vegetarian baked beans with cornbread

When I think of baked beans I usually think of cans, cowboys, and family gatherings. Now I also think of slow cooking at home.

Serving Size: 8

Vegetarian Baked Bean Ingredients:
2 1/2 c. navy beans, dry
4 c. water
2 c. tomato sauce
1/2 c. sorgham molasses
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 T. canola oil
1 T. liquid aminos (or tamari or soy sauce)
1 t. brown mustard seed, ground
1 t. black pepper
1 t. salt
1/4 t. cayenne pepper

Cornbread Ingredients:
1 c. cornmeal
1 c. all purpose flour
1 T. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1 1/2 c. plain soy milk
1/4 c. maple syrup
1/4 c. canola oil

To start the baked beans, soak the navy beans for a few hours. Then cook the soaked beans until they are just starting to get tender. Drain and rinse the beans.

In a large pot or crock-pot, saute the onion, ground mustard seed, black pepper, salt and cayenne in canola oil until the onions are translucent. Add remaining ingredients. Cover the pot and simmer for 5 hours or until the beans are really tender and flavorful.

Mix the dry cornbread ingredients together. Mix the wet cornbread ingredient together. Stir wet and dry ingredients together. Bake in a greased cast iron skillet or a 9x9 pan for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.


Side Note:
We used sorghum molasses instead of regular molasses because for us sweet sorghum can be grown more locally than sugar cane.

tofu scramble

There is a lot you can add to tofu scramble to make it delicious no matter what season it is. Since it is winter, we added frozen corn, frozen edamame, and frozen spinach (all from the farmers market). This time we experimented with adding reconstituted dried bell peppers (red and green)--which adds more color to the scramble. You could also add reconstituted sun-dried tomatoes or mushrooms. Turmeric, nutritional yeast, and soy sauce finish off the seasonings of this hearty breakfast. I don't know if people started putting turmeric in tofu scramble just for the color, but now I can't imagine tofu scramble without the distinctive turmeric flavor. And I like nutritional yeast so I try to find a way to put in everything.

Serving Size: 4

Ingredients:

1/2 large onion, diced

1 lb extra-firm tofu, drained and crumbled

2 large cloves garlic, minced

2 t. turmeric

1 c. frozen corn
3/4 c. frozen spinach, minced

1/2 c. frozen, boiled, shelled edamame

1/4 c. dried bell peppers bits, reconstituted in 1/4 c. red wine
1 t. basil
1 t. thyme
1/2 c. nutritional yeast

1/8 c. soy sauce

salt and black pepper to taste

In a frying pan, saute the onions with 1 T. oil and a pinch of salt until translucent. In the mean time, crumble the tofu into small pieces. I like to squeeze the tofu brick between my fingers over a colander. I then push the tofu down in the colander with my fists, squeezing out as much water as I can.

Add the crumbled tofu, turmeric and half of the minced garlic to the frying pan. Mix once then allow the tofu to brown on one side. Once browned, continue to saute stirring more often. Add frozen corn, frozen spinach, frozen edamame, reconstituted peppers, basil and thyme. When the frozen ingredients have thawed add soy sauce, nutritional yeast and the remaining minced garlic. Add salt and black pepper to taste.

Serve with hot sauce if you like and buttered toast.