Lentil Balls! (Vegetarian)

So this is a recipe I came up with "on the fly" and Brett has fallen in love with it. Though I am not usually one to try to emulate meat, I have found pasta with marinara to be rather lacking since becoming a vegetarian. This recipe has now become a staple in my kitchen and is something that my meat-loving hubby asks for regularly.

The lentil balls are super easy to make and can be used in a number of applications. You can use 'em with pasta and marinara for spaghetti and "meat"balls, or on a hoagie with cheese, mushrooms, or whatever else you want. You can also mash up the balls and use 'em as a filling for lasagne and other pasta dishes.

Baked Lentil Balls!

Lentil Balls

Makes about 10 lentil balls

2-2 1/2 cups lentils, cooked (brown or green work fine)

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

8 whole wheat saltine crackers, crushed 

garlic powder (to taste)

onion powder (to taste)

paprika (to taste)

basil (to taste)
oregano (to taste)
salt and pepper (to taste)
1 egg

Preheat oven to 450.

Spray a cookie sheet with canola oil.

In a bowl, mash the lentil with a fork, leaving some whole lentils. Season to taste (easy on the salt, the crackers are salted). Add the parmesan and crackers. Mix until well combined.

Crack the egg into the mixture and combine thoroughly.

Using your hands, form mixture into golf ball sized balls.

Bake, uncovered for 15 minutes, flip balls and bake an additional 10 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes and enjoy!

Things To Stuff In A Tortilla (and some other random things)

Check out the new blog layout! I was doing some other "administrative" tasks and decided I wanted to make a little change. I hope it is still easy to read and navigate - comments are welcome.

I also re-did the recipe index. It was quite hard to navigate and required lots of scrolling. Some funky things also happened with the HTML and it would have been a pain in the ass to try to fix manually, so I just started fresh and created a new index. I hope this one is easier to manage.

And finally, I also updated the J's Recommended Reads post, it was out-of-date and also needed a bit of editing.

Needless to say, lots of work has been going on behind the scenes here at Veg*n Cooking.

It has been quite a week or so too with the arrival of Butters. Things are slowly moving along, but the "peace" between the cats is tentative. And Butters is a kitten - all he wants to do is play and whenever the other cats come to try to sniff him, he bats at them and changes the whole mood entirely. He is kind of a punk though - he has a tendency to bite, which we are hoping we can discourage him from doing (it hurts, the little shit!) and he bothers the other kitties when they try to go to the bathroom and that is frustrating too. But he's also really sweet. He likes t have his belly and chin rubbed, he lets you hold him and get in his face, and he is really soft.

Admittedly, he has been far more interested in Gabby and Nermal than Brett or I and I am just having to deal with that at the moment and try not to smother him in love like I want to. :-)

When Butters was found, he was starving in a dumpster - on his vet forms they called him "Orange Dumpster Kitty" at first. When I read that on the papers the first day we had him, it made me tear up a little bit - it is pretty sad, BUT he was lucky. In the little over a week he has been here, he has put on weight, his coat looks shiner and thicker, his coloring is brighter, and he is active and playing. Hopefully things stay on the up and up and the little guy is okay. He was found during an unreasonably cold time here in Missouri - it is hard to believe her survived. But he made friends at the vets office, they sent him with food, bowls, a bed, toys, medicine, all sorts of stuff. It is amazing what a cute kitten can do to a person. :-) He is gaining weight incredibly quickly. I had taken to calling him "Butter Bean", but I might have to start calling him "Butter Ball". :-)

Check out some recent pictures.


I love the tongue!


Brett did buy this giant stuffed elephant (we call him Packie) for me, but both Nermal and Butters have claimed him and I don't have the heart to take him from them. I mean, see?


So cute when he isn't biting you...


Gabby doesn't realize that Butters is sleeping with her. :-)



Though this picture is blurry, it is my favorite we have of Gabby - it captures her essence - curious and super sweet.

Alright, enough with the kitties and onto the food!

What follows are three simple meals - 30 minutes or less, that are tasty when stuffed into a tortilla or taco shell. We really like our tortillas and taco shells...


Option #1
2 tbsp safflower oil
2 red potatoes, scrubbed and cubed
1/2 onion, chopped
1-2 red New Mexican chiles, chopped
1/4 cup sweet corn
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup black beans
salt

Heat oil in a large skilled and add the potatoes and cover, stirring often, for about ten minutes or until they begin to soften a little bit.

Add the onion, chiles, and corn. Cook for an additional ten minutes.

Add the garlic and beans and cook for an additional five to ten minutes.

Stuff ingredients in a warmed tortilla and serve with super hot salsa!

If you eat cheese, Manchego is a good addition to this option.


Option #2
2 tbsp safflower oil
1 large sweet potato, peeled and cubed
1/4 cup sweet corn
1/2 cup black beans
chipotle chile powder
New Mexican oregano
cumin
salt

Heat oil in a large skillet. Add the sweet potato and cook for about ten to fifteen minutes until the begin to caramelize and soften.

Add the corn and black beans and season to taste. Cook until heated through.

Again, you just need to stuff your ingredients into a warmed tortilla and serve.

If you eat cheese, Cotija is a good pairing with this option.


Option #3 (Vegetarian)
2 tbsp safflower oil
2 small red potatoes, scrubbed and cubed
5-6 baby portobello mushrooms, sliced
1/4 yellow onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced
salt
2 eggs, scrambled

Heat oil in a large skillet. Add the potatoes, mushrooms, and onions and cook for about fifteen minutes or until potatoes begin to brown and soften. Stir often.

Add the garlic and season with salt to taste. Cook for an additional five to ten minutes or until the potatoes are soft.

Layer potato mixture in a warmed tortilla and top with some scrambled egg. Enjoy!

If you eat cheese/dairy - shredded Mexican cheese blend and/or sour cream are a nice addition to this option.

And now for something completely different...


Doesn't that just look so darn appetizing? Well, it might not look good, but it sure tastes good.

