Vegan MoFo #22: Creole Lima Beans

I love lima beans.

Mr Pine Nut kindly tolerates my love of lima beans.

I paired these with Creole Wieners for our lunch today, but I’ll share that recipe tomorrow.

5467y <—cat’s contribution to this post

I’m honestly not quite sure what qualifies this to be “Creole” (or tomorrow’s recipe, for that matter). The tomatoes is as close as it gets. There are no special seasonings nor sea creatures called for in either recipe, so I really have no idea. At any rate, I very much enjoyed it. The buttery, melty texture and flavour of lima beans cannot be beat.

This recipe was originally found on page 167 of the 1978 Betty Crocker cookbook.

1 8-oz can stewed tomatoes
10 oz frozen lima beans (I just used the full 16-oz bag – I don’t think they sell 10 oz bags any more. Your call.)
3/4 c chopped celery
1/2 tsp salt

Heat ingredients to boiling, separating beans with a fork; reduce heat. Cover and simmer until beans are tender, about 5 minutes.

Vegan MoFo #17: Hearty Vegetable Soup

This is a cheap, easy soup. Particularly cheap for me because most of what was in it came out of my garden and I didn’t make the effort to purchase veggie juice: I just reconstituted tomato powder to about the same consistency. I’m still using up the bunch of organic celery I got at the beginning of the month specifically for MoFo.

I enjoyed it a lot because it was just really basic, and sometimes it’s nice to not be all exotic and just get down to basics. Mr Pine Nut liked it too.

This recipe was originally found on page 171 of the 1978 Betty Crocker cookbook.

2 12-oz cans vegetable juice cocktail (I used dilute tomato sauce)
2 c water
1 lb green cabbage, finely chopped
1 medium onion, sliced
1 c sliced carrots
1/2 c chopped celery
2 T beeflike seasoning such as Beaf or mock chicken seasoning
1/2 tsp salt (if using unsalted tomato sauce like I did as opposed to veg juice)

Heat all ingredients to boiling. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until veggies reach desired tenderness. (The original recipe says an hour. I think not. I did 10 minutes.)

Vegan MoFo #14: Bulgur-Bean Bake

This was brilliant, gleaming, and beautiful as I stirred it up in the pan, and I was in love with the sight of it. Then Mr Pine Nut walked by and said, “That’s really pretty.” Then he added, “It looks gassy.”

Ha ha.

I have always loooooved lima beans. Not dried ones, not canned ones, but frozen ones. OMNOMNOM FROZEN LIMA BEANS. Well, frozen lima beans COOKED, that is. Anyway. Therefore this recipe looked really yummy to me.

In the end, though, it left me a little cold. Partly because the celery hadn’t been sauteed quite enough to suit my celerycrunchphobia, but mostly it just seemed not that spectacular. It was good enough that I’ll eat the rest of the pan, but I don’t know that I’ll make it again. BUT! If you want to try it, here’s the recipe.

This recipe was originally “Hamburger-Bean Bake”, found on page 33 of the 1978 Betty Crocker cookbook.

1 1/2 lb bulgur “beef” (about 2 cups’ worth; see the note for plain “beef” in this post)
1 1/2 c finely chopped onion
1/2 c chopped celery
1 tsp beaf or other beef-like seasoning
1/3 c boiling water
1 clove garlic, crushed
3/4 c tomato sauce
1 T lemon juice
3/4 tsp salt
1 lb frozen limas
1 15-oz can kidney beans, drained
2 T vegan bacon bits

Cook and stir burger, onions, and celery together until onions are tender.

Dissolve beeflike seasoning in boiling water. Add with garlic, tomato sauce, lemon juice, salt, and beans into burger mixture.

Pour into 8×8″ pan or 2-quart casserole. Cover and cook at 375 until hot and bubbly, about 30 minutes. Sprinkle fakey bacon on top to serve.

Vegan MoFo #12: Chinese-Style Vegetables

This was a lovely way to use up some of the produce in our fridge that we got from our garden.

This recipe was found on page 171 of the 1978 Betty Crocker cookbook.

1 small head green cabbage (about 1 lb)
1 T olive oil
2 medium stalks celery, cut into thin diagonal slices (about 1 cup)
1 medium green bell pepper, sliced (about 1 cup)
1 large onion, chopped (about 3/4 cup)
1 tsp salt

Stir all together about 5 minutes over medium heat until tender.

We ate them with pinto beans, rice, and soy sauce, but they were really yummy on their own, too. (This comes from a celeryphobe.) And really easy.

Vegan MoFo #10: Lentil Soup

While I was pregnant with Lou Who, lentils were pretty much the most disgusting thing in the world to me. It didn’t let up after the first trimester, either: the revulsion just wouldn’t go away until she was born, and I waited probably a month after the birth to try lentils again and see if I could handle them, and I didn’t gag. Awesome.

True story: my husband likes to grind lots of things into flours. He’s done pinto flour, black bean flour, and lentil flour, to name a few. Sometimes he puts these flours into our breakfast cereal, and usually I don’t bat an eye. While I was pregnant, we sat down one morning and I took a bite and my overactive taste buds kicked in as I took a couple more bites and asked him why there were lentils in mah breakfast. He couldn’t believe I could still tell it was there. I couldn’t finish the bowl, unfortunately, but after that there was no more lentil flour in my breakfast.

So, anyway, we can now proceed to incorporate lentils back into our normal lives again. Since they’re cheap, this is also awesome.

This lentil soup recipe from the Betty Crocker cookbook has a nice blend of seasonings that appealed to me, and the bacon it called for I’ve replaced with liquid smoke, which was the perfect finishing touch: to me, it brought all the flavours together. I left it out for our soy-intolerant guests but added it to the leftovers afterwards and I felt it improved it a lot.

