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.

Spring Salad with Garbanzos and Avocado

Healthy lunch number two.  Crisp spring greens with mild arugula added, warm garbanzos, cucumber, snap peas, avocado, and a warm corn tortilla on the side.  Refreshing yet cozy.

I am getting into beans.  There's currently a bowl of white cannellini beans soaking in my kitchen.  I want them to put on salads and mix with rice or quinoa.  Beans are nourishing, healthy, and really satisfying.  I always crave proteins, or heavy things.  I'm trying to retrain myself somewhat, and hope that someday I'll be content with a celery stick when I've got the munchies.  Ha ha.  Sigh.  But I'm finding if I have some hummus to dip the sticks in, I'm much more pleased.  So, yeah, beans. 

I always make these things when the husband's out of town.   He actually loves homemade beans, but I don't usually make the uber healthy salad meals whilst he's home.  I should.  I shall.  (He's sucking down fresh Albacore sandwiches and Rogue beers in Astoria, OR, lucky bastard).  Don't worry honey, there's leftover quinoa for you when you get home.




So, la ensalata:

Salad fixings. Definitely include avocado.

Warm garbanzos in a pan with a tiny bit of organic butter.

The dressing:

Olive oil
Shoyu
Nutritional yeast
Ground herb/pepper blend

Collard Greens and Navy Beans

Since my youngest daughter, Lulu, has eczema, I've been exploring some wheat and gluten-free alternatives.  I'm not certain wheat is causing the skin irritation or not, but it is a likely culprit and one place our acupuncturist suggested we cut back on.  The more I thought about it, I realized we eat a TON of wheat-- pasta, bread, crackers, tortillas... And not always the good whole wheat kind either.  So instead of a major "wheat-free" overhaul (which seems horrible to me), I've started exploring the alternatives and adding some of the yummy products I find into our diet.  Guess what? Quinoa pasta is kick ass.  Tastes pretty identical to classic noodles.  Rice pasta is pretty darn good too.   There's tons of stuff out there, and I'll be posting the tasty things I find here as I go.  This lunch was incredibly satisfying and obviously healthy.  It's creamy and delicious.  My kids gobbled it up, even. Takes about 10 minutes to make, too.  Bonus.
I've begun using organic, grass-fed butter to cook with (also at the suggestion of our acupuncturist), as olive oil is not so good for you at high temps.  I'm hooked.  Butter is freaking delicious to cook with.  AND, I'm hoping to stock up big time on EDEN ORGANIC brand canned foods.  Eden Organics is the only brand I know of whose cans (aluminum) do not contain BPA or other harmful-type-cancer-causing liner ingredients.  Most canned stuff does.  Lame town.  That's the shit that is causing so many people (especially kids) to develop neurological disorders, cancers, disease.  It's in our food.  Ugh. 

I guess this is my health food rant.  I don't end up with 100% organic pure food, but I try my best.  It's more expensive, but it's worth it.  This dish is a complete meal in itself, or would go beautifully as a side with fish or chicken.

Collard Greens and Navy Beans

Butter
1 can Eden Navy Beans
3-7 big handfuls of diced collard greens
1/2 tablespoon Better than Bouillon 
Handful of asiago or sharp white cheese


Start with a tablespoon of butter in a warm pan.  Add collards and saute for 7ish minutes, until tender.  Add drained can of beans.  Add bouillon.  Stir for 3 minutes.  Serve in bowls with cheese on top.  I added rice chips on the side for some crunch.

make your own granola

homemade granola is one of the best treats ever, and surprisingly easy.
it takes a little effort to gather all of the ingredients, but if you have a decent bulk section at your local grocery store you'll be fine. sometimes  i will be surprised by how many of the ingredients i already have sitting on my shelf, and can throw together an impromptu batch without having to make a trip to the store. my favorite recipes are ones that are flexible, and can be easily customized to your tastes, whims, and what you have in the cupboards. granola is one of those recipes. you can really push the envelope with this recipe, make it how you like it! you could use any kind of dried fruit, nuts, or cereal grains. i think it would be good with dried mangoes and crystallized ginger.

this goes great with yogurt, milk, fresh fruit, and as a snack right out of the jar. the original recipe came from my boyfriend abram's mom, cindy lou, who made it regularly when he was a kid. i suggest doubling or tripling the recipe if you have granola lovers in your house.