J's Pink Egg Salad
1 egg, hardboiled and chopped
2 tbsp yellow onion, chopped
1/2 small carrot, peeled and microplaned (hence the pink color)
2 tbsp hot pepper relish (instead of the cucumber kind, I like spicy, that's just how I roll)
2-3 tbsp mayo or Veganaise
1 tbsp spicy brown mustard
a few dashes of cayenne

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and adjust ingredients to your liking.

I serve this on toasted Jewish rye bread with lots of baby spinach.

And finally, here are a couple of other things I've made as of late...


Banana cake! I had some bananas on the counter I've been using for smoothies get a little too ripe on me, so what to do? Make banana bread! Brett and I prefer it to be more "cakelike" than "breadlike", so I just used my Banana Bread recipe but put it in an 8x8 pan and cooked it for an hour instead of an hour and fifteen minutes or more.

I also used all whole wheat pastry flour instead of just part.


When Brett was at the store the other day, they were out of his beloved cookies. I have been in a bit of a baking mood so I decided I would make him some. I just used my Super Yummy Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe and subbed in a mixture of M&M's and Reese's Pieces for the chocolate chips. He hasn't missed his store bought cookies after all...

AND - I was able to get at least something semi-wholesome into his cookies but using whole wheat pastry flour. :-)

'Til next time.

J&B's Random Eats of Late

As you can probably imagine, while I was still cooking before the wedding, blogging about cooking or trying many new, complicated things wasn't really on my agenda. I did, however, photograph some of the food - just random things I threw together or things I am playing with for Selina and I's cookbook, so I thought I'd share 'em.


My take on Wasabi-Tempura Asparagus (and button mushrooms!) from Vegetarian Planet. I served it with a sweet and spicy peach-soy-chile sauce.


A radish salad inspired by a recipe from the awesome Callina.


Simple and tasty corn and tomato salad.


A new and improved recipe for Pico de Gallo.


A black bean and rice stuffed omelette with tomatoes, onions, garlic, chiles, and cilantro.


Brett's bowl of goodness (eaten with tortilla chips) - cilantro-lime rice, black beans, cheese, guacamole, radish salad, and corn salad.


Drunken beans Take 1!


This was really easy, and Brett simply adored it: sliced portobellow mushrooms, black olives, spinach, cumin, salt, pepper, a splash of lime and Mexican pepper cheese.

I got some pictures of the container garden today, and some market pictures from yesterday I will post at some point, after I post the CoMo honeymoon pictures. Whew!

There is a lot of stuff to post about!

'Til next time.

Farmer's Market Spring Veggie Omelette-Type Thing - Vegetarian

So, I've never made an omelette before, so I am only assuming that this is what they are supposed to be like, or that at the very least, I got the general idea correct. After getting home from the farmer's market on Saturday, inspiration struck and I headed straight to the kitchen to create this wonderful, almost completely local brunch for us.

This was incredibly good - I am not the biggest egg fan, but I loved this. My only recommendation would be to split one of these between two people. They are huge and filling, I didn't realize how filling they would be. Both of us only ate half of our omelette's before wrapping them up and putting them in the fridge for a snack later.




























This is a picture of Brett's omelette, I added a little bit of chevrie to his.

The local booty legend (aka revealing my sources):
no asterisk = grocery store
+ = local produce from The Root Cellar
++ = The Peace Nook (will denote whether product is local or just from the Nook)
* = farmer's market
** = CSA
*** = Container or Community Garden
**** = the non-profit buying club, Blue Planet or Purcell Mountain Farms

Farmer's Market Spring Veggie Omelette-Type Thing
4 eggs, whisked *
1/3 cup garlic chives, minced *
1 cup asparagus, chopped into half inch pieces *
4 cups of spinach, rinsed and chopped *
1 cup of oyster mushrooms, minced *
4 spring onions, chopped *
canola oil
salt
pepper

In a bowl, combine the eggs and the garlic chives, sprinkle with just a bit of salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, heat about a tablespoon of canola oil in a medium skillet. Add the asparagus and mushrooms and cook for about 8 minutes. Add the spinach and spring onions, cook an additional 5-8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

In a medium flat bottomed skillet, add 1-2 tbsp of canola oil. Once the pan is good and hot, pour the egg mixture and allow it to cook thoroughly. Flip the flat egg over to cook both sides - this should take about 10 minutes.

Add the filling to the middle of the egg "pancake" and fold the egg over. You can cook it just a minute or two more on each side and this will help it "seal" a little bit.

This was a pretty darn good meal. I will be back soon with the recipe for a super tasty local pasta dish I made earlier this week.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week so far. Brett is off in homework land tonight, so I'm on my own this evening - I smell veggie sushi and a good book.

'Til next time!

Random Eats of Late

I have been cooking lately - mostly variations on favorite tried and true recipes, but I have been lazy and too overwhelmed to blog - well not anymore! Not only will I share these variations of tried and true recipe, I hope to post the new chili recipe Brett and I made sometime this week. A new recipe! Wahoo!















First off, our Everything Granola Bars. We have worked with the ratios and nut/seed combinations and I think we have them how we want them. I highly recommend trying these and playing around with the recipe until you find the way you like 'em best. We found a combination so tasty that we have eaten these for breakfast (and even snacks) for a couple of months now. Oh, and check out our "newsed" new plates. A little brightly colored for my taste, but I love the swirly and Southwestern feel to the plates (cups, bowls, etc). My Dad and step-mom Stacey got some new dishes and split the set between Brett and I and my step-brother Zac. We certainly didn't need a whole set when half of the set included four place settings of each. Wahoo for hand-me-downs!

Next up: J. Finally. Baked. Bread. !!!!!















Check out these two gorgeous ciabattas! I followed the recipe provided by the super cool Jessy from Happy Vegan Face, I used all purpose flour for the "sponge" and local, Missouri-grown whole wheat pastry flour for the rest of the recipe.















Check out the air pockets! We had this delicious bread with some pasta and St. Louis-made Zia's pasta sauce.

The verdict on the breadmaking? Why the hell did I wait this long?! This wasn't hard at all and I don't even have a stand mixer, so I just used my hands. Brett and I have agreed that flour tortillas should be the next mission.

I do have to thank Selina (from Vegans Rock!!!) for helpfully dealing with my frantic text message inquiring as to whether my dough should have been as sticky as it was. Selina, you should change the name of your blog to Selina Rocks!!!

