Weekend Cooking: Kid-Friendly Pinto Bean and Tomatillo Tostadas

Moving toward a plant-based diet has been easier at some times than others. Home? Easy. Traveling? Hard. Breakfast? Easy. Dinner? Doable but labor intensive – it takes a lot a prep work and ingredients to make a vegan meal tasty enough for a family that enjoys meat. Summer? Easy. School year? That’s what I was worried about. So with September rolling around again, one of the things I wanted to do was come up with a few go-to, kid-friendly vegan meals that I could put together on a weeknight, once the activity-go-round starts up again in next month. Here’s the one my family likes best – and the leftovers make an awesome filling for a vegan wrap later in the week.

This does take about an hour to make, but if you have the beans already made (I always have pressure-cooked beans ready to go) or use canned, you can have this on the table in about an hour, with only about 10 minutes of hands-on time – perfect for helping with homework or supervising piano practice!

Pinto Bean and Tomatillo Tostadas

4 cups cooked pinto beans
1 batch Quick Tomatillo Salsa (recipe follows)
8 corn tortillas
Olive oil for brushing
Salt and cayenne pepper, to taste

Place both ingredients in a saucepan or small Dutch oven over medium heat and bring to a boil. Allow to cook on low heat for about an hour, until the liquid becomes a thick sauce. Don’t stir too enthusiastically or frequently, because the beans will get mushy, and that’s not what we’re going for!

Meanwhile, heat oven to 400 degrees F. Brush tortillas on both sides with olive oil using a pastry brush, and place on a baking tray (two if necessary). Bake for about 5 minutes (using a paring knife to deflate any steam bubbles in the tortillas) until just beginning to brown, then flip the tortillas and bake for another 5 minutes, or until tortillas are golden and crisp. (They do firm up a bit as they cool, so don’t worry if they’re not chip-like.) Remove from oven and salt lightly.

Serve with your family’s favorite tostada toppings: cilantro, tomatoes, lettuce, olives, pickled jalapeños are ours.

Quick Tomatillo Salsa

10 tomatillos, quartered
8-10 green onions, roughly chopped
4 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
½ cup fresh cilantro
¼ cup lime juice
2 T olive oil
2 t cumin
Salt and cayenne, to taste

Place all ingredients in a blender and puree until almost smooth. Taste and season. That’s it.


Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page. Thanks to Beth Fish Reads for hosting!

Weekend Cooking: The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen

It’s hot, it’s humid, and it’s hard to think about cooking dinner. Still, the farmer’s market is brimming with vegetables that beg to be eaten. What cookbook do I find myself reaching for a couple of nights a week? Donna Klein’s The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen. It hasn’t let me down yet.

One of the things that I really like about this book is that it focuses on meals that would be meatless and cheeseless in their original forms: I am not a meat or cheese substitute person, nor am I a tofu eater. At first, I worried it might feel like something was “missing,” especially in the pasta dishes. But Klein’s Ditalini with Cauliflower was so surprisingly zingy with capers and saffron that no one even asked me for cheese. The New Potato and Young Green Bean Salad is our new family standard, no mayo needed. And it tastes even better the next day, if there’s any left.

The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen chapters are broken down by courses: Appetizers, Soups (okay, those will wait until autumn, because no one in my house will eat cold soups), Salads, Breads and Desserts (I am not a dessert maker, but these look light and fruit-based). There are two main course chapters: one on Pasta, Rice, and Other Grains, and another on Vegetables and Legumes. It’s a very comprehensive book, and uses a wide range of ingredients, so I’ve found there’s virtually nothing I can bring home from the market that I don’t already have a good recipe for. That is, of course, if you have the Mediterranean staples around anyway: you won’t get far in this book without basil, garlic, tomatoes, pasta and good bread!

Klein’s Crostini with Pureed White Beans and Sautéed Wild Greens appetizer has become a favorite in my house: cannellini beans pureed with vegetable broth, olive oil, and sage, then topped with garlicky sautéed greens on crunchy bread, makes a fantastic lunch when paired with a tomato and cucumber salad. I’ve modified the recipe for my daughters, using spinach or Swiss chard rather than the dandelion greens or escarole suggested. And I bumped up the flavor of the bean spread with some garlic after the first time I made it. But getting kids to eat greens for lunch is a win in my house anyway you look at it. We even took the bean spread and a loaf of good bread to a July 4th picnic, and it was a huge hit on its own.

For those who aren’t used to cooking complete vegan meals, Klein includes a “Meals in Minutes” section with suggested pairings for Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter, to make the most of in-season produce. The book covers a wide range of cuisines, drawing on recipes from Spain to Turkey, and from Israel to Morocco. The offerings aren’t all light and summery – those just happen to be the recipes I’ve been making lately. I’m looking forward to Persian-Style, Multi-Bean Noodle Soup and Tomatoes Stuffed with Herbed Rice, Provençal Style as soon as the weather turns cooler.

The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen has quickly become one of my favorite cookbooks, and I heartily recommend it, not just for vegans and vegetarians, but for anyone trying to add more vegetable dishes to their repertoire – which is about everyone I know! Klein walks novices through the basics of vegan cuisine with well-written directions and mouth-watering descriptions. But experienced cooks can use the recipes as great starting points for their own adventures in meatless cuisine. Bon Appétit!


Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page. Thanks to Beth Fish Reads for hosting!

