Smoky Beans with Quinoa and Corn

A spin on one of my favorites, Smoky Beans and Rice, this time with quinoa and kidney beans rather than black beans and rice. Any bean will do, as would any grain. I added corn to this one for something extra.

I made a TON of quinoa and have been using it for everything: beans and quinoa, broccoli and quinoa, quinoa as hot cereal in the morning with soymilk and dried or fresh fruit.

I sauteed onion and garlic first and in another pan heated veggie broth. Then I added two cans of kidney beans, drained and rinsed, to the onions and garlic. I added in frozen corn and just when it was getting un-frozen, I added a ton of quinoa to the ratio I preferred, and mixed everything. A few drops of liquid smoke, another big stir, and then added some veggie broth and allowed it to simmer until the broth was absorbed by the beans and quinoa. The liquid will absorb more after cooking, so keep that in mind.

Open-Face Sandwich: Cashew Cheese, Tomatoes, and Basil

I've been experimenting with nut cheese lately. I wasn't able to get raw cashews, which I know may affect the taste and texture. I've been experimenting with roasted unsalted cashews, soaked and blended. The first time around, I added sundried tomatoes, salt, lemon juice, water and garlic. My errors? Too much garlic, a little too much salt, kind of bleh. This time? 1 clove of garlic, a touch of sea salt, a little water, some nutritional yeast, and a touch of liquid smoke. Not bad. I am not in love with the texture - it's like hummus but weird, but not bad. Hard to explain.

Mr. Coconut has not tasted any of it yet, it's far too much into it's infancy to be worth giving to others yet. I like it, it's not bad. But I've had amazing raw nut cheese before, and this is not it yet.

With all that negativity, I liked this sandwich. It was delicious. I also tried the "cheese" with some pasta. Again, I need to get the texture to a better consistency. Maybe in the Magic Bullet as opposed to my tiny food processor would get it there.

Smoky Beans and Rice with Tortilla Chips

This has been a recent favorite of mine. Again, follows the theme of cheap, easy, and fairly simple.

Again, no real "recipe" here with accurate measurements. Once I make this a few more times, I'll get a solid measured recipe with it. I still have not worked out the spice to lime juice to smoky flavor ratio.

I used black beans in the above photo, but I've also used a mixture of black and pinto beans and mixed light and dark kidney beans. I always use brown rice, though surely white rice would work, just not as nutritious.

I use about half a large onion, diced; several cloves of garlic (3-4), minced; 2 cans of beans (the 15 oz style, or one of the larger cans or a bunch of cooked beans that I make from dry beans). Usually I like a fairly even ratio of beans to rice, about 2-3 cups of each, though I prefer a little more beans than rice.

I start by sauteing the onion in a little oil and adding the garlic. I shake on some cumin and salt, mixing well. Then I add the cooked beans, stirring well. I pour in some veggie broth and then shake a little of liquid smoke into the pot. Seriously, a little goes a LONG way.

I add a generous amount of rice, 2-3 cups, stir. I add more veggie broth, and simmer until the broth really gets absorbed into the beans and rice. (This will happen even more after it cools down, so it's okay if it seems like there is too much liquid when you turn off the heat.)

At this point, I have added lime juice, cilantro, hot sauce, or nothing. I have not perfected this yet, but I've gotten some tasty combination and ratios of all three add-ins. I've also added frozen corn. This goes great with salsa and chips, or just as a hearty lunch.

Loaded Potato Skins

Wow. These were a lot of fun to make and even more fun to eat.

I took about 6-7 russets and baked them in the oven until soft, about an hour. I let them cool down until I could easily handle them, and sliced each on in half. I scooped out the insides and set aside in a bowl. I wound up adding Tofutti sour cream, daiya cheddar and daiya mozzarella to the insides along with some butter and homemade bac-os, stirred it all up and scooped it back inside the potatoes. I baked a while longer, added a mix of cheddar and mozz daiya to the tops of the potatoes along with the rest of the bac-os and broiled until the cheese melted. I sprinkled green onions on the tops and devoured.

Here's a close-up of the potatoes:

Homemade Bacon Bits

For the potato skins I made, I figured that they needed bacon bits. I've heard that Bac-Os(TM) are vegan (obviously check the ingredients as they can change and vary region to region), however I didn't really want to buy some. Instead, I decided to try my hand at making my own.

I bought some TVP, which I've used before in many dishes. I purchased it recently so I can give Taco Night another go.

I've made homemade tofu bacon before, so I just used those ingredients and applied them here.

I rehydrated 1/4c of TVP granules in about 1/4c of boiling water. Then I heated a pan up and poured about 1tsp of vegetable oil in it. I let the pan get very hot, then added the hydrated TVP.

Separately, I mixed together about 1/8c of soy sauce (use Kikkoman or better, no La Choy please!) with 1tsp of liquid smoke and a couple drops of Bragg's Liquid Aminos.

As the TVP fried up, I added the sauce mixture and continued to fry it until it crisped up a bit. Presto! Now you have some "bacon" bits to add to baked potatoes, salads, or any other dish you can come up with.

Homemade Tofu Bacon

This was an experiment. I enjoy the Fakin' Bacon from Lightlife, but those are about $4-5 for 5 long tempeh strips. Made at home with tofu, it came out to $3-4 for about one full pound of fakin' bacon.

I actually liked this stuff more than I thought I would. I just ate it all plain, but I could tell it would be great in a tomato and guacamole/avocado sandwich.

RECIPE
1 16 ounce package extra firm or firm tofu, water packed
2T Soy sauce (shoyu preferred, but regular soy sauce is ok.)
1t Liquid Smoke
2T Nutritional Yeast (optional)
1-3T oil, vegetable or another neutral oil (NOT sesame or peanut or olive)

1. Drain and press tofu.

2. Slice tofu into thin strips, similar to thick cut bacon.

3. Mix soy sauce and liquid smoke.

4. In a pan, heat vegetable oil and fry the tofu strips until crispy.

5. Remove from heat, then pour in the soy sauce/liquid smoke mixture.

--> okay, I need a larger pan, but I wound up making this mixture twice for my whole package of tofu. It was still good, but I love salt, so maybe this would end up being too salty for some people. In that case, mix a little water in the liquid smoke and soy sauce mix, and then pour half into the pan if you have a small pan like me and can only fit half the tofu in it.

6. Flip the tofu several times, making sure that both sides soak in the sauce. As the liquid disappears, you can add the nutritional yeast, again making sure both sides are coated. You could even mix the nutritional yeast in with the liquid before hand. The Nutritional yeast is not 100% necessary, but works out great.

7. Let tofu bacon rest on rack to drain and cool a little bit, eat and enjoy. Like I said, I only had it plain, but this would be great with breakfast or in a sandwich.