potato and black bean cakes with herbs and spices. This is the final update as this recipe goes up on the shelf along with any recipes from The Stack Project – Lasagne Stack Update 04.15.15. The Stack Project contained just one experiment Lasagne Stacks which also were just OK.
