Most of the time, we think of dahl as being made out of lentils or split peas, but other legumes can stand in too. We particularly like this mildly spicy dahl made from black eyed peas. I used the canned form to save time, but if you’ve got the time to soak and cook up the dried beans, the meal will be even more inexpensive.

Black eyed peas dahl

Ghee or mild vegetable oil
4 whole cloves
1/2 cinnamon stick
1 small onion, chopped
1 T fresh ginger, minced
6 to 8 oz plain yogurt
2 cans (15 oz) of black eyed peas
1/2 t ground tumeric
1/4 t ground red pepper
1/2 t garam masalah (prepared or my favorite mix)
2 t coriander
Salt to taste

In a large heavy skillet with a cover, saute the cinnamon and cloves for a few minutes. Add the onions and ginger and saute until golden. Drop the heat and add the yogurt and beans. Add the spices. Heat through and remove from heat. Cover and let stand for about 5 minutes. Serve over rice if desired, as a side or main dish.

Image: Cyndi Lavin

Post from: Blisstree

Black eyed peas dahl

Spicy chickpeas, also known as Kabuli Chole in Indian cuisine, are a wonderful side dish for a meal that needs some spice, or can be mixed into a green salad, or even pureed to make Indian “hummus.” We love these things!

You can start with dried chickpeas, soak and boil them up if you’d like, but I usually use the canned ones.

Spicy Chickpeas
(Kabuli Chole)

2 19 oz cans of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 t cumin seeds
1 large red pepper, chopped

Vegetable oil
1 T fresh ginger, chopped
1 onion, chopped
3 – 4 jalapenos, chopped

1 t garam masalah
Salt and pepper to taste
Lemon wedges

Mix the chickpeas, cumin seeds, and red peppers together in a bowl. Saute the ginger, onions, and hot peppers until they are soft. Add them to the chickpeas, along with the garam masalah, salt, and pepper. Serve with lemon wedges.

Image: Cyndi Lavin

Post from: Blisstree

Spicy Chickpeas

This is a great Once-A-Month-Cooking recipe that you can double, triple, or quadruple very easily. For extra speed in preparation, you can use one of those 1.25 oz packages of taco seasoning and a can of prepared chili. Usually, I would prefer that these things be homemade, but sometimes for OAMC recipes, we’ll make an exception!

Even if you don’t get into OAMC, this is a great recipe to make ahead, either early in the day or even a couple of days ahead.

Taco Soup

2 – 15 oz cans chicken broth
15 oz can diced tomatoes
15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
15 oz can chili mix (your favorite)
15 oz can corn
5 – 6 green onions, sliced
1.25 oz package Taco seasoning (or a mixture of chili, cumin, oregano, cayenne, paprika, garlic, and salt)

Monterey jack cheese, shredded
Sour cream

Mix all the ingredients except for cheese and sour cream and bring to a boil. Reduce heat a simmer for 10 minutes. Can be frozen for later. To serve, thaw and heat, and serve with cheese sprinkled on top and a dollop of sour cream if desired. You know you want them both!

Image: Cyndi Lavin

Post from: Blisstree

Taco soup (OAMC)

From my favorite FoodNetwork show, Healthy Appetite with Ellie Krieger, comes this tantalizing recipe for hummus. I love edamame, so I can’t wait to try this one!

Edamame “Hummus”

2 cups shelled edamame, cooked according to package directions
1 cup silken tofu, briefly drained of excess liquid
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
3 cloves garlic
1/4 cup olive oil
1/3 cup lemon juice, plus more, to taste
1 1/2 teaspoons cumin, plus more, for garnish

Set 1 tablespoon of edamame aside for a garnish. Place the rest of the edamame, tofu, salt, garlic, oil, lemon juice, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cumin in the bowl of a food processor and process until very smooth, about 2 minutes. Season with additional salt and pepper, plus more lemon juice, if desired. Remove to a serving bowl and garnish with reserved edamame, and some cumin.