And now on to one of our favorite Asian meals in our "rotation", Veggie and Egg Fried Rice.















We originally got this recipe from Leng over at A Fat Cat Who Created A Vegetarian, and have since made it our own.

I love fried rice since you can throw in whatever veggies you have on hand.

To make this version of Veggie Fried Rice, we sautéed about a third of a head of red cabbage (not local, but purchased from the Root Cellar), 2 carrots peeled and chopped, one yellow onion, sliced thick (not local, but purchased from the Root Cellar), 1 head of broccoli florets, chopped, edamame, and green peas in canola oil in a very large skillet over high heat until the veggies begin to char. Then whisk together 2-4 tbsp shoyu (or other soy sauce), 2 tbsp of hot or sweet chili sauce (we use sweet chili sauce), and a pinch of black pepper. Add half to the veggies and stir constantly for about one minute. Add about 3 cups of day old, cooked long grain brown rice and the remainder of the sauce. Mix well.

We also added 2 local eggs to our veggie fried rice for some extra protein and brain food. To add the egg, scooch the rice and veggies to one side of the pan. Crack the eggs and scramble. Cook thoroughly and then combine the eggs, rice, and veggies.

It is a quick, yummy, one pan dish!















This is my bowl with the requisite big 'ol squirt of sriracha.

And for our lunches, we have been digging on lots of homemade hummus and falafel.















My favorite plain old garlicky hummus. The only thing that makes this better is a good couple of dashes of cayenne on top. I would rather have sumac, but I haven't found any in CoMo yet.















A yummy plate of baked falafel. I experimented a little this time and used dried cilantro flakes in place of the ground coriander and added a tablespoon of raw sesame seeds to the mixture. They turned out really, really well this time.

Well, Brett and I are taking a much needed night off together to do something we rarely do - sit in front of the "boob tube" all night. Seriously, I don't think there is anything that Brett and I need more right now than some serious snuggle time. We picked up some "reinforcements" for our evening: a locally made Uprise Bakery baguette, some garlic and herb Boursin cheese for Brett, some local Goatsbeard Farm herbed goat cheese for Brett, some super spicy cracked chili hummus for yours truly, and some olive tapenade for us to share. We've also got massive quantities of fruit waiting to be washed and cut. No dinner for us, just a night of munching - though our choice in snacks wasn't too bad.

We'll probably also work on making newspaper pots while we watch. Nothing likely double-duty, eh?

Tomorrow? Wednesday night is for the worms! We will be starting another working tray for them. We'll also (hopefully) be planting our second round of seeds! We've gathered all the needed materials, what has been missing of late is the time to actually do it. When we start more seeds, we'll also take pictures so I can do a garden update.

I apologize for the sporadic nature of my blog posts and comments on others' blogs, I've been really lazy with the computer lately, it has been the last thing on my mind.

Song of the Day:
Golden Pond - Chris Thile

'Til next time.

Whole Wheat Brownies

So these aren't really anything special. In fact I almost didn't post about these as I haven't been all that into the whole blogging thing this week (I've had to force myself so I don't get behind and have tons of recipes and pictures waiting to be posted about), and as I said, these really aren't anything to write home about. But they are really good and they have been, by far, Brett's favorite baked good I've made during my recently kaput baking project. That combined with my having a little time at work means I have decided to post the recipe for anyone interested.

These are just plain whole wheat chocolate brownies, but the texture is far better than the fudgy brownie recipe I have been using for the past year or two. They also aren't as sweet, and Brett and I have a problem with finding sweets that aren't too sweet.















(Sorry about the picture, this was the best one I had taken.)

The local booty legend (aka revealing my sources):
no asterisk = grocery store
+ = local produce from The Root Cellar
++ = The Peace Nook (will denote whether product is local or just from the Nook)
* = farmer's market
** = CSA
*** = Container or Community Garden
**** = the non-profit buying club, Blue Planet or Purcell Mountain Farms

Whole Wheat Brownies
Modified from this recipe.

1/2 cup Earth Balance, melted
1 cup raw organic sugar
2 eggs (or replacer) +
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract + (not local)
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup vegan chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350.

Spray an 8x8 pan with oil.

Combine Earth Balance, sugar, eggs, and vanilla well in a large bowl.

Slowly add the dry ingredients. Don't over stir.

Spread batter evenly into pan.

Bake for 25 minutes or until knife inserted in the middle comes clean.

Sorry for the lackluster post, I haven't really felt like doing much this week, I'm not sick or anything, but certain things, such as Sharon's predictions for 2009, the lameness that is my job (and my insecurity and fear to try to do something different with my life), and my inability to save the world all by myself - :-) - have been wearing on me lately.

Have a happy Friday everyone, and as always...

'Til next time.

Whole Grain Spelt Pumpkin Bars with Maple-Walnut Frosting

For my second (and quite successful) baking adventure last weekend, I wanted to make something that was a spiced cake with some sort of frosting that was at least reminiscent of a cream cheese frosting. I was originally thinking along the carrot cake line, but when I got in the freezer to take out some pumpkin puree to make Pumpkin-Walnut bread for our annual work holiday party earlier this week, I pulled another container down and decided to go with a pumpkin bar. (On a side note, I am now out of all that pumpkin puree I froze, we've gotten two more small pie pumpkins and will be picking up a few more over the coming days to store with the rest of our winter squash.)

When thinking about the frosting, I decided to go with a maple flavored frosting as I thought it would complement the spiced pumpkin bars really well (it does!). Then I decided to add chopped walnuts and that created a super tasty (albeit very sweet) frosting that did slightly remind me of a cream cheese based frosting - score!

Now, I personally do not like super sweet baked goods. I am one of those freaks who prefer cakes and cupcakes unfrosted, so these were much too rich for me. They were really good, so I tried a couple of times to go back and have more (trying smaller pieces each time), but every time I tried, I just gave myself a tooth or tummy ache. I guess it might not be a super bad thing that I can no longer eat those really rich treats, but these were good, and I wanted to eat more than I could!

