Baked Beans

So Corey and I have started griping about our limited and boring repertoire of food. Maybe it's the grey days but we are both uninspired when it comes to cooking and both of us are starting to crave pizza on a daily basis. However, we are trying our best to fight against this cooking lethargy and we are attempting new recipes from our plethora of cookbooks.

Tonight I tried a recipe for baked beans and we ate them on top of pasta (one thing to note - rice pasta does not freeze well as I found out when I reheated the pasta we had in the freezer... ugh! I just cooked a new bag.)

Baked Any Type of Beans

5 cups cooked beans (I used my frozen black-eyed peas but you could use kidney or pinto or other beans)
1 cup water
5 cloves garlic, gently crushed with the side of the knife
3 tbsp minced ginger
4 tbsp soya sauce
3 tsp dijon mustard
3 tbsp maple syrup
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp salt
1/4 cup tomato sauce
1/2 cup smoked tofu in small cubes
4 drops liquid smoke (or more or less depending on your smoked tofu or preference for the smoky flavour)

Preheat over to 375. Mix all the ingredients together and put into a bean pot or deep casserole dish with a lid. Bake for 45 minutes. Easy!

Wednesday Morning Pancakes

The advantages of being on Spring Break is that I can cook more and I can blog more recipes as I try them. Corey had this morning off so I decided to make some pancakes. It is a rare morning when we have time or energy for pancakes and I find that recipes are usually too big. I know I can reduce the amount but then that adds another mental step and that makes the task even more onerous! All for silly pancakes.

Isa Chandra Moskowitz to the rescue.Her book Vegan Brunch has great recipes in realistic quantities. This one made 8 small pancakes which was perfect for us. I modified the recipe a little so this is my modification. If you want her real recipe, buy her book!

Wednesday Morning Pancakes

1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tbsp canola oil
1/3 cup water
1 1/4 cup unsweetened soy milk
2 tbsp maple syrup

cooking spray

Heat a skillet (or two) over medium heat while you make the batter. You want these to be hot and dry.

Sift the dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Make a well in the centre and add the wet ingredients. Use a metal spoon to mix the two together until just mixed. A few lumps are okay. Don't over-mix or the pancakes will be tough.

Turn the heat down just a little under the skillets. Lightly spray the skillets with cooking spray. You only need to do this once. Drop a large dollop of batter on the skillet and move the skillet around to get a somewhat circular shape if that matters to you. I used about 1/3 cup of batter per pancake. Leave the pancake to cook about 3 minutes. There will be small bubbles popping on top and the top will seem almost dry. Flip and cook the other side for about 1 minute.

Serve with maple syrup, agave syrup, blueberries, or whatever takes your fancy! 

Fruit Grunt

Okay - so who came up with this title? Did the first woman who made this only get a grunt from her husband when he tried it after a long day out in the fields? Surely he could have been more appreciative and then it would be called a fruit wow or a fruit yum or even a fruit thanks dear. But no, a fruit grunt it is.

I use whatever fruit I have on hand or in the freezer. If it's frozen fruit, I use 1/4 cup water but if it's fresh fruit then I use a 1/2 cup water.

You can use regular flour for this recipe but this is also a good recipe to try other flours too. I used kamut flour today and have used spelt or oat flour as well. Depending on how fine the flour is, you'll need to add more "milk" to make an actual dough.

Fruit Grunt

4 cups fruit of your choice (peaches, berries, apples, apricots...), in cubes
1/4 - 1/2 cup water (see note above)
maple syrup

1+1/4 cup flour (also see note above!)
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/3 cup to 1 cup non-dairy milk (I use unsweetened almond milk - you should check the note above too)
2 tbsp canola oil

In a medium saucepan with a tight fitting lid, heat the fruit and water drizzled with maple syrup (sweetened to your own taste) until it starts to simmer. Turn the heat down, cover and let the fruit simmer while you make the dough.

In a medium bowl, mix the dry ingredients. Make a well in the centre and pour in the milk and oil. Start with 1/3 cup milk and stir then add more milk to make a thick dough that holds together. Chunky is fine!

Remove the lid from the fruit and drop large spoonfuls of dough on top of the fruit. I usually get about 10 dollops of dough spread over the fruit. It doesn't matter if there are "un-doughed" areas. Put the lid on and leave it to simmer for 13 minutes. Don't take off the lid to look! After 13 minutes, the dough should be cooked. Test by piercing a dumpling with a skewer. If it comes out clean then the dumplings are ready.

Serve warm and the fruit mixture will be thicker but runny underneath. The following day the dumplings have absorbed most of the liquid but then it is a yummy treat cold or reheated for breakfast!