Bryanna Clark Grogan’s Vegan Feast Kitchen/ 23rd Century Table

Yesterday, I didn't get around to thinking about what to make for dinner until late afternoon. Rummaging through the fridge for ideas, I saw the black beans that I had cooked the day before, and decided to make a bean stew of some sort, to go with the cooked rice I had in the freezer, and the kale I had picked out of the garden.

Finding some red and green bell peppers, a sweet potato, and some unique new seitan that I made a few days before (see the note about where to find the recipe in the ingredient list of the recipe below) gave me the idea for a spicy black bean and roasted vegetable stew, which resulted in this recipe.

It was a hit-- my husband declared it his favorite bean stew to date! And what's not to like?  Spicy, hearty, full of vegetables and protein and good flavors.  I hope you'll give it a try.


Printable Copy

BRYANNA'S SPICY SPUR-OF-THE-MOMENT MELANGE OF BLACK BEANS, ROASTED VEGETABLES AND SEITAN (OR ALTERNATIVE)
Serves 6 to 8

Roasted or Broiled Vegetable/Seitan Mixture:
1 large red bell pepper, seeded and cut into approximately 3/4” chunks
1 large green bell pepper, seeded and cut into approximately 3/4” chunks
1 medium sweet potato, peeled and cut into 3/4” chunks
2-3 cups of seitan strips (Or, alternatively, you could use reconstituted Soy Curls™️, smoked tempeh or smoked tofu instead.)
(For the seitan, I used the “Pulled Phauxrk” [pronounced like “fork”] recipe from https://avocadosandales.com/2018/02/06/pulled-phauxrk/, which is amazing!)
about 2 tablespoons of dark sesame oil
smoked sweet or hot paprika
salt to taste
Rest of the Melange:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 large cloves garlic, peeled and minced
4 cups cooked or canned black beans (use 2/ 19 oz. cans), rinsed and drained
2 cups vegan broth
14 oz. whole or diced canned tomatoes and juice (If tomatoes are whole, chop them roughly.)
2 tsp. EACH dried thyme and oregano
1 bay leaf
1 chopped canned chipotle chile in adobo sauce, with the a little of the sauce
(Idea: Freeze the rest of the chiles and sauce in the can in an ice cube tray, then pop the frozen chiles and sauce into a freezer container or bag to use in other dishes.) 
liquid smoke to taste (about 1 teaspoon)
Serve with:
steamed rice
braised greens with garlic

Making the Roasted or Broiled Vegetable/Seitan Mixture:
Place the pepper chunks, sweet potato chunks and seitan in a 9 x 13” baking pan and toss with the sesame oil, smoked paprika and salt to taste.  

Now, there are two ways to cook the veggie/seitan mixture (well, three ways actually-- you could grill it, but I'll leave that up to you!)-- roasting or broiling. If you want to roast, place the pan in a preheated 450°F oven and roast for about 15-20 minutes, tossing once or twice, or until the vegetables are tender but not falling apart, and a bit browned. If you want to broil (my choice), add a few squirts of water from a squeeze bottle to the pan and place the pan  about 4 inches under your broiler coils; turn broiler on to High.  Broil until the mixture until the vegetables are tender but not falling apart (adding a few more squirts of water if they are getting too dry), and a bit browned, and the seitan is a bit charred (but not too much!).  Remove from the oven and set aside.

To make the Rest of the Melange:
Saute the chopped onions and garlic in the olive oil in your wok or stew pot or large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat until softened and perhaps a bit browned. Another option, which will allow you to proceed with the next part of the recipe, is to cook the onions and garlic in the olive oil in a covered microwave-safe pie pan or casserole with a lid. Cook on High for about 5 minutes, then scrape into your pot or pan.

Add the beans, broth, tomatoes, the Roasted or Broiled Vegetable/Seitan Mixture, thyme, oregano, bay leaf, chopped chipotle chile with its sauce, and the liquid smoke.  Mix thoroughly but gently with a large spoon. Bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer, cover and cook for about 20 minutes.  (That's enough time to cook some rice, if you haven't done it already.) 


