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Archive for the ‘Beans’ Category

I realized the other day that we hadn’t had one of our favorite summer favorites yet – gazpacho! I realized this when I saw the growing pile of tomatoes on the counter and a couple of cucumbers in the crisper drawer, waiting to be used. We also had the last of the shishito peppers from last week’s visit to the farmer’s market to eat up.

This recipe is based upon one that my mom made growing up so I am not sure where her recipe originally came from. I have changed it up a little to fit our tastes and needs but it is still very simple and tasty. Add and subtract as you desire.

A few items to note – when dining out, gazpacho is usually not gluten free as it often contains breadcrumbs. Some recipes call for tarragon vinegar too, which is often made with malt vinegar – a no-no for celiacs. Check your labels. Also, chop all of your vegetables into similar sizes; we prefer a 1/4-1/2″ dice. And one last thing – this tastes better the next day, so make it ahead so that it can chill and the flavors meld.

This week we served it up with some shishito peppers and quick cheese quesadillas which were just corn tortillas with some shredded cheddar between and fried in a little oil on the stove.

Gazpacho

Recipe by Renee, inspired by my mom

46 oz bottle of vegetable juice such as V-8 Low Sodium or Spicy Hot version

1 cup celery, chopped

1 cup cucumber, peeled, seeded and chopped

1 cup green bell pepper, seeded and chopped

1 cup sweet onion, like Vidalia, chopped

2 cups tomatoes chopped

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1/4 cup light-tasting olive oil

1 tsp worcestershire sauce or soy sauce *

1/4 cup red wine vinegar (or white wine vinegar, or maybe even sherry vinegar)

1-1/2 tsp salt, to taste

1/2 tsp fresh pepper

1 Tbsp fresh chives, chopped

1 – 15 oz can white beans, drained and rinsed (optional)*

Pour vegetable juice into a large bowl. Add remaining ingredients. Stir well. Chill for 4 hours and serve soup chilled.

Notes:

* Lea and Perrins worcestershire sauce is gluten free but not vegetarian, as it contains anchovies. The Wizards makes a vegan, gluten free worcestershire sauce, or you could make your own. Otherwise, substitute with gluten free soy sauce and adjust your salt as the soy sauce is probably saltier than the worcestershire.

*If we are eating this as a meal, I will often add a can of white beans for protein. We have also added fresh sliced-off-the-cob corn.

Sauteed Shishito Peppers

If you can find them at your market, be sure to grab them while they’re still around. They run about $8 per pound at the Santa Fe Farmer’s Market, but a full pound is enough for the two of us for three or four meals as an appetizer. Here is our favorite way to serve them up, from Deborah Madison, cookbook author. I use canola oil instead of olive oil as she suggests.

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With this week’s Gluten Free Menu Swap theme of light and easy for summer, I thought I would post this recipe. We have fallen in love with napa cabbage chopped salads and slaws. This one was inspired by a couple of the napa cabbage recipes over at Kalyn’s Kitchen where she blogs about South Beach Diet recipes. Many, if not most, of her recipes are naturally gluten free or easily modified with minimal substitutions. But that doesn’t mean that they are missing any flavor! We’ve just loved everything we’ve made from Kalyn’s blog. (This is starting to sound like an Adopt a Gluten Free Blogger post…hmmm.) Thanks for the inspiration Kalyn!

Napa Cabbage Salad with Sesame-Ginger Dressing

Inspired by Kalyn’s Kitchen

This makes a lot so feel free to make only half but it is a great dish to take to a potluck or picnic.

8-10 cups napa cabbage, sliced or shredded

2 cups shredded carrots

2 cups red bell pepper, sliced, matchstick sized

1/2 cup green onions, sliced

2-1/2 cups edamame, shelled and cooked

1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds

Dressing:

1/4 cup rice vinegar

1 Tbsp sesame oil

1 tsp toasted sesame oil

1-2 Tbsp agave nectar or honey

1-1/2 Tbsp ginger, grated on your Microplane

1/4 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup olive oil, light-tasting, I used a light and fresh Spanish olive oil

Toss together all of the salad ingredients, except the sesame seeds, in the largest bowl you have. In a mason jar with a lid, mix together all of the dressing ingredients and give it a good shake. Taste and add more salt if needed. Or ginger. Or sweetener. Or whatever.

Start small and stir some of the dressing into the salad. Add more if you would like. Adjust it to your preferences. Top with sesame seeds.

If you won’t be eating this all at one time, I would suggest keeping the edamame in a separate bowl and adding it when just before eating it. Same with the sesame seeds. We were able to eat this salad for an entire week because I kept the salad and dressing ingredients separate until we were ready to eat it.

