Crocktober: Vegan French Market Soup and a Holiday Shopping Hint

 I might have lied when I said that crock pot marinara was the easiest crock pot recipe I would be sharing with you this Crocktober. The only real effort involved with this soup is remembering to rinse and soak the beans ahead of time. (And no, this post doesn't end with a list of things I want for Christmas).

Traditional French Market Soup involves a ham hock, but I made it once with the hock, and didn't feel like it added all that much, so this time I skipped it. But, you can add a smoked hock if you want to, or even thick-cut bacon. The traditional method also tells you to soak your beans overnight in a dutch oven, which sounds like a very bad idea for those of us with cast-iron dutch ovens, but if you want to do it by the book you can find a recipe here.

...But you're here to read my version (right?) so here it is:

Ingredients:

about 8 oz. canned tomatoes (I used diced, without any added herbs or garlic)

2 tablespoons lemon juice

Salt, and a hefty pinch ground black pepper

Fresh thyme, for garnish (optional)

1 cup mixed dried beans (1/2 of 1 lb "16 bean soup" package; mine also had a little barley in it)

1/2 clove garlic, minced (I know 1/2 seems weird, but 1 is too much)

1/2 large onion, chopped

1 dried chili pepper or fresh pepper, diced

1 quart water

Directions:

1. Sort and thoroughly rinse the beans. Soak in plenty of water in the fridge overnight or for up to 24 hours, changing the water at least once in this time. When you're setting up your crock pot, rinse them one more time before they go in.

2. Place everything but the thyme in a crock pot, and cook on low for 8-10 hours. Turn to high to cook for another 3 hours or so, or as needed until beans are tender. (Mine cooked for 8 hours on low, plus about four hours on high. Basically forever. Plan accordingly). Garnish with thyme, and serve with butter and a crusty bread, if you want.

I am grateful for the timing of Crocktober. I just started an internship on Wednesdays at a museum in Center City, which involves kind of a weird commute and often draining days, but being in crocking mode has made it so easy to come up with yummy dinners that I can have basically ready by the time I get home.

Making your own bean mix is easy, inexpensive, and actually makes a super-cute gift. Just combine 1  lb. of each of the following (or your own variation):

dried navy beans

dried pinto beans

dried great northern beans

dried green split peas

dried yellow split peas

dried black-eyed peas

dried brown lentils

dried baby lima beans

dried large lima beans

dried black beans

dried red beans

dried soybeans

pearled barley

                    ... Yep, that will make you about 13 pounds of bean soup mix.

BUT! Packaged in ball mason jars with a recipe printed on a pretty card or tag, its quite visually pleasing. This mix will fill 14 2-cup jars, which around the holidays is nice to have on hand for coworkers, family friends, or teachers, and according to my math comes out under $1.10 worth of beans per jar. If you want to go all out - maybe for a housewarming gift, joint holiday present, or even a wedding gift for a special couple in your life - you could make a nice gift package with the jar of beans, printed recipe, bag of dried chilies and a crock pot. Perhaps with a gift card to a bakery? Voila!

Crock pots vary widely in size and in price, but from all of my internet sleuthing it seems that the only real difference between the cheap ones and the pricey ones is the option to pre-set cooking times rather than relying on a switch. This recipe fits perfectly in a 2-quart crock, which you can easily get for $20 or less. (I know because I got mine from the Home Depot website for $18.) And don't get all nervous if your intended recipient isn't much of a cook. This recipe is so stupidly-easy-yet-delicious-in-its-simplicity that it will appeal to cooks and non-cooks alike. Also my mantra for holiday shopping this year is "thoughtful but cheap," so this idea is definitely appealing!

Guerilla Kitchen in Aruba Part 1, or Pan-Seared Grouper with Couscous & Green Salad

Hooray! Vacation!

The "huts" are available to rent for the day, and are free if you grab them same-day. Thank goodness - shade is very necessary here.

 I realize I forgot to warn you all, but as you may know, the GK (meaning me, Genevieve) is visiting Aruba this week! I am here with my fabulously fun big sister Allie, and could not be happier about the whole thing. Thanks to my parents' investment in a Marriott timeshare many years ago, my Dad was able to offer Allie and I his hotel week this year. Obviously, this was very generous and we intend to make the most of our time here. There is much local food to try, and we intend to sample much of it, but Aruba is an island, after all, which means high prices on just about everything. This is especially true for the restaurants. Truthfully, cost was the motivation for us to cook some meals in our suite, but now that we've fully embraced it I think there is still much fun ahead in cooking and eating in the comfort of our hotel.