Taste for salt and serve with the rice and braised greens.


Nutrition Facts
Nutrition (per serving): 319 calories, 70 calories from fat, 8g total fat, 0mg cholesterol, 468.2mg sodium, 847.1mg potassium, 45.1g carbohydrates, 13.2g fiber, 7.5g sugar, 20.5g protein, 9.2 points.

Enjoy!

You might have noticed that I haven't been posting much for the last few months.  Since I retired  from the library where I worked for 36 years, I have been slowly trying to weed out my belongings and re-organize the storage in our small house-- particularly in my office, closets and the kitchen.  So, that has kept me busy.  But, aside from that, my husband and I are striving to eat less and to eat more simply-- not just because of reduced income, but also because we are getting older and need to keep an eye on our health.  We are both well and active, but need to lose some weight.

Consequently, we eat homemade soup almost every day for lunch (sometimes we switch it up and have soup for dinner and a more substantial meal at lunchtime). We also eat bean dishes frequently. The following recipe is a variation on one that I wrote for the 1st (2008) issue of Dr. Neal Bernard's Program for Reversing Diabetes (I developed almost all of the recipes in that book.-- all virtually fat-free, low in sodium, high-fiber, vegan.)  It has remained a favorite over the years and is so easy to make. (I cook my own beans of various kinds and freeze them in 2-cup quantities.)  I hope you'll enjoy it as much as we do.


Printable Recipe

BRYANNA'S QUICK, SPICY FULL-MEAL BLACK BEAN & SWEET POTATO SOUP (Very low in fat)
Servings: 6
The combination of black beans and sweet potatoes is always enticing, but especially so in this soup with Caribbean flavors.

4 cups cooked or canned (2/ 19 ounce cans) black beans, rinsed and drained
4 cup tasty vegetarian broth
4 tsp tomato paste
3/4 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce/tamari
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon garlic granules
3/4 teaspoon dried thyme
3/8 teaspoon ground allspice
1 bay leaf
1 Chipotle vegan sausage, crumbled (or use a large vegan Italian sausage and add some Sriracha or other hot sauce to taste)-- I prefer Field Roast
4-6 green onions, chopped
1 lb sweet potato, peeled and diced

Mix together the beans, broth, tomato paste, vinegar, soy sauce, salt, garlic granules, allspice, and thyme in a blender or food processor. Puree briefly.  (You can also do this inside the soup pot with a hand immersion blender.)  Pour into a medium-sized pot.


Add the bay leaf, crumbled vegan sausage, green onions, and sweet potato.  Bring to a boil, stirring now and then.  Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes. (Or you could cook this in a pressure cooker or Instant Pot for about 7 minutes, and use natural pressure release for at least 10 minutes.) Serve hot.

NOTE: for the garnish shown in the photos, have some cooked brown rice ready and kept warm -- short grain is great for this because it is stickier than long grain.  When you have the soup served out in wide bowls or soup plates, pack a 1/2-cup measuring cup (rinsed with water before using) with the rice, pressing down so that it is compact.  Overturn the measuring cup over the soup, tapping the bottom of the cup to dislodge the packed rice intact. (You may need to use a knife to help dislodge it from the cup, but I've never had a mishap with this. This time I used a straight-sided measuring cup, but a slope-sided cup makes a pretty mound and the rice may be easier to dislodge from it.) Repeat for all the servings.


Nutrition Facts
Nutrition (per serving): 261 calories, 28 calories from fat, 3.1g total fat, 0mg cholesterol, 1161.5mg sodium, 677.7mg potassium, 45.2g carbohydrates, 13.3g fiber, 5.6g sugar, 16.1g protein, 7.6 points.

Enjoy!

This was definitely Brownie Day for me!  I posted three past brownie recipes from this blog on Facebook today (Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies, Chai-Almond Brownies with Double Ginger Gelato, and my Almost No-Fat Brownies), and a new post here on this blog with a recipe for S'more Brownies that I had previously developed for my now-defunct newsletter.  But I just had to make some, even though DH and I are on Weight Watchers again.  So, I decided to test out an idea I'd been thinking about for quite a while.  If it turned out, we'd taste-test a couple each and freeze the rest for our company who will be here over the holidays.