Do you have a favorite napa cabbage recipe?

This recipe was submitted to Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays over at Simply Sugar and Gluten Free. As well, this recipe was cross-posted over at Gluten Free Easily’s Virtual Support Group.

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We’ve only lived in New Mexico for a few years now. And before we moved, I knew virtually nothing about the state. But now I know one thing, they are passionate about their food, in particular their chile. In fact, the official state ‘question’ is: Green or Red? This of course, refers to green or red chile sauce. And no, it’s not ‘Texas’ chili with an ‘i’, that’s a soup or stew (I’m not going there, Texans!); it’s chile with an ‘e’, as in chile peppers.

You’ve probably heard of Hatch green chile and you’ve probably seen little cans of chopped green chile in the Hispanic foods section of your grocery. And to be honest, I had never really used them much. After moving here, that had to change, as everyone asks you which is your favorite, red or green, and you had better have an answer!

Unfortunately, the green and red chile sauces that are slathered over burgers and omelets and enchiladas and everything else, at the restaurants around here, are frequently made with flour. You should always ask. Sometimes the green chile sauce is made with cornstarch instead of flour. It’s even rarer to find a red chile sauce made with cornstarch. So for a couple of years, I had never eaten red chile sauce, not being adventurous to make my own. Last year though, a co-worker of mine mentioned she was making red chile enchiladas for another friend of hers with celiac disease and I mentioned that I had never eaten red chile before because of the flour issue. The next week, she brought me some for lunch as she had made the red chile with cornstarch and had decided that she preferred making it that way as compared to with flour. They were wonderful!

So, you’re probably asking, which is her favorite? I have to say that I like green better but maybe that is just because that is what I am most familiar with. And so recently, at our local Costco, they were selling huge jars of the 505 Roasted and Diced Green Chile (blue label). Of course I bought some, and every time I’ve been there since, and then I got to thinking about what I wanted to make with it (and all the other jars in the pantry now!). And since you all know I have been on an enchilada kick…here it is.

(Oh, and I forgot, pinto beans are big here in New Mexico too….)

New Mexican Green Chile and Pinto Bean Enchiladas

An original by Renee

1# potatoes, 1/4-1/2″ dice – I used yellow Dutch baby potatoes

1-1/2 cups of onions, diced

2-3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed

3 cups roasted and diced green chile (like 505), divided use

2-3 cups of Monterey Jack cheese, shredded

24 corn tortillas

sour cream

Fill a large pot with water and bring it to a boil. Add potatoes and cook potatoes until ‘al dente’ (Can you say that for potatoes?). Drain and reserve.

In a large skillet, saute the onions with a bit of oil. When they have softened, add the garlic and saute a minute or so longer. Stir in the spices and cook for a couple more minutes, stirring frequently. Then mix in beans, potatoes and 1/2-1 cup of green chile. Taste and add more chile if desired. (Some batches of chile are hotter than others. So depending on who you are feeding and their spice preferences…). I added 1 cup of chile to this batch. Heat through, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes. Then turn off the heat and stir in 1 + cups of cheese.

Preheat the oven to 375. Grease a couple of large baking dishes. Spread some green chile in a shallow, wide plate or bowl. Heat a small skillet, with a little drizzle of oil. Heat the tortillas, one at a time, flipping them over, until pliable. (This is key! Otherwise your tortillas will break when you roll them!) Add more oil as needed during the process.

Immediately turn the tortilla into the green chile and rub the chile all over both sides of the tortilla. Place tortilla in baking dish. Add filling (not too much!) and roll up, placing the seam side down in the dish. Continue with remaining tortillas and filling. Spread additional green chile over top of enchiladas and sprinkle with additional cheese. Bake for 20 minutes or so. Serve with sour cream to cool your mouth!

Option:

You could also omit the green chile in the filling and make Karina’s quickie green chile sauce (and her enchilada recipe is wonderful too!) and pour over the top before baking, then top with cheese. This would be a more traditional style of enchiladas, baked with a sauce.

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I have had a hankering for enchiladas. Especially after finding a huge jar of 505 Diced Roasted Green Chile at Costco. And after spotting some Kroger brand, jarred, gluten free enchilada sauces. I also had some Sandwich Petals languishing in the freezer that desperately need to be eaten.

Originally these were supposed to be rolled enchiladas. But, unfortunately, after defrosting the Sandwich Petals and warming them slightly in the microwave, they didn’t want to roll up very easily, and instead cracked, so I immediately came up with plan b, a warm and cheesy, gooey, enchilada casserole. Serve it up with a green salad and some gluten free cerveza (or Crispin hard cider, like I did!)

