How to Cook Garbanzo Beans in Pressure Cooker In 30 Minutes Flat :: Quick Easy Vegan Recipe

Writing this how-to I assumed you've used a pressure cooker before. If you have not, learn how. Pressure cookers have improved safety vastly in the past few years, save lots of time and energy and are very versatile. I learned a LOT from Miss Vickie's website and you can too!

You will need:
Pressure cooker with rack.
Med stainless or glass bowl with high sides.
Timer.

Ingredients:
1/2 c garbanzo beans (chickpeas) soaked for 8 hours or more.
6 cups water.

Do this:
Put 4 cups water in bottom of pressure cooker with rack inside.
Rinse soaked beans and place in bowl with 2 cups water.
Place bowl with beans and water in cooker on top of rack.
Put the top on and seal your cooker.
Set timer for 30 minutes.
Bring your cooker up to pressure at high heat then turn heat down only enough so it stays at pressure.
When timer goes off release pressure under running cold water, being careful not to block steam vent.
Open the cooker, carefully remove the extremely hot bowl containing the cooked beans. Drain and serve beans as desired.

The Condiment Chronicles :: Vegan Mayo De-Classified

The word is out. The mystery is solved. The myth de-bunked. You CAN make delicious mayo at home, cheap, without bothering any hens! (graphic)

Who knew it was this easy? Vegan Epicurean knew!

After reading the article with the original recipe about what she did, Here's what I did:

I went to BigLots and got a $2 bottle of canola oil, so this was REALLY cheap. I used one cup of oil (50c) and a 1/2 cup of soy milk ($3.50 for a 1/2 gallon, even cheaper when I make the soymilk myself) and the price of the spices and salt. That isn't very expensive to make over a cup of mayo.

Vegan Mayonnaise on the Cheap!

1 1/4 cup canola oil

1/2 cup plain soy milk (very slightly sweet so I left out the sweetener called for in the original recipe)

1/4 tsp vinegar

1 tbs lemon juice 

1/2 tsp salt

Put all in blender with whatever seasonings you want (I used 1/2 tsp dried mustard but you should adjust the salt, sweetness and tartness to your personal taste. It's only as good as you spice it)

If you have a high speed blender you should be able to whip this up in about 30 seconds. With a regular blender, you may have to mix longer.

Makes about a cup and a half of mayo

Scrape the mayo into a jar with a tight lid and store in the fridge. 

I will let you know how long it stores sometime in the future! It should last as long as the milk is good and when it's mixed with vinegar, salt and oil I think the milk should last a while in the fridge. We'll see. Let me know if you find out first!

Steamed Collard Greens

2 cups collard greens, diced
2 tbs chopped onion
4 tbs finely chopped sun-dried tomatoes.
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cumin
2 cups water
2-3 grinds of pepper

Cook all together in saucepan until well reduced.
Drain and use the liquid as broth.

Vegan Buttermilk Biscuit Recipe

Southern Style Vegan Buttermilk Biscuits













Pre-heat oven to 450F

2 cups flour
4 tsp aluminum free baking powder 
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

4 tbs olive oil

1 cup chilled vegan buttermilk (1 cup chilled vegan milk of your choice, add 2 tbs vinegar or lemon juice, stir well, allow to thicken in fridge about 10 minutes)

In a chilled bowl mix dry ingredients well.
Cut in oil until it's a crumbly texture. Use a cold fork, you fingers will make it too warm and you won't get the crumb-like texture you want.
Add chilled buttermilk and stir until a thick dough forms.
Turn out on a heavily floured board and sprinkle flour on top then fold dough over onto itself. Continue to sprinkle and fold until you have a workable dough that you can roll out and cut. Don't over work.
Roll out to about an 3/4" thick
Cut with a 2" biscuit cutter and arrange on dry baking sheet with the circles barely touching each other.
Bake 15-20 minutes until golden brown on top.

This recipe made 14 biscuits.

Really easy, really good, 100% veganized for your convenience.

