Lima Beans

With my vow in place to transition from canned beans to dried beans I hit the grocery store and got up close and personal with some new legumes. Lima beans caught my attention right away and I quickly decided that these lovely white beans would come along on a cooking adventure with me.

Before soaking these little guys I checked out the nutrition facts table (a best practice for all those interested in improving their health) and saw that half a cup of lima beans has 19 grams of fibre. Hold the phone - 19 GRAMS OF FIBRE! That's insane! And it is in fact insane. After some research I realized that a 1/2 cup of dried lima beans has 19 grams of fibre but once soaked they expand and less beans fit into a cup. This was a relief as 19 grams of fibre in one sitting would be tough for any digestive tract to handle.

The Nutrition Facts are impressive - 1/2 cup of cooked lima beans bring about 114 calories, 0 grams of fat, 7 grams of fibre, 8 grams of protein, and just 2 mg of sodium. To summarize:  lima beans are incredibly nutritious, promote good heart health, keep your digestive tract healthy, and will help you feel full for hours after your meal.

Lima  beans have a very unique taste and texture. They have a very mild taste, much like a potato. Since they have a very bland flavour seasoning with herbs, spices, and citrus is a must.

Not having had any lima bean cooking experience I hit the world wide web to see what other folks like to do with their lima beans. I saw a lot of sautéing with tomatoes and spices - so I followed suit and came up with this little recipe:

Recipe:

Prep: Soak lima beans in water overnight or during the work day.

Ingredients:
1 cup lima beans
2 tomatoes, diced
1 yellow onion, diced
1/2 habarnero pepper, chopped*
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 pinches of red chili flakes
black pepper
2 basil leaves, chopped (optional)


Directions:
1. Soak lima beans in water for 8 to 12 hours. Once soaked, rinse, bring to a boil, and let simmer for about an hour or until beans are soft.
2. Once beans are cooked add chopped veggies to a skillet and sauté in a small amount of oil until almost cooked. Add drained lima beans, garlic, red chili flakes, and black pepper. Sauté for about 5 - 7 minutes.
3. Serve and enjoy.

*note: if you have a low spice tolerance omit the habanero pepper.

Wishing you a wonderful week,
Rebecca 

A Fresh Start

This month's Recipe Redux is dedicated to the ever important, ever scrumptious breakfast. In my mind there are two types of breakfasts: the week day morning "oh-man-I-probably-shouldn't-have-pressed-snooze- that-last-time" breakfast and the weekend morning "roll-out-of-bed-nothing-but-time-on-my-side-let's-do-something-special" breakfast.  

I have a few go-to quick and nutritious weekday breakfasts but this is Recipe Redux, it's time to do something special - weekend breakfast it is. 

My wonderful coworker hooked me up with eggs from a small local farm. Look how beautiful they are: 

With these lovely eggs I decided to make an omelette. 

Omelettes are great, not only because of their versatility and taste, but because it's an awesome way to add a serving or two of vegetables to your day. 

I sautéed mushrooms, onions, zucchini, and kale. Piled them high on top of my eggs, held my breath and made the flip. Success. 

I must admit that I enjoy ketchup with eggs. Instead of smearing cheap ketchup all over this beautiful omelette I opted to make bruschetta. For this I combined one clove of garlic, a chopped tomato, a pinch or two of basil and some olive oil.  Simply delightful. 

Recipe: Omelette

Ingredients:  

3 medium eggs

Milk

Pepper

Red Chili Flakes 

Kale

Mushrooms

Zucchini

Red Onion 

Directions: 

1. Cut and sauté veggies. I like to cook the mushrooms and onions first. Once they are nicely browned I add the rest of the veggies. 

2. Scramble eggs with milk, pepper, and red chili flakes. Pour on a separate, oiled, heated, medium frying pan. Cook on low-medium until egg solidifies. 

3. Add sautéed veggies to one side of the egg and carefully and quickly flip the remaining half of the egg over the veggies. This can take practice and patience, but you can do it! Good luck.

4. Let the omelette cook like this for a few minutes, serve and enjoy. 

Tip: If you flip your omelette and your egg or filling needs to be cooked some more pop your frying pan into the over at 300F and bake for 5 to 10 minutes. 

Recipe: Bruschetta

Ingredients: 

Tomato

Garlic

Olive Oil 

Basil 

Directions: 

1. Chop tomato, add one glove of garlic, about 1 Tbsp of olive oil and about 1 Tbsp of basil. Mix. 

2. Top omelette with bruschetta. 

Before leaving, take some time to look through the breakfast recipes below created by other recipe reduxers.