Weekend Cooking: Dead-of-Winter Vegan Fruit Muffins

This “no-animal-fat-until-5-PM” experiment I’ve been working on has been really interesting. According to Livestrong calculations, I’ve suddenly increased my fiber intake by 50% – and my cholesterol is about 20% of what it used to be. That’s probably because I’ve been actively seeking out vegan recipes. Eating vegan takes some time though – lots of veggies to chop, extra runs to the natural food store for ingredients I wouldn’t have had in the house before – and I’ve been looking for things I can make ahead.

Oh, and to complicate matters more, it’s winter – not exactly the time for local produce here in PA. Environmental concerns prick at my conscience when gorging on luscious fruit that had to travel farther than Christopher Columbus to reach me! So after reading a million recipes, I’ve come up with one my kids love, totally vegan, using frozen fruit – which is largely domestic, and just as healthy as fresh, according to Mark Bittman! You can be eating these in under an hour!

Col’s Dead-of-Winter Vegan Fruit Muffins
1 cup sliced frozen peaches
1/2 cup frozen blueberries
2 cups all-purpose flour (healthier with 1/2 whole wheat, but not as yummy)
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp Kosher salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup canola oil
4 oz unsweetened applesauce
3/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp pure almond extract
1/2 cup slivered almonds

Toss fruit with 2 tbsps flour. Mix dry ingredients together in a bowl. Mix together wet ingredient in a large measuring cup. Pour all at once into dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Fold in fruit. Use ice cream scoop to put batter into 18 muffin cups. Top with almonds, if desired. Bake in a 350 degree oven until brown, 25-35 minutes.

Enjoy!


Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page. Thanks to Beth Fish Reads for hosting!

Weekend Cooking: Coconut Lentil Soup with Lemongrass

Here's a recipe I've been playing around with for awhile. The inspiration was in Anne Sheasby's wonderful The Ultimate Soup Bible. My family liked her original recipe, but we all agreed it didn't have enough "punch," somehow. Here is our version. The great thing about this recipe is that it goes from 0 to dinner in under an hour. In our house, it cooks while the homework is getting done!

Col’s Coconut Lentil Soup with Lemongrass

2 medium Yellow Onions, chopped
2 tbsp Canola Oil
1 Serrano Pepper or 2 Thai Chili Peppers, seeded and chopped
1 tbsp Ginger, freshly grated
3 Garlic Cloves, sliced
1 tsp Ground Cumin
1 tsp Ground Coriander Seed
1 tsp Paprika
1/2 tsp Cayenne Pepper
1 cup Red Lentils*
14 oz can of Coconut Milk (regular, not light)
4 cups Vegetable Stock (homemade if possible; water will also work)
1 stick Lemongrass, bruised with a mallet (kids love this job)
3 tblsp Fresh Lime Juice (about 3 lime halves)
4 tblsp Scallions, chopped
1/4 cup Cilantro Leaves, chopped (if you hate cilantro, Thai basil would work)
Salt, to taste

Directions

Heat oil in dutch oven. Add onions, peppers, ginger and garlic to soften, not brown. Add dried spices to warm (1 minute), then add lentils. Add coconut milk, lemongrass and stock. Bring to a boil and cook about 45 minutes, until lentils totally break down. Remove lemongrass. Puree with a stick blender. Put back on heat, add lime juice, half scallions and half cilantro. Adjust seasonings. Salt to taste. Garnish individual bowls with remaining cilantro, scallions and lime slices.

*Red lentils are found in Indian and Middle Eastern groceries, and in well stocked supermarkets. You can't substitute brown lentils in this recipe, as they take far longer to cook.


Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page. Thanks to Beth Fish Reads for hosting!

New Cookbook Romance: Vegan Fire and Spice

Last week I was thinking about cookbook marriage: the cookbook relationships that last, that stand the test of time, that aren’t so sexy but are oh-so-reliable. But this week I’m thinking about the beginning of the relationship: that first flush of cookbook romance.

You know how it is. A new cookbook enters your life. Maybe you sought it out after reading reviews. Maybe you asked for a recipe after a potluck, and received a glowing review. Maybe the cover art grabbed you as you browsed in your favorite bookstore. Suddenly, you’re hooked.

New cookbooks, like new romances, occupy your time. This week I received Robin Robertson’s Vegan Fire and Spice. This is a book I researched, for two reasons. First, although I’m an omnivore, our family is committed to shifting to a more plant-based diet – Mark Bittman calls this approach “flexitarianism.” Second, I’m at the age where the things I eat have health consequences. Many vegetarian cookbooks rely on cheese and dairy products to replace some of the richness of a meat-based diet – I wanted to learn a different approach.

Like a new romance, new cookbooks expand your horizons. Reading them stimulates new ideas, diversifying – and hopefully improving – your cooking style. Last night I accompanied my family’s favorite meatloaf with a vegan potato salad I wouldn’t have thought of putting together, thanks to Fire and Spice. Robertson’s Veracruz Potato salad includes capers, cilantro and Serrano peppers, and is coated in lime vinaigrette. Of course, new romances, cookbook and real, require compromise, and I played around with the vinaigrette portion of the recipe, knowing what my family likes. And the salad was, indeed, a huge success – I’m already looking forward to the leftovers in my lunchbox on Monday!

I have another meal from this cookbook on the menu tonight: Japanese Soba Noodles. It includes ingredients my family loves, and I’m always trying to expand the grain menu beyond rice and wheat. We’ll see how it goes. Right now, Vegan Fire and Spice looks like it has serious work horse potential. But I also know these things take time to figure out! If the book is showing some wear-and-tear in the next few months, I’ll know this is the beginning of a long-term relationship in the kitchen!


Thanks, as always, to Beth Fish Reads for hosting Weekend Cooking! It's open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page.