So… I don’t have a photo yet because we were too anxious to dig into this tonight and thus it was a little runny since we didn’t let it set up at all, which didn’t make for a good photo. Maybe later this week I will add one…?

Spinach and White Bean Enchilada Casserole

Recipe by Renee

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

2-3 cloves of garlic, minced

1-1/2 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp chipotle chili powder

2 cans white beans, drained and rinsed

1 can petite diced tomatoes

12 oz fresh spinach

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp sweet rice flour

2 cups milk, divided

4 oz cream cheese

12 corn tortillas, depending on size you may need more or less (or Sandwich Petals)

2 cups monterey jack cheese, shredded

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Heat oil in large saute pan. Add onions and saute until they are beginning to soften. Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds more. Add cumin and chipotle chili powder. Cook 1-2 minutes more. Mash up 1/4 of the white beans and add all beans to pan along with tomatoes. Stir well, add spinach and salt and cover pan. Cook until spinach is wilted. Then remove the lid and let it simmer while you prepare the white sauce. Simmer until most of the liquid has evaporated.

In a small saucepan, melt butter. Add flour and stir well. Slowly whisk in milk, a small amount at a time. Add cream cheese and cook until thickened, stirring frequently. (Thanks to Book of Yum for this aspect of the recipe.)

Spread a small amount of the white sauce into the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish. Arrange corn tortillas so that the bottom of the dish is covered (you may have to cut some in two to make it work). Spoon part of the bean mixture over tortillas, then a bit of the white sauce, then some of the monterey jack cheese. Repeat layers and top with a thicker layer of cheese on the very top. Bake until bubbly and cheese is beginning to brown, about 25 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to set up for about 10 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

And I just may have another enchilada recipe up my sleeve this week since I still have that giant jar of green chile in the cabinet!

This post is linked to Seasonal Sundays at Real Sustenance. As well, it is linked to Real Food Weekly at The WHOLE Gang. Click on over for more delicious recipes.

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We love chickpeas at our house! So I am always looking for new flavor combinations to try with them. I spotted an inspirational recipe a few months ago and it has been sitting here on the desk to try. And finally we did this last week. I switched things up a bit to fit our tastes and dietary needs and it was still delicious.

Chickpeas with Sausage and Sun Dried Tomatoes

Adapted from Dishing Up Delights

Makes 4-6 servings

1 Tbsp oil

1 large onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

12 oz soy chorizo, crumbled *

2 – 15 oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 cup sun-dried tomatoes, sliced

2-3 Tbsp fresh oregano, chopped *

2 Tbsp red wine vinegar

Salt and pepper

Sour cream or plain yogurt

Cooked rice or pasta

Heat the oil in a large skillet. Add onion and garlic and saute until the onions have softened. Add the sausage and chickpeas and cook until heated through (this vegetarian sausage was pre-cooked). Stir in the sun-dried tomatoes and oregano. Let cook for 1-2 minutes, then turn off heat and add vinegar, salt and pepper to taste.

We served this over brown rice. You could toss with cooked pasta as well. The soy chorizo made this quite spicy so I topped mine with a bit of plain yogurt to cool it off.

Notes:

* I used Trader Joe’s Soy Chorizo. It is quite spicy. Also, the texture is more like crumbled ground beef instead of pork sausage.

* We still have fresh oregano growing in the garden but you could just as easily used dried. I would start with about 1 Tbsp and see what you think.

I apologize for the photos over the next few month in advance. Since I have a day job, and the days are much shorter, most of my photos will be taken after dark, under my kitchen lighting, which isn’t very flattering and is pretty orangey, but it will have to do for now. No fancy equipment here…

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I used to love the Gardenburger Black Bean Chipotle Burgers, before they changed the formula. They used to be labeled gluten free. No longer. Boo.

Now the only choices for gluten free veggie burgers are Sunshine Burgers,which are okay, and Amy’s Bistro Burgers, which are pretty good. Or you can make your own.

I have only made homemade veggie burgers once or twice before and I can’t remember the results being that great as they didn’t become part of our normal repertoire. But I have seen a lot of veggie burger recipes floating around the blogosphere these days.  And recently, over at Gluten Free Homemaker, Linda posted a round-up of burgers on Gluten Free Wednesdays, some of which were vegetarian. So it had me thinking and looking around for some inspiration.

This is what I came up with. And yes, this is a keeper.

