Minestrone Soup or Stew - Fresh Veggies

This is the season of garden abundance and even my little plot offers us whatever it can. Too much rain and many of the tomatoes split. Rain meant that I couldn't pick the beans either (terrible for the plants to handle them when wet) so my rejuvenated beans produced more succulent beans than expected.  Corn is best fresh off the cob, but it will taste nearly as marvelous if cut off immediately upon cooking and cooled, tossed in a freezer bag and frozen for mid winter.  What to do with a kitchen counter covered in harvested veggies? Make minestrone! When you add the al dente pasta it will absorb a good bit of the soup broth, so if you want it to stay soupy, add a little more water, and if you want to eat it more like a stew, cook down the broth a bit.

Here's my impromptu version.

Garden Plenty Minestrone - makes 2 quarts

2-3 cups of 1" green bean pieces

1 medium yellow squash cut into slices
1 large onion, cut fine or slices
1 can chick peas (or red kidney beans) or fresh cooked
2 small stalks celery chopped (with leaves if you like 'em)
3 cups chopped chunks of ripe tomatoes
2 carrots cut into pieces
1/2-1 cup corn kernels
3-5 cloves smashed and chopped garlic
1 Tablespoon dry oregano (or more if fresh)
1/2-3/4 cup fresh basil leaves chopped roughly
1 tsp Bragg Liquid Amino
Springs of fresh parsley for garnish
4-6 cups water for soup
4 ounces firm tofu cut into small pieces (optional)
black pepper, grated fresh
dash of salt
1 cup brown rice pasta of your choice & water to cook it

1. Cut up the veggies into pieces you want to find in your soup -- though squash and tomatoes will soften and some of it will become broth.
2. Add all the veggies to a good sized pot, with 4 cups of water and bring to a boil, then turn it down and simmer with a lid on at such an angle that steam can escape.
3. In a separate pot, boil up 4-5 cups of water and add the 1 cup of brown rice pasta, cooking at a boil for about 5 or 6 minutes, drain in a colander and set aside.
4. When veggies are nearly all softened, remove the lid, add the tofu and either add liquid if needed to keep it soupy, or let the liquid cook down a bit. Turn the whole thing off, add the pasta and stir. Salting to taste and adding fresh ground pepper and a sprig of parsley.

New Pasta! Black Bean "Spaghetti Shape"

I recently discovered a new way to eat black beans, and a new way to enjoy pasta all in the same bite. It's a little out of the ordinary for me to talk up a particular product, but I'm loving this one and hope it sticks around a while.  This is a "spaghetti shape" that is made entirely of black beans, yes, organic and yes, gluten free.

What could be nicer than sauteed broccoli rabe and garlic on black bean spaghetti shapes? We ate them with grilled red peppers, yellow summer squash and oyster mushrooms, and a cucumber salad, but you could really put anything on these and be thrilled. The texture is wonderful! Flavor great! Protein content terrific! Calories from carbohydrates low! WOW!

I'm loving these new possibilities with "black bean spaghetti shape!"

We roasted some onion slices, button mushrooms, poblano peppers, grape tomatoes and yellow summer squash; tore up some fresh basil, and it was an instant delicious dinner with these noodles.

Since originally posting this, we made black beans and rice in noodle form! Rice sticks and black bean spaghetti shapes cook similarly in boiling water a few minutes, then rinse. You can do anything you want with this -- salsa and guacamole or fresh tomato, basil and fried onions -- but we had an amazing success by stirring in kimchee! What a marvelous dish!

Where to find them?  Well, I bought my first one at the Park Slope Food Coop in Brooklyn, New York but I bought a case of them from this link:  Plum Market!

Black Bean Spaghetti Shape (Noodle) Nutrition Facts Serving Size: 1 Serving (56g) Amount Per Serving % Daily Value* Calories 180 9% Total Fat 2g 3% Saturated Fat 1g 5% Trans Fat Cholesterol 0% Sodium 4mg 0% Total Carbohydrate 17g 6% Dietary Fiber 12g 48% Sugars 5g 0% Protein 25g 50% Vitamin A 0% • Vitamin C 1% Calcium 13% • Iron 36% * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calories needs.courtesy of cronometer.com using my data.

