Moroccan Lentil Stew

Do you ever run into the issue, where you buy something at the grocery store with high hopes of making something super fabulous out of it? Trader Joe's is my weakness, they have such an amazing variety of things and I will usually find myself picking something random up (like Agave Syrup) and concocting a crazy recipe with it, only problem is, 15 months later, it's still sitting in my pantry. 

Enter 17 bean and barley mix ala Trader Joe's. It's actually a really good mix of beans and barely, there's pidgeon peas, green peas, pinto beans, black beans, navy beans, red beans, barley, etc. I bought this in the hopes of making a lentil stew, which I did, but it was several months later. 

How did this happen? I went to Bus Boys & Poet near our apartment in DC, and decided instead of the tofu scramble I'd have the lentil stew and grits (it was snowy and cold out) for brunch. I loved this dish so much I vowed to come home and use the bean+barley mix and make it immediately - it was two weeks later, but in my book that's immediately. 

The cool thing about this is that I didn't have a recipe, I just kind of went on a whim and added/subtracted based on what I had and what I felt like it need to make as close to the BB&P version. Here's my take, hopefully it works out for you too - send me any variations you make! 

Ingredients
1 1/2 cup bean+barley mix
1/2 cup dried garbanzo beans (I'm not a fan of the canned beans)
2 large carrots diced
2 medium onions diced
3 stalks celery diced
6 garlic cloves minced
2 Serrano peppers minced
2 large or 4 small tomatoes cut into wedges
1 tsp paprika
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp oregano
1 tbsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
2 bay leaves
1/2 lemon juiced
2 bullion cubes (I used veggie)
salt to taste
water
Cilantro chopped for garnish

Method:
The night before you want to make this stew, soak the bean+barley mix and the garbanzo beans in water, use a LARGE bowl, as the contents will expand and rise. 

For the tomatoes:
In a large stock pot, bring 6 cups of water to a rapid boil, place the tomatoes into the water (be careful), allow the tomatoes to simmer until it looks like the skins are starting to peel off, remove from water using a slotted spoon (save the water!). Place the tomatoes and 2 cups of warm tap water into a blender and puree.  This will be your 'tomato stock'. 

For the beans:
Using the water that you boiled the tomatoes in, add the soaked beans and the bullion cubes, cover and cook for about 20-30 mins or until the large beans are cooked through. Do not strain - the water that the beans are cooking in is very flavorful!

Cooking the stew:
To the cooking beans, add the bay leaf, tomato puree, paprika, ground cumin, minced Serrano pepper, oregano, ground coriander, red pepper flakes, salt and lemon juice. Lower the heat just a little and allow mixture to simmer for 5 mins. Finally, add the carrots, onions, garlic and celery to the pot - all the entire thing to simmer until the vegetables are soft and cooked through. At this point, be sure to check the salt and tartness - adding more if needed. 

Serving the Stew:
I garnished with a little bit of chopped cilantro for color. I'm sure you could add a little bit of olive oil and a dollop of Greek yogurt. I also served mine with the Guinness bread below. Enjoy!

Tried Again and Again Black Bean Chili

I love me some chili! Growing up, it was difficult to find vegetarian chili - it was literally non-existent - but as of recent, it's all over the place.  Even the ever famous Ben's Chili Bowl has a vegetarian chili which many say is even better than their regular chili. So after several go arounds, I think I've found a recipe that both my husband and I LOVE.  Here you go, enjoy!

Ingredients:

3 cups cooked black beans 

1/2 cup frozen roasted corn (Trader Joes)

1/2 red bell pepper, 1/2 green pepper (diced)

1 can diced tomatoes

1/2 onion, diced

1 large carrot, diced

5 cloves garlic, chopped

1 cup Morningstar meatless soy crumbles

1 cup veggie broth

 teaspoons spicy taco seasoning

1 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon red chili powder

1/2 tablespoon serrano peppers minced

3 tablespoons olive oil

For the garnish:

chopped scallion

chopped cilantro

chunky salsa

cotija cheese (or any other cheese)

Greek yogurt or sour cream
Diced avocado

Corn bread!

The method:

The key is to get all the veggies to be the same size (so they cook evenly), and you can get a bunch in one bite into your mouth!  Heat oil in a deep pot that also has a lid, on medium high flame; add onions, cook until tender, add garlic, cook through.  Add peppers, carrots and frozen corn - cover pot to trap heat - this will also allow the vegetables to cook quickly.  Add soy crumbles and allow them to separate with help from the heat.  After a few moments add the veggie broth, can of diced tomatoes and the beans to the pot, stir to mix all ingredients.  Add spicy taco seasoning, cumin and red chili powder, serrano peppers, stir and cover.  Reduce heat to med-low flame and allow the chili to simmer and the ingredients to blend with each other.  