Last night, after a travel-weary but totally delicious experience with some Caribbean barbecue, we put together a few necessary breakfast items from a shop in the hotel: Just-add-water pancake mix, coffee, milk, butter and honey. (The honey was in lieu of maple syrup, which to be honest is what I prefer with my pancakes anyway.) This morning we had our pancakes before heading out to one of the big grocery stores in the area, Ling & Sons. This was surprisingly fun. The store carries many brands and products familiar to us Americans, along with some extremely foreign Dutch, Venezuelan and Portuguese items.

Our plan is to have breakfast in our suite, a few lunches, and a few dinners, so that we can save some money and still get a chance to taste (and cook!) local fare like super fresh fish, which is what we put together for tonight. After coming off the beach for a leisurely stay at the hotel pool (and, erm, pool bar), fish seemed like the perfect thing.

We made some iguana friends at the pool.

I have complete vacation-brain at the moment, which is probably to be expected. I say this because while I am very happy to tell you what went into these dishes, there won't be much in the way of ingredients or detailed instructions in this or future Aruban posts. But that's a pretty fair reflection of what I'm doing.

It's all very yellow to look at, but it was highly delicious.

I marinaded two grouper fillets in a combination of a basic Italian salad dressing, a little extra olive oil, a bit of salt and garlic & herb Mrs. Dash, adding a sprinkling of black pepper on top once the fish was coated with the marinade. I cooked them in olive oil (heated until smoking) for about three minutes per side, and served it with a piece of lemon. I made a yummy "toasted pine-nut" flavored couscous, and Allie made a lovely salad. And, because Aruba totally has the right idea and I totally do not understand any country or state in which it is unlawful to sell alcohol and food under the same roof, we enjoyed our dinner with some chardonnay.

The fish was extremely fresh, tender and juicy, and exactly what I had hoped for from a local catch. I wasn't sure at first how the pine nut couscous would be with the mild and lemony fish, but they ended up being quite tasty together - perfect counterpoints. We enjoyed it all and still have some beautiful swordfish that awaits us in the refrigerator.

Quote of the Day: All groupers are members the sea bass family, Serranidae, and are found in tropical and warm temperate waters world-wide. ~ FoodReference.com

P.s. Some of you may recall a resolution I made not long ago to limit my meat and seafood consumption for my own health as well as the health of the planet. But experiencing the best of local produce is also high among my priorities, and I can't ignore the abundance of beautiful fish caught right outside my window. So I won't! You could call this wishy-washyness, but I just call it smart.

Quinoa & Bean Salad with Basil & Lemon

While she turned out to be a great big nothing in West Philadelphia (a little heavy rain and one windy day), Hurricane Irene was a weirdly grown-up experience for me. Getting ready for a potentially major weather event on my own between cautionary text messages from my Mom, I had many a flashback to my parents' old black GE radio, rummaging around for candles, and the excitement of when the power would go out. Though I know now that storms were surely less exciting for my parents, who were no doubt concerned with things like food spoilage and water supply, I have lots of fond memories of weathering storms with my family as a kid. On my own, though, the whole thing seemed a bit less fun.

Though quinoa is only non-perishable in its uncooked form, this seemed like a reasonable electric-free dinner recipe for pre-cooked quinoa. And even if you were to lose power, it would stay fresh for a while in your refrigerator for a while as long as you don't go around leaving the door open all willy-nilly.

This makes about 3-4 side-dish servings, or about 2 vegan main dishes.

Ingredients:

1 cup cooked quinoa (a little over 1/3 cup raw)

1/2 cup chickpeas or other beans, thoroughly cooked

1/2 red onion, finely chopped

1 bunch basil, stems removed and leaves chopped

Olive oil

Salt & pepper

Juice of 1 lemon

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, whisk together about 2 tbsp olive oil and the lemon juice and season with salt and pepper.

