The Joy of Snacking: "Cheezy" Chickpeas

This is for when you're hungry but don't have much time or just don't want to bother with cooking something. For even more awesomeness, use a brand of nutritional yeast that's been fortified with B12.

"Cheezy" Chickpeas
Ingredients:
1 Cup cooked chickpeas (or 1 can chickpeas, rinsed and patted dry)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons nutritional yeast flakes

Preparation:
Put the chickpeas in a bowl, add the salt and nutritional yeast, and stir around until all the chickpeas are coated. That's it!


"She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts, kid."

Chickpea and Spinach Curry

So, I've been wondering what to do with the spinach that's been collecting metaphorical dust in my freezer for the last forever. Being kind of lazy, and pretty inexperienced at cooking, I tend to stick to easier, quicker recipes. But I couldn't find anything in my simpler cookbooks that looked appealing, or that I had ingredients for beyond the spinach. So I turned to a book that I don't often use because, while everything in it looks so good, it's also real cooking that takes effort (and we've already established that I'm lazy). Allow me to present: Vegan with a Vengeance. (Some day I'll post the lemon cupcakes from this book. OMG, divine!)

I've been told that you can make a curry out of just about anything, and I believe it now. Dried beans, a can of tomatoes, frozen spinach, and some spices, and you're ready to rock.

Chickpea and Spinach Curry
Ingredients:
1 (12 oz.) can peeled whole tomatoes (or a can of diced tomatoes works too)
3 Tablespoons vegetable oil
2 teaspoons mustard seeds
1 onion, diced (about 2 Cups)
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tablespoons fresh ginger, minced (or 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger)
3 teaspoons curry powder (or more, much more!)
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon asafoetida (also called hing powder, optional)
3 cardamom pods (or 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom)
1 teaspoon salt
10 cups fresh spinach, rinsed and chopped (or 2-3 packets frozen spinach, thawed and drained)
4 cups chickpeas, cooked and drained (or 2 cans, drained and rinsed)

Preparation:
If using dried chickpeas, soak 2 dry cups overnight in enough water to cover them by several inches. The next day, rinse well, and boil in about 6 cups of water for 2 hours. Check for softness to ensure they're done.

Open the can of tomatoes, and making sure to save the juice, take each tomato and tear it into bite-size pieces. Set them aside in a bowl.

Heat a medium saucepan over moderate heat, add the vegetable oil and the mustard seeds, and let the seeds pop for about a minute, covered so they don't jump out. Add the onion and sauté for 5-7 minutes, or until the onions turn brown. Add the garlic and ginger, and sauté for another 2 minutes. Add the other spices and 1/4 cup of the tomato juice you saved. Cook for another minute, then add in the tomatoes. When the tomatoes are heated through, add the fresh spinach a handful at a time and cook until wilted (or just add your thawed, drained, frozen spinach). The mixture should be a liquidy - add more tomato juice if not. Add the chickpeas. Lower the heat, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir every now and then, and adjust the spices as desired. Remove the cover and simmer for another 10 minutes, until the mixture is thick and stewlike.

Wow, that's a horrible-looking stovetop. Color me ashamed.

I added several times the amount of curry powder called for, and frankly I could have handled hotter, so when you're making this, be certain to taste it often to adjust how you like your curry to taste. In actuality, I added extra of pretty much every spice, and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I enjoyed this over warm rice, and it was extremely satisfying.

Enjoy!

Better Living through Crock-Pot Cooking

I'm going to make an admission here: I really don't enjoy cooking. Don't get me wrong - I love eating ethically, I just hate working for my food. I'm kind of lazy, washing up afterward blows, and I'd rather be playing video games than slaving over a stove, especially when I was still a student and working full-time, and my leisure hours were precious to me. For years, dinner was pizza, microwave noodles, or instant mashed potatoes, because cooking is a chore and I didn't want to bother.

And that is why I love my crock-pot. I have come to believe that no vegan should be without a slow cooker. With 5-10 minutes of prep time, you can leave for work or school, and come back 8 hours later to a hot meal ready and waiting. I've made chili, stews, pastas, wheat-meat 'roasts', potatoes, and bean dishes in my crock-pot, and that's only scratching the surface of possibilities, thanks entirely to Robin Robertson's book "Fresh From the Vegetarian Slow Cooker". It's the easiest possible way for someone like me to get fresh vegetables and variety into their diet, and it solves the problem of typical dinner recipes where you have too much food left over if cooking for just one person - you can refrigerate the entire ceramic insert and pull out what you want to eat. Here is one of the best chilis I've ever eaten (and by far the best I've ever made for myself). From "Fresh From the Vegetarian Slow Cooker".

(onion not pictured)

Farm Stand Chili with Chickpeas
Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 celery rib (I left this out and used celery salt instead)
1 eggplant, peeled and chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 garlic clove, finely minced
1 Tablespoon chili powder (or to taste - I used 2)
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed (or 1 and 1/2 Cups cooked chickpeas)
1 can corn kernels, drained (or 1 Cup fresh or thawed frozen corn kernels)
salt and black pepper to taste (I used a lot of red pepper too)

Preparation:
Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, celery, eggplant, bell pepper, and garlic, and cook covered about 5 minutes, or until softened. Stir in the chili powder and cook another 30 seconds.



Put the diced tomatoes, chickpeas, and corn into the slow cooker. Add the vegetables from the pot and stir, adding salt and pepper to taste. Add about 1 and 1/2 cups water. Cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours.

When cooking in a crock-pot or slow cooker, make certain not to overfill the ceramic insert. If making something like a chili that tells you to add water, add the water last so that you can better gauge how well your vegetables will fit. I have a very small crock-pot, so I have to be careful with recipes that call for a lot of ingredients. Also, no matter how delicious it smells while cooking, try not to lift the lid and taste it very often. It's estimated that each time the lid is removed, it pushes your cook time back an extra 30 minutes. But most importantly, food in a slow cooker can burn if left in too long. If you can't be home within a 6 to 8 hour time window, save the recipe for another day.




Enjoy!