The bad thing about this baking experiment is that I found out that these will not work for our gift baskets. They were super tasty, and even had the flavor I was looking for, but they do not last long, and being frosted, don't take to being wrapped up and traveling very well. So in the end, it looks like our chocolate-caffeine sensitive relative is going to be getting a TON of peanut butter and oatmeal raisin cookies.

















The local booty legend (aka revealing my sources):
no asterisk = grocery store
+ = local produce from The Root Cellar
++ = The Peace Nook (will denote whether product is local or just from the Nook)
* = farmer's market
** = CSA
*** = Container or Community Garden
**** = the non-profit buying club, Blue Planet or Purcell Mountain Farms

Whole Grain Spelt Pumpkin Bars with Maple-Walnut Frosting

Pumpkin Bars:
1/2 cup Earth Balance
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs (or replacer) +
1 cup pumpkin puree +
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup whole grain spelt flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350.

Using an electric mixer, combine Earth Balance, sugar, eggs, pumpkin puree, and vanilla.

Slowly add in the dry ingredients.

Spray a 9x13 pan with oil.

Spread the batter in the pan.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a knife comes out clean when inserted into the middle of the cake.

Maple-Walnut Frosting:
1/3 cup Earth Balance
4 tbsp pure maple syrup
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup chopped walnuts +
1 tsp arrowroot

Using an electric mixer, combine Earth Balance and maple syrup.

Slowly add in the sugar, making sure to beat out all the clumps.

Add the arrowroot and combine well.

Stir in the walnuts.

Refrigerate for about an hour.

Spread on completely cooled cake.

So rich, but very yummy. Unfrosted, these would be amazing with green tea for breakfast. They would probably still be good with tea frosted, even for breakfast I suppose, if you can eat something that rich early in the morning.

Well, I'll be back tomorrow with the Weekly Local Booty update (I got me a trip to The Root Cellar planned for after work). Have a great weekend everyone!

'Til next time!

Plain 'ol Whole Wheat Peanut Butter Cookies

Promises, promises. I said I would post about last weekend's baking successes this week, and the next thing I know it is Friday, and I have yet to do it! Things at work have been pretty busy; I have been loafing around at home - just reading and playing Hot Shots Golf on the PS3. It's been fun, and I've really needed a break. My weekends have been so busy that I work all weekend before I go back to work, and then I also want to try a few new meals here and there. There just hasn't been the time for it! So on Wednesday, I took a much needed half day from work, didn't do anything important at all (that was the point!), and we've even been munching on Amy's California burgers (bought from the Peace Nook, also using local pickles) and fried potatoes (local), and steamed spinach (local). They have made for a couple of nights of easy meals, and I have gotten to relax! Normally I would prefer making my own "burgers" of course, but I didn't have any frozen and making burgers from scratch takes away from that much needed relaxation time. Anywho, this is one of the two successes I had last weekend; I will double-post today to get them both up.

A note: I still have lots of baking to do this weekend, so I am making simple tried and true meals. I am going to try my hand at making homemade gnocchi again tonight (as I won't be baking after work), I will be making soup tomorrow (for soup and bread night), and after that, I have planned a menu of things I have already posted about, chosen for their tastiness, but also the ease in preparation. We will be having Leng's Veggie Fried Rice, Bean Burritos (using 'Traditional' Refried Beans), Super Easy Tasty Taco Salad, Fajita Burritos, and perhaps a frozen Amy's pizza somewhere if needed. You will notice that most of these meals rely on refried beans. Brett will make up a huge batch and we will have the basic "element" for most of the week's meals already prepared. This will mean that I will (hopefully) have some relaxation time this weekend and during the week, but that also means that most of the posts you will see in the coming week or two will be baked good related. Please bear with me, the regular food will return after the holidays.

Back to the cookies! Geez I can get off on a tangent, can't I? I needed to come up with something that I could make for a family member that is allergic to chocolate and caffeine. I had Brett pry a little bit and we found out he likes peanut butter, oatmeal cookies, and cheese cake. Well the first two I can work with, the cheese cake - well that is a problem. I don't eat dairy and Brett despises cheese cake, so there would be nobody to test it. And somehow I imagine he wouldn't want a Tofutti cheese cake, and I am not about to taste Tofutti cream cheese - the thought just kind of grosses me out. So I chose to try out peanut butter cookies, and something I hoped would be at least reminiscent of cream cheese (see the next post).

These cookies aren't really anything special, other than being whole grain, super tasty, and loaded with Missouri-produced peanut butter (and eggs!). Mine didn't come out as pretty as I would have liked it to have. I guess I'm just not all that good at shaping things.

I've yammered enough; let's get to the picture and recipe!















The local booty legend (aka revealing my sources):
no asterisk = grocery store
+ = local produce from The Root Cellar
++ = The Peace Nook (will denote whether product is local or just from the Nook)
* = farmer's market
** = CSA
*** = Container or Community Garden
**** = the non-profit buying club, Blue Planet or Purcell Mountain Farms

Plain 'ol Whole Wheat Peanut Butter Cookies
Recipe modified from here.

1/2 cup raw organic sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cub Earth Balance, at room temperature
1/2 cup smooth organic peanut butter +
1 egg +
1 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Using an electric mixer, blend Earth Balance for a minute or two. Add the sugars and blend for another minute or two.

Add the peanut butter and egg and combine well.

Slowly stir in the dry ingredients using a large spoon.

Form into a ball, cover, and refrigerate for about three hours.

Preheat oven to 300.

Form dough into large balls (about 2 inches). Place 3 inches apart on a cookie sheet. Flatten a little.

Using a fork, press in the "usual" crisscross pattern if desired.

Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

These were really yummy. And we didn't need anyone to help us polish these suckers off - we did just fine by ourselves. :-)

I'll be back sometime later today to post about my other baking success.

Happy Friday everyone!

'Til next time.

Whole Grain Spelt Cranberry Walnut Oatmeal Cookies

When determining what type of cookies I wanted to make, I decided that they shouldn't all be chocolate based cookies. I get stuck in a rut at times, as most people love chocolate, so that always seems the way to go. This is weird because my favorite cookie has always been oatmeal raisin cookies - not a chocolate variety (though I am a fan). Not to mention, not everyone can have chocolate (sad!), and not everyone likes chocolate (I can't even understand this!), so I branched out and made some non-chocolate cookies as well.