2. Add quinoa, chickpeas, onion and basil and mix well.

Feta optional

This salad is simple, fresh, delicious and nutritious, and a great make-ahead meal. For a little more color you might prefer to use kidney beans, navy beans, or something else that isn't coming to mind at the moment. And, while I love the simplicity of this salad, you could add just about any fresh veggies that you have on hand - cucumber, summer squash, or fresh corn, for example. Because I'm a slight carboholic, I had mine with a warmed, buttered naan-type bread and threw in a little stray Feta, but without these additions, this meal is vegan and gluten-free, and perfect for a summer lunch. Yum!


Quote of the Day: Red onions are especially divine. I hold a slice up to the singlight pouring in through the kitchen window, and it glows like a fine piece of antique glass. Cool watery-white with layers delicately edged with imperial purple...strong, humble, peaceful...with that fiery nub of spring green at the center. ~ Mary Hayes Grieco, The Kitchen Mystic

Red Lentil Salad with Lemony Couscous & Avocado

In one distinct way, I am a very "granola" person: I am a freak for lentils. I love them as a side dish, in soups and salads, or cooked forever and mashed into a dip/spread. I am a big fan of beans in general, and lentils are among the most nutritious of them, beating out even my other favorite (chickpeas) for more protein and less fat per serving. The fat content in beans is nearly negligible, but whatever. I still love lentils. And granola.

The balsamic vinegar in the dressing conceals the natural red color of the lentils somewhat.

This lentil salad recipe is my attempt to mechanize a very odds-and-ends dish that I've tossed together approximately one zillion times. (This is the first time I've used red lentils instead of your basic brownish green variety, which will cook for more like 20-30 minutes instead of 5-10.) You can use basically any vegetables that you want to in this salad. Cucumber and celery are both good, as are fresh herbs, and you could also add Feta, which I sometimes do. Cherry tomatoes really are better for the salad format, but if you just don't have any around (I didn't) plum tomatoes are dandy too. And if couscous isn't your bag, you could serve this on a bed of baby spinach, which is equally delicious:

Ingredients:

1 cup red lentils, rinsed, any debris discarded

1-2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed

3/4 cup bell pepper, any color, coarsely chopped

3/4 cup cherry tomatoes, halved, or 2-3 plum tomatoes diced and seeded

1/2 cup carrots, cut into matchsticks

1 green onion, thinly sliced

1/2 - 1 avocado, sliced lengthwise
Handful of baby spinach (optional)

Salt and pepper

Olive oil

3/4 cup couscous

3/4 cup water or reduced-sodium vegetable broth

The zest and juice of 1 lemon (a little pulp in the juice is ok)

1/4 teaspoon salt

Salad Directions:

1. In a medium sauce pan, bring about 4 cups of water to a boil over medium heat, and add lentils. Stir to separate and simmer uncovered for 5-10 minutes. (You want them tender to the bite, but not soft. Soft lentils are great for spreads, etc, but when their destination is a salad, you want to preserve more of the bean's structural integrity.)

2. When lentils are tender to the bite, drain and allow to mostly cool at room temperature, then cover and chill for at least 1 hour. (See Cook's Note)

3. In a large bowl, whisk together balsamic vinegar, about 2 tablespoons of olive oil and salt and pepper. Add green onion, bell peppers, tomatoes, carrots, and any other veggies you're using.

4. Add lentils to bowl, and gently combine with dressing and veggies. Pour onto serving dish or serve individually, over the couscous, and top with sliced avocado.

Couscous Directions:

5. In your medium sauce pan, bring water or broth, lemon juice and lemon zest to a boil. 

6. In a medium bowl, combine couscous and salt. (If you are using regular-sodium broth, you may want to omit the salt).

7. Pour boiling broth over couscous and allow to sit 10 minutes. Fluff couscous with a fork before serving. 

Cook's Note: This time of year I like to cook my lentils and then chill them before making this salad. You can also do the warm-lentils-cool-veggies thing, but I think a similar effect is created with the cool salad and warm couscous. This makes about 4 servings.

 7 steps seems like a lot to me, because I'm lazy, but as you can see this is super easy and definitely not time-consuming. And so yummy! The salad can easily be a make-ahead, and would be delicious for lunch in a pita pocket, which is extra nice. I'm definitely looking forward to leftovers for lunch tomorrow. Of course, the avocado doesn't travel so well, but even without it this is a tasty, fill-you-up-and-keep-you-going meal.

