Instant Pot Black-Eyed Peas

Black-eyed peas are traditionally served on New Years Day to bring luck in the coming year. 

They are SO easy to make in the Instant Pot, or any electric or non-electric pressure cooker, you don't need a special occasion to make these beans!  

Enjoy them on New Years Day along with some Collard Greens for good luck! 

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
1 pound (454 g) dried black-eyed peas
4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
6.5 cups water
2 tablespoons Better Than Bouillon vegetable or chicken base

Better Than Bouillon is amazing stuff, but if you don't have it, you can use chicken stock in place of the water, or use stock cubes mixed into the water.

Directions:
Place all ingredients in the Instant Pot.  Set it to Manual at High Pressure for 25 minutes. 
Once cooking is complete, let the pressure release naturally.
Serve the black-eyed peas with some of the delicious cooking liquid, and use the rest of the liquid to make Collard Greens, or save it for soup!

Bean and Shrimp Salad with Curried Yogurt

Here's a tasty dish on the lighter side for a fresh start to the new year.  I still have holiday leftovers so I'm not quite ready to start eating clean, but soon you should see plenty of lighter dishes here.  

This recipe uses crisp beans, which I love.  I used a mix of purple and yellow beans.  They look great raw, but the purple ones turn dark green when cooked.

I really should get back to cooking with shrimp more often.  They are satisfying but very healthy, and it's easy to always have some waiting in the freezer to quickly defrost.  

This recipe comes from Cooking Light.  Here's what you need:

Cincinnati Chili

On our road trip to the Southern USA we stopped in Ohio for Skyline Chili.  This is a Cincinnati specialty where a sweet and spicy chili is served over spaghetti, topped with shredded cheddar cheese and called a 3-way.  Topped with onions and/or beans it's a 4-way or 5-way.  We weren't expecting this semi-fast food to be so tasty!  So when we got home I decided to try to re-create it.

Here's what you need for this quick & easy dinner:

Swiss Chard, Fennel & White Bean Gratin

Hopefully this will be one of the last wintery dishes I have to post before spring brings asparagus, ramps and freshness to my kitchen.  But this hearty side is a great way to combine winter veggies into a healthy, tasty dish.

This recipe comes from Serious Eats but I pretty much halved it. Here's what you need: 

Pork Cutlets with White Beans and Collard Greens

I've never cooked pork tenderloin like this before and I was astounded at how far one tenderloin can go.  By pounding it into cutlets I ended up with 5 very large pieces of pork.  Plenty for dinner and leftovers too.

Here's what you need:

1 lb pork tenderloin
1/2 cup flour
1 egg
2 teaspoons grainy Dijon mustard
1 cup panko bread crumbs
2 tablespoons fresh sage or 1 tablespoon dried sage
2 tablespoons oil

1 bunch collard greens
1 can cannellini beans (white kidney beans)
1 clove garlic
1 small red bell pepper or hot red pepper
1/2 cup chicken stock
salt and pepper

First, set up your breading station. 

Confetti Lentils

Here's a healthy side dish.  Since I still cant get into eating beans, I like to eat lentils or chickpeas on a regular basis since they're good for you too.

I actually used a bean and lentil blend that's pretty tasty. You'll need:
1 1/4 cups of lentils
2 medium carrots
1 medium celery root
1 medium onion
1 tablespoon olive oil

That's it.  No spices (except some salt) and no other flavours.  But don't worry, it'll work out.

Fresh Cranberry Beans (with Braised Lamb)

When I was younger, I was a very picky eater. I feel like I've made huge strides in this area, but there are still a few things I can't bear to eat. Raw tomatoes are one, red peppers are another.  And beans.  I love fresh green and yellow beans and I can eat chickpeas (garbanzo beans) in a lot of preparations, but when it comes to those healthy but mushy white, black, kidney and pinto beans, I really struggle.  The texture is the biggest issue but there's not really a great flavour there to make up for it.  I know beans are close to perfect nutritionally and so cheap and versatile, so I keep trying to like them. This recipe gets close.  I ate almost all my beans.  My husband ate his, the rest of mine and the rest of the ones in the pot.  So if you like beans, you'll love these.  If you hate them, give it a try and it just might convert you. 

As mentioned the other day, I found these beautiful fresh beans at the market.  The colour of the shell is gorgeous.  The vendor who grew them said they were Romano beans, but when I looked online it seemed more likely they're cranberry beans (or borlotti or shell beans).  Whatever they're called, they're pretty photogenic!