Next time I will use 3 tbs oil and 1/4 tsp salt, but these are DEE-LICIOUS! I'm going to serve them with vegan gravy and steamed collard greens.

Kasha and Bowties

1 c raw kasha (whole buckwheat groats)
1 c uncooked bowtie pasta (farfalle)
1 tbs olive oil (for frying)
1 med onion, chopped
about 8 med brown mushrooms, chopped
1.5 c vegetable broth, boiling in lidded saucepan

Boil and drain bowties. Set aside.
Heat oil in skillet add chopped onion and mushrooms and saute until soft and translucent.
Ad kasha and stir constantly until it begins to turn brown and smell toasty.
Pour sauteed kasha mixture in to boiling broth.
Lid saucepan and lower heat to simmer.
Simmer until liquid is absorbed.
Add bowties.
Stir and serve.

Super Easy, Super Cheesy Dairy Free Multi-Purpose Un-Cheese Sauce

I'm making steamed brocolli for dinner tonight so I made a vegan cheese sauce. I know I posted this recipe before but I've been making it and tweaking it each time and I think this is about the best it's ever turned out so I'm posting this new, updated version of multi-purpose cheese flavored sauce for making vegan macaroni and cheese, for pouring over vegetables, great on baked potato, nachos, quesadilla, in casseroles... I even put it on vegan pizza the other day, fantastic!

Super Easy, Super Cheesy Sauce

1/3 cup nutritional yeast

1/3 cup rolled oats

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp paprika (optional. Makes it more orange colored)

2 cloves garlic

1 tbs tahini

1 tbs ACV

2 cups water

Everything in the blender except 1/2 cup water.

Blend until liquefied.

Pour mixture into a saucepan

Put last 1/2 cup of water in the blender carafe, swirl it around and pour that in the saucepan, too. (nothing goes to waste around here)

This is the hardest part.

Put the saucepan of liquified ingredients on low-med heat and stir constantly until it reaches the desired thickness, about 10 minutes.

This mixture will continue to thicken even after you are done cooking. Behold the power of Oatmeal!  Store in the fridge in a covered container and add more water as needed to thin.

Sun Dried Tomato and Roasted Eggplant Sauce Recipe

Make a basic marinara  but add 1 tbs of cornstarch. Cook like normal.

Roast an eggplant.
Soak about 5 sun dried tomatoes.*


Once the marinara has reduced by about 1/3 add peeled, roasted and chopped eggplant and finely chopped soaked sun dried tomatoes.

Heat thoroughly and serve hot.

Goes well over pasta, on bruschetta, over steamed veg, baked potato... The possibilities for this deliciously roasty flavored sauce are endless!


*I dry mine in the dehydrator. Slice roma tomatoes in half or fourth, place on rack and dry at 105F until they are dried fruit texture, usually this takes 24 hrs or more.

Simple Instructions for Making Soy Milk From Soybeans

Making your own vegan milk is cheap, easy and a great way to gain more control over what you eat.
I buy organic regionally grown soybeans for about $1.39lb.

1. Soak 1 cup dried soy beans for 48 hours.

2. Steam soybeans until tender. Do not overcook. Gently cooking the beans removes bitterness from the final product.

3. Blend soybeans with 4 or more cups of water until very smooth. 

4. Strain through produce/sprout/nut milk bag. 

5. Flavor milk to taste with salt and sugar, vanilla, chocolate etc. (optional)

6. Store in fridge in covered container up to a week or when it starts to smell funny. Personally, when it starts to "blink" before it begins to really smell bad, I use it in baking.

Makes about 4 cups milk and 1-2 cups moist pulp. Adding more water makes thinner milk, perfect for vegan cooking and baking; less water makes a creamier product, better for use as dairy-free coffee creamer, with cookies, over cold or hot cereal, as a base for non-dairy ice creams and making soy yogurts and vegan cheese.

Save the pulp (okara) for other recipes. I fermented mine.

Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

I managed to make them semi decent. The photo doesn't look to good but they were tasty as heck. The boy didn't like the peanut butter filling.