Serve hot with garnishes, enjoy! 

Note: You will probably need to adjust the seasonings based on your taste buds.  Also, I didn't add salt because the diced tomato, beans and Morningstar crumbles all have some salt added to them - and once you add the garnish it becomes a little saltier.  

Guinness Bread

Adapted from a recipe I found from Birch & Barley

I love bread, actually I think it's the sole reason why often times my diets fail. And I don't discriminate, I love pita bread, wheat bread, rye bread, Challah bread, SOURDOUGH bread, Naan, Wonderbread (remember that), and the list goes on. So recently after reading the label of a bread loaf at Trader Joe's, I asked myself "really, does this Whole Wheat bread really need 37 ingredients?!" I started to do some online research and found that making bread is actually easier than we are lead to believe. It takes time, yes - but hands on time is literally only like 20 mins, the rest of the time you just have to let the dough sit/rise, and while the cast iron-ice and pizza stone sounds funky - the end result is spectacular. Finally, I decided to give this recipe a try with the last bottle of Guinness beer we had left. It's unfreakingbelievably delicious, I highly recommend making this.

For the dough starter
1 and 1/4 cup bread flour (I used King Arthur's unbleached flour - available at luxurious Target!)
3/8 tsp instant (i.e., “rapid rise”) yeast
2 tbs honey
3/4 cup Guinness, at room temperature
1/3 cup + 4 tbs water, at room temperature

For the flour mixture
1 3/4 + 2 tbs bread flour
1/2 tsp instant yeast (i.e., “rapid rise”)
1 1/2 teaspoon salt

For the dough
Cornmeal, for sprinkling

Make the dough starter: in a mixer bowl, whisk together the bread flour, yeast, honey, Guinness, salt and water for two minutes, to incorporate air. Scrape down sides of bowl. Call this the sponge.

Make the flour mixture: in a medium bowl, whisk together the bread flour, salt and yeast. Gently scoop the flour mixture onto the sponge, covering it completely. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in a warm place to rise, 3-4 hours at room temperature. Do not worry if the starter bubbles through the flour mixture – this is fine.

Make the dough: Place mixer bowl on the elecric mixter and fit with a dough hook attachment. Mix on low speed until a rough dough is formed (about 1 minute). Scrape down any stray bits of dough. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and rest dough for 20 minutes.

Knead on medium speed for about 7 minutes. The dough should be elastic and smooth, and just sticky enough to cling to your fingers. If it is too sticky, knead in a little flour; if it is not at all sticky, add a little water.

Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and let rise until doubled – around 1 hour.

Remove dough from bowl to a lightly floured work surface and give it a business letter fold. Gently round dough and return to oiled bowl. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled – 45 minutes to an hour.

Place dough on a lightly floured work surface and shape into a round ball, approximately 6 inches by 2.5 inches high. Line a baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper, lightly sprinkled with cornmeal. Place dough on prepared baking sheet. Cover with a bowl, let rise until almost doubled, 45 minutes to 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Thirty minutes before baking, preheat oven to 475°F. Place one rack in the middle of the oven, and one in the lower portion of the oven. Place a baking stone or baking pan on middle rack, and a cast iron pan in lower rack.

Just before baking, slash the top of the bread with a razor or sharp knife, and gently mist with water. Gently set baking sheet on hot pizza stone in the center of the oven. Toss 1/2 cup of ice cubes into the cast iron pan below and quickly shut the oven door. After 10 minutes, lower heat to 425°F. Bake 20-30 minutes more, until bread is golden brown and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Remove dough from oven and let cool on a rack.

Yummy!

Eggless Banana Bread

Situation: I have rotting bananas more often than not.  

Everyone has run into this problem at least 15 times in the past year. After making banana pancakes, banana shakes and banana bread, you kind of get sick of the banana. So my husband asks, "why don't you just freeze the mashed super ripe bananas?" Brilliant. 