Image: Healthy Appetite

Post from: Blisstree

Edamame “hummus” by Ellie Krieger

Hearty Vegan Black Bean Soup
Just 10 minutes of prep in the kitchen, then you can head to work while the soup cooks without you! Make a double batch so you have leftovers to freeze.

Makes 8 servings.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 small yellow onion, chopped
1 medium red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 cup cooked ham or smoked turkey, optional
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 16-ounce package dried black beans, picked through for stones and rinsed well

5 cups water
1-2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
salt and ground black pepper

Garnishes
1 cup plain nonfat yogurt
1/2 cup chopped seeded plum tomatoes
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Method
Heat extra virgin olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. When oil is warm (about 30 seconds later), add onion, pepper and optional ham or turkey. Cook until the vegetables are soft and beginning to brown, about 8 minutes.

Add garlic and cumin. Stir 1 minute.

Transfer mixture to 6-quart slow cooker. Add beans and water. Cover and cook on low until beans are very tender, about 6 hours.

Working in batches, transfer half of the bean mixture to blender or food processor and puree until smooth. Return puree to remaining soup in slow cooker and whisk to blend. Stir in lime juice to taste. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Ladle soup into bowls. If desired, spoon a teaspoon of yogurt into each bowl, sprinkle with tomatoes and cilantro and serve.

Post from: Blisstree

Hearty Vegan Black Bean Soup

ABC’s of Soup

Traditionally, soups are ideal for large families because they can be easily stretched for drop-in guests by adding more broth or water. They also keep well and reheat nicely for latecomers. Mom always used her largest cooking pot for soups. It was such a treat to come home from school on a cold windy day to smell soup cooking on the stove. Soup also allows the cook to combine any leftover meat or vegetables into the latest batch of soup to create a wonderful variation on the original. Years later, cold winter days continue to evoke yearnings for hearty hot soup.

NAVY BEAN & HAM SOUP
8 Servings

A meal of bean soup & corn bread makes an easy, hearty dinner that our whole family enjoyed. Mom added Fennel Seed to the soup to help offset the “side effects” of the beans. It took me years of practice to finally create a soup that is fairly reminiscent of Mom’s version.

1 pound Navy Beans
1 Onion, diced
1 Cup Celery, sliced
1 meaty Ham Bone
8 oz. diced Ham
1 can diced Tomatoes
4 Cups Tomato Juice
3 whole Bay Leaves
1 teaspoon Fennel Seeds, optional
Salt & Pepper to taste

Cornbread

Rinse and sort dry beans, removing any shriveled beans or foreign matter. Soak beans overnight in large pot, OR heat to boiling, remove from heat and let set for 1 hour.

Drain water from beans.

Add all remaining ingredients and fresh water to cover all.

Heat just to boil, then reduce heat. Cover & simmer soup for about 1 1/2 hours, until beans are tender. Do not boil, or beans will burst.

Remove Bay Leaves before serving. Serve with hot cornbread or saltine crackers.

VARIATIONS:

If no Ham Bone is available, add a teaspoon of Liquid Smoke and more diced Ham.

Omit Tomatoes & use water instead of Tomato Juice.

Omit Celery.

Image: Beth LaMie

Post from: Blisstree

Navy bean and ham soup

This is a really tasty stew that you can spice up or down to suit your family. With a little bit of prep during your once a week food preparation, you can have the meat pre-cooked so that the stew itself will take under thirty minutes to put together at meal time. Another way to prepare the meat is to put it in a crock pot early in the morning and cook it on low all day. When you get home and are ready to put the stew together, the meat will be tender and falling apart. Good for this particular stew!

We like curries and spicy food a lot, so I’ve included the spices that we add, but with the optional designation. You could add rosemary or bay leaf if you prefer milder tastes.

Lamb and Lentil Stew

1 lb lamb
1 qt water

Olive oil
2 onions, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, mashed
2 T fresh ginger, grated
1-2 T curry paste, or your favorite mix of Indian spices (optional, my mixture is below)
2 c lentils, pre-soaked if possible
10 oz frozen spinach
28 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 lb carrots, sliced

Pre-cook the lamb in a crock pot with a quart of water. When it’s time to make the stew, add enough water to bring the liquid back up to one quart. Pre-soak the lentils too, 2 c lentils in 4 c water. Drain before using.

