Dinner

I had some of my Anasazi bean dish leftover from a few days ago and needed to put a quick meal together. We picked up some tasty yellow carrots at the local farmers' market today. I waterlessly cooked in a Saladmaster  stock pan, in this order: garlic scapes (cut into 1/4" lengths), yellow carrot (cut into 3/8" lengths), the beans, and frozen greens (mustard, kale, and collard). I cooked waterlessly - i.e., I covered the pan and heated it on medium high until the vapor release started jiggling, then I reduced the heat to low till the jiggle stopped. I let it cook for about 15 minutes. I mixed in a little lime juice and salt. I served this with bok choy leaves, radishes (also bought today at the farmers' market), and brown rice noodles. It was good - the main dish was nicely reinvented!

I love ramps and was delighted to find them in the store yesterday! They are difficult to find where I live and I only find them at most a few times a year. I wanted to make a simple dish to let the ramp flavor dominate. Ingredients 10-12 medium crimini mushrooms cut into thirds (or one portabello cut into approx. 1/2" cubes) 6-8 ramps; very ends removed then rest, root and greens, cut into 1/2" lengths 4 ounces seitan (I used a chorizo seitan that was chopped, but larger pieces of seitan chopped or at least cut into 1/2" or smaller pieces would be fine) Process I sauteed all the ingredients together in a cast iron pan with no added oil, except maybe 1/4 t of oil that I put on and wiped off to give a very thin coating. I also served a baked potato (cooked in my Instant Pot ) and charred and salted shishito pepper over a tomato slice. Results Dinner was good. How could you go wrong with ramps?! Ideas for the future I wish that we could more commonly find ramps! It would ...

I made a simple pasta with bean dish, along with some tasty potato salad that I had purchased from Deep Roots Market  Cooperative Grocery when I visited a few days ago in Greensboro, NC. I used Tinkyada brand "grand shell" brown rice pasta.

I made a simple bean dish accented with olives. Here is what I did. Ingredients 2 cups baby navy beans (dry), rinsed and soaked for about 8 hours or more, and then rinsed again Enough water to just cover beans Vegan bouillon cube (I forgot but this would have been a good addition) 2 cloves garlic, finely (1/8") minced 1/4 cup finely (less than 1/4") chopped onion 1 cup frozen (or fresh) peas 1/2 cup pitted and quartered olives (it took about 20 medium olives) 5T nutritional yeast 1/2 t dried oregano 2t chopped basil (I used frozen cubes) 1/4 t turmeric 1/2 t salt 1/4 t freshly ground black pepper Juice of 1/2 lime Process I put the beans, water, bouillon cube, and garlic in my  Instant Pot  pressure cooker and cooked for 25m. After the cooking was done, I waited a few minutes and gently released pressure, then opened the pot. I mixed in the onion, peas, olive, nutritional yeast, oregano, basil, turmeric, salt, pepper, and lime juice, and served. I served with some Jade Pearl ...

I love Edamame and mung bean sprout fettuccine   and wondered what it would be like with lentils. Even better, how about if I cooked the pasta not separately, but together with the lentils? They might get overcooked, but it's worth trying! Here is what I did. Ingredients 1 1/2 cups green or brown (I used brown) lentils 2 1/4 cups water 1/2 t ground cumin 1/2 t turmeric  1 cup carrot (2 medium carrots) cut into 3/8" slices - 20m 1 cup  Edamame and mung bean sprout fettuccine  (or other pasta, but cooking time may have to be adjusted) cut into approx. 2" pieces Medium shallot cut into approx. 3/8" cubes (few tablespoonfuls) ginger 1/4 t garlic powder 1/4 t salt Process I put the lentils, water, cumin, turmeric, and carrot into my  Instant Pot  pressure cooker and cooked for 20m (green or brown lentils cook with a 1 to 1.5-2 part ratio lentil to water for 15-20m; I wanted this to be thick so went for minimum water and maximum cook time). After the cooking was ...

It's been, I think, almost 10 years since I've made risotto. We quite like risotto, and I make a "conference call risotto" . I had the idea of making an artichoke and potato risotto and thought I'd see what the  Instant Pot  pressure cooker could do in terms of risotto. I readily found one of Laura Pazzaglia's many Hip Pressure Cooking recipes, Easy Pressure Cooker Risotto . Here is my version of it - the first time I've tried a no-oil risotto. Ingredients 1/2 cup onion cut into 1/4" cubes 1 clove garlic, finely (1/8") minced 3 medium crimini mushrooms cut into 1/2" cubes (1 cup) 1 cup Arborio rice 1 or 2 T red or white wine (I used port) 1/2 cup frozen (or fresh) artichoke heart quarters 1/4 cup chopped (1/4" squares) bell pepper A bit less than 2 cups of water Vegan bouillon cube 1/2 cup asparagus cut into 1/2" lengths (about 4 thick stalks; it probably would take 6-8 regular thin stalks) Medium baking potato cut into 3/8"...