Black Bean Soup with Cornbread Dumplings

Black beans soup is eaten on the regular around here. Not always the same way but pretty much. Why screw with a good thing you know?

Now soup with dumplings. This is not (yet) a regular thing but I was making the usual blacken soup and planing on making corn bread to go with (in a pan) , when I had a moment of clarity and realized that I should just make the corn bread into dumplings and not have to deal with baking and another pan to clean. Duh. Why don’t I do this more often?

And that is it. A black bean soup, nice and thick, with light fluffy cornbread dumplings cooked in one pot. Quick, easy and all sorts of delicious. Can’t complain about that.

Now let’s get to the soup and dumplings!

The stuff. For the soup there are bLackbeans, and onion, spices, a carrot, garlic, tomato paste, apple cider vinegar. For dumplings we have flour, baking powder, salt, oil, and plant milk. Salt and pepper too.

Start by dicing up the carrot and onion and mincing the garlic.

Dump all that you diced into a big pot, along with the spices, some salt and pepper, and about 1/2 cup of water. Place on stove and cook down on medium heat until the onion is becoming translucent and the whole pot is starting to smell fragrant.

Now add in beans and tomato paste and about 5 cups of water. Bring to a boil then turn down to medium an cook for about 20-30 minutes.

Soup. Cooked and all taste but one more little step.

Remove a third of the soup and blend until smooth and then add it back it.

Dumplings. Mix dry together then add in oil and milk. Mix together unit incorporated.

While soup is still on medium heat, scoop the dumping mixture right into the soup.

Place a loose side on top of pot ans let the dumplings cook util list and fluffy which will take about 15-20 minutes.

Cornbread dumplings looking all nice in the soup.

Then you eat it. Add some avocado on top of you want. Avocado is always a good idea.

-C

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Black Bean Soup with Cornbread Dumplings

feeds 3-4

• 3 cups cooked black beans (or 2 16 oz cans)

• 1 large onion

• 1 good sized carrot

• 3-4 cloves garlic

• 1 teaspoon chill powder

• 1 tablespoon cumin

• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (or none if you don’t like the spice)

• 1 tablespoon maple cider vineger

• 1/3 cup tomato paste

• 5 cups water

• salt and pepper

  Dumplings

• 3/4 cup all purpose flour

• 1/4 cup corn meal

• 3/4 cup plant milk

• 2 tablespoon neutral oil

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Start by dicing up the carrot and onion into small pieces. Mince the garlic and then place the garlic, onion, and carrot into a large pot with the cumin, chili powder, and red pepper flakes, a good pinch of salt and pepper, and about 1/2 a cup of water. Place pot on stove on a medium low heat and sweat the mixture for about 10-15 minutes or until fragrant and the onions are slightly translucent.

Add in the tomato paste, beans , and 5 cups water. Bring to a boil then reduce to medium heat and let cook for about1/2 hour. Once soup has cooked down a bit and tastes delicious, remove form heat and carefully transfer 1/3 of the soup to a blender or jar (if using a hand blander) and blend until smooth. Add the blend soup back to the pot and turn the heat back on to medium low. Taste and add more salt and pepper if needed.

Now make dumpling mixture. Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl then add in the oil and milk and mix until incorporated. Scoops the dumping mixture into the soup while the soup then place a lid loosely on the pot. Cook for another 15-20 minutes or unit the dumplings are nice a n fluffy.

And when they are done, remove lid, tun the heat off, and paddle soup and dumplings into bowl. Eat. Add sliced avocado for a little more yum.

Tomatillo Pumpkin and White Bean Stew

First off, I am not sure if this is technically a stew, or chili, or just a soup, but I think a stew so I am sticking to it.

Secondly, I don’t give a flying f%$# what it technically is because whatever it is is so freaking good!

Lets talk about this stew and whats in it. Me and tomatillos are having a thing right now and I can’t seem to get enough if them. They are bright and slightly sour, but also sweet with a bit of acidity, kind of like a unripe tomato but just better and taste fantastic. Then I got the pumpkin which is hardy and creamy and I will eat all day, everyday forever if I could. White beans which are also creamy and delicious, all in a pot with a good amount or cumin, some of this and that, cooked down to a delicious pot of stewed goodness.

And isn’t stew just he perfect food for a nice crisp fall day? 100% yes to that and yes to this stew. It will make you happy, smile, and full.

Now to the stew!

The stuff. Fresh Tomatillos, a pie pumpkin, cooked white beans, an onion, a jalapeño, a couple cloves or garlic, cumin, chili powder, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper, and fresh cilantro.

Start with dicing up the onion, garlic, and jalapeño. Remove the seeds fro meh jalapeño to make is less hot.