In a heavy stockpot, saute the onions, garlic, and ginger in olive oil. Add the curry paste or spice mixture of choice and heat through. Add the stock water from the lamb and the lentils and bring to a boil. Cook until tender, 15 to 20 minutes. [Note - some varieties of lentils cook faster than others.] Add the spinach, tomatoes, carrots and lamb, and cook until carrots are tender, about 10 minutes.

Suggested Spice Mixture (optional)
2 t cumin powder
1/2 t tumeric
1/2 t coriander
Cayenne pepper to taste
Dash of cinnamon

Image: Cyndi Lavin

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Post from: Blisstree

Lamb and lentil stew

“Crostini” means something along the lines of “little crusts” in Italian. Really, it’s just a cool name for stale bread! It’s fun to make different toppings to try on small toasted pieces of bread, and serve them along with soup or stew, as an appetizer, as a side dish with any nice Mediterranean main dish. This lentil topping is really good with lamb. You might want to try the onion-marinated grilled lamb with it! Add some greens with the lemon-garlic salad dressing for a really special time with your busy family. They’ll sit down and relax for a change!

Make the lentil spread ahead of time, and then you can just toast the little bread pieces in the oven, spread them with the topping and serve immediately.

Crostini with Lentil Topping

1 c lentils (we like red lentils, but any will do)
Water to cover
1 T balsamic vinegar
1 t thyme
Pepper
Onion, diced

Bread slices, toasted

Simmer lentils till soft, about 20 minutes. Drain water, but reserve it. Add lentils and the rest of the ingredients to food processor and beat to smooth paste. Add reserved water as needed to make the paste fluffy. Serve on toasted bread slices.

Image (top): Wikimedia Commons
Image (middle): Cyndi Lavin

Post from: Blisstree

Crostini with lentil topping

You can think of this as Italian hummus!

White bean puree makes a tasty snack on crackers, and is also a great spread to add to the table when you’re making bruschetta. I served this a couple of days after we returned from Italy, when we were already missing the food! Grill up some slices of Italian bread with olive oil, and serve with diced tomatoes mixed with garlic and fresh basil. Serve this puree as well, and you’ve got a great light meal or snack!

White Bean Puree

2 cloves of garlic
15 to 16 oz can of small white beans
Fresh rosemary or sage (or both), chopped
2 T oil
Salt and pepper

In a food processor, chop and process the garlic until diced well. Process the beans until smooth, and then stir in the herbs, oil, and spices. Chill if desired.

Image: Wikimedia Commons

Post from: Blisstree

White bean puree

Easy-peasy (sorry!) recipe for split pea soup that you can set up in a crock pot before you leave the house and have table-ready in an instant when you return! All you need to add is crusty bread or rolls. This is also an excellent OAMC recipe, freezing very well, and heating up again either on the stove top or in the crock pot.

Split Pea Soup with Smoked Turkey

16 oz bag of split peas

Large onion
2 cloves of garlic
sweet potato (pre-cooked)

3/4 t thyme
Salt & pepper
1 T lemon juice
1/2″ slice of smoked turkey from grocery deli

Cover the split peas with 2 quarts of boiling water in your slow cooker. Set the cooker for medium high: the peas need to cook for about 6 hours. In a food processor, dice up the onion, garlic, and sweet potato, but don’t completely puree them. Add to the peas.

Go to work!

6 hours (or more) later, add the seasonings and the turkey, chopped into 1/2″ cubes.

Note: if you didn’t pre-cook the potato during once a week food preparation, you can still make this. Just peel and chop it up and add it to the peas in the morning. It will soften enough to enable you to mix it through the soup pretty well, just not quite as well as the other method.

Image: Kave Wall Stock

Post from: Blisstree

Split pea soup with smoked turkey (OAMC)