Those of you who read my blog may have read the entry about the black beans and brownie mix recipe that I tried from the Internet. I followed the directions and used canned black beans and their juice. The texture wasn't bad, but it tasted so "bean-y". But not "nice bean- was determined to make my own version, though, because it intrigued me to use black beans as part of the fat and instead of the eggs in a brownie. My omni friends had no idea there were beans in these brownies, and gobbled them up!  But they were quite rich for my style of cooking and I wanted to test out a fat-free version of the black bean brownies as well as for the okara brownie variation that I had also developed from that recipe.

So, below is the result of today's labors, the vegan butter replaced with applesauce to eliminate the fat (except in any nuts you care to add), and the method streamlined.  Another blogger had tried my original recipe but had forgotten to add the vegan butter-- but they still rated high with her and her tasters, so, I was confident that they would be acceptable without the fat.  But I was nervous that just leaving out the vegan butter would result in a dry brownie, so when I made them today I used a thick, smooth, unsweetened organic applesauce in place of the vegan butter, in both the black bean brownies and in the okara variation (yes, I made both!).  They both turned out to be amazingly rich-tasting and moist, without having that raw, over-gooey texture that I dislike. (And the nutrition stats are pretty good, too! In my original recipe, I cut it into 20 squares and the plain, no-options-added brownie contained 195 calories and almost 10 g fat. With the new recipe, you can cut it into 16 larger squares and each one [no nuts]contains only 159 calories and about 1.5 g fat.)

You will notice that there is only 1/2 cup flour to 1 1/4 cups cocoa powder-- this is one reason that the brownies are so chocolate-y despite containing no solid chocolate.  Also, you will notice that I bake the brownies at a low temperature (300°F) for fairly long time compared to other brownie recipes. This ensures the proper fudgy-ness without what I consider that distasteful raw texture and taste.

I'm going to use this version from now on-- who needs the fat?  A bonus-- I have goodies for my company in the freezer!

In this post about my new Cuisinart electric pressure cooker, I promised to post the very first recipe I tried in it, so I am doing so in today's post.  It's actually a vegan adaptation of a recipe that was in the instruction booklet that came with the pressure cooker.  I decided to try their recipe (more or less) so that I could learn the ins and outs of the cooker.  I didn't want to wing it with my own recipe until I knew what I was doing-- how much liquid you could use, etc., etc.

I chose the black bean soup because I love black beans, I had some in my pantry, and they are so good for you!  (See this info.)  It was a delicious whole-meal soup-- I will definitely make it again!  And it was finished in about an hour, with very little effort on my part, from UN-soaked dried beans!

Printable Recipe

BRYANNA’S VEGAN VERSION OF PRESSURE COOKER Cuban Black Bean Soup (with SPICY vegan sausage option)

Enjoy!

"Border Beans"

I'm late blogging this week, I know. Too many things going on at once! But I spent much of the day today doing some cooking. I made my homemade low-fat mayonnaise, black bean soup, and tofu onion dip to eat with baby carrots. I put okara from my last batch of soymilk in the food dryer to dehydrate for for making okara parmesan tomorrow. I made a gooey dessert for my stepson and his lady who are coming tonight or tomorrow, and, for dinner, Argentine Shepherd's Pie from my soy cookbook. (Shepherd's Pie of any sort is a favorite of DH's.) (Yes, I do use my own cookbooks!)

Argentine Shepherd's Pie (recipe here) has a Latin American Piccadillo type of filling with Yves Veggie Ground Round, tomatoes, sliced green olives, spices, etc.

The Gooey Dessert: Almost No-Fat Brownies (from my Holiday cookbook)-- I baked 1/2 the recipe in a 7-inch round cake pan to make 4 flattish wedges. Drizzled them with my homemade vegan "Manjar Blanco", which is the Peruvian term for Dulce de Leche (recipe in my book "World Vegan Feast") and topped them with pecans, pumpkin seeds and peanuts toasted with a little vegan butter (try my homemade palm oil free vegan Buttah). Too good!