Vegan Peanut Butter Cups

2 tbs peanut butter

2 tsp nutritional yeast

1 tsp sugar

2 3oz bars of vegan chocolate.  I used Endangered Species, one cacao nibs and one coffee beans. The bat and the tiger, I can't remember which was which.

Mix peanut butter,  yeast and sugar. Spread them on a plate about a 1/2 inch thick and put in the freezer to let it get a little hard. You will cut it in pieces later to put in the center of the cup.

Melt the chocolate. I used an old enamel pot and submerge it halfway in warm water. The chocolate melts slowly but it doesn't scorch that way.

Pour chocolate into glass custard cups, enough to cover the bottom
Take your hardened peanut butter mixture and cut off a piece the size you want. I went with about a 50c piece.

Place it on the chocolate in the cup.
Pour the rest of the chocolate on top
Pop it in the fridge for an hour or more so it sets up.

When you are ready to eat them, fill a pan with 1" of warm water and put the cup in the water. Leave it for a minute or two and the peanut butter cup should pop right out with the help of a bread knife.

Adzuki Bean Salad

                                                                                                       Adzuki Bean Salad

Sprouted adzuki beans

Adzuki bean are small, red and very full of flavor. This recipe starts with 1 cup of dried adzuki beans. Soak for 48 hours and sprout for 48 hrs. When most of the beans have visible tails, steam them until tender then cool.  After cooking you should have about 3 cups of beans.

                                                                 Adzuki beans steaming

If you don't have 4 days to soak and sprout, at least let the beans soak for 12 hours which will begin the germination process. Germinated legumes are easier to digest, have more available nutrition and are less likely to trigger allergies.

Ok, here is the recipe.

Adzuki (azuki) Bean Salad

Dressing

1 tbs soy sauce

2 tbs rice vinegar

1 tbs sesame oil

1 tsp wasabi powder (optional or sub with horseradish)

1 tsp yellow mustard powder

3 cloves minced garlic

Stir all ingredients together in a large bowl then add

3 cups cooked adzuki beans

1 cup frozen green beans

1 cup frozen corn

Stir well.

Chill and serve.

How to Cook Sprouted Rice or Legumes by Steam Method

I've been boiling beans as long as I can remember. It's a hassle. I almost always almost burn them and have to scrape the unburnt portion off the top then spend the next four hours soaking and scrubbing a pot. Like I said, hassle. I decided to try steaming them just to see what would happen and it was a miracle! I figured if it worked for rice, why not beans?

Sprouted adzuki or azuki beans steaming.




Note: This is done ideally with sprouted beans or rice. I haven't tried it with dry beans or rice. If you don't have 4 days to sprout your beans or rice, at least soak them for 12 hrs. Soaking for 12 hours will start the germination process. Germinating legumes and rice before cooking makes them easier to digest (less gas), more nutritious and less likely to trigger allergies.

Garbanzo beans or chickpeas steaming


You will need a large saucepan or pot and a heat proof mesh sieve or strainer. A colander with very small  holes would work, you just don't want your beans to fall through.
Fill pot with water and place soaked and sprouted beans in the sieve. Put the sieve over the hot water with the bottom of the sieve just above the water level.
Put the stove on high heat and the lid on the pan and let the water boil for 45 minutes or until the beans or rice are soft. The lid doesn't have to be tight.
Add more water as needed.

Sprouted brown rice steaming

And there you have it, steam cooked beans or rice, ready to bend to your will in your favorite soup, salad, salsa, chili or casserole.

Avocado "Fries" & Sprouted Amaranth Cracker Recipes

I love to make raw snacks. Healthy raw oils like those from seeds, nuts, avocados and olives are very important in a vegan diet, especially if you are endeavoring to eat more raw foods.

These are sprouted amaranth seeds. They are tiny and very hard to deal with and hard to photograph.

These are about 2 days old sprouts.


