Shelling beans (and peas) is something I find very relaxing. I sat out in the sun and slipped the beans from their shell slowly in the fresh air.

I ended up with just under the two cups needed for this recipe.  The recipe calls for cooked beans so I decided to cook these the day before (along with the lamb) and then follow the recipe from there.

I threw part of an onion, a sprig of rosemary and a bay leaf in with the beans and covered them with water and simmered for about 15 minutes, then added a teaspoon of salt and simmered 15 minutes more.  

Sadly, the cooked beans lost their beautiful colour and turned a little grey-ish.  

So when I was ready to make the meal, I pulled out the cooked beans, chicken stock, celery, carrots, onions, garlic, thyme and a bay leaf.

Finely chop the carrots, celery, onion and garlic. I used my handy little food processor.  Sauté the veggies until slightly softened.

Throw in the cooked (or canned, rinsed) beans, 2 cups chicken stock and the thyme and bay leaf.

Simmer for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add some more chicken stock if it gets dry.

Stir in the gremolata, about half a cup (recipe coming up next) with the beans and serve alongside the braised lamb. 

The gremolata adds a fresh bright taste. There's certainly lots of flavour. The texture is still pretty bean-like but they were very good overall.

Try this meal, it's terrific!

Market Trip

Just got back from the farmers market. Lots of plans!

Fresh tomatillos!  Very exciting.  Plan to make and can salsa verde using the jalapeños in our garden and fresh cilantro and onions.

Fresh cranberry beans!  I've never had these before but plan to shell and simmer them in water, herbs and oil for 20-30 minutes. So pretty!

Last peaches of the season. Plan to eat these for snacks.

Corn on the cob for dinner. Honeycrisp apples for lunches.

Fresh green & yellow beans for dinner. Cilantro for salsa verde.

And a bushel of fresh Roma tomatoes to combine with onions, peppers and basil for a huge batch of pasta sauce.

Recipes and results to come!

Chipotle Chicken and Rice

This is a nice and easy dinner that tastes great.  You can make it super spicy or nice and mild, whatever your preference. 

First you'll need to sprinkle some diced, boneless chicken thighs with chili powder, salt and pepper and some cayenne if you want it extra spicy.

Sauté the chicken until browned. It doesn't need to be cooked through all the way because it'll finish cooking with the rice later.  Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside. 

For the rest of the ingredients you'll need rice, black beans, chicken broth, chipotle, white onions, green onions, garlic, chili powder and cumin. Also, corn (not pictured).

In a little oil, sauté the onions and garlic with some chili powder and cumin until just translucent, not brown.  Then add 1 diced chipotle in adobo sauce (smoked red jalapeño peppers in tomato sauce - available canned in most grocery stores), 1 cup rice and 1 3/4 cups chicken broth (or water or a mixture of both).

Cover the pan and simmer the rice for 10 minutes, then add the diced chicken, rinsed black beans and some frozen corn. 

Cook covered for 10 minutes until chicken is cooked through, rice is tender and liquid is absorbed.  Add in chopped green onions and some chopped parsley or cilantro. 

This is a great one-dish dinner and also makes tasty leftovers for lunch.  

Bean Burritos

I'm not a big fans of beans but my husband loves them. We made a huge batch of bean burritos for the freezer so he can take one to work for lunch every day. 

I use this technique for cooking the beans. You don't need to pre-soak them overnight. Just bring a pound of dried beans covered in water and a bit of salt to a boil on the stovetop, cover and place in a 250 degree oven for about 75-90 minutes until tender.  

Cooking dry beans gives a nicer texture and flavour than canned beans. I use pinto beans which are so healthy for you! They have tons of fibre and protein.  

Once the beans are cooked, saute some onions, jalapeno and chipotle peppers in a little oil and then add the beans and mash together. 

You can also add some beer or stock or water at this point to get the beans to the right texture.

Once the beans are somewhat smooth, or whatever texture you prefer, prepare the other ingredients.

You can just use beans or add rice, corn or whatever you like.  

We added rice and corn to this batch.

At our local farmers market we get these great whole wheat tortillas made by Mennonite farmers from just outside town. 

Spread a couple of tablespoons of the bean & rice mixture on the tortilla...

...top with cheese...

...and roll up.

Package them for the freezer by wrapping them individually in plastic wrap. Posing with a superhero is optional.  

Microwave the frozen burrito for about 1 minute, or 30 seconds if it is thawed.