Quote of the Day: Magnesium is Nature's own calcium channel blocker. When enough magnesium is around, veins and arteries breathe a sigh of relief and relax... Want to literally keep your heart happy? Eat lentils. ~ WHFoods.com

Veggie Week: Greekish Chickpea Pockets

With a retail shift in the morning followed by 6 hours of class, Tuesdays are pretty killer. But now I have one more tasty, healthy meal to add to my I-know-I'll-be-too-tired-to-cook-when-I-get-home arsenal, and it's these tasty pita pockets. I made the filling last night, and I am super grateful for that teeny bit of foresight. Not only was dinner super fast to throw together, but I think sitting in the fridge overnight improved the flavor.

I didn't change the recipe enough to claim any significant contribution, so I'll let the link speak for itself. I used whole wheat pitas, and I think I used a bit more mayo, but that is all a matter of taste. Of course, plain Greek yogurt would also be a good "glue" for this chickpea salad. I served mine with some fresh (local!) Romaine, and sliced tomato tucked in.

Simple, fresh, and vegetarian, these would also make a great pack-along lunch (with filling and pita stored separately of course).

Quote of the Day: And what, Socrates, is the food of the soul? Surely, I said, knowledge is the food of the soul. ~ Plato

Black Bean Bowls with Brown Rice, Sweet Corn Salsa & Spicy Chipotle Dressing

If I had to choose a single favorite "fast food," it wouldn't be chicken nuggets, burgers, or even fresh, hot french fries. It would be just about anything from Chipotle. My main faves are the salad (usually with chicken) and burrito bowls, but the dressing is the thing I really crave. So tonight I thought I would try making a burrito bowl with black beans, a sweet corn and cherry-tomato salsa, and a chipotle dressing experiment all over brown rice.

 Altogether, you will need:

1 (dry) cup brown rice

1 can black or pinto beans, or about 3/4 cup dry, soaked overnight and cooked

1 cup fresh or frozen corn

1 cup fresh tomato, chopped and seeded

1 handful of fresh cilantro, coarsely chopped

1 small can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (in the ethnic or Mexican food aisle)

1 teaspoon and 1 tablespoon lemon or lime juice, separated 

1 clove garlic, coarsely chopped 

1 teaspoon cumin

1 packet (about 1 teaspoon) of Truvia, Splenda, or white sugar (or an estimated 2 tsp brown sugar)

White, apple cider, red or rice wine vinegar

White and pale green part of 1 green onion, sliced

1 or 2 avocados for slicing, or guacamole

Salt and pepper

Olive oil

Beans & Rice
The black beans are super simple. I soaked some dry beans in the fridge overnight, and crock-potted them all day long on low. If you use this method, be sure to allow enough room in the soaking container for the beans to expand up to 50%, and cover with about two inches of water. Be sure to rinse your beans after soaking, and replace the water before crocking, again making sure there is at least enough to cover the beans with an inch of water.  When they're done, drain and let cool, then combine with about half of your chopped cilantro. I'll be honest, though: I'm just guessing at the "3/4 cup" business. I always make much more black beans than I think I will use in a particular recipe, because I love having some around for quick and easy salads with some chopped bell pepper, onion, cilantro and lemon juice, or some other concoction. This is a lunchtime life-saver.

If you're using canned beans, just rinse them super thoroughly before adding your cilantro and a little drizzle of olive oil. The rice, also, will be super easy: Just cook it according to package directions, adding a little salt and pepper. I like to serve everything on top of the rice, but you can combine the rice and beans if you prefer. I personally think that the rice should be warm, but you can serve the beans either warm or chilled. This might be dictated by your schedule, which probably means you're a busy person, in which case, look at you, hotshot! Good for you for cooking anyway.

Corn & Tomato Salsa
This is a fantastic way to use leftover corn-on-the-cob. Tomatoes have much, much more flavor at room temperature, so take them out an hour or so before making the salsa. For this recipe, you can use fresh or frozen corn, with any sort of fresh tomato that you have handy. If you choose frozen corn, add about a cup to boiling water and cook it for about two minutes. Drain and refrigerate for 10 minutes to a couple of hours before adding the tomatoes, depending on what fits best for your schedule. Combine the corn with a cup of chopped, seeded tomatoes, the green onion, a little salt and pepper, a small drizzle of olive oil and the teaspoon of lemon juice. Refrigerated, this salad-ish salsa will keep for a few days, but is definitely best when fresh.

Finally, the Dressing!