Wishing you a fresh start to your day,    

Rebecca 

Recipe Redux:

I've bean thinking...

Today I'm talking beans.

I'm a big bean eater. It's the main source of protein in my diet and black beans are my absolute favourite. Canned black beans are quick and certainly fulfill my bean needs, however dried beans really are a step up when it comes to taste, texture, and price.  They take some extra prep time but they're well worth it.

Prepping and cooking: 
Dried beans need to be soaked for 8 to 12 hours before cooking. I soak mine overnight or during the work day. They then need to be cooked (boiled) for about 1-2 hours, depending on how much you are making. Yes, this prep time is pretty long, but beans are great leftover so I make a big batch and enjoy throughout the week.

I must admit, at this point in my life I am not a huge planner so I don't use dried beans as much as I would like to, but I sure am going to try to change this....starting today!

Benefits of dried beans:
- no preservatives
- sodium free
- high fibre
- high protein
- delicious
- incredibly inexpensive
- versatile (think stir fry, pizza, salad, soup, anything to do with a tortilla, and yes, even dessert)

If you're looking to learn more about dried beans, peas, or lentils check out this great cooking guide with all the official info.


Supper last night was deliciously simple: every veggie in my kitchen was chopped, sautéed, topped with leftover black beans and sprinkled with sesame seeds. I sautéed the veggies in sesame oil which gave the dish a wonderful asian flavour. I splashed it with a small amount of rice vinegar and then chowed down.

Wishing you great success on all your bean adventures,
Rebecca

It's 2012, let's do this

Happy new year!!! January 2012 is here and I'm happy as pie. My holidays included ocean, family, friends, food, laughter, pictures, and dancing. As wonderful as it was, it's always nice to get back into the swing of things with some reliable routine. 

I love the January vibe. Collectively we move more, eat less, get stuff done, and simply strive to do better. It's the one time of year when we all decide to start over. What's not to like about a new, fresh, hopeful beginning? (answer: nothin' at all).

With holiday indulgence behind me, I am ready to get back in the kitchen and make nutritious, warm, wholesome meals. With a big bushel of kale and a couple of portobello mushrooms in my fridge I got moving. 

Kale Portobello Tacos (with a Tzatziki twist)

Ingredients: 
Portobello mushroom
Red Onion
Kale
Zucchini
Tofu, firm
Whole wheat tortilla, small
Tzatziki
Garlic
Ground black pepper
Chili powder
Red chili flakes
Parmesan cheese, fresh

Recipe: 

Sauté portobello mushrooms and red onion until browned*. Add kale and zucchini*. Sprinkle with garlic, ground black pepper, and chili powder. 

In a separate pan, cook strips of firm tofu until brown on both sides. Sprinkle with ground black pepper, red chili flakes, and garlic. 

Warm a small, whole wheat tortilla on the pan and spread 1 tablespoon of tzatziki down the middle. Add tofu and vegetables, sprinkle with fresh parmesan and enjoy!  

* A couple of important reminders:
1. A lesson from Julia Childs - give your mushrooms space to cook. It makes a major difference in the taste and texture.
2. Take the spine out of your kale  (it can be tough and bitter).

Wishing you a year of happiness, health, and motivation, 

Rebecca

Black Bean Cakes

This month's Recipe Redux Challenge was to use a legume (i.e. beans, peas, lentils) in a festive recipe or party dish. Excellent! Beans are a major staple in my diet and I love experimenting with new ways to use this versatile legume.  After some serious brainstorming I decided to showcase bite sized black bean cakes with a yogurt and kale pesto topping.  As you can see from the photos, they turned out to be 3-bite bean cakes. Oops! 

Recipes: 
Makes 10 bean cakes (to get more bang for your buck reduce the size and serve as an appetizer) 

Bean cakes: 

Black Beans - 1 can or 2 cups 

Garlic - 1 clove 

Lime Juice - 1/2 lime 

Greek yogurt, plain - 1 Tbsp (15 mL)

Cilantro leaves, fresh - 1/8th cup 

Bread crumbs - 1/2 cup 

Cumin - 1/2 tsp (2mL) 

Chili Powder - 1/4 tsp 

Cayenne - 1/4 tsp

Crushed red pepper - 1/4 tsp 

Salt - pinch 

Black pepper - to taste 

1. In a food processor blend beans, garlic, lime juice, and yogurt until smooth(ish). 

2. Transfer mixture to a bowl and add the remaining ingredients. 
3. With clean hands roll the mixture into small balls (I used a heaping tablespoon but really should have  used a heaping teaspoon). 
4. Place balls on a plate a refrigerate for 15-20 minutes. In the mean time make the dips below. 
5. When bean balls are cold, remove from the fridge and pan fry with about 1 Tbsp of oil. Cook for 5-7 minutes on each side. After a minute or two of cooking flatten the ball with your spatula so that it looks like a disc. 

