Beans, beans the magical fruit...

My Dad said something recently that made me think differently about how I cook. We were talking about beans, though the concept can be used kitchen-wide. It was simple really, what he said about when going to the trouble of cooking beans you may as well cook up a huge pot. The soaking time and cooking time can be daunting, and a put-off if you are looking for a quick dinner. Hence the old can or two of beans that sits in all of our pantries. In the last few years I have come to be quite a purist and frugal shopper, shunning as many canned and prepared products as possible. I would much rather make my own. In a pinch of course, I will grab a can of beans, or diced tomatoes. But if I can save money, packaging, processing, etc, by doing it myself I will. And let me tell you that there is nothing that compares to a hot pot of beans or fresh tomato sauce. Nothing.
So my Dad's philosophy was to minimize the time spent cooking beans overall by cooking a lot at once. What do you do with so many beans you ask, there is no way we could choke down that many in a week. I agree. One or two meals is enough for me too. So what I do is freeze them. Pack cooled beans into freezer safe containers of various sizes. Glass jars such as clean peanut butter, pickle, mayo jars work well or you can use plastic yogurt containers or ziploc bags. When I freeze beans I make sure there is no extra liquid in the container, and fill the container about 3/4 full. When you want some beans pull a jar out of the freezer and thaw. For a quick thaw, pour warm water over the beans to loosen and then dump into a pan to heat. Try to use them up within a month or two or they will lose freshness.
Beans are delicious in tacos, chili, hummus, soups, sprinkled on salads, or as a side.
Though different varieties of beans have different cooking times, I usually follow the same process for all of them. And lately have been making fun bean medleys such as black, pinto, and kidney beans, shown above.

Basic Beans

Rinse beans and pick through. Cover with lots of water in a pot. Soak for 6 to 24 hours. I read recently that you should cook beans in their soaking liquid so you don't lose flavor, but if you want you can dump the soaking water and cover again with fresh water. I like to add onion and a bay leaf to the pot. Adding a few pieces of seaweed is supposed to reduce gas. Up to you. Don't add salt until beans are cooked. Bring to a boil and then simmer until beans are soft, anywhere from half an hour to an hour and a half, depending on the bean and soaking time.
Once beans are done, salt to taste. Storing them in their cooking liquid in the fridge is good for keeping them moist, though I like to drain it off when freezing.

Quinoa, Feta, and Walnut Salad

I often find myself turning to my jar of Quinoa when I need a quick and healthy side dish. It takes only 10 to 20 minutes to make.
Quinoa is the most complete protein of any grain, and is a great source of iron, magnesium, vitamin E, fiber, potassium, and amino acids.
But a boring heap of quinoa is no fun, and the leftovers will often sit lonely in the fridge until I put them out of their misery. So the other day I decided to spruce up my Quinoa with feta, parsley and walnuts for a tasty grain salad that almost beat the grilled sea bass that was served atop it. Leftovers were excellent straight outta the fridge the next day. Once again, the best part about this recipe is that it could be easily customized to use up whatever you have on hand. Couscous, rice, barley, any kind of nut or dried fruits, cheese, herbs, or veggies such as aparagus or peas would be good.

This recipe serves two to four. Double if you want lots of leftovers.

First cook the Quinoa:

1 cups Quinoa
1.5 cups Water
Pinch of salt

Rinse Quinoa well and add water and salt. Bring to a boil, and then simmer lightly until Quinoa has absorbed all water and fluffs with a fork (10-20 min). I like to leave the lid on for ten minutes once I turn off the heat in order to steam and loosen the grains, same with rice.

Pour cooked Quinoa into a bowl, let cool for a few minutes, and add:

1/3 cup chopped walnuts
1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/4 cup chopped parsley
heavy drizzle of olive oil
big splash of apple cider vinegar
squeeze of fresh lemon juice
salt, pepper, red chili flakes to taste

bon appetit!

Leftover Noodles, 2 Ways

Let me start by saying I'm the Queen Of Too Many Noodles. That is to say, I ALWAYS cook too many noodles when I'm making spaghetti, fettucini, capellini, macaroni. Doesn't matter, I always have leftovers. Now you are sitting there saying, "you can't be the queen, I'm the queen!" And I'm sure you are, in fact, I bet there are lots of us. And if you have this problemo too, then read on, and next time you've got a tupperware full o'leftover noodles, try one of these babies out! Oh, and this also works nicely with quinoa pasta, if you are trying to cut down on wheat, or if you are gluten free. 

This first dish is very simply called "fried noodles". It comes by way of my mom, she used to make this for dinner along with lamb patties (not really sure what those were?! I think they were like hamburger patties, only made out of ground lamb, and we would eat them dipped in ketchup. I remember loving them), and frozen green peas. This was always the combo. My mom mostly made dinners with 3 things on the plate, meat, carb, and veggie, and I tend to cook in much the same way, at least sometimes. I guess we all turn into our mothers at some point, and that's cool with me, I like my mom a lot. AND, if you were my mom, you would fry the noodles and then season them with one thing and one thing only. This stuff...

Look familiar? I bet your mom used it too. I must say, lawry's seasoned salt is pretty delicious stuff. A blend of salt, sugar, and other spices. You have to use it sparingly, but it's good on baked potatoes, popcorn, or fried noodles. I have changed the fried noodle recipe a bit into my own hippie version, and so most of the time I use tamari or soy sauce, nutritional yeast, and hot sauce, instead of lawry's, but every now & then I slip back into childhood and douse my noodles with good old lawry's. Yum. Seriously, yum.

You will need:

Leftover noodles (macaroni or some type of long, straight noodle works best here)

butter or cooking oil

Lawry's OR Tamari, Nutritional Yeast, & Hot Sauce

Heat up a good amount of oil or butter in your skillet. Add your noodles and keep the heat low until the noodles are warm. Once warm, crank the heat and let them fry on one side until they are good and crispy. Flip them and crisp up the other side. Once they are nice and crispy, turn off the heat and season with your choice of spices. I always toss them in a bit of nutritional yeast while they are cooking too because it tends to help them crisp up. Hot sauce is obviously optional. Serve as a side dish with anything! One of my favorite meals is baked tilapia, fried noodles, and some kind of green vegetable or salad. They are great with burgers, sausages, or as a vegetarian side along steamed veggies. Fried noodles! Thanks Mom!

#2

Ok, one more for leftover noodles. A simple stir fry that I made just the other night and figured I would post because it was so darn good. I used to make a lot of different stir fry's, back in the day when I was eating lots of tofu & tempeh and brown rice. I still eat a fair amount of brown rice, more often than I eat white rice I'm proud to say, but the tofu is few and far between these days. I've been trying to get into it again because I just don't think we need to eat meat at every single dinner. When Matt is at work I tend to cook more vegetarian dishes, and this one is super simple and really tasty...

You will need:

Leftover noodles (I would prefer a long straight noodle again here)

Any veggies you might have in your fridge

Tofu

Tamari

Hot Chili Sauce

Garlic

Sesame Oil

Cut your tofu into small squares & fry it up, high heat, in a bit of butter or oil until it's good and crispy. Turn your heat down to medium and add your veggies. I added broccoli, red pepper, carrots, yellow squash, garlic, and mushrooms. Saute until they are hot but still nice and crisp. Finally, add your noodles. Get 'em good and hot and then season with tamari and hot chili sauce. Once your stir fry is off the heat, garnish it with a bit of sesame oil. Delicious!!