granola

1 cup oats (can also use rye or wheat flakes)

1/3 cup wheat germ or ground flax or both

2 tbsp. sesame seeds

2 tbsp. shredded coconut

1 cup chopped nuts

1 cup raisins 

4 tbsp sunflower seeds

1 tbsp warm water

4 tbsp honey, rice syrup or agave

3 tbsp mild favored oil (i use walnut oil)

1 tbsp vanilla

preheat the oven to 350.

mix all dry ingredients together in a large bowl. 

in a seperate bowl stir the warm water and honey together, and then mix in the oil and vanilla.do your best to evenly coat the dry ingredients with the wet mixture. use your hands to mix it all up in a bowl. the mixture should be sticky and moist. (i like to taste it at this point and gauge if it needs a little more sweetener.)

spread the granola out onto a baking sheet, if you made more than one batch you will need two baking sheets or to bake separate batches.

bake for 10 minutes, then pull pan out and stir. bake for another 5 minutes and stir again. bake for another 5 minutes if needed. it is easy to over-bake granola so I tend to take it out early rather than have it turn out too crispy.

 store in an airtight container for up to a month.

Super Simple Baked Salmon

...i think i fell in love with Matt Kerley the day he gave me a mix cd with the song "She Belongs to Me" by Bob Dylan on it, and said that Bob wrote that song for, and about, me. SERIOUSLY?? Who does that? Well, Matt Kerley does...and I've been his ever since. In fact, Oliver (our son) came along not too long after. Living proof that a simple dedication can turn a girl to mush, a puddle, clay in your hands, and you can do whatever you want to her, whenever you want to, and, well, you get where I'm going with this. Next thing you know you are playing peek-a-boo and planning for college.

ANYWAYS...Matt Kerley is the REAL chef in our house...

 By that I mean, he is a chef by profession, he runs a restaurant, & he is an AMAZING cook, and I'm not just saying that cause I live with him. It's true. I, on the other hand, am certainly not an amazing cook. I'm a mediocre cook at best, but there are a few things I do well and those things I tend to make pretty often. The difference between Matt and I is this...he makes duck confit, I make tuna casserole. He makes gnocchi from scratch, I make spaghetti and meat sauce. He makes pâté, I make peanut butter toast. But I do happen to do almost all the cooking at our house because by the time he gets home from work, cooking is the last thing he wants to do. And he always finishes all his food and usually asks for seconds, so I guess he kinda likes it. Beyond cooking at home, I've been working in restaurants since the beginning of time, and eating in them too, AND I am lucky enough to live in one of the foodiest cities in the world, San Francisco, so I have access to farms, and fresh, and free range, and all that good stuff. At this point in my life cooking has become the one creative act that I do almost everyday. And everyday I look forward to it. I spend a lot of time thinking about what I might cook that night, and what I need, and when I'm going to go to the market, and which market, and blah, blah, blah...So the recipes I share here will be my own, or not, and I hope you will try them, like them, eat them up, and then make them YOUR own. Let's start with last night's dinner...

Super Simple Salmon (this recipe is for 2 eaters, get 3 pieces of fish if you happen to have 3 eaters, and guesstimate about 1/2 tablespoon of butter & 1/2 clove of garlic for each piece of fish)

2 Wild Salmon fillets

1 tablespoon butter

1 clove fresh garlic

cumin

salt

pepper

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter in a small sauce pan and toss in your chopped garlic, saute about 1 minute, or until garlic loses a bit of its sharpness, but don't burn the garlic! Place salmon fillets skin side down in a baking dish, I prefer glass. Sprinkle fish with salt, pepper, cumin, and your butter & garlic mixture. Bake for about 10-15 minutes, depending on the thickness of your fish. Salmon is one thing I like either totally raw (sushi!) or totally cooked through, so I always cook mine until it is just cooked through, but not dry. Serve with a simple green salad. Delish!!

P.S. Everyone knows how good salmon is for you, Omega 3's and all that stuff, but its especially important when you are a breastfeeding mama, like I am, because it helps our babies brains to grow big and strong. So eat up Mama's! Eat your fish!!