Kidney Bean Tomato Soup

Inspired by a vegetable soup that rescued me on a freezing cold day in Troy, NY, I wanted a hearty lunch soup to offset the snow cover that still clings to our little North facing slope upstate. This is where it is wonderful to have a pressure cooker, in order to turn organic dry beans into whatever quantity you want or need in half an hour! If you don't have a pressure cooker, you have to soak the beans and cook them much much longer, or resort to a can of organic beans - which I do, oh yes, I do, when that's the way to get what I want!  My freezer has a bag of whole plum tomatoes that I just literally threw in a plastic freezer bag last summer when they were $8 per bushel ... (I highly recommend doing this, and as soon as they begin to heat in a little water, the skins peel right off). I also have a couple frozen bags of sweet summer corn that I cut off the cob in the height of the season. Feel free to make this with store-bought frozen corn, and a small can of whole or crushed plum tomatoes. You can add chili peppers and more heat in all kinds of ways, but it was good just like this, with a dash of tabasco or other hot sauce to meet each person's tastes.

Kidney Bean Tomato Soup (makes 2 quarts)

1.5 cups dry organic kidney beans, cooked
1 6 oz can tomato paste
2-3 frozen, fresh or canned plum tomatoes
2 medium-large carrots, sliced diagonally
3-4 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped
3-4 small stalks celery, roughly chopped
3 small onions, rough chopped diagonally
1 cup frozen corn kernels
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp thyme (dry)
pinches of sage, rosemary, chili powder or whatever you like
1/2 tsp salt

1. Cook the kidney beans. I did this in a pressure cooker with a chunk of ginger, smashed garlic, a couple dried twigs of sage and rosemary. It amounts to at least 3 cups of beans, which you can get from a can too.
2. In a soup pot, bring to a boil about 2 cups of water, with the garlic, celery, onions, carrots, plum tomatoes,  tomato paste, and herbs.  Simmer this, with a cocked lid, for about 35 minutes, adding more water as it cooks down.
3. Add the kidney beans, the corn and the pepper flakes, plus salt, and cook another 10 minutes. Serve with an array of hot sauces if that's your thing, or even fresh chopped cilantro or onion.

I make a meal out of a pint, adding savory cornbread muffins and a salad. You can definitely eat less of this and have it with rice, other grain or potato based dishes. The large slabs of carrot give a nice color and texture alongside the dark red beans and bright yellow corn kernels. It is filling and pretty!

Red Bean Tomato Soup

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size: 1 pint (538g)

Amount Per Serving		% Daily Value*
Calories	322	16%
Total Fat	2g	2%
Saturated Fat	0g	1%
Trans Fat	0g
Cholesterol		0%
Sodium	644mg	27%
Total Carbohydrate	63g	21%
Dietary Fiber	14g	58%
Sugars	13g	0%
Protein	19g	37%

Vitamin A	19%	•	Vitamin C	41%
Calcium	11%	•	Iron	33%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calories needs.Courtesy of cronometer.com using my data.

B&B Patties - Black Beans & Beets

Looks good, but it ain't no burger! There was a bag of sweet little beets in the fridge and I was hankering after something different for lunch. The days of burgers are gone for my husband, and most frozen bean-based burgers seem like a replacement food, not something to crave. Added to the challenge is the question of how to make a patty without frying? Of course you can replace any of these ingredients, including using kidney beans rather than black beans, peppers instead of beets, etc.. You could definitely add hot sauce or pepper flakes, or cayenne if you are so inclined, So here's what I put in it this time.

B&B Patties (Black Beans & Beets) - It Ain't No Burger

2/3 c leftover smashed potato/carrot/parnsip (use any rice or sweet potato leftovers, or breadcrumbs)
3/4 c canned black beans (or homemade)
1/4 c frozen spinach (or leftovers)
1/4 c corn (frozen or leftover)
1 finely chopped shallot
2 finely chopped cremini (or other) mushrooms
1/4 c fine chopped beets (about 2 small beets)
2 Tblsp chick pea flour
2 Tblsp whole oats
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp sage
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp sesame seeds


1. Cook a couple small beets (along with others to have cold tomorrow!).
2. Chop up 2 mushrooms, beets when they are cooked, and finely chop a shallot.

3. In a medium sized bowl, stir together, mashing black beans, leftover mashed potato mixture (or whatever rice, sweet potato or other starch),  frozen spinach, corn, mushrooms, shallots, oats and spices. Microwave for one minute or let sit out a while to soften frozen veggies.
4. Add in chickpea flour, beets and mash together.