This is the fun part of this meal. I had never cooked anything with chipotle peppers, or adobo sauce before, but they are definitely the key to this recipe. I hear you can buy minced peppers in adobo. I used whole, but since I made this in a food processor, it didn't really matter. If you don't have a food processor or a blender, minced peppers are the way to go. Just whisk together a minced clove of garlic (instead of chopped), a couple tablespoons of olive oil, some salt and pepper, a couple teaspoons of vinegar, the powdered sweetener or sugar, cumin, and about a tablespoon of pepper-and-sauce mixture. You should finely chop the cilantro if you are using this method.

Some of you may be thinking, "Why would you put sugar in this dressing? Isn't it supposed to be spicy?", to which I would answer "Because I said so," and "Yes." Just kidding. I wouldn't say "because I said so." But yes, it is supposed to be hot. The sugar or sweetener enhances the flavor by slightly de-emphasizing the heat of the peppers, letting you focus more on the delicious flavorfulness of it. Isn't that handy?

I scooped up two whole peppers and the sauce mixture that came along with them. In a food processor, I blended the same ingredients as listed above. It was spicy. A bit TOO spicy. So I quartered a cherry tomato, added that, and blended a bit more, just to counteract the heat of it. (I'm sure everybody knows this by now, but if you eat something uncomfortably spicy, don't drink water! Drink milk, or eat a tomato or bit of bread to get rid of that burning feeling). This is a taste-as-you-go recipe, for sure. If you want more heat, add more pepper and sauce, or if it's much too hot, add more fresh tomato to mellow it out. It will be equally tasty either way. Similarly, if it seems too thick to you, add a bit more oil and vinegar. If you have a very basic vinaigrette around, you could also cut it with that, but I wouldn't want to introduce any new herbs to the equation.

I assembled this dish by spooning some cooked brown rice into a pasta bowl (or, paradoxically, "soup plates"), followed by the beans, then the corn salsa. I served the dressing on the side, on the off chance that it would pool menacingly with the brown rice, creating tiny whole-gran firebombs. I also served guac on the side, at which point I really wished I'd gotten tortilla chips. No matter! Chips or no, guac is a delicious addition. You could also serve this with some sliced avocado. Our grocery store had avocados in two states this week: Rock and Mush, so instead we picked up an all-natural packaged guacamole.

There is rice under there somewhere...

This is super delicious. Awesomely delicious. Deliciously awesome. I would never ask that obnoxiously ignorant question, "What DO vegans eat, anyway?!" because I have some idea. But more than that, I can tell you, this is what they/you ought to be eating. Along with everybody else. You could add some grilled chicken if you felt like it, but this is completely nutritious, satisfying, and hearty just the way it is. I hope you'll try it!

Sauteed Shrimp with Bulgur Wheat, Zucchini & Red Pepper

Sometime last month, I had the urge to bring more seafood into my life, so I thought I would make something with shrimp, one of my favorites. This is when I found this recipe.

I had never cooked anything with shrimp in it before, and for some reason I found it intimidating. To me, shrimp were those pink little morsels that could either be delicious and refreshing, like in a shrimp cocktail, or hopelessly overdone, chewy, and all-around disappointing. Taking my bag of easy-peel, de-veined, raw frozen shrimp to the checkout line felt like a big step into the unknown.

I had used bulgur wheat in bread and in tabbouleh-esque recipes before, but this seemed a bit different to me. Just bring it to a quick boil, then remove from heat, and let sit covered for a few minutes, and tah-dah! And it actually works! I just used a chopped green onion instead of the chives, and the second time around, I added a smashed garlic clove and cut back on the lemon zest a little, just because its aroma is more "pastry" than "healthy dinner," in this combination.

One important thing: The first time I made this with bulgur wheat that was apparently hulled, or pearled. I think this is the type of bulgur that this recipe was written for. Tonight, I used whole bulgur, the type I am more used to using, which has lots more fiber and a slightly chewier texture. If you're using this type you MIGHT want to partially precook your bulgur before adding it to the shrimp and veggies, because it takes more like 12-15 minutes to cook instead of about 5. My shrimp stayed tender and juicy using the original method, but precooking or even just presoaking the bulgur might be a better way to go about it.

Brady and I both liked the version with the whole bulgur MUCH more, and its just a bonus that this is the healthier version. Personally I also think its prettier than the paler pearled bulgur. Triple win!