I also made our favorite simple bean dish, a vegan version of a recipe from my first mother-in-law, Ruth Stuhr Clark, the mother of my late husband, my children's dad, Wayne Clark. The recipe is called "Border Beans" (recipe below; photo above & below). It is in my very 1st cookbook. She made it with pinto beans, garlic, oregano, chile pequin, and a ham hock. I think my adaptation has a very similar flavor. The pinto beans are creamy and satisfying, but the broth is one of the best parts. I absolutely crave this at times!  We eat it plain, or with bread or rice, and we use it as a basic recipe for beans in many dishes.

But today I cooked it in a different fashion than usual. Ruth cooked this dish on top of the stove, after a long soaking, and that's what I've done for, I hate to say it, almost 45 years! (I got married very young!) But this time I wanted to try out what some people call "The Russ Parsons Method". Russ Parsons is Food editor for the LA Times and the author of "How to Read a French Fry".

Before I go on, I want to mention how I found this method. I have read SO many times that you should not salt your beans or use a salted broth to cook them, or it will impede cooking, make the beans tough, etc.. However, I have always used salt or a salted broth to cook my beans, with no problems whatsoever. So, I was interested to see that food scientists are endeavoring to get the word out that this just isn't so! It's important because adding salt at the end doesn't produce as rounded a flavor.

Cook's Illustrated magazine, Saveur magazine, and Fine Cooking all have had articles on this. In fact, Cook's Illustrated advises a salty soak for the beans-- brining, in effect. "Why does soaking dried beans in salted water make them cook up with softer skins? It has to do with how the sodium ions in salt interact with the cells of the bean skins. As the beans soak, the sodium ions replace some of the calcium and magnesium ions in the skins. Because sodium ions are weaker than mineral ions, they allow more water to penetrate into the skins, leading to a softer texture. During soaking, the sodium ions will only filter partway into the beans, so their greatest effect is on the cells in the outermost part of the beans." Cook's Illustrated.  You can read more here and here.

Food scientists Shirley Corriher and Harold McGee also concur. So I feel pretty good about following my instincts!

In the course of researching this, I also read what I had always suspected-- that the real culprits in terms of slowing down cooking are acidic ingredients, like vinegar, citrus fruits, tomatoes; calcium and magnesium, which may be in your water; and sugar, such as molasses. So you can add those things (well, the water depends on where you live!) towards the end of cooking-- or not. It turns out that, although these things slow down the cooking (the absorption of water into the beans, actually), that may not always be a bad thing. Slower cooking produces not only more flavor, but beans that have intact skins (for the most part) and hold their shape.

Another thing I came across were different viewpoints on soaking beans before cooking. The food scientists seem to say that it might speed up cooking a bit, and it might help with digestive problems, but you lose some nutrients. Mexican cooks don't soak their beans and they eat beans 3 times a day (or so I'm told). Rick Bayless and Diana Kennedy (famous cookbook authors who specialize in Mexican cooking) don't soak. Neither does Melissa Guerra, a Texas cookbook writer. Food scientists tell us that if you eat beans often, they don't have the same effect as on people who eat beans infrequently. Anyway, it's getting late and I don't want to go on and on, but a good case has been made for not soaking if you don't feel like it or don't have the time.