5. Scoop  1/4 cup  at a time onto a tin foil covered baking sheet, or pan, and gently shape into even sized patties. Be sure the thickness is fairly consistent. Sprinkle 1/2 tsp on top or so sesame seeds on the tops.
6. Broil for 5-10 minutes, flipping with a spatula and sprinkling another 1/2 tsp sesame seeds on top so that both sides crisp. Eat with a slab of tomato, avocado, onion, lettuce or whatever you like! Treat with ketchup, hot sauce or mustard, or eat with sprigs of cilantro. This is especially nice if you don't treat it like a burger and eat two patties.

But it does look like a burger ...

B&B Patties (Black Beans & Beets) Nutrition Facts for one patty Serving Size: 1 Serving (90g) Amount Per Serving % Daily Value* Calories 104 5% Total Fat 1g 2% Saturated Fat 0g 1% Trans Fat Cholesterol 0% Sodium 333mg 14% Total Carbohydrate 20g 7% Dietary Fiber 4g 18% Sugars 2g 0% Protein 5g 10% Vitamin A 6% • Vitamin C 9% Calcium 3% • Iron 9% * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calories needs. courtesy of cronometer.com using my data.

Black Bean Enchiladas - No Oil, Vegan

Black bean enchiladas was one of the first experiments I tried to do without oil or cheese. We already loved refried black beans and had just discovered tomatillos as a beautiful combination of tart and juicy elements.  Stone ground whole grain corn meal tortillas are a wonderful vehicle for all kinds of toppings, but we craved the taste of the Southwest. So here's what we do. You can substitute something else for the sweet potato, but we like the thickness, sweetness and depth it gives to the soft interior. You can also add a little chopped jalapeno pepper, which we have done when we have it around. Experiment with what you like! Of course you can use pinto beans and absolutely make your own refried beans of any kind, spiced the way you want. We've even used leftover shiitake mushrooms and olives in these to great effect.

Black Bean Enchiladas - no oil, Vegan
1 medium sweet potato
1 can Amy's organic vegetarian refried black beans (or 1.5 cups of any beans you like)
5-8 Tomatillos, about 2.5 cups rough chopped
1 large onion, chopped medium fine
1/2 cup fresh chopped parsley
1/4 cup fresh chopped cilantro
1 cup sweet yellow corn
6 stone ground cornmeal tortillas
handful grape tomatoes (or sliced tomatoes)
1/4-1/2  cup water (to cook the sweet potatoes)
(you can add chopped tomatoes, salsa etc.)

1. Cook the sweet potato sliced with skin on in a small sauce pot. Pull out the soft sweet potato and mash it in a bowl, set aside.  Save  the remaining liquid in the pot (maybe 1/2 cup?).
2. Chop onion medium fine, add to roughly chopped tomatillos in the cooking juice in the small pot, adding the chopped parsley and cilantro. Cover and cook on medium low, stirring occasionally until the vegetables are soft and less defined.

3. Pour about 2/3 cup of the tomatillo sauce into the bottom of a 9X12 oven pan.
4. Heat each tortilla on the burner, flipping once, for less than a minute. Do one at a time. Put a 4" blob of the canned refried black beans, plus a tablespoon or so of sweet potato, and roll the tortilla into a roll, placing it overlap side down in the pan. We have also used home made black beans spiced with cumin and a little salt and pepper. In this case save out 1/4 cup of beans to scatter on top for effect.  Continue until you use everything (amazingly it has come out evenly for 6 enchiladas having made this 4 times!).

5. Pour the rest of the tomatillo sauce over the whole thing, spreading it and then spread the corn on top, chopping the grape tomatoes and decorating the whole pan with them.
6. Bake at 350F for about 20 minutes. Peel the enchiladas off the bottom of the pan with a spatula and serve. About 2 enchiladas per person.


Makes a good leftover lunch!

Black Bean Enchiladas - no oil vegan Nutrition Facts Serving Size: 1 Serving (472g) Amount Per Serving % Daily Value* Calories 356 18% Total Fat 4g 6% Saturated Fat 1g 4% Trans Fat 0g Cholesterol 0% Sodium 701mg 29% Total Carbohydrate 69g 23% Dietary Fiber 15g 59% Sugars 11g 0% Protein 14g 29% Vitamin A 28% • Vitamin C 59% Calcium 14% • Iron 27% * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calories needs. courtesy of cronometer.com using my data