Beans and Legumes

Enjoyment wise, I think I would be fine with a mostly vegan diet. Preparation wise, I would fall short. First, I need to up my knowledge of what non-animal proteins have the most protein, iron, and calcium, areas I struggle with in my diet anyway. Second, a vegan diet, unless I succumb to pre-made things from co-ops and expensive grocers, requires a higher level of meal planning than I have put into action. I want to change this. I've mentioned my love of YouTube vlogs, and that I will follow a certain vlogger for a while, getting to know their lifestyle, and how they manage a lifestyle that seems compatible with my values and priorities. 

One such vlog is a young British couple, now living in Portugal with their  infant daughter and  spunky dog. 8 Miles form Home chronicles vegan couple Sasha and J, and they share often how they prepare meals on the fly, completely vegan, but what seems like relatively no fuss. Their pricey coffee and local pastry habit aside, their food consumption is thrifty with whole grains, hearty vegetables, and lots of legumes and beans. They also have some stand by's such as making "green juice" and roasting chick pea's with a little oil and chili peppers, both of which add a boost to their simple meals.

from@kichn

I bought my daughter a hummus cook book for Christmas, complete with recipe to make it from dry chick peas, almost always the most economical version, to using the hummus as an ingredient in falafel or burgers. I should have bought her a food processor as well, but I'm keeping an eye open for her, and for a replacement for mine that broke a couple years ago.  I do have a ninja blender, and it works well, but think hummus might be too much for it to handle. In the mean time though, I gave roasting canned chick peas a try Tuesday night. Surprisingly, my local grocery store didn't carry dry chick peas or garbanzo beans. First, I actually saved the chick pea water. Interestingly, the water/glop that is in the canned can be substituted for eggs in baking. Who knew? I used the liquid called, aquafaba, with a cake mix, oil, and the bits of white and semi sweet baking chips, into a pan of bars. 

Now, while I did not give up sugar for lent, we do not need to eat a whole pan of bars in the next two days so cut in squares and wrapped, most will go into the freezer. I'm going to use some of roastred the chick peas with some rice for my lunch today. I forgot  to snap pictures. This is from Hersheys.com. Yeah, mine looked just this nice. Fail on appearance but taste was good. Chocolate hides culinary sins.

I'm a navy bean fan. I've shared my  navy bean soup recipe  before.I once tried making baked beans from scratch, but not sure what I did wrong as the beans never fully got soft, and the sauce was moving to burnt. Perhaps I didn't soften the bean enough through pre-soaking. Advice? As I get more creative, or at least more "beany", I'll try and share my successes and failures.