BUT, apparently, Old World beans such as fava or broad beans, kidney beans, and soybeans cook better when soaked, whereas New World beans [most of the others] do not. Cultural customs in regards to soaking seem to reflect this. Note: I never soak chickpeas, however, and neither does Chef Mark Bittman.
IMPORTANT UPDATE: 
Use only dried white navy beans or Great Northern beans or split (white) urad dal for making white bean flour, or purchase bean flour made from only one of those varieties. (Chickpea flour is fine, too.)  
DO NOT use cannellini beans, red or white kidney beans, butter beans, broad beans or lima beans for making flour; nor should you use those 6 varieties of beans whole, soaked (but raw) and blended into recipes to be cooked or baked. Those 6 varieties of beans all need to be soaked for at least 5 hours, water discarded, and then boiled in fresh water for 10 to 15 minutes before simmering until tender before eating.  This eliminates toxic lectins which can cause all sorts of digestive distress in some people.  
And be advised that slow-cookers do not always get hot enough to get rid of the toxin, so soak and boil as advised above before finishing in a slow-cooker.  If using a pressure cooker to cook kidney beans or the other 4 varieties mentioned as problematic, you do not need to pre-boil for 10 minutes as the very high temperatures reached inside the pressure cooker are adequate to destroy the toxin, but definitely soak first and discard the water. (Info from this article.)
The toxin in white kidney beans at about 1/3rd the concentration of red kidney beans, and broad (fava) beans, butter beans and lima beans at about 5 to 10%. 

Don't panic about lectins, but be informed-- see https://authoritynutrition.com/dietary-lectins/  
and http://www.medic8.com/healthguide/food-poisoning/red-kidney-bean-toxins.html

Which brings us to the Russ Parsons method of cooking unsoaked beans in a heavy pot in the oven, with salt or salted broth, and less liquid than you are probably accustomed to in a relatively slow oven. So many people raved about it online (and huge, long forum threads are dedicated to discussing this on the eGullet forums: see here and here).

The method was said to produce a superior bean in terms of flavor, appearance and texture, AND a tastier bean broth. Sounds like a good thing for a vegan, I thought! So I adapted my Border Bean recipe and gave it a try-- I was very happy with the results! The beans cooked in 90 minutes, BTW. Fresher beans would probably have taken less time. (I also tried black beans and they did take longer to cook.)

In the near future I am going to play around with other methods, such as pressure cooker and slow-cooker, and will blog about the results. (My daughter Sarah uses a slow-cooker with boiling water and cooks the UN-soaked beans on High for 90 minutes-- she says it works every time.)  I suspect that certain methods may be better than others depending on what you will be using the beans for.
 (UPDATE, 2016: I now use the slowcooker method, starting with cold water (in my Instant Pot), for many beans, especially those destined for the freezer [because you can stop cooking before they get mushy].  In some slowcookers they may need more time.  BUT DO NOT use this method for red kidney beans and a few other varieties of beans-- see IMPORTANT UPDATE highlighted in pink above.



Printable Recipe

BRYANNA'S VEGAN BORDER BEANS AND “REFRIED” BEANS- NO-SOAK, OVEN-BAKED VERSION
Makes 6-8 servings

3 cups pinto beans
Tip: OR you can use small red or pink beans or black beans, or even Romano beans— but NOT kidney beans. (see IMPORTANT UPDATE highlighted in pink above).
6 cups HOT good-tasting vegan broth (see here about good-tasting vegan "chicken" broth, and here about mushroom broth-- I like to use 1/2 and 1/2)
5 cloves garlic, chopped
1 to 3 dried red chiles, crumbled (she used chile pequins)
2 teaspoons dried oregano
a few dashes of liquid smoke (see this post for info on this ingredient)
OPTIONAL: 1-2 tablespoons dark sesame oil (I use this tasty oil in place of bacon or pork fat)
OPTIONAL: 1-2 tablespoons soy “bacon” chips or bits

No need to soak the beans. Heat the oven to 325°F. Put the dry beans in a 3-quart (or larger) Dutch oven or pot with a tight-fitting lid. Some people prefer a clay bean pot. Add the hot broth and the other ingredients EXCEPT the sesame oil. Place on the lid and bake for 75 minutes. Check the beans and stir them. If they are tender, take them out of the oven. If they aren't done, put them back in for 15 minute intervals until they are, adding a cup of hot water if they seem to be drying out. This will take at most 2 hours, but will probably take less than 90 minutes. (The time is dependent on the freshness of the beans, and also the type of beans-- black beans take longer than pintos, for instance.)  Add the sesame oil and taste for salt. The beans will be a bit “soupy”—the broth is delicious!