Toss that stuff into a pot along with the cumin and chili powder, a pinch of salt, ans about a 1/2 cup of water. Place on stove on medium heat and start to cooke.

Husk, rinse, and halve tomatillos.

Once the onion and jalapeño mixture is cooked a bit like this…

Add in the tomatillos and enough water to submerge the all. Place back on stove on high heat.

Now dice up pumpkin into inch sized cubed.

Now add the pumpkin and the white beans into the pot. Bring the whole thing to a boil once more, then turn the heat down to low. Cook for about an hour to hour and a half, string once in a while, until its cooked down nice and thick.

It is ready.

Grab a bowl, fill it up, top with fresh cilantro, and get down on it.

P.S. This is now my new favorite food

-C

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Tomatillo Pumpkin and White Bean Stew

2-3 good hardy servings

• 20-22 tomatillos (about 3 1/2 cups after husked and halved)

• 1 small pie pumpkin (3 1/2 cups cubed pumpkin)

• 2 cups (or 1 can) cooked and drained while beans

• 1 yellow onion

• 2 cloves garlic

• 2 tablespoons cumin

• 1 teaspoon chili powder

• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

• 6-7 cups water

• salt and pepper

• fresh cilantro

Start by dicing up the onion into really small pieces. Mince the garlic and cut the jalapeño up into small pieces (remove seeds) while you are at it. Place the onions, garlic, jalapeño,cumin, chili powder, and a pinch of salt into a pot. Add in about 1/2 a cup of water and place on stove on medium heat and start to cook.

While that is cooking a bit, husk, rinse, and halve the tomatillos. When the onion and garlic mixture has cooked down a bit, add the tomatillos to the pot along with a couple of cups of water (enough to submerge the tomatillos). Place back on stove on high heat and bring to a boil.

In the meantime, dice up 3 1/2 cups of pumpkin (remove seeds and save for later and don’t peel pumpkin unless you really want to) into mouth sized cubes. Once diced up, add into the pot along with the with beans and vinegar. Add more water until everything is submerged (about 3-4 more cups) then bring pot back to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to low and let cook for about an hour to an hour and a half, stirring on occasion, until the tomatillos have cooked and thickened, the pumpkin is nice and tender, and the whole stew is nice and well, stew like.

And once it is cooked, taste for seasoning (add more salt and pepper if needed). Then ladle into a bowl, toss on some fresh cilantro then dig in.

Left overs store well in fridge for about a week. Its easy to heat up but really, cold stew is amazing!

15 Bean and Greens Soup

What are you doing today, first weekend of a new year and all.

Me, I am doing what I do every weekend. Clean and make soup! And a few stupid annoying things that I won’t get into…( I hate having to deal with phone shit!)

Anyway lets talk about soup, the best food in the world. You might not think that yourself, and that is just fine, but me, I could, and do, eat soup just about every day (seriously, and I have years of blogging to prove it). It is just so good, well, most soups. Some soups are not good and that is when I do not eat them and nor should you.

This soup just so happens to be a good New Years omen.. Someone just told me beans and greens are good luck to eat at the beginning of a new year so I guess we are in luck. But tell me this, shouldn't I be freaking winning lotteries and shit with the amount of beans and greens I eat all year long? I mean seriously. But back to this soup. A basic 15 bean (or however many types of beans) soup situation. Cooked with a few but delicious veggies, some good spices, a little tomato, and served up whenever it is done and whenever you feel like eating it. A great soup to pop onto the stove, blast the tunes, get into a cleaning grove and basically ignore, and come back to it whenever you are feeling hungry. I mean, what better then to finish off a crazy deep clean and organize of all the closets plus wiping down every single surface in the house (including all the baseboard and window trim) and scrubbing toilets, then with a big ass bowl of warm beans and greens soup. This. This is a good day to me. And don’t say that you wouldn't love it too…but in case you wouldn’t don’t at me and you do you.

Now to the lucky beans and greens soup and maybe some New Years cleaning (or however you want to send your time!)

The stuff. A 15 bean mixture that has been soaking in water overnight, tomato puree, a carrot and and onion, parsnip and celeriac, a couple cloves of garlic, a bunch of collard greens, spices (cumin, paprika, chili powder, red pepper, oregano, and ginger), apple cider vinegar, and salt and pepper.

Basically the only work needed done, to dice it all up. Small dice the onion, carrot, parsnip and celeriac, mince the garlic, and then thinly shill up the collard greens.

Toss it all into a big pot with the spices and a cup or so of water and place on medium heat to start to cook.

Once veggies have become fragrant and are slightly tender, dump in the soaked beans!

