Disaster Chef: Lazy Crockpot Lima Beans

I started this meal how I start most of my meals: I had some time to cook. I didn't know what to cook. I went to the fridge and the pantry several times. I saw a package of beans I'd had for quite some time. I don't know anything to make with lima beans except succotash, so I went to Pinterest, like always. And I found this crockpot recipe from this blog. I had most of the ingredients, so I gave it a shot.

Let me just say, that when I'm cooking in the crockpot, it's because I'm being lazy. I don't want to have to cook stuff in a pan first. So I just dumped all the ingredients into the crockpot instead of doing all the prep work she requires in her recipe. I also added some frozen kale, shredded turkey (Thanksgiving leftovers come in handy) and a can of corn, since the spices gave it a southwestern type flavor. Also, I did not use precooked lima beans, so I cooked it a bit longer than she calls for.

Here's what I used:

1 pound dried baby lima beans, rinsed and soaked
2 TBSP olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 bell pepper, seeded and diced
2 jalapenos, seeded and diced
salt and pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 TBSP all-purpose flour
2 c./1 can chicken or beef broth and enough water to cover all ingredients (if uncooked beans, about 4 c. extra water will be required for cooking beans)
1 can crushed tomatoes/1 pint canned tomatoes if you do your own
1-2 c. kale, chopped (frozen or fresh)
1 can corn
1-2 c. leftover turkey or chicken (optional)
2 TBSP cumin
2 tsp chili powder
2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
2-3 TBSP maple syrup

Toss everything in the crockpot, make sure it's all just covered with water, and cook 6 hrs on high or until beans are soft.

*A word about beans: To properly cook beans, they should first be soaked to remove naturally occurring toxins, as per Weston Price's directions. The night before you want to cook your beans, put then in a large bowl and cover with a good amount of water. I'd recommend at least twice as much as the beans or more, as the beans swell while soaking and you want them to be covered with water. In the morning, pour off the water, rinse the beans real quick, and throw them in the crockpot with new water. If you don't know who Weston Price is, you should. He wants you to eat lots and lots of butter :)

I added some Parmesan on top, because I add it to every soup, even when it doesn't go. I don't think the original recipe would have been enough for a meal, but with all the additions, it was a meal, not just a side dish, though it could serve as either. It's not my favorite, but I'd make it again if I couldn't think of anything else to make. Everyone ate it, and it didn't get complaints.

Recipe: 3 out of 5 spoons

Disaster Chef: Being Underprepared When Cooking (Black Bean Crunchy Tacos) Project Pinterest

It had gotten a little late last Saturday, and before I’d realized, it was dinner time and I didn’t have anything planned, let alone cooked. So of course I went right to Pinterest, and within minutes, I had found a quick, easy dish.

The recipe is from over at Endless Simmer. Here is the one I attempted to follow, not too faithfully, as you'll soon see. 

Ingredients

• 2 C. black beans, cooked
• ½ C. red onion, minced
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 1 tsp. paprika
• 2 Tbsp. cilantro, chopped
• 4-6 ounces pepper jack cheese, grated
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 avocado, sliced
• Pinch of salt and pepper
• 8 corn tortillas
• Hot sauce
• Salsa
• Sour cream

Instructions

1. 1) In a medium bowl, add beans along with red onion, cilantro, and spices. Add a pinch of salt and lightly mash all of the ingredients together. Grate your cheese and have it ready as well.
2. 2) In a large, non-stick skillet or cast iron skillet, add a few tablespoons of oil and heat over medium-high heat.
3. 3) Add one corn tortilla at a time and let each get hot in the oil for a few seconds. Then add about 1?4 cup of the bean filling to one half of the tortilla. Top with a sprinkle of grated cheese.
4. 4) Using a spatula, carefully fold the tortilla over so it forms a shell. Press down lightly on the tortilla so it holds its shape.
5. 5) As the first tortilla cooks, move it to the side and do a second one. Depending on the size of your pan, you should be able to get 2 or 3 tacos at once. If you have a griddle you can do even more at once.
6. 6) Cook each taco for about 3 minutes per side until they are nicely browned and crispy.
7. 7) When flipping the taco to cook on the other side, use a spatula and flip the taco toward the fold so the filling doesn’t fall out.
8. 8) Serve tacos with toppings like hot sauce, salsa, avocados, and sour cream.
9. Note: Corn tortillas are resilent to heat. Don’t worry about burning them. They are very flexible. Just be sure to cook them on each side long enough to get them really crispy.

 

I started getting out the ingredients, but of course, as soon as I did, I realized I didn’t have most of what I needed. But I’m the queen of substitution, so I stuck with it. Instead of black beans, I used a can of great northern beans, which was all we had. I thought it might be a little weird in tacos, but by the time it was all made and piled high with toppings (*see pic), you couldn’t really taste the beans, anyway.