Sweet Potato, Quinoa and Black Bean Burgers

Inspired by Cupcake Punk and Fat Free Vegan

Makes about 12 medium-sized burgers

1 – 15 oz can of black beans, drained and rinsed

4 cloves of garlic, minced

2 large sweet potatoes, about 2-1/2 cups, cooked and mashed *

1 -1/2 cups quinoa, cooked and cooled *

1/2 cup chopped onion

3/4 cup bread crumbs, gluten free

2 Tbsp ketchup

1 tsp chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, gluten free *

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Mash up about half of the black beans in a bowl. Add the other ingredients and mix up well. Form into patties and pan-fry in some oil until browned on both sides. Serve on buns with all the fixings, if you desire. (Canyon Bakehouse now has gluten free hamburger buns and I hear they are pretty tasty! I haven’t tried them yet.)

We ate our burgers bun-less with some baby artichokes (yes, an unusual combination). Later that week I ate the leftovers bun-less with some barbecue sauce and pickles and that was great too. The barbecue sauce was a nice companion to the sweetness of the potato.

I also experimented with the cooking method. Half of the burgers I pan-fried in a little bit of oil. The other half I cooked on my little-used George Foreman grill. We preferred the pan-fried ones as they held together better and they browned slightly. It seemed like the grill didn’t cook them much at all. In the picture above, the burger on the right was done on the grill (you can still see the grill marks) and the burger on the left was pan-fried.

Notes:

* I microwaved two large sweet potatoes and then split them open and scooped out the inside and mashed it up.

* You could saute the onions and garlic if you desire but I liked the slight crunchiness of the raw onion in the burgers.

* I used leftover quinoa, so I measured 1-1/2 of that after cooking. I am not sure how much you would need to cook in order to end up with 1-1/2 cups of cooked quinoa.

* Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce are not always gluten free, some have flour added. Double-check. Open the can, dump it all the food processor and whirl it until it is evenly blended and the whole peppers are all blended. Then take out what you need and freeze the rest. I never use a full can all at once and typically just use a teaspoon or so here or there. I keep it in a freezer container and scoop out just what I need.

* I think I might add more chipotle next time.

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Every time I make this meal, my husband comments that it “smells like Thanksgiving”, essentially because of the liberal use of sage. This is a family favorite that I have been making for years. I wasn’t sure where I found the original recipe but when I did a Google search I found a very similar recipe at Epicurious. The meat-eaters out there may enjoy that version although my meatless version is quite hearty and delicious too. We serve ours over Trader Joe’s Brown Rice Penne. I think this would also go well over polenta.

White Beans in Tomato Sauce with Sage

Adapted from Epicurious

1 Tbsp olive oil

2 cups chopped carrot

2 cups chopped onion

1 cup chopped celery

3 cloves of garlic, minced

3/4 tsp sage

2 – 15 oz cans of cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

1 – 14 oz can diced tomatoes

1/2 cup vegetable broth or water

Cooked pasta, 3/4 – 1 pound

In a large skillet, heat the oil. Add the carrots, onions and celery and saute for about 10 minutes, until they are beginning to soften. Stir in the garlic and sage. Cook for about 30 seconds. Add the beans, tomatoes and broth. Bring to a boil, turn down heat and simmer for about 10 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve over pasta.

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If you haven’t checked out Tasty Kitchen, I would highly recommend it. It is a project of Ree Drummond of The Pioneer Woman. Lots of goodies and plenty of inspiration over there. And you can also post your own recipes too, if you’re so inclined. I saw the following recipe and although I have another recipe similar to this one (Creamy Chickpea Curry), I thought I would try this version, substituting the chicken of course. I liked the inclusion of the additional vegetables with the broccoli slaw.

It was very tasty, although, right off the bat, I began changing it up to fit our tastes and needs.

Red Curry Coconut Noodles

Adapted from nika at Tasty Kitchen

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 onion, julienned

2 red bell peppers, julienned

1 Tbsp fresh ginger, grated

1-1/2 tsp red curry paste

2 – 15 oz cans light coconut milk

2 –  15 oz cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 cup packaged broccoli slaw

1/4 cup sweet Thai chili sauce

1 package of rice noodles, such as these

2-4 cups vegetable broth

1 tsp salt

1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

Heat oil in your largest skillet. Saute onions and peppers in oil until they are beginning to soften. Add ginger and saute another minute. Stir in the curry paste and cook for 2-3 minutes. Pour in coconut milk. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer. Add chickpeas, broccoli slaw and chili sauce. Add rice noodles and enough broth to cover the noodles. Cook until noodles are tender. Stir in salt to taste. Serve in large bowls topped with cilantro.

