Quick Vegan Taco Filling: Anasazi Bean and Yam

So, geez. It's been a long couple of weeks. I sort of feel like I have been swallowed up under a tidal wave of a schedule, and so I am completely lacking time, especially Monday-Wednesday. Though it is all exciting a stuff I still can't help but feel like I don't have the space to concentrate on the things that make me feel good (like going to yoga and cooking delicious dinners for my woo-bear, AJ). In order to compromise both my tight schedule and my desire to cook a solid meal at the end of the day, I chose TACOS as a quick way to make a really satisfying dinner.

I will try to post a lot of taco fillings throughout the life of this blog as we eat them often and they always have basically whatever I can find in my cupboard or in the dredges of my refrigerator...so it is always a random, wild interpretation of the traditional taco fillings we are used to.

Tonight, I had yams.

What you will need for this recipe

2 cups of cooked beans (I had made anasazi beans in the slow cooker, with just water out and no seasonings of the sheer hurriedness of my life this week, they cook identically to the black bean recipe previously posted on this blog)
2 medium to small yams, skinned and diced
1/2 an onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 bunch of kale, chopped roughly
Salt
Cayenne (a pinch!)
Cumin, ground or whole or both
Coriander
Taortillas (we get Abbo Blue, local organically cultivated blue corn tortillas by Abbodanza farm/seeds: Rich, AJ's mentor found and culivated the strain of corn they are made of from a heirloom variety in Mexico: they are SO DELICIOUS)
1 avocado
Salsa, any other condiment you like on your tacos

First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. You will need the oven for your tortillas later.
Then saute the onion until translucent in a good layer of olive oil on medium high heat (I prefer, when cooking in my cast iron, especially with taco fillings, to get a "blackened" quality to my ingredients, especially with the likes of potatoes or yams). Add yams and saute, constantly flipping so as to keep them from sticking for about 6-10 minutes, or until they are soft and getting golden (or blackened edges, like I like them). Add your drained beans and garlic and stir in over medium heat for about 2-4 minutes. Season with salt, cumin, coriander and pinch of cayenne or another chili powder if you like spice.

Add chopped kale and let it wilt and get a little crispy, stirring for about 5 minutes. Taste and continue to season accordingly if you so desire.

Meanwhile, while the filling is resting on low heat and covered (because it is now done) lightly paint olive or grapeseed oil on your tortillas and place on a cookie sheet. Set in the oven and let them get soft and warm-- if you like them slightly crispy leave them in for up to 10 minutes, but I usually keep mine in for about 7. Certain tortillas are denser and take longer, so stick your nose in at 5 minutes, 7 minutes, 10 minutes etc. and you'll know when they are heated and to your liking.

 While the tortillas are warming up in the oven, slice your avocado and ready any other condiments you might like (cheese, sour cream, crema, salsa, cilantro, hot sauce, etc.)

We kept ours simple and when our tortillas were ready we filled them with the yam-bean-kale fillings and only added the sliced avocado and salsa.

Twenty minute dinner, YAY. Who doesn't like tacos????

Refried Black Beans

You will need the homemade black bean recipe from previous in this blog to make these black beans (or if you were in a pinch, obviously you could substitute canned black beans). I usually turn 75% of my black bean batched into refried beans to be in the fridge for general food stock for quick bites during the week.

Ingredients:

Olive oil

1/2 of a medium onion, diced

Chili powder (to taste)

Cumin (to taste)

Salt (to taste)

Four garlic cloves, minced

Black beans, about five heaping cups

1/2 of a lime, juiced

First: Saute your onions in a oiled-pan on medium high until translucent, about seven minutes. Add chili powder and cumin about two minutes in so that the tastes set into the onions as they cook. I use about 1/2 tablespoon of chili powder and one half tablespoon of cumin to begin, and then taste and season from there. Add garlic, and saute until tender, about three more minutes.

Second: Drain your black beans of most (about 75%) of the liquid that they cooked in with a slotted spoon. I am preparing these beans straight from my slow cooker as you can see:

Third: Add drained beans into your saute pan, stirring for a moment until they are warm and completely mixed with the other ingredients. Taste your beans--- season with more cumin, more chili and salt if you like, at this point.

Fourth:  Turn heat to low on the pan. With a potato masher or dough knife,  mash your beans until they are a nice, pasty consistency. If they need more liquid, add water, or better yet, use the liquid they cooked in until they are a texture that you like (some people like their refried beans really runny and some like they thick).