TO MAKE “REFRIED” BEANS: I don’t use any fat in these. I just use a very large heavy skillet over high heat and dump in the amount of beans I want to “re-fry”, along with some of the broth. I mash them with a potato masher while cooking the broth down. After they are mashed, I use a wooden spoon to keep the mixture moving, so it doesn’t stick (don’t leave them for a minute!) When the beans are the consistency I like, I remove them from the heat. Easy!

Printable Recipe

BRYANNA'S VEGAN BORDER BEANS AND “REFRIED” BEANS- STOVE TOP VERSION
Makes 6-8 servings
This is a slightly different version than in my 1st cookbook. UPDATE: If you have an Instant Pot, you can cook this recipe on the SlowCook function, medium, for 3 hours, and the beans should be perfectly cooked!
If you use an ordinary slowcooker, it may take up to 9 hours, depending on the cooker, so start in the evening for an overnight simmering, or in the morning for your dinner that evening.

3 cups pinto beans (or you can use small red or pink beans or black beans, or even Romano beans-— but NOT red kidney beans. (See IMPORTANT UPDATE highlighted in pink above.)
8 cups good-tasting vegan broth (see here about good-tasting vegan "chicken" broth, and here about mushroom broth-- I like to use 1/2 and 1/2)
5 cloves garlic, chopped
1 to 3 dried red chiles, crumbled (she used chile pequins)
2 teaspoons dried oregano
a few dashes of liquid smoke (see this post for info on this ingredient)
OPTIONAL: 2 tablespoons dark sesame oil (I use this tasty oil in place of bacon or pork fat)
OPTIONAL: 2 tablespoons soy “bacon” chips or bits

Soak the pinto beans in 9 cups water overnight. Drain and discard the water and place the soaked beans in a large pot with the remaining ingredients EXCEPT the sesame oil. Bring to a boil, boil about 3 minutes, then turn down and simmer, covered, for 2 to 3 hours, or until the beans are very tender. Add the sesame oil and taste for salt. The beans will be a bit “soupy”— the broth is delicious!

TO MAKE “REFRIED” BEANS: I don’t use any fat in these. I just use a very large heavy skillet over high heat and dump in the amount of beans I want to “re-fry”, along with some of the broth. I mash them with a potato masher while cooking the broth down. After they are mashed, I use a wooden spoon to keep the mixture moving, so it doesn’t stick (don’t leave them for a minute!) When the beans are the consistency I like, I remove them from the heat. Easy!

Enjoy!

Italian kale from our garden patch

I have to tell you that DH and I are NOT gardeners! We both don't like gardening much (I'm almost afraid to admit that around here!), and our soil is very rocky, but DH has made a fertile little patch and then we grow some hot-weather plants in pots on our back deck-- enough to keep us in fresh greens, herbs, and tomatoes for the summer and fall, with a few things in the freezer.

Below are some photos of our VERY modest little veggie patch, and potted plants on out back deck.




A view of some of the plants on the deck (tomatoes, peppers, basil, parsley, etc.)


Basil!

More greens:
Beets

Chard

Russian kale

While I'm at it, here are some views of the woods and greenery around our house:

View from the back deck


View from the living room window

**Back to the eating sort of greenery-- I picked a big bowl of mixed greens the other day and at the same time made a batch of my lower-fat guacamole, and then I had to figure out something to do with them that didn't involve tortillas or tortilla chips (which I didn't have on hand). So below is what I came up with, and it was good!

Below that are some family photos.:)


Masa Crepes with Green Filling, Topped with Black Bean and Corn Salsa and Lower-Fat Guacamole (UPDATE: the recipe will be in my new book coming up at the end of  August 2011!)



And now, proud Nonna has to show off a little!


My granddaughter H. at her piano recital.

5-year-old grandson L., seen here playing swordsman, is now reading whole books by himself!


Here he is playing hockey for the first time:


Two more granddaughters (who are stepsisters, one already 10 and one about to be 10) got their yellow belts in tai kwon do on Saturday:

Going through their paces:



F. doing her high kick.


M. doing her high kick.

Proud moment!

F. on the far left, and M. on the far right.

Enjoy!