Beans and Legumes Archives

Bacon Pumpkin Black Eyed Peas with Sage

October 31, 2018

These Instant Pot black eyed peas are made with a savory blend of bacon, pumpkin, and fresh sage. They are simple enough for an everyday lunch, but also have just the right amount of flair to be a delicious side for a holiday dinner.

I feel like I’m always in clean-out-the-pantry mode. Maybe that is because I’m always overstocking the pantry.

It’s a problem I can’t seem to overcome, the overbuying of dry goods. I eventually use everything up, but not before beans and lentils have had a long stay on the shelf.

Black-eyed peas were the next to use up. They aren’t in my usual legume rotation, but I bought some for a recipe a while back and they are starting to grow on me.

Sesame Lentils with Bok Choy

October 28, 2017

I always struggle with getting the right consistency for cooked brown lentils. And by right, I mean getting them the way I like them – slightly firm, but tender enough to enjoy. Usually, I get them boiling, get distracted and they are mushy before I realize it.

That’s fine for soups, but I enjoy eating them as more of a stir-fry or a skillet meal.

So this time around, I watched them like a hawk.

Actually, that’s a lie.

Refried Black Beans with Garlic and Lime

August 18, 2017

I almost bought a can of refried black beans the other day. I was doing that for a while a few years ago, when we were trying to stick to a slow carb eating plan. (If you are unfamiliar, it can be summed up as eating protein, veggies, and beans at just about every meal.) I’ve been trying to steer my food intake back in that direction since it was when I felt my fittest, but it’s been a slow process since we moved to the Central Valley and, you know, we were without a kitchen for a while this year.

Those cans were super convenient then, even though I knew they were loaded with sodium. But I stopped myself this time. I’m perfectly capable of making delicious beans, so I redirected myself over to the dried bean section and picked up a one pound bag of black beans.

Corn White Bean Arugula Salad

August 15, 2017

For a long time, heirloom tomatoes were my absolute favorite thing about summer. Lately, though they have fallen ever so slightly in their ranking to make it closer to a tie with something else.

Corn.

That probably seems a lot less exciting, but I think it’s because the older I’ve gotten, and the less I’ve had corn from our own garden growing up, the more I appreciate a really good ear.

I can still remember going to friend’s houses in the summer and my hosts joyfully proclaiming that we were having sweet corn for dinner. One bite into those chewy, tough kernels and it was all I could do not to set the ear down and leave it be for the rest of the meal.

That was not sweet corn. If you’ve ever had an ear at its peak ripeness, you know the difference. Good corn is crisp with kernels that literally explode with flavor in your mouth. There is nothing quite like it.

Fortunately, I haven’t had a difficult time finding good corn here. There is a farm nearby that grows corn in the summer and pumpkins in the fall and winter. I usually try to buy from them, but even the ears I pick up at the grocery store from time to time tend to be really great.

Lentils with Mustard Greens and Heirloom Tomatoes

August 13, 2017

I realize that it’s way too early for comfort food, but lately I’ve had the urge to get out my Instant Pot and start making beans and lentils again.

My favorite thing is a one bowl meal, and now that I actually use a pressure cooker, they’ve gotten easier.

I don’t post a lot of IP recipes on here because I know everyone doesn’t have one (and I could never be convinced to use a traditional pressure cooker), but this simple lunch turned out so good that I had to share.

Shawarma Spiced Fava Bean Vegetarian Burger

July 6, 2017

This post is sponsored by Sahadi’s.

Food access is important in my line of work. Well, if you love food, regardless of the type of work you do, it’s important. But when you are tasked to make specific foods or need to photograph a certain ingredient, you have to find it.

I’m the first one to admit that regularly accessing what I need isn’t always easy around here. Of course, this comes after spending 10 years in the surprisingly excellent local food scene of Central Kentucky, and then a few more years in the Bay Area. Which, I mean, come on. What can’t you find in the Bay Area?

Internet shopping for groceries is not only a fun pastime these days, it’s often a necessity.

Black Lentil and Barley Bowl

April 22, 2016

Hi! Just a note. Fake Food Free is now a Substack called Every Corner of the World. I’d love for you to join me there. I also now teach food photography and styling. Learn more about that at LoriRice.com. You can still find all my old recipes right here.

Back in February, I attended a workshop with the food styling and food photography greats, Adam Pearson and Matt Armendariz. The course taught me so much about the art of working with food, but what was more unexpected was that it gave me some new inspiration for everyday cooking.

For one of the shoots, we prepared grain bowls with all kinds of good stuff like whole grains, lentils, nuts and roasted veggies. It was a build your own kind of thing for photographing. We never actually ate them.

I left that weekend thinking — I am so hungry for a grain bowl!

Baked Peruano Beans with Mexican Chorizo

March 29, 2016

Every time we move to a new place it opens me up to a new world of ingredients. It’s probably obvious how that would happen with a move to Brazil. But I even felt this way when we moved back to a more rural area of Kentucky. Then, of course, there was the Bay Area.

This time around that new world of ingredients belongs to Mexican cuisine. I’ve barely scratched the surface on what is available to me. I’m also learning that I didn’t know as much as I thought I did about these ingredients.

I discover something new every time I go to the market.

Simple Slow Cooker Mung Bean Soup

November 11, 2015

Soon, we’ll be frantically running out to the supermarket to get overlooked ingredients. Soon, we’ll forget what it’s like to shop during the holidays and find ourselves elbowing our way to a check-out line. Soon, we’ll be waiting in line at the post office (something we swore we’d never do again) to get gifts mailed before the last possible hour.

Soon, no matter how hard we try to stay in control, things are going to get crazy.

I love the holiday season, crazy or not. So I say bring it on! As long as I have some lights sparkling in the living room and cookies in the oven at some point throughout the season, I’ll take it.