I love oatmeal raisin cookies, so any spin on them is a good sign in my book. I found some local walnuts at The Root Cellar over the weekend - some of them I used for pumpkin-walnut bread for Thanksgiving - but I wanted to highlight them in something else. I must say, these are excellent. From what I could gather, they were also the favorite at work as well. The walnuts were so flavorful, soft, and provided a creamy and buttery flavor that complemented the sweet and tart dried cranberries really well. These go wonderfully with tea and make a pretty dang good breakfast too, if I might say.

I modified this recipe from here.















The local booty legend (aka revealing my sources):
no asterisk = grocery store
+ = local produce from The Root Cellar
++ = The Peace Nook (will denote whether product is local or just from the Nook)
* = farmer's market
** = CSA
*** = Container or Community Garden
**** = the non-profit buying club, Blue Planet or Purcell Mountain Farms

Whole Grain Spelt Cranberry Walnut Oatmeal Cookies

Makes 16 cookies

6 tbsp Earth Balance
6 tbsp organic raw sugar
6 tbsp packed brown sugar
1 egg or egg replacer ++
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup whole grain spelt flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
1 cup + 6 tbsp regular rolled oats
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped +

Preheat oven to 375.

Combine Earth Balance, sugar, egg, and vanilla with an electric mixer.

Slowly add the remaining ingredients except cranberries and walnuts.

Once well combined, stir in cranberries and walnuts.

Drop by rounded tablespoons a few inches apart on a cookie sheet.

Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.

Let cool about 5 minutes and transfer to a wire cooling rack.

Yummy!

'Til next time!

Whole Grain Spelt Pumpkin-Pecan Cookies with Cinnamon-Sugar Frosting

I am really growing to like pumpkin. When I was looking at recipes for cookie ideas, I also had a local pumpkin roasting in the oven, so when I came across a few pumpkin cookie recipes, it seemed like a good thing to try.

(A side note about pumpkins (and winter squash in general): I am glad they are so forgiving. I got this pumpkin from The Root Cellar a few weeks ago and just got around to roasting it, I'm lucky they are longer keepers!)

This is one of the more difficult recipes I've tried. I am no good at glazing, icing, or decorating things, so I tend to skip recipes that call for any of the above. But I am trying to improve my skill and shirking off a challenge seems to be antithetical to my goal. I must admit though, I made a mess because I didn't really think the process through. It didn't occur me to put parchment paper under the wire rack while glazing the cookies until after I had made a mess, followed by my moving the cookies to a (parchment lined) surface, and cleaning up a big mess of glaze off the table and floor. And I have a college degree, in a "scientific" area no less... ;-)

Messes aside, these were really good cookies. They were mild, and yet another excellent cookie to pair with tea. I think these would make a great breakfast too - though I would prefer it without the glaze for that purpose. I don't like anything too sweet in the morning.

Recipe modified from here.















The local booty legend (aka revealing my sources):
no asterisk = grocery store
+ = local produce from The Root Cellar
++ = The Peace Nook (will denote whether product is local or just from the Nook)
* = farmer's market
** = CSA
*** = Container or Community Garden
**** = the non-profit buying club, Blue Planet or Purcell Mountain Farms

Whole Grain Spelt Pumpkin-Pecan Cookies with Cinnamon-Sugar Glaze
Makes 18 cookies

Cookies:
1/2 + 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup Earth Balance
1/4 cup safflower oil
1/2 cup pumpkin puree +
1 egg or egg replacer ++
1 cup + 8 tbsp whole grain spelt flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 cup pecans, chopped

Preheat oven to 350.

Bean sugar, Earth Balance, oil, egg (or replacer), and pumpkin with an electric mixer. Slowly add all the dry ingredients (except the pecans).

Stir in the pecans.

Drop by rounded tablespoons a few inches apart on a cookie sheet.

Bake 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.

Let cool 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire cooling rack and let cool completely before frosting.

Frosting:
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 tbsp Earth Balance, melted
1/4 tsp cinnamon
4 tbsp plain rice milk

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Use a fork if needed to work out the clumps of sugar.

Using a regular spoon, drizzle over cooled cookies and let sit for about an hour before storing in an air tight container.

These made our apartment smell really good. Oh and they taste pretty awesome too. :-)

'Til next time.

Weekly Local Booty 11/23-11/29/08 & A Local Veg*n Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving. I enjoyed seeing my family - and the weather was beautiful and fairly warm, but we're happy to be back home. I will talk a little more in depth about our Thanksgiving (and will include recipes!) at the end of this post.

Brett is loaded down with homework this weekend - the professors didn't give any leniency for the holidays and so, due to our being out of town, he has close to a week's worth of homework to get done by Monday. Needless to say, I want to make sure he is well fed and as comfortable as possible - I've been there, and it is no fun, especially when there are important term papers in the mix. I will likely go to graduate school in a few years, but have really enjoyed not having to do homework all the time, Brett still being in school reminds me why I decided to take a few years off and work full-time before going back.

Anywho, The Root Cellar made it easy for me to plan some tasty meals. We were there earlier in the week to get produce for our Thanksgiving meal and noticed a lot of really good looking options for when we came back to get stuff for our weekly meals, so I already had some ideas in mind.

We didn't get anything from our garden this week. The outdoor container plants are really struggling, and the pepper plants started indoors just aren't big enough to produce yet. The greens are moving along, some better than others. I will discuss this more in the monthly garden update - I should be able to get that up by Tuesday.

Here is this week's haul from The Root Cellar. This ran us $48.















Starting from the bottom right: spinach, carrots, shiitake mushrooms, 2 Herbal Oats granola bars, 5 ripe serranos, small yellow potatoes, leeks (!!!!!), an orange bell pepper, a green bell pepper, 2 pears, a container of firm tofu* (not local), a jar of dairy-free pasta sauce made in St. Louis, 4 tomatoes, fair trade organic chocolate chips (dairy-free and not local), and a spaghetti squash.