Add water and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce to a medium heat and pop a lid on it. Let cook for about an hour.

And once the beans become tender, dump in the vinegar and tomato puree. Mix it all up, add another cup or so water, and keep in cooking

Soup, with all the beans, DONE. And so so good.

And basically you jest serve it up whenever you want and eat it. Bread makes a great accompaniment.

Happy New Year!

-C

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15 Bean and Greens Soup

• 2 cups dried bean mixture (can use any number of bean mixture that you want) that has been soaking for a least a few hours but overnight is good

• 2 teaspoons cumin

• 1 teaspoon each paprika, chili powder, ginger, oregano

• 1/2 teaspoon chili flakes

• a medium onion

• 2-3 cloves garlic

• 2 1/2-3 cups total of small diced carrot, celeriac, and or parsnip

• a small bunch of collard greens (or kale)

• 1 1/2 cups tomato puree

• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

• salt and pepper

• 7-9 cups water

Start by small dicing up the onion, mincing that garlic, and small dicing up the carrot, celeriac, and parsnip. Dump it all into a large heavy bottom pot along with about a cup of water and all the spiced. Cut the collard greens into thin strips and toss those in too. Put on stove on medium heat and cook for 7-10 minutes or until it comes fragrant and the veggies seems to be tender. Dump in presoaked beans and 6-7 cups water (make sure beans are fully submerged) and bring whole pot to a boil. Once boiling, reduce to a medium heat and place cover on pot. Cook for an hour or so and then add in the tomato puree and vinegar. Add in another cup or two of water and cook for another 1/2 hour to 45 minutes (longer if you want. You can cook and set on simmer and leave on stove for a few hours. Just add more water when needed and stir occasionally) or until all the beans are tender and completely cooked. Season with salt and pepper and then serve.

Left overs should be stored in fridge for a week or so or can be frozen for a few months.

Spaghetti with Roasted Green Tomato Sauce

If you are a gardener or farmer (or know one) you know. It’s that time of year where there are so many tomatoes, and I right? And with the bounty of ripen tomatoes comes the many green tomatoes, There are always green tomatoes and they are not to be dismissed.

Sure a freshly picked gorgeous red or orange tomato, ripe and sweet, eaten within minutes of being plucked from the plant is one of life’s greatest pleasures , but don’t turn a nose at all those tomatoes that don’t make it to ripeness, that fall from the plant. or that you accidentally pick off while getting to the rip ones. Those green tomatoes might not seem like much, but given a little attention, well they can shine just as bright as all those ripe and colorful ones!

All green tomatoes need to be delicious is to be roasted. Then they are amazing, like seriously freaking delicious. Just as bright and flavorful as ripen tomatoes, maybe even more so.

Once roasted you then can make them into sauce. Sauce for pasta, for pizza, for eating straight out of the jar (That is me). It can do anything red tomato sauce can do.

So don’t just let those green tomatoes go to waste. Heck, maybe pluck a few extra green ones before they ripen just so you can enjoy the goodness of roasted green tomatoes!

To the green tomato sauce!

The stuff. Green tomatoes, a large onion, a few cloves of garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper, spaghetti, fresh basil, and a few rip cherry tomatoes.

Cut the onion into large chunks and slice all the green tomatoes in half (or quarters if they are large)

Place it all on a baking sheet and toss with a drizzle of olive oil and sprinkle on salt and pepper. Also place the unpeeled garlic into a corner and pop the baking sheet into a hot oven to roast.

Ah, all soft was tender and roasted.

(The garlic was removed after 15ish minutes of roasting, peeled and set aside.)

Dump it all into a blender and blend until smooth. Season with more salt and pepper if needed.

And make spaghetti. I trust you know how to do this.

Ripe up some fresh basil and chop the cherry tomatoes in half and…

Place some of the cooked pasta into a bowl, pour in your desired amount of the sauce, and top with fresh basil and a few red cherry tomatoes.

It is ready. Now eat.

-C

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Spaghetti with Roasted Green Tomato Sauce

Makes 5-6 cups

• Around 20 smaller green tomatoes (or how many you can fit on a a large baking sheet)

• a large sweet onion

• 4-5 cloves garlic

• 1-2 tablespoons olive oil

• salt and pepper

• Spagetthi (as much as you want to eat)

• handful of fresh basil for erving of pasta resh basil

• a few red cherry tomatoes for each serving of pasta

Preheat oven to 450

Cut tomatoes in half (or in quarters if they are large). Peel skin from onion and cut into large chunks. Place both cut tomatoes and onion onto a large baking sheet and drizzle with about a tablespoon of olive oil. Toss around and then sprinkle with salt and pepper. On the corner of the pan, place the garlic(still in skin) Place into oven.After 15ish minutes, remove the garlic and set aside. Continue baking the tomatoes and onions for another 35-45 minutes or until the tomatoes are fork tender.

