Dinner

I wasn't sure what to make tonight, but thought I'd try a waterless bean dish. My brother-in-law seems to be enjoying our meals, but was away tonight visiting a family friend. Ingredients 1 cup onion cut into 3/8" cubes 1 cup fennel root cut into 3/8" cubes 1/4 cup celery cut into 1/4" cubes 1 1/2 cups frozen black eyed peas (alas, I was out - so I used frozen baby lima beans) 2 small bell peppers, flame roasted, then cut into 1/2" squares (about a cup) 1/2 t salt 1/4 t fresh ground black pepper Process I put, in this order, the onion, fennel, celery, lima beans, and bell pepper into a large Saladmaster stock pan. 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 20 minutes. I mixed in salt and pepper and served, along with crusty seeded bread topped with heirloom tomato, and peas in a pod. Results The main cour...

My wife's brother is visiting from India - it's the first time he's been to the U.S.! I thought that his first meal should be an Indian one. His wife is from Goa, so I thought I'd use a plantain, which grows there. I decided to make a split pea dish with mixed vegetables and plantain. Here is what I did. Ingredients 2 cups split peas (green or yellow - I used green) 6 cups water Medium plantain cut into approx. 3/8" cubes (almost 1 1/2 cups) 2T fennel stalk chopped into 1/4" pieces (about a 6" length of a thin stalk) 2 cloves garlic finely (1/8") minced 2 cups frozen mixed vegetables (they come cut in small 1/4" or so cubes) 1 1/2 cups onion cut into half moon slices approx. 1/4" x 1 1/4" (about 1/2 of a small onion) Juice of one lemon 1t kala namak (black salt) 1/2 t salt (or just 1 1/2 t salt with no black salt) Process I put the split peas, water, plantain, fennel, garlic, and mixed vegetables into my  Instant Pot  pressure cooker ...

I have never riced cauliflower  and should try it sometime to use in making a delicate dish. However, I found frozen riced cauliflower at Whole Foods Market - what could be easier?! I decided to make a simple cauliflower rice dish. Ingredients 1 cup brown rice (uncooked) 2 cups water Vegan bouillon cube 1/4 t salt 3 cups riced cauliflower 8 ounces tempeh cut into cubes approx. 3/8" in size 1t ginger, finely (1/8") diced 1/4 cup onion cut into approx. 3/8" cubes Process I prepared brown rice the normal way by simmering, covered, for 50m the rice and twice as much water, along with the bouillon cube and water. I quickly opened the rice pot when it was done, mixed in the cauliflower, and covered and let stand another 10 minutes till the cauliflower was defrosted and slightly cooked. While the rice was cooking, I prepared the tempeh. I heated on medium high a cast iron pan with a very little bit of oil (maybe 1/4 t), then rubbed the oil off, leaving a light glaze. I added th...

We're excited to be seeing one of our favorite dance troupes, Paul Taylor Dance Company , tonight (and twice tomorrow!) at American Dance Festival . We're friends with one of the dancers and she was interested in one of my home cooked meals, so I made extra tonight and packed food for our friend! Ingredients 1 1/2 cups chickpeas, rinsed, soaked overnight, and rinsed again Just enough water to cover chickpeas - about a cup 1/2 cup split peas (I used green but yellow split peas would be fine) 1 1/2 cups more water (so a total of about 2 1/2 cups) 1 3/4 cup beet (I used one medium yellow beet), peeled with ends cut off and then chopped into approx. 1/4" cubes 2 cups crimini or button mushrooms (I used 14 crimini) cut into thirds so that each slice is about 3/8" thick (thicker mushrooms can be cut into quarters) 2 cups kale leaves, stems excepted, roughly hand torn into approx. 1 1/4" squares (I used 12 lacinato kale leaves) 3 cloves garlic, finely (1/8") diced ...

I've enjoy cooking lentil stews and dhals, as I described, for example, in December 2014 . I thought that I'd make a double serving so that we could send half to our neighbors who just had a baby. Lentils cook in a 1 part to 1.5-2 part water ratio for 15-20m. I wanted something thick, so initially chose 1.5x water for 20m, but I put a lot of ingredients in, so added another half cup of water (with 2 cups lentils, it ended up being a 1:2 ratio). By the way, I recently got a third Instant Pot, the Duo Plus 60  and donated my original Duo 60. I've used the Duo Plus 60 in making yogurt  but tonight was the first time I've used it for dinner. Here is what I did. Ingredients 2 cups brown (which I used) or green lentils 4 cups water Approx. 4 cups potato in 3/8" cubes (I used 3 medium Yukon Gold potatoes and ended up with approx. 4 1/3 cups chopped potato) Medium eggplant cut into 3/8" cubes (about 2 cups) 3 medium carrots halved and then cut into 3/8" slices (a...

We're so lucky - we have new neighbors a few houses down. We enjoyed starting to get to know them a few weeks ago when they were quite pregnant - and they had their baby a few days ago! I wanted to bring a meal over so made a larger quantity of tonight's dinner, knowing we'd be sharing. Here is what I did. Ingredients 1 cup onion cut into half moon slices approx. 1/4" x 1" (app. 1/2 or a bit less of my medium Vidalia onion) 1 clove garlic, finely (1/8") minced 1 cup thin okra (I found beautiful about 3/4" length thin red locally grown okra and cut a few pieces that were bigger into halves; if using thicker okra, try 3/8" slices) 15-20 small crimini or button mushrooms sliced into thirds (about 1 cup) 16 ounces seitan as thin strips or cubes up to 3/4" thick 1 medium green (unripened) tomato cut into 3/8" cubes (about 1 cup) 1 cup bell pepper slices (approx. 1/4" x 3/4") (I might have used 1 1/2 cups but pepper can cause gas, and ...