A few weeks later when he's got cravings for banana bread, it's easy enough to pull the banana mash out of the freezer and make this bread.  I love that this recipe has basic staple ingredients, because more often than not you usually run out of 1 thing or the other. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
2/3 cup sugar (I used refined, I'm sure you can be good and use brown)
1/3 softened butter
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups mashed banana


Optional: 1/4 cup chopped walnuts and/or chocolate chips

Method:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Quick 2 step method! Mix together butter, sugar, and vanilla for 2-3 mins on low.  In another bowl sift flour, cinnamon, baking soda and baking powder - lastly, add the sugar and salt and mix together using a wooden spoon or spatula. Next, add to the cream mixture in batches while the mixer is on low, add bananas and turn mixer to medium. If you choose to add walnuts or chocolate chips, fold them into the batter at this time. The batter will be super thick and gooey. Place batter into a greased loaf pan or 8"x8" baking pan and bake in oven for 40-45 mins. Definitely test the bread with a toothpick to see if it's done. Cool on a wire rack, slice and serve!

Beet Root Rice

So a while back, my coworker told me about how his sister is a chef in India and she makes these unbelievable dishes, he shared the link with me and then brought in a sample of this red beet infused rice that he made from her recipe.  It was unbelievably good and the color is just so fun!  I did have to adjust the recipe a little because I didn't have a lot of the items listed and I used the beet leaves as well, but my version still came out pretty damn tasty.  Couldn't be happier because I often times wonder what else I can make with beets besides pairing it with goat cheese or just eating it plain with salt and pepper.  Thanks for posting a fabulous recipe Archana!


Adapted from: Archana's Kitchen, Beetroot Rice

Ingredients:
2 cups rice, cooked using your favorite method (I love my rice cooker)
1 cup grated raw beets
1 tbsp cumin seeds
3/4 cup finely chopped onion
3 cloves chopped garlic
1 1/2 tsp garam masala
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/4 tbsp minced green chilis
3 tbsp butter
salt to taste
beet leaves chopped

Method:
Melt the butter in a non-stick pan. Add cumin seeds and cook they are brown.  Add onions and cook until they are a little translucent - add garlic and green chili at this time and cook for a couple of mins - the mixture will look a little saucy.  Add the grated beets, cover the pan and cook until the beets are tender.  Add the garam masala, turmeric powder and salt - mix well - finally add the chopped beet leaves and cook for just a minute. Turn off the heat and add the rice a little at a time and mix well.


I served mine with cucumber raita, it's easy to make and a very tasty meal!

Table for 6: Apple Maple Muffins

This past September, a few friends decided to get together to make brunch potluck.  Why?  Because it seemed like lately we were spending around $100 a couple for brunch.  Think about it, if you add it up, entree, drinks, coffee, tax+tip - it can all amount to around $100.  So potluck brunch it is.  It started off with some really outrageous requests from the guys in the group, until we said that a couple of them had to do the dishes, never have I seen minds change so quickly.  So after some thought, we came up with a fabulous menu, which included sangria, fritatta, scallion blue cheese biscuits, apple maple muffins, fruit, lemon poppy scones, vegan breakfast sausage and bacon (not bad!) and of course a huge pot of coffee.  I did the baking portion of the meal, which was great, I was able to make all the batters the day before and then just drop and bake in the morning.  Here's the recipe for the apple maple muffins - serve warm with some honey butter, it's finger licking good! 

Ingredients:
1 1/3 cups flour
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1 1/2 tbsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup milk 
5 1/3 tbsp unsalted butter 
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup peeled and chopped apples
1/8 tspn salt


Method:
Heat the oven to 400° F. Line 12 medium muffin cups with paper baking liners. Combine the flour, oats, sugar, baking powder and cinnamon in a large bowl. In a medium bowl, combine the milk, butter, maple syrup, and applesauce. Add the milk mixture to the dry ingredients, and stir until just moistened.

Be careful not to mix too much! Gently stir in the chopped apples. Fill the muffin cups half full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Cool on wire racks.

Tip: To make this vegan, swap out the milk and butter for soy milk and vegan butter or shortening. 

Mango Avocado Salad with Chimichurri Dressing

One of the quirky things about me is that I keep a pad of paper and a pen on my nightstand, wait, I'm getting to the quirkiness, because often times I have my best ideas in my dreams.  When I was planning my wedding, this was quite the useful tool (centerpieces came to me in a dream), and when I was in my first job out of college, I would often times have crazy good ideas from my crazy dreams.

So a few months ago I picked up a ton of mangoes at the market and later that night, had a dream, which lead to this salad.  According to Bharat, who's become a salad connoisseur himself, this is probably the best salad I've ever dreamed up.  It's great paired with a white wine, or heck a beer.


Ingredients:
Lettuce
Sliced Mango
Sliced Avocado
Golden Triangle Tofu
Chimichurri Dressing (see previous post)

Method:
There really isn't one, I just arranged the salad this way to take a pretty picture, toss the whole thing together with your desired amount of dressing and enjoy!