Yogurt Cilantro Dipping Sauce:

Greek Yogurt, plain - approx 1/2 cup

Juice from 1/2 lime

Pinch of dill 

Cilantro, fresh  - approx 1/4 cup 

Combine ingredients.  Voila! 

Kale Pesto Recipe 

2 handfuls of kale 

1 handful of almonds

1 - 1.5 tbsp oil 
2 tsp of lime juice

Throw ingredients into a food processor and blend (we have enough cleaning to do, don't bother cleaning the bean mixture out of the processor). 
If you prefer a thin, liquid pesto you can: 
- blend longer
- add some more oil
- add a small amount of water. 

Top bean cakes with yogurt dip and then kale pesto. If you like just serve one dip (it's your kitchen, you make the decisions!). 

Wishing you calm in the kitchen this holiday season, 

Rebecca

The not so smooth-ie.

Let's talk smoothies. Up until three days ago I was anti-smoothie. So cold, so sweet, so boring.  "So what's with the blog post?" you wonder. Well a coworker has been raving for months about a new twist on the classic smoothie: oatmeal. 

My initial reaction: Huh? Oatmeal? In a drink? Umm,  no thanks. 

Clearly I couldn't leave it at that; curiosity got the best of me so I went for it. 

How to do it: 

Throw your favourite smoothie ingredients into a blender and then top it off with 1/2 cup of cooked oatmeal. 


Version 1: 
Cooked steel cut oats 
Frozen blueberries
Unsalted nuts
Cinnamon 
Almond milk 
Maple syrup 


Version 2: 

Cooked steel cut oats 

Plain greek yogurt 

Frozen mixed berries
1/4 of an avocado
Almond milk 
Cinnamon 
Vanilla 


The verdict: 
Oatmeal smoothies have a super interesting, delightful texture.  It was so delicious that I enjoyed it three mornings in a row and will likely finish the work week off with another tomorrow!


Not so fast, before getting started here are some helpful (and very important) tips:  

• Cook a large batch of oatmeal on the weekend and store in the fridge for quick use during the week. 
• Check yourself out before leaving the house. While my blueberry oatmeal smoothie was delicious it left a lot of seeds in my teeth and stained my lips a bright shade of blue (perhaps a straw would be helpful). 
• Don't forget to add protein to your smoothie - try a handful of nuts, 2 tablespoons of nut butter, greek yogurt, or soft tofu. 
• Mornings are complicated enough, remember to secure the top of the blender before hitting "blend"  
• Click here for a a video showing you a quick and easy way to clean your blender 

Wishing you a pleasant surprise and a breakfast that makes you squeal with delight, 
Rebecca 

Spring in my step

These yummy vegan spring rolls were well worth the effort. It was a multi-step process and the dipping sauce involved me pulling out the food processor, but after tasting these little bundles of joy I would certainly do it again! Check out the colours in the photo, wouldn't this be a darling holiday party plate? Guests would be even more impressed by it's stellar nutrition profile. If you're really wild you could even engage your guests with a 'make your own spring rolls' activity (ooooooh). 

I made my spring rolls by slicing carrots, cucumber, red bell pepper, avocado, and tofu into long thin strips and rolling in rice paper but the choices are endless.

Some more filling ideas include:
lettuce, sprouts, vermicelli, green onion, shrimp, bean paste, chicken, beef, fish or whatever your heart desires (or whatever you have lingering in the fridge).

Dipping sauce plays a key role in the enjoyment of this dish. Peanut sauce and sweet and sour sauce are both popular go-to options but this carrot-ginger dipping sauce wins the grand prize of deliciousness! I do however have one piece of advice: when it says "one clove of garlic" it means one regular/normal/medium clove of garlic, not the monstrous clove of garlic that I decided to use. Oopsies, I'll have garlic breath for days (but well worth it!).

Carrot Ginger Dipping Sauce:
1 clove of garlic
2 medium carrots, chopped
2 Tbsp coarsely grated peeled fresh ginger
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1/4 tsp toasted sesame oil
Ground black pepper
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
3 Tbsp olive oil
3 Tbsp water


Blend garlic, carrots, ginger, vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, and peppers in a food processor until smooth. While the processor is running, add olive oil and water. Chill and serve with spring rolls.


Wishing you a little piece of spring roll heaven, 
Rebecca