tomatoless, vegetarian lentil soup

serves 6 as a main dish

1/4 cup olive oil
4 stalks celery, chopped
2 potatoes, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1/2# (approx 2-3 medium) carrots, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp Adobo (start with less if you like/want it less salty)
1# lentils, rinsed and sorted
8 cups H2O
1 bay leaf
(1 bunch spinach or other greens, washed and chopped)
3 Tbsp nutritional yeast
2 tsp Italian seasonings
2 tsp salt-free garlic & herb seasonings (like McCormick’s)
1/2 tsp black pepper

Saute celery, potatoes, onion, garlic, carrot and Adobo in olive oil until soft. Add lentils, water and bay leaf. Bring to boil. Reduce to simmer, cover and simmer for about 1.25 hrs, until lentils are tender. Add spinach/greens (if using) and simmer 15 more minutes. Add nutritional yeast and spices. Puree some of soup until desired thickness is achieved. Adjust spices to personal taste.

easy posole

For the soup:
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tsp oil
1 14 oz can petite diced tomatoes w/ chipotle or green chiles
1 14 oz can regular petite diced tomatoes (or w/ chiles for more heat)
1 27 oz can pinto beans, drained
1 30 oz can golden hominy (posole), drained
4 cups water
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp oregano
(2 tsp nutritional yeast)

For the garnishes:
Tortilla chips or crispy tortilla strips
1 head lettuce, sliced thin or shredded
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
a couple avocados, diced
sliced radishes if you like that kind of thing (I don’t)

Sautee the onions and garlic in the oil while draining the beans/posole. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir. Simmer until heated through. Pile each bowl high with lots and lots of garnishes. Yum.

easiest black bean soup

cheap and easy.

-4 cans undrained black beans
OR
-1# dried black beans
-6 cups water
-2 tsp salt
-2 Tbsp oil
-1 onion, chopped
-1 bay leaf
2 14 oz cans diced tomatoes or diced tomatoes with green chiles
Salt, lime juice, cumin or oregano to taste
Sunflower cream, sour supreme, avocado chunks, cilantro, green onions or whatever else for garnish

Soak & cook the dried black beans (if using) with the water, salt, oil & onion either on the stove or in the pressure cooker. If using canned, just heat through. When beans are cooked/heated, add tomatoes and puree in batches. Adjust seasonings if necessary. Serve in bowls with garnishes if using.

bean cooking times

good chart on pressure cooker times, with pictures
good ‘how to’ on bean cooking

chili mole for dshare

… This one truly IS for the masses. I think this recipe (with sides) could serve 20. Could easily be 1/3’d – just use one variety of beans. [1/3 of 1/4 cup is 4 tsp, 1/3 of 1/2 cup is approx 3 Tbsp]

…a modified cross of my chili recipe, a mole chili recipe and this tomatoless chili recipe to make a huge amount of chili free of tomatoes, chickpeas, corn, gluten and soy.

1# dried black beans
1# dried pinto beans
1# dried kidney beans
15 cups water
3 Tbsp oil
3 dried ancho chiles, whole
1/2 cup olive oil
3 onions, cut in half and sliced thin
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
6 cloves garlic, chopped*
6 carrots, diced*
3 bell peppers, diced*
2 Tbsp salt
6 Tbsp chili powder
6 Tbsp curry powder
6 Tbsp cocoa powder
3 Tbsp cumin
1/2 cup wild rice
1 cup rinsed, toasted quinoa
(roasted squash, cubed**)
(roasted squash seeds)

Rinse and soak the beans overnight. Drain them, and then bring to boil with the water and first bit of oil and the dried chiles. Reduce to med-low simmer, covered, until the beans are soft but not mushy – about 1 1/2 hours. Remove the chiles (you could puree all/some of them if you want a spicier chili. I chose to keep it mild).

While beans are cooking, slowly saute the onions in the olive oil over low until beginning to brown/caramelize. Don’t let them burn – turn the heat down and turn more if they start to brown to quickly (this takes about 15-20 minutes, but just with occasional stirring). Add the veggies, vinegar and salt and saute until softened, or about five minutes. Add the veggies, spices, chiles, and rice. Bring to a slow simmer over low. Meanwhile, rinse the quinoa and then toast it in a pan. Add to the chili. Simmer on low, uncovered, stirring every 10 minutes or so to keep it from burning for about an hour, until the rice is cooked through and the sauce is thickened. Adjust seasonings to taste if necessary. Top with roasted squash seeds if using.

*chop these up while the onions are caramelizing to save time.

**I happen to have some leftover roasted squash that I had frozen and decided to throw in. Throw in any veggie that you think would go well.

Chili for the Masses

I refrained from calling this ‘Placenta Chili’, even though I put in the first issue of Placenta zine, because I thought that might imply something that this is not. It does, however, freeze well- much like a placenta.

Serves 8

**Saute in some olive oil until soft:
1 onion, chopped
A couple cloves garlic, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
hot peppers if you like it spicy
**Add in:
3 cans (or 6 cups) mix-n-match cooked/canned beans in their liquid (I like garbanzo, kidney, pinto)
1 28-oz can diced tomatoes
1 6 oz can tomato paste
1 12 oz corn (or frozen/fresh equivalent + water)
3/4 cup dry pearled barley
2 Tbsp 1-2 Tbsp chili powder
1 Tbsp cumin
2 Tbsp 1-2 Tbsp curry powder
**Simmer over low for about an hour, stirring often so that it doesn’t burn at the bottom. Add water/vegetable stock while cooking as necessary.

falafel

2 – 15 oz cans of chick peas, drained
1 bunch cilantro
6 cloves garlic
1/3 onion
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 tsp Goya Adobo red-top seasoning
1 Tbsp ground flax seed
2 Tbsp water
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
½ cup flour – wheat flour, rice flour, chickpea flour, whatever

Put beans, cilantro, garlic and onion in food processor and pulse until mixed.  Add remaining ingredients in food processor until it forms a paste. Shape and shallow fry until crispy on each side. Yum.

Red Bean Soup

(I adapted this recipe to create this tomato-free version)

1 # dry small red beans
2 qt water
2 tsp salt
1 green bell pepper, cut into large (1″) pieces
1/4 cup olive oil
4 garlic cloves
1 large onion
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
3/4 cup sherry
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp cumin

Bring red beans to a vigorous boil in a lot of water.  Boil vigorously for ten minutes, turn off heat, and let soak for an hour.  Drain and rinse.

Bring the drained beans, water, first bell pepper, salt and bay leaf to a boil.  Reduce to simmer.  Simmer until beans are tender, about 1 1/2 hour.

Towards the end of the beans cooking, heat the oil in a skillet.  Sautee the garlic, onion and bell pepper until tender.  Add remaining ingredients and cook for 10 more minutes.  Add to soup.  Puree if you like, enjoy.

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Notes:

Slightly too salty.  Might reduce the salt to 1 1/2 tsp.  I am also going to cut the bell peppers up smaller in the beans – the big chunks were kind of annoying (I did puree most of the soup though).  When I cooked the pepper and onion in the oil, I used the food processor to chop, but then decided to puree.  Worked well.

Lydian said, ‘Man, this is really good soup, really really good.  It’s really good.  Eat it.  It’s good.’  So this is definitely a winner