* I have mentioned on this blog a few times that I dislike tofu. Both Brett and I do. And we have tried to like it more than we do, but there are things about it that neither of us can get past. But there are at least two things we like tofu in: one is tofu sour cream (only in moderation and not very often), and the other are our Tofu and Potato Burritos. It has been a really long time since we've had the burritos, so I decided to get a block since we had everything else on hand that we needed.

Here is this week's loot from Uprise Bakery:















Of course, a loaf of ciabatta, and this week we also picked up a granola bar.

I have the rest of the cookie posts scheduled to go up later in the week. This week's menu is compromised of many favorites including, of course, the Tofu and Potato Burritos, Smashed Yam, Black Bean, and Spinach Quesadillas, and Leek and Potato Soup (for soup and bread night).

We will be trying spaghetti squash served with the local pasta sauce pictured above, and I have something up my sleeve to use some of the peach jam in. So there won't not be as many non-sweets food posts this week because things fell into place for us to enjoy some of our old favorites!

My Nanny, an excellent canner and cook, sent us home with a nice treat that I plan on putting to use this week:















A jar of peach jam! The peaches came from my mom and aunt's yards, and they are even from within our 200 mile foodshed!

Onto our veg*n Thanksgiving. I am sorry to report that I didn't get many pictures - in fact, only one picture of the food I made for Thanksgiving (the other picture is from the trial run of the soup I made for the dinner). Things were really hectic in the kitchen and my initial prep schedule didn't pan out because my mom - I love her but she is such a clean freak I could scream sometimes - tried to renege on my being able to cook in her kitchen (because I could make a mess, what is a kitchen for anyway?!), I was finally able to convince her that I could make the soup and bread at her house without making too much of a mess, and that I would finish at my Nanny's house the next day.

The menu ended up being as follows:

Butternut Squash and Apple Soup with Uprise Bakery Ciabatta (of course)
Black Bean, Brown Rice, and Local Veggie Stuffed Portobellos
Garlic Mashed Potatoes with Shiitake Mushroom Gravy
Pumpkin-Walnut Bread

I spent a lot of time trying to come up with something at least quasi-traditional, that I thought my family would actually eat. Sadly, I was wrong on those counts, well except perhaps the traditional part. After many hours in the kitchen, a lot of thought and planning, the only things my family ate were the ciabatta from Uprise Bakery, the Pumpkin-Walnut Bread, and I think someone beyond Brett and I had a stuffed mushroom. It all turned out really well, I just don't think I will put in as much effort or make as much food next time.

I also hadn't prepared myself for the disappointment that I wouldn't be eating the other food prepared. Comments like, "It's just chicken broth" and "You can have just a taste can't you?" I don't blame them for not understanding and I don't expect them to accommodate, I mean, my great grandma is 86 years old, but I've been a vegetarian for awhile, they all knew this. They didn't prod or harass me about it too much, but I could tell it was more of an issue than I thought it was going to be.

Anyways, Brett told me he really enjoyed the stuffed mushrooms, and he and I ate a huge bowl of the mashed potatoes and gravy later on while watching a football game. I ended up leaving all the pumpkin bread with my grandparents and mom.

On to the recipes, don't let my family’s aversion to vegetarian food or anything non-traditional deter you from trying these recipes, they really were good.

The mashed potatoes we made were based on our Garlicky Mashed Potatoes recipe, we used red potatoes instead of russet (reds are so much better), hempmilk instead of soy, and I added a little dried basil and oregano to the mixture (the potatoes and garlic were local and the hempmilk was purchased from a local store). The shiitake mushroom gravy was essentially Veganomicon's Mushroom Gravy with shiitakes subbed in and maybe a few other modifications, but to be honest, I made it on the fly, so I can't really remember (I do know that I used local shiitakes, garlic, and onions).















The local booty legend (aka revealing my sources):
no asterisk = grocery store
+ = local produce from The Root Cellar
++ = The Peace Nook (will denote whether product is local or just from the Nook)
* = farmer's market
** = CSA
*** = Container or Community Garden
**** = the non-profit buying club, Blue Planet or Purcell Mountain Farms

Butternut Squash and Apple Soup
1 butternut squash, peeled and cubed (5-6 cups) ***
2 apples, peeled, cored and chopped (I used local Gala apples) +
1 carrot, peeled and sliced into thick rounds +
1 yellow onion, chopped +
1 tbsp Earth Balance
5 cups water
1 veggie bouillon cube
1-2 tbsp maple syrup
nutmeg
cinnamon
salt
pepper

Melt Earth Balance in a large soup pot. Add the carrot and onion and cook for about 10 minutes. Add the squash, apples, water, and bouillon.

Simmer for 40-45 minutes or until veggies very soft. Let cool for a few minutes.

Blend in a food processor until very smooth, add a little more water if needed to get desired consistency. Add maple syrup and spices to taste.

Serve with warm crusty bread.

Black Bean, Brown Rice and Local Veggie Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms
Makes 12 stuffed mushrooms

12 medium portobello mushrooms, stems removed and cleaned
1/2 cup black beans, cooked ****
1/2 cup brown rice, cooked ****
1 carrot, peeled and chopped +
1 green bell pepper, seeded and minced +
4 cloves of garlic, minced +
1/2 yellow onion, minced +
1-2 tbsp safflower oil
basil
oregano
thyme
black pepper
salt

Preheat oven to 350.

Heat oil in a small skillet. Add the carrot, bell pepper, garlic, and onion. Cook for about 10 minutes or until veggies are soft and starting to caramelize a little bit.

Combine veggies with black beans, brown rice, and seasonings to taste.

Spray a baking sheet with oil.

Stuff a tablespoon or so of the filling in to each prepared mushroom.

Roast for about 30 minutes.















Whole Grain Spelt Pumpkin-Walnut Bread
Recipe adapted from here.

1 1/2 cups whole grain spelt flour
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 cup organic raw sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup pumpkin puree +
1/2 cup safflower oil
2 eggs (or replacer) ++ (local)
1/4 cup water
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped +

Preheat oven to 350.

Spray a bread pan with oil.

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl.

Combine pumpkin puree, oil, eggs, water, and spices in a small bowl.