I had no Jack cheese, so I used cheddar. I had no cilantro. Basically, I had nothing I needed! But this just goes to show that you can adapt pretty much anything in this recipe and it will still turn out great. I didn’t have a red onion, so I used a small yellow one, making sure it wasn’t too spicy before I used it, since my son won’t eat spicy food (and since my husband was out of town, I didn’t have to worry about my onion breath). Still, I was going to cook the onion, since I’m not a big fan of raw onions. But it was so sweet that I left it raw, as the recipe says. I was trying to stick to the directions, at least, since I had to substitute all the ingredients.

I minced the onion super fine, and mashed everything with a potato masher, like it says. Not too thorough, you don’t want bean soup. Also, if you use a can of beans, as I did, you should pour off most of the liquid in the top of the can, and you can skip the salt. 

I went to get the tortillas from the fridge, only to find that we had only two white corn tortillas, somewhat fused together. I live on tortillas! There are always about 3 bags of them floating around the fridge. But of course the one time I need them for a recipe, we are out. I pried apart the two remaining tortillas and cooked them as directed. I don’t know how the recipe’s original cook fit half a cup of beans in a corn tortilla, but I would like to know! I put maybe half that in each of mine, and it still spilled out while cooking.

 

They cooked great, though, just like she said. Nice and crunchy on the outside. And delicious all the way through.

My son moaned and groaned that he hated tortillas and didn’t want a taco, but even he admitted, as he took the last bites of his taco, that it was “kind of good.” Success!

Disaster Chef: Foodie Friday! (Pinterest Project #1)

Okay, so I don't usually blog about personal stuff, like what I'm eating. But lately I've realized just how many pins I've accumulated on pinterest, so I decided to start actually doing some of them. So...without further ado, Project Pinterest was born. I'm vowing to make at least one thing from my Pinterest boards every week, whether it's a recipe or a craft project or a diy.

The one I chose this week was a recipe. I got back from vacation and hadn't gone to the grocery store, so the fridge was looking awfully empty. I found some dried beans in the pantry and put them on to cook in the slow cooker. Then I went to Pinterest for some inspiration.

I found a recipe for Great Northern Bean stew, and miraculously, I had most of the ingredients. Anyone who has ever been around me when I'm cooking knows that it's practically impossible for me to follow a recipe exactly. I always adapt, substitute, or in some other way make the recipe my own. This one was no different. I can't say it worked out exactly as planned, but it was edible.

First of all, it called for canned beans, which I didn't use. I put the beans in the Crock-Pot with 3x the water and an onion. Then I left it to cook. I checked it a few times, since I was home all day. It seemed like the beans were taking forever to soften up. So I left it alone for a few hours. When I came back, the beans were completely cooked. Oops...I was supposed to add some vegetables somewhere along the way.

I had to take the beans out and set them aside. Then I put the veggies in the slow-cooker with some water and left for about an hour. When I came back, the water wasn't even boiling. I had to abandon the slow-cooker and put them in a pot on the stove. They still took ages to cook! Meanwhile, my husband had come home. Luckily, he was patient as I checked the veggies every 5 minutes for what seemed like an hour. I didn't have enough carrots, so I used the quarter bag of baby carrots I had in the fridge and added a turnip in place of the rest. I also used fresh basil, since we have plenty. I added about 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh basil before it cooked, then added another 2 tbs of fresh basil and cilantro about 5 minutes before it was done. I added the beans back in, and a little bit of extra cloves. I didn't have frozen corn, so I cut kernels off an ear of fresh corn that was lurking in the vegetable drawer while I was on vacation. Also, since I used dried beans instead of canned, I had to add some extra salt.

Thankfully, it turned out quite edible. I don't know that I'll make it again, as I like stews with more vegetables. But this one wasn't bad. It's quite filling, and vegetarian for those interested.

Here's the original recipe from Greener Eating via Pinterest, along with my adaptations in parentheses.

3 c. water (I used 2 cups of dried beans, so 6 cups of water, more later for cooking the veggies)

1 T. vegetable broth powder (I skipped this)

1 to 2 c. potatoes, diced (I used probably 3 cups)

2 carrots, diced or grated (here I used 1 large turnip and a handful of chopped baby carrots)

1 large sweet onion, chopped (I cooked one in the beans, and added another small one w/ veggies)

1 clove garlic, minced (1/2 t. fridge garlic) (I used 3 cloves)

2 T. fresh cilantro (see above)

1 T. dried basil (see above)

2 t. chili powder

1/4 t. ground cloves (doubled this)

1 t. salt (doubled this)

2 cans great northern beans, undrained* (I used 2 cups dried, about 4 cooked)

1 c. frozen sweet white corn** (Kernels off one ear of corn. If I made it again, I'd use more corn for sure).