The lovely medley of seasonings in this soup

This recipe was originally found on page 125 of the 1978 Betty Crocker cookbook.

1 1/2 tsp liquid smoke
1 medium onion, sliced
3/4 c sliced celery (about 3 stalks)
1 clove garlic, minced
4 c water
2 c dried lentils
2 tsp mock chicken seasoning
2 T snipped parsley
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp thyme
1 bay leaf
1 28-oz can whole tomatoes (or equivalent amount of fresh)
3/4 c sliced carrot
1 c water
2 T vegan bacon bits (optional)

Saute onion, celery, and garlic in a smidge of oil until tender. Stir in liquid smoke, 4 c water, lentils, chicken seasoning, parsley, salt, thyme, and bay leaf. Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer until soup thickens, about 45 minutes. Keep checking it; I had to add about 1 1/2-2 more cups of water as the lentils drank it up really quickly for me.

When lentils are soft, stir in tomatoes, carrots, and 1 c water. Simmer about 15 minutes, or until carrot reaches desired tenderness. Top with vegan bacon bits if desired and serve.

Vegan MoFo #5: Northern Bean Soup

I love fall and winter because soup is one of my favourite things to make, and it’s really not always fun to cook or to eat soup in the heat of summer. I have to admit, I rarely use soup recipes, because a lot of times soup is just an easy way to use up all those bits and pieces of leftovers in the fridge that are useless for much else. But occasionally I do follow a recipe.

This is a soup recipe that you can use if you have leftover mashed potatoes from a previous meal. It does take a long time to cook, but it’s very tasty and warming for a cool day. It originally called for pork hocks; I’ve replaced that with extra beans and liquid smoke.

This recipe was originally found on page 125 of the 1978 Betty Crocker cookbook.

8 cups water
1 T liquid smoke
1 lb dried Great Northern beans (about 2c)
1/4 lb dried lima beans (about 1/2 c)
1 8-oz can tomato sauce
1 c onion, chopped (or green onion)
1 T beaf or other beeflike seasoning
1/2 tsp salt
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 c mashed potatoes
2 medium carrots, cut into 1/2″ pieces
2 medium stalks celery, cut into 1/2″ pieces
2 T cashews blended to cream in 2 T water (optional)

Soak beans in enough hot water to cover for 1 hour; drain water and rinse beans at the end of the hour.

In a soup pot pour the beans and the 8 cups of water, liquid smoke, tomato sauce, onion, beeflike seasoning, salt, and garlic. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until beans are tender, about 2 hours (do not boil or beans will burst [I did accidentally let mine boil, and the beans did burst. (I also had to let it cook another 30-45 minutes beyond the 2 hours specified.)]).

Add potatoes, carrots, and celery to soup. Simmer until vegetables are tender. Stir in cashew cream (if using) and serve.

Definitely this is a soup I would make again. I nommed these two bowls right up after my photo shoot. I’m in luck, though; there’s plenty more where it came from! I made a double batch for serving guests tomorrow, and no doubt there will be Leftovers.

Which begs the question, can soup be made out of leftover soup?

All right, that’s all for this week. Taking off for Sabbath, but I’ll be back Sunday with something else tasty!

Cow-Free Pepper Steak

Cow-Free Pepper Steak!!

So, this was so tasty that the only photo I got of it was a quick iPod picture rather than an actually good-quality shot, because I could not wait to dig into it long enough to let my flash boot up.

1 lb. gluten steaks
¼ cup soy sauce
1 garlic clove
1 ½ tsp. grated fresh ginger OR ½ tsp. ground ginger
¼ cup veggie or other oil
1 cup green onion, thinly sliced OR regular onion, minced
1 cup bell peppers cut into 1″ squares
2 stalks celery, thinly sliced
1 tbsp. cornstarch
1 cup water
2 tomatoes (cut into wedges)

First, use a nice sharp knife to cut the gluten steaks into thin strips, 1/4 – 1/8″ thick.

Combine soy sauce, garlic, ginger, and oil in a large frying pan or wok. Add gluten and toss; let it sit in the pan while preparing veggies.

After you get done slicing and dicing the vegetables, add them to the gluten in the pan and toss over medium heat until vegetables are tender crisp.

Mix cornstarch with water. Add to pan; stir and cook until thickened.

Finally, add tomatoes and heat through. Serve over noodles or brown rice.

Chicken Out: Chickenless Pot Pie

We already talked about my favourite beef substitute in the previous post. So, what about chicken? Chicken a la king, chicken potpie, chicken nuggets? Must we give up such deliciousness?

Hardly. The answer can be found in a tasty, unassuming little legume called a garbanzo. Or a chickpea. (Is that a regional thing, calling it one or the other?)

Anyway. Seasoned with a little chicken seasoning during cooking, garbanzo beans make an excellent substitute. And, since Thanksgiving is this week, I’m going to share with you a recipe I have done almost every year for Thanksgiving since I got married: Chickenless Pot Pie.

This recipe is not vegan. Next week, I’ll share options of how to make a vegan version of the same thing.

POT PIE OMNOMNOM

1 double pie crust (top and bottom)
2 carrots, chopped or sliced
1 stalk celery, sliced
1/4 c onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed or chopped
1 T olive oil
1 can cream of mushroom soup
2-3 c cooked garbanzo beans (reserve liquid)
3/4 c frozen peas
3/4 c frozen corn

Sauté carrots, celery, onion, and garlic in the olive oil until tender.

Stir in cream of mushroom soup. Add garbanzo liquid until it is a nice consistency. Stir in garbanzos, peas, and corn.

For my crust, I added about a teaspoon or so of thyme to the pastry.

Bake at 425 for 30-40 minutes, until golden brown and bubbling.

Where are you from, and do you call them garbanzos or chickpeas?