Sprouted amaranth crackers
1/2 cup sprouted amaranth 1/2 cup flax seed
pinch of salt
1 tsp cumin
water as needed (not much)
In food processor until a thick smooth paste
Turn out and evenly spread on dehydrator sheet, score for the size crackers you want.
Dehydrate at 115F until stable on top (about 1 hour) then turn out on rack and continue to dry until they are as crisp as you want them.

I also made some avocado fries today.

Avocado "Fries"
Slice one avocado into strips
sprinkle with nutritional yeast on both sides.
Sprinkle w whatever other spices you want, a pinch of salt, cumin, black pepper, lemon, garlic, etc.
place on dehydrator rack and dry at 115F for approx 1 hour until you are able to handle them w/out them falling apart.

Red lettuce with avocado fries, sprouted amaranth crackers, turnip pickles and fermented cashew cream.

Cantaloupe Seed Milk Smoothie

This super easy, ONE ingredient smoothie recipe is one of my all time favorites.
Next time you get a cantaloupe, save the seeds, strings and any little pieces of the meat you have left over.















Store the seeds, etc in an airtight container in the fridge. Sometime in the next few days put the seeds, strings and flesh of the cantaloupe into a blender add a cup or two of water (depending on how thick you want it) and blend until smooth and frothy.















Strain, decant and enjoy.















Groovy Cantaloupe Nutrition Facts

Serving size 1/2 cup, diced (78g)
Amounts Per Serving % Daily Value
Calories 25
Calories from Fat 0
Total Fat 0g 0%
Saturated Fat 0g 0%
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 10mg 0%
Total Carbohydrate 6g 2%
Dietary Fiber 1g 4%
Sugars 6g
Protein 1g
Vitamin A 50%
Vitamin C 50%
Calcium 0%
Iron 0%

Groovy Cantaloupe Warning

I used to not like cantaloupe because I got a stomach ache every time I ate it. Now I know that cantaloupe must be eaten alone. Because it digests so quickly that any other food in the stomach with cantaloupe will cause fermentation of the stomach contents which means, gas, pain, bloating etc. Now when I get a big, ripe aromatic and juicy cantaloupe I mono-feast on the meat one day, save the seed and mono-feast on a creamy seed milk smoothie a couple days later.

I drink this smoothie on an empty stomach and don't eat anything for 4 hours after I finish it. If I combine this with any other foods I get some harsh intestinal difficulties. You might not, I'm just saying. The rule of thumb for me with melon is "Eat it alone or leave it alone".

Stay Groovy.

DIY Hair Shampoo and Body Wash Recipe Update

You may or may not know that I am No-Poo and have been since August of 2008.

I make this shampoo/bodywash for E.

Easy Homemade Castile Shampoo/Body-wash Updated, Less Oily Recipe

1.5 cups strong black tea
.5 cup castile soap
2 shots witch hazel
1/2 shot jojoba oil
1 tsp salt
10 drops geranium oil

Boil 4 tea bags in 2 cups water until the tea is very dark.
Let cool slightly and then pour off 1.5 cups into a glass container. I use my big pyrex measuring cup so I can measure the ingredients right into it and mix it up.
Add the rest of the ingredients except the scented oil and stir well. Let cool and pour off into a bottle.
Add scent.

Makes about 2 cups.

This product is thinner than commercial shampoo and it doesn't produce as much suds. The man has been using it as shampoo for about a year now and he says he likes it just fine. It turns a darker color with time, this is natural and will not affect the performance of the shampoo. Separation will occur, shake before using.

I've been tweaking the recipe, he said it was too oily so I doubled the witch hazel and halved the oil in this most recent batch.
I used black tea because I had some that I would never use otherwise. I told E the caffeine would "wake his scalp" and the antioxidants would "anti oxidize his hair".

Hey, it could happen :)

Let me know if you try this and tell me about your DIY beauty tricks and tips.

RAW! Cabbage Kale and Broccoli Coleslaw

So pretty and so tasty.
