Once the tomatoes are cooked, remove from oven and, being oh so careful, dump or scoop the tomatoes and onion into a blender. Add in the roasted garlic (skin removed) and blend until smooth. Taste the sauce then season with more salt and pepper and add another tablespoon of olive oil if you think it needs it.

To eat with spaghetti.

Make spaghetti as in instructed on box. Once you have cooked spaghetti, drained it, and placed it into a bowl, pour or scoop the green tomato sauce on top. Top with a handful of fresh basil and a few red cherry tomatoes.

Then eat.

Extra tomato sauce can be placed in a jar or container with a lid and refrigerated for about a week.

Roasted Sweet Potato, Broccoli, and Kale Bowl

The other morning I woke up chilly, lke legit had to grab a sweater. It made me smile so hard. And when I left for my morning run through the woods, I spent the entire time in a long sleeve shirt, not stupid hot, thinking about all the food that I was suddenly craving. An hour of soups, casseroles, and basically everything hot and comforting running through my mind. Honestly, it’s what I think about during most of my runs. Anyway I was going through my food inventory I had at home and decided what I was going to make myself lunch on this fine cool day was this. Roasted sweet potato with broccoli, onion, and kale. Tahini too. And za’atar. I was drooling while running, again not out of the norm. Good times.

So I came home, did stuff, and made myself lunch. Exactly as I wanted, all for me, and it was everything that I thought it would be. Simple, fresh, hot but not heavy, and just the right amount of comfort to feel all the feels of soon to be fall. I grabbed my food, a book, and sat out on the porch, still in a long sleeved shirt, and ate my lunch. A fine lunch that was. A fine fine lunch.

You should have yourself a fine lunch (or any meal) too.

Now to the food!

The stuff. A sweet potato, a head of broccoli, 1/2 a large onion (or 1 small one), tahini, a lemon, a clove or garlic, za’atar, and salt and pepper.

Start by chopping up the sweet potato into mouth sized pieces, break apart the broccoli into smaller mouth sized pieces, and slice up the onion.

Toss it all onto a sheet pan and cover with the za’atar seasoning. You can toss around in a little oil if you want, but I actually just spray it wit ha little water and call it. I am over roasting with oil, it is to oily.

Put the seasoned goodness into hot hot oven.

Oh and place clove or garlic on pan too, just for a few minutes to get a little roasted and remove. It’s for the tahini dressing.

Chop up kale up.

Make the tahini dressing. Tahini, roasted garlic minced up, lemon juice, and a little hot water. Mix tighter until creamy smooth. Season with salt and pepper.

Roasted and delicious.

Grab kale and toss it around with everything while it is still hot so the kale kind of wilts. You can also pop it into the oven for a few more minutes to really get that wilt on.

Dump it all into a big bowl.

Drizzle that tahini all over, grab a fork (or not),and make you teeth dance with all this goodness in the mouth.

-C

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Roasted Sweet Potato, Broccoli, and Kale Bowl

Serves 1 as a meal

• 1 sweet potato

• 1 head of broccoli

• a small onion (or half a big one)

• a few kale leaves

• 1 tablespoon za’atar seasoning

• 1 heaping tablespoon tahini

• a lemon

• a clove of garlic

• a few tablespoon hot water

• salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

Grab the sweet potato and cut into mouth sized chunks. Break apart the head of broccoli into florets And cut up stem into chunks, and slice onion into thick pieces. Place on a baking sheet, sprinkle on the za’atar, and toss around. Sprinkle or spray(with a spray bottle) with a little water. Also throw the garlic clove onto the pan too and place it into the oven.

After about 10 minutes, grab the garlic from the pan and keep everything else roasting.

In the meantime, make tahini dressing. Mince the roasted garlic and add to the tahini with the juice of half the lemon and a splash of hit water. Mix together until completely incorporated, adding in a little more hot water as needed to make the dressing into a thick, but drizz-able consistency. Season with salt and pepper.

And chop kale into smaller pieces.

After 20ish minutes, remove pan from oven and toss the veggies around and place back into oven and roasted for another 10ish minutes or until the sweet potato is soft and tender and the broccoli is looking all roasted. Remove and right away toss the kale with the hot veggies to get the kale to wilt a bit. Also can stick the pan back into oven for a minute to wilt it even more.

And then dump the contents of the pan into a big bowl, drizzle the tahini all over, and eat that shit.