Slowly combine the wet and dry ingredients in the large bowl.

Stir in the walnuts.

Spread batter into a prepared bread pan and bake for 60 minutes or until a knife or toothpick in the center comes out clean.

The Pumpkin-Walnut bread is really, really good. We didn't get to bring any home with us, so I am going to be making a loaf this weekend, sans walnuts (Brett doesn't like nuts), so Brett and I can enjoy some of it.

Well, I'm off to enjoy a relaxing night of reading, soup making, and perhaps some cookie baking. Those Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies were really good and didn't last long around here. I also thought that reading a textbook might not seem as bad if you had a yummy cookie to go along with it.

'Til next time.

Super Yummy Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

We have been using what both Brett and I consider a fairly subpar chocolate cookie recipe for awhile. It wasn't that they didn't taste good - they did - it's just they were thin and crispy, when we both wanted a thicker and chewier cookie. I'm just pretty lazy and not really the biggest baker, so it took me a long time to get around to it. I wanted to find something that was whole grain, but still tasted decadent and, well, like a chocolate chip cookie is supposed to taste. I found a recipe that sounded promising, made a few modifications (such as making it whole grain and dairy free), and can now happily say we have a much, much better chocolate chip cookie recipe.

These were so yummy. Brett wouldn't let me take any to work, and they were gone the day after I made them. Even I found myself eating 2 or 3 in one sitting, they are addictive! I think I should have doubled the batch, I will make sure to do that next time. ;-)

This recipe was modified from here.















The local booty legend (aka revealing my sources):
no asterisk = grocery store
+ = local produce from The Root Cellar
++ = The Peace Nook (will denote whether product is local or just from the Nook)
* = farmer's market
** = CSA
*** = Container or Community Garden
**** = the non-profit buying club, Blue Planet or Purcell Mountain Farms


Super Yummy Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes 16 cookies

1 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup organic raw sugar
1/2 Earth Balance
1 egg or egg replacer ++ (local)
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
1/2-1 cup vegan chocolate chips (I used Tropical Source. Neither Brett or I like lots of chocolate chips in our cookies, I put half a cup in our batch, but I know others might like more than this, so I suggested a range.)

Preheat oven to 300.

Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl.

Using an electric mixer, combine the sugar, Earth Balance, egg (or replacer), and vanilla.

Slowly add the flour to the wet mixture.

Stir in the chocolate chips.

Drop by rounded tablespoons a few inches apart on a cookie sheet.

Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

Let cook for 5 minutes and transfer to a wire cooling rack.

Maybe I'm just out there, but these were some of the best chocolate chip cookies we've ever had. If you get a craving for some, try these out.

'Til next time.

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chocolate Cherry Pecan Cookies

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I did a lot of baking over the weekend for a project that I am working on. I've gotten a few spiced bread recipes down (nothing special, just basic pumpkin and zucchini bread recipes, I just used whole grain spelt flour), have worked on brownies and blondies (they need a little work before I blog about them), so over the weekend, I focused on cookies. And who doesn't like cookies?

These are really good - but really, really rich. I was only able to eat one and I was more than satisfied. I love dark chocolate and this is a great way to highlight an excellent, high quality bar of the dark stuff. I took some of these, and the other cookies I will be posting about over the coming days, to my coworkers. They seem to be enjoying them so far!

This recipe was modified from here. I made the recipe dairy free and whole grain - oh, and I halved it because I was making tons of other cookies too.















The local booty legend (aka revealing my sources):
no asterisk = grocery store
+ = local produce from The Root Cellar
++ = The Peace Nook (will denote whether product is local or just from the Nook)
* = farmer's market
** = CSA
*** = Container or Community Garden
**** = the non-profit buying club, Blue Planet or Purcell Mountain Farms

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chocolate Cherry Pecan Cookies

Makes about 12 large cookies

6 tbsp Earth Balance
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 packed brown sugar
1/2 cup organic raw sugar
1 egg or egg replacer ++
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp whole wheat pastry flour
6 tbsp dutch processed cocoa powder
1/4 +1/8 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 ounces 71% cacao fair trade organic chocolate (I used 3/4 of a 3.5 oz bar), chopped
1/2 cup dried cherries
1/2 cup pecans, chopped

Preheat oven to 375.

Combine Earth Balance, vanilla, sugar, and egg (or replacer) with an electric mixer.

Slowly add the remaining ingredients except the chocolate, cherries, and pecans.

Once dough well blended, stir in chocolate, cherries, and pecans.

Drop by rounded tablespoons a few inches apart on a cookie sheet.

Bake for 12-14 minutes.

Brett also had a great idea on how to "up" these cookies' visual appeal. He thought it would be neat to make the cookies a lot smaller, and rather than mixing the cherries in the batter, putting one in the center of each cookie like a thumbprint cookie. I think we might have to try that.

I will leave you with this...

J's Playlist of the Day (the best songs I heard from our music collection today)
"Out of Love" Aberfeldy
"One with the Freaks" The Notwist
"Original Spies" Karate
"Drenched" Calexico
"How We Breathe" Pinback
"Back on the Chain Gang" The Pretenders
"Blackbird" The Beatles
"Subdivisions" Rush
"Don't Ask Me Why" Billy Joel
"Green River" Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR)
"Sultans of Swing" Dire Straits
"Goin' Mobile" The Who
"Strange Brew" Cream

'Til next time.

Whole Grain Spelt Lamington's

Baking, admittedly, is one of my weaker cooking skills and something I have been trying to remedy. Now, I am not the biggest fan of baked goods, I enjoy them yes, but there is always too much, and I am truly satisfied with a simple piece of fresh fruit. However, I enjoy the act of baking, and since Brett and my co-workers happily eat the goods I make, I continue on trying.

This weekend I made Lamington's. I had never had a Lamington until making them over the weekend. These little cakes covered in chocolate and rolled in coconut originate in either Australia or New Zealand; apparently there is some contention between the two nations as to where the Lamington is "indigenous" to. After making them, I can understand why they would want to fight over the bragging rights to these delicious cakes. I decided to make them as I thought trying my hand at coating a cake with frosting would be a good way to improve my skill, I had some organic shredded coconut still hanging around from the rice crispy treats I made over last winter, and Brett is a chocolate fanatic - up to this point I have been mostly working with spiced breads and pumpkin - so chocolate seemed the way to go.