Cabbage Kale Broccoli Coleslaw

1 c shredded green cabbage
1/2 c chopped curly kale
1/2 cup chopped broccoli
1 tbs olive oil
Juice of one lemon (about 1/4 cup)
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/2 tsp organic cane sugar
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
Pinch of salt (optional)

Makes two cups, enough for 4 sides or two entrees.

Vegan Dinner Last Night Roasted Eggplant over Pasta with Morel Mushroom Cream Sauce

This is what we ended up eating for dinner last night:













Roasted eggplant with morel mushroom sauce over pasta with a lovely green salad sporting fresh tomato and basil.



Here is the technical stuff if you are so inclined.


Roasted Eggplant
Preheat oven to 400F

Peel and slice an eggplant, lay the slices on a board.
Sprinkle some salt all over the top and put a towel on top of all the slices.
Put a cutting board on top and a heavy bowl full of water on top.
Let it rest for an hour or so then put sliced onion on top of the eggplant, cover with a kitchen towel, weight and let rest for 1 more hour.
This process draws some of the liquid out of the eggplant and begins the cooking process. It is optional, you can just roast fresh eggplant.

Oil a cookie sheet with olive oil and lay your eggplant and onion slices on the pan.
Spread a light layer of oil on the vegetables.
Bake in 400F oven for about 12 minutes until eggplant and onions start to get brown at the tips.
Remove from oven and turn vegetables over.
Drizzle with olive oil or add a tbs of water to the pan if you think they look a little dry.
Bake an additional 20 min or until the veges are tender.


Morel Mushroom in a Cashew Cream Sauce

1 med yellow onion chopped fine
4 cloves garlic chopped fine
1 tbs olive oil

.5 oz dried morel mushrooms soaked in 1 cup water for 20 min.
1/2 cup fresh basil
Salt to taste.

4 tbs dry cashews soaked in clear water.

Coarsely chop mushrooms and save soak water for making cashew cream :)
Saute onion and garlic in oil until they are a caramelized.
Add chopped, soaked morels and chopped basil to onions and let them cook a bit. Add a tbs of water if it seems to dry.

















Once mushrooms and basil are cooked, add cashew cream made from mushroom water and cashews in blender and blend until very smooth. The smoother, the better.
Add cashew cream to veges and stir until thickened. Add more water if you find the sauce gets too thick.

Mild Sweet Corn Salsa Raw Vegan Side Dish

Corn Salsa

1/2 cup frozen corn
1 roma tomato
1/2 med yellow onion
juice of one lime about a 1/4 cup

Pulse tomato and onion separately in processor or chop fine.
Transfer to bowl.
Add corn and lime juice
Mix well and chill for one hour or more
Drain before serving.

Raw Vegan Grilled Vegetables

Raw Vegan "Grilled" vegetables

thinly slice:
seeded yellow bell pepper
1/2 seeded jalapeno
1 seeded tomato
coat with a mix of 1 tbs soy sauce, 1 tbs olive oil, sprinkle of cumin and sprinkle of dried cilantro
Put coated veges in dehydrator until they begin to soften.
Remove from dehydrator before they start to get crisp.
May be re-warmed in dehydrator in a shallow bowl before serving.
















Serve as a side dish or in wraps with spicy walnut meat.

Raw Vegan Spicy Walnut Filling

Spicy Walnut Filling:

1/2 cup walnuts
1/2 seeds from 1 jalapeno (a pinch of cayenne will do)
1 tsp soy sauce
3 cloves garlic
Pulse in Food processor until lumpy consistency is achieved. Do not over process, it should be a lumpy texture, not pasty.

Makes and excellent taco filling or salad topping.

White Bean and Avocado Fajitas Vegan Lunch or Dinner Idea

Cooked white beans seasoned with olive oil and salt
Sliced ripe avocado
1 or 2 tortillas
Put one tortilla in a medium hot, dry skillet. Fill with beans and avocado on half of the tortilla. Fold the other half over and heat about 4 minutes on each side.

Shown with sauerkraut, lemon jalapeno pickles and cashew sour cream.