Notes:

* The original version called for full fat coconut milk (2 cans!), I used the lower fat version and added a bit of olive oil for sauteing.

* I think you could omit the Thai chili sauce. The curry paste dominates the flavor and the chili sauce is lost.

* This was great as leftovers except that the broccoli slaw pieces got really hard and were not good the next day. Omit these if you plan on eating as leftovers.

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This dish was part of our Meal Plan a couple of weeks ago. Since I linked up to the original recipe, I wasn’t going to report on it here again but then I realized that over the years I have changed up the recipe to suit our needs better. So here is our version. Don’t be afraid of the polenta, it is super easy and this is one of my favorite ways to make polenta as it stays quite soft and creamy.

And I am sorry that the picture isn’t more appetizing – it really is delicious! Serve with a tossed salad to get in your green vegetables.

Italian White Beans with Polenta

Adapted from Cooking Light magazine

1 tbsp olive oil

1-2 medium onions, chopped *

1/8 tsp red pepper

4 cloves garlic

1 bay leaf

1/2 cup water

2 – 15 oz cans of white beans, drained and rinsed *

1-1/2 tbsp white wine vinegar *

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp black pepper

Polenta:

4 cups water

1/2 tsp salt *

1-1/4 cup cornmeal

1 Tbsp butter

1/3 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese

Fresh grated Parmesan cheese, for serving

Heat the oil in a skillet. Add onions and saute until they are beginning to soften. Add pepper, garlic and bay leaf. Saute 2 minutes. Stir in the water and beans. Cook until the beans are heated through. Stir in vinegar, salt and pepper. Discard the bay leaf and serve over the polenta with parmesan on top.

To make the polenta, bring the water and salt to a boil in a large, deep pot. (Polenta  will bubble and splatter.) Reduce the heat to medium and slowly whisk in the cornmeal to avoid lumps. Whisk until it thickens, about 5-7 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in the butter and cheese and serve.

Notes:

* Onions – we like a lot of onions. You can use less if you’d like.

* White Beans – I use either Great Northern or Cannellini beans. Both work.

* White wine vinegar – It can be found with the other specialty vinegar at your local grocery store. We like vinegar  and we like to taste it, so I use a lot in this dish. You can use less if you’d like.

* Salt – I don’t always salt my polenta water. It won’t affect anything if you don’t use it.

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Now there are lots of ways to make a taco salad. But it is fun to switch it up a bit based upon what you have on hand. This time we had almost everything to make a perfect taco salad; beans, peppers, roasted corn, avocado, cilantro, tomatoes.

The taco salad I grew up eating had a dressing that went with it, instead of just having salsa and sour cream on top. It was made from Thousand Island salad dressing, salsa and sugar. My mom used ground beef and crumbled up Fritos on top of the salad. You could use 1/2 pound of ground beef and one can of beans if you wanted. We use all beans. This is our version of taco salad.

Taco Salad

1 Tbsp oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped

1 pkg taco seasoning *

2/3 cup water

2 – 15 oz cans of beans, drained and rinsed *

1/2 cup Thousand Island salad dressing

2 Tbsp salsa

2 Tbsp sugar

Lettuce

Cheese, shredded

Tomatoes, chopped

Roasted corn *

Cilantro

Avocado, diced

Salsa *

Sour cream

Corn chips, crumbled

Heat the oil in a skillet. Add onions and peppers. Saute until they are beginning to get soft. Stir in the seasoning packet and cook for 1 minute. Add in beans and water. Cook for 5-10 minutes or until most of the water has evaporated.

Mix together the salad dressing, salsa and sugar.

Top lettuce with warm bean mixture and shredded cheese. Add some dressing and whatever else you desire.

Notes:

* Be sure the ingredients are gluten free. I like to use a low-sodium version.

* Use any type of beans; kidney, black, pinto, etc. This time I used one can of pinto and one can of white kidney beans.

* Trader Joe’s has frozen roasted corn. I cooked up a small portion in the microwave.

* Salsa – I made Pioneer Woman’s Restaurant Style Salsa today and loved it. So easy. But I made it with what I had on hand. I used one 28 oz can of diced tomatoes, one 10 oz can of Rotel tomatoes with Green Chiles, a very small onion, 1 Tbsp lime juice, 1 clove of garlic, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/4 sugar, 1/4 tsp cumin and a couple handfuls of cilantro. No jalapenos on hand so I didn’t add them. The green chiles in the Rotel tomatoes give it a little bit of a spicy kick.

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