Black Bean & Corn Salsa

Sorry this isn't the best picture, I'll get a better one up soon I promise!

The taste however is delicious, I just made it one day and added what I could remember from some other recipes I had seen, and then whatever else sounded good at the time :) I don't really get picky on measuring so you can adjust the ingredients as you like.

Makes about 4 cups:

1 can of black beans

1 cup corn

1 bell pepper, chopped small (I like to use red and yellow)

2 Tbs chopped onion

1 large chopped tomato, or handful of cherry tomatoes cut in desired size pieces

1/4 cup cilantro, chopped fresh

1/2 avocado, diced*

1/4 tsp ground cumin

Juice from 1 lemon

10 dashes or more of green tabasco sauce*

S & P to taste

-Mix everything together and let all the flavors mingle for a while in the fridge if you want, serve on your favorite tortilla,  pita bread, or dip into it with some corn chips or sliced jicama.

*It's best to add the avocado right before serving so that it doesn't discolor, although the lemon juice does help. If you are storing the other half of the avocado it's best to keep the seed with it, this will help keep the color as well :)

*Green tabasco sauce is not as hot as regular tabasco, and gives a mild heat and is more "warm" than hot, if  that makes sense.



Chickpea Noodle Soup

This soup is flavorful, comforting and has just the right amount of everything. This is the first time I tried a homemade vegetable broth powder, I used the recipe from SimpleHealthyTasty.com which contains something called nutritional yeast, this is not like regular yeast for making bread. I didn't like nutritional yeast the first time I used it, this however was a lot better and I think I must have a better brand or its more fresh because it even smells better than before, you can find it in the bulk section at most natural food stores Click here for more information on nutritional yeast. Since this broth powder resembles the flavor of chicken broth I cannot say how this soup would taste with regular vegetable broth liquid from the store, however I'm sure it would be just as delicious with extra seasonings, but still different :) You could also try Better than bouillon no chicken base which I have not tried either but have seen at the natural foods stores. Anyhoosle I hope you like it no matter what broth you choose to use.

                                                                    

Makes About 8 cups:
1 can chickpeas or garbanzo beans (I used eden organic) or 1 1/2 cups after soaking and cooking.
2 carrots cut in bite sized pieces
1 cup frozen peas
1 large onion, diced
2 oz. whole wheat spiral pasta, or favorite pasta
2 1/2 Tbs. Homemade Vegetable Broth Powder, or 8 cups vegetable broth
1 tsp. garlic powder, or 1 clove of garlic minced
1 Tbs. dried parsley
8 cups water or vegetable broth
S&P to taste (I usually do this at the table)

-Saute onion in a large soup pot until translucent, wet with splashes of water as needed, add garlic if using as well.
- Add water/vegetable broth, all the seasonings, and carrot, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer about 10-15 mins
- Add pasta, beans, and peas and simmer another 10 mins or so or until pasta is cooked to desired tenderness.

* If you would like to thicken up your soup a little you can add 1Tbs of flour to 1/4 cup water and mix well and stir into the soup.

*Feel free to add chopped celery as well, we are not big fans in my house so the flavor in the broth was enough for us :)

How To Cook And/Or Freeze Dried Beans

Today I'm going to cook a big ole batch of black beans and freeze some for later, Yum!

Click Here for a super easy tutorial!

Black Bean Soup (V)

Hi there! Another soup, can you tell I love soup? :) This was delicious! My husband thought it was a bit spicy but I thought it was barely spicy which was strange for us, so if you aren't sure then I would suggest adding the seasonings a little bit at a time and trying it before you add it all in. This makes a big batch of soup and you could half it if you wanted and still have plenty, or just have leftovers which will get eaten I'm sure! Hope you like it, I did :) I think I orginally had a black bean soup recipe from veg web and then altered it to fit our tastes, anyway here it is:

Makes a lot, at least 10 cups:

4 (15 ounce) cans black beans, or 1lb dry beans soaked over night

4 cups vegetable broth

1 large onion

1 stalk celery (optional)

2 large carrots

1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, or 1 1/2 cups

1 (14.5 ounce) can crushed or diced tomatoes

2 tsp garlic powder

2 tbs chili powder

1 tbs ground cumin

1 pinch black pepper

-Start by cooking your dry beans, rinse your soaking beans and put into a very large pot, add water a few inches above beans, bring to a boil, lower heat, cover and let simmer about 1 1/2-2 hours or until soft.

- Chop onion and saute until translucent in another very large pot with a splash of vegetable broth, or water as needed. (Set beans aside and use the same pot if needed)

-Chop celery and carrots into bite size pieces, add to the pot of onion and about 1/2 the vegetable broth, simmer until carrots and celery are just about tender.

-Drain and add half the beans to the pot of vegetables (doesn't half to be exact, just eyeball it)

-Put the other half of beans in a blender with the can of tomatoes, add some of the vegetable broth as needed to get it going, blend until it's as smooth as you can get it. You can leave the tomato in chunks if you want or half and half.

-Add blended beans and any leftover broth to the pot.

-Add seasonings and corn, bring to a simmer until ready to serve, the longer it simmers the better the flavor.

*Click Here for the corn bread recipe!

Lebanese Beans and Rice (V)

My grandma used to make "green beans and rice" although she used steak instead of kidney beans. I recently had a vegan version at Emily's Lebanese Deli that tasted similar only it had kidney beans and no green beans, it made me want my grandma's dish, so I combined the two and made it with the green beans and kidney beans, just no meat :) so in a way I still get grandmas green beans and rice. I hope you like it.

About 5-6 servings of 1 cup sauce mix and 1/2 cup rice each:

1 can cooked red kidney beans (or 1 3/4 cup cooked beans if you make your own)
1 medium onion chopped
1 15oz can tomato sauce
1 15oz can tomato diced
1 tsp garlic powder, or 1-2 cloves minced
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 cups green beans
1 cup uncooked brown rice


-Start cooking your rice, Click here for a method of cooking rice to reduce arsenic which is my favorite way to cook brown rice.

-Saute chopped onion and garlic in a different large pot until soft and translucent, just splash with water while cooking instead of oil.

-Add the tomato sauce, diced tomato, green beans, kidney beans, and seasonings to the pot with the onion, cover lightly and bring to a simmer on low heat for about 10 mins, stirring frequently.

-Put some of the bean/tomato sauce mix on top of a serving of rice and devour! S&P to taste.