Fifth: transfer to a smaller sauce pot and return to medium-low, add the juice of half of a lime and add any additional salt for your taste's approval.

Eat with arepas (next recipe), in tacos, as a side or with your morning eggs. YUM! These last in the refrigerator for about five days in a good container (AJ says more, of course, but I like to recommend on the safer side...)

ENJOY!

Homemade Blackbeans

This is a STAPLE PEOPLE :)
I make a batch of beans, usually black beans every week. They cost around $1.79 per pound dry, and then they keep in the fridge for about a week-- not to mention how many uses they have: an arepa topping, taco or enchilada filling, they can go in soups or chili or with eggs for breakfast; the list goes on and on.

For this recipe you will need:

A slowcooker(!!)
4 cups of dry black beans
1 medium onion (diced)
4 cloves of garlic (minced)
1/2 tablespoon of cumin
Salt to taste

First, rinse your black beans in a colander and go through them-- sometimes I find little stones and such mixed in, so this is an important step. The last thing you want is to bite into your steaming, delicious slow-cooked black beans and break a tooth. I used to skip this step because I like to go fast, and then OTHER people would bite into little rocks and I would feel so horrible that the guilt and shame alone of being too lazy to take the extra step and possibly cracking my guest's crowns gets me to rinse them each and every time now.

SO DO THAT.

Now, put your rinsed beans and diced onion in your slow cooker and cover with water completely. I usually put double the amount of water in (so 8 cups)

DO NOT PUT ANY SALT IN AT THIS POINT. NONE. ZERO. ABSOLUTELY NO SALT. It will keep your beans from getting soft; no one likes crunchy beans.

SLOW COOK.
I cook them (covered*) on low for 8-10 hours, stirring every couple of hours and checking the water level. You are going to have the opportunity to drain them before you use them in any recipe so you can't over-water them while they are slow-cooking...

About an hour before the slow cook cycle is up (say at hour 9) and maybe you have an intention to eat them inside of a taco or something, at this point I stir in the cumin, minced garlic and I salt it to my liking.

DELICIOUS.

Eat them hot and seasoned...

Or drain off 90% the liquid, put them on the stove on medium low heat and mash with chili, cumin, garlic, salt and a hint of lime for "refried beans."

...or let them cool and put them in the fridge in a sealed container until you are ready to use them in another amazing and delicious dish!

Stocking Your Pantry

Dear Sisters,

I am creating this blog so that both of you may be inspired to create more food in your home for yourselves and hubbies. I cook for AJ so often and somehow keep him satisfied with a variety of delicious things without that much effort on my part or that much money spent. We are mostly vegetarian at home, which helps with costs, but we also maximize organic vegetables that are in season, whole grains, and jam-pack exciting flavors and texture. This blog is going to follow what we have for dinner (and other meals) as much as possible so there will be a range of mostly vegetarian, gluten free meals with the occasional meaty or vegan-y meal as well.


I would say that **the most important part of guaranteeing simple, fast, delicious dinner starts with what is in your cupboards.

I always have in dry storage:

Olive oil
Coconut oil
Grapeseed oil
Balsamic vinegar
Rice vinegar
Red Wine vinegar
Sesame oil

Dry: Lentils, black beans, (etc. beans) long grain rice, short grain rice, quinoa, polenta, oats

Masa arepa
Flour (a variety including wheat, all purpose gluten-free, rice flour)

Sugar
Brown sugar
Honey
Dried fruit(s)
Maple syrup

Vanilla extract


Onions, potatoes, garlic (and sometimes yams)

Coconut Milk
Broth
Canned Tomato paste and whole peeled tomatoes

Almond butter and/or peanut butter

Tamari

Tahini

Hot sauce(s)

Dijon mustard

Rice noodles
Bean threads
GF pasta

Refrigerated things: Almond milk, lemons, limes, carrots, eggs, butter, cheese, tortillas

Spices (in descending order of necessity): Pink salt, other flavored salts, pepper, cumin, whole cumin seed, marjoram, basil, dill seed, oregano, cayenne, whole chiles, cinnamon, turmeric, a variety of curries and garam masala, clove, thyme, dill, coriander, nutmeg etc.

**I try to always use fresh herbs when possible, they taste better, but having salt, pepper, cumin and some other aromatics will make all of the difference in the flavor-power of your kitchen!


If you do your best to keep these basics in your pantry all of the time, I promise you you're never going to go hungry or spend another night eating a whole bag of Goldfish ever again.