I modified this recipe from Joy of Baking to make it whole grain, dairy free, and more to our tastes, so I might have taken away from the authenticity of the Lamington's, but we thought they were super good. The original recipe yielded 16 Lamington's, but after cutting my cake into 16 pieces, I realized that Lamington's were a lot bigger than I thought they would be. I was imagining little bite-sized treats, but after cutting them into 16 squares, I realized I was going to have something more on par with the size of a Little Debbie Snack Cake. So I decided to cut the pieces smaller, which I also believe made the chocolate dipping and coconut rolling easier than it would have been with the larger cakes. Not to mention they are more of a finger food this way.

These would be great to take to a holiday potluck or family gathering, or even on a Sunday when you have folks over for football. Who doesn't like bite-sized treats?

Note: The assembly process is a lot easier if you have two people working on it. I enlisted the help of Brett for this part, and I must say, he did a far better job of dunking the cake pieces in to the chocolate than I did. I would have made quite the mess had I done this all on my own. Also, using my method of making bite-sized Lamington's you will yield far more than 16. I cannot even count how many Lamington's this made - tons - so make sure you have plenty of willing mouths to feed these too - these being cake covered in chocolate, I doubt that will be too difficult.

















The local booty legend:
no asterisk = grocery store
+ = The Root Cellar
++ = The Peace Nook
* = farmer's market
** = CSA
*** = Container or Community Garden
**** = the non-profit buying club, Blue Planet or Purcell Mountain Farms

Whole Grain Spelt Lamington's

Cake:

2 cups whole grain spelt flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup Earth Balance
1/4 cup safflower oil
2 eggs (or egg replacer) *
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup plain rice milk

Chocolate Frosting:

4 cups confectioners' sugar
2/3 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
3 tbsp Earth Balance
1/2 cup plain Hempmilk ++ (not local, but from a local store)

Coating:

2 cups organic shredded coconut

For the cake:

Preheat oven to 350.

Spray an 8x8 pan with oil spray.

Stir together dry ingredients in a large bowl.

Using an electric mixer, slowly add in the wet ingredients.

Spread into prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown and toothpick or knife comes out clean when inserted into the middle.

Allow to cool completely.

Transfer to a cutting board. Cut into large squares.

Cut each square in half, then in half again length-wise, then in half on more time.

Put in the fridge to cool for a few hours, this will make coating them easier.

For the frosting:

Prepare a pan of boiling water.

Get a smaller, stove safe bowl and mix together sugar and cocoa powder.

Add the Earth Balance and milk. Stir well.

Place in the pan of boiling water, carefully stirring until well blended.

For the coating:

Spread the coconut out on a plate.

To assemble:

(Brett and I did this together, it might be a slightly difficult one person project, but I think it can be done.)

We started an "assembly line" to do this part. We had our cold cake bits, chocolate, and coconut spread out, with a wire cooling rack at the end of our counter.

Using a toothpick, grab a piece of cake and carefully dunk it into the chocolate.

Trasfer to plate of coconut and roll on all four sides. Move to the wire rack to cool completely.

Once completely cooled, place in airtight containers between layers of parchment paper.

Did I mention these are whole grain? While this isn't health food by any stretch of the imagination, you can at least rest knowing that you are getting some good fiber into your system while enjoying a tasty snack cake!

'Til next time!

J&B's Huevos Rancheros (vegetarian)

I don't eat eggs very often, but will on occasion as I don't really consume all that many enriched products, nor do I take supplements, and this is a great way to have them. It could easily be made vegan by simply omitting the eggs and spicing up the beans, or using tofu and doing whatever it is that you do to make tofu taste good. I also made a vegan version awhile back.

I will not vouch for the authenticity of this meal, I actually don't think it was very authentic at all, but it was really, really good. Brett recently had Huevos Rancheros at a local restaurant called Cafe Berlin. He really liked the dish and we had what we needed on hand to make it at home. Now I didn't taste the dish as it was loaded down with cheese and I don't do cheese, so I only have what Brett told me about it and my own interpretations to go on. Oh, and I added roasted potatoes to the dish because roasted potatoes make everything better.

Just a reminder of the local booty legend:
no asterisk = grocery store
* = farmer's market
** = CSA
*** = Container or Community Garden
**** = the non-profit buying club, Blue Planet or Purcell Mountain Farms















J&B's Huevos Rancheros
Makes enough for 3 large servings (I took some to work for lunch the next day).

The 'Taters:
2 red potatoes, scrubbed and cubed *
1 tbsp safflower oil
chili powder (ancho would seriously rock)
ground cumin
ground coriander
cayenne pepper
black pepper
salt

Preheat oven to 450.

Toss potatoes with oil and spices. Cover with foil* and roast for 35-45 minutes stirring a few times throughout cook time.

*If the foil doesn't get any food on it, it can be reused a few times.

The Eggs:
4 eggs *
1 red bell pepper, seeded and minced *
2 ripe serrano peppers, seeded and minced *
1 small yellow onion, minced *
4 cloves of garlic, minced *
black pepper
pinch of salt

Heat 1 tbsp of water in a medium skillet. Add the peppers, onion, and garlic. Cook for 10-15 minutes or until soft. Drain any excess liquid. Add the eggs and scramble. Make sure they fully cooked. Season with pepper and salt.


The Rest of the Stuff:
1 cup cranberry beans (or pinto), cooked ****
1 cup black beans, cooked ****
1/2 cup long grain brown rice, cooked ****
salt

Season the beans with a little bit of salt.

really spicy salsa
tortillas (flour or corn would work)

Eating Huevos Rancheros can really be approached in two ways. You can layer all these components in a large tortilla and make a mondo burrito, or you can serve it family style with smaller tortillas.

Yum!

I am quickly getting a cold, I hope it goes away soon. I'll make sure to get lots of orange produce at the farmer's market tomorrow, and may even get some citrus from the regular grocery store if there is USA grown organic available.

'Til next time.