Vegan Bento

Most of the time, I like using canned black beans for speed. But there’s a smokier flavor to cooking from dried, so I made this soup. Mostly hands free, but takes a long time.

• 1.5 cup dried black beans, rinsed, picked over.

 Dump it in a bowl filled with water to soak overnight. Rinse, and drain and then dump it in a crockpot with 6 cups of water. Cover and cook on high for 6-8 hours or until beans are tender.

 Once tender add:

• 2 cups chopped onion
• 1 (15 oz) can italian or mexican stewed tomato
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1/3 tsp thyme
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 3 vegetable stock cubes
• salt to taste

 Cook another hour. Puree with hand blender and serve. Garnish with whatever is handy. Minced cilantro is esp good.

I had it for lunch with salad on the side. 

 Another one I tried out from "Vegan with a Vengeance."   This one improves with time, and freezes ok.

 

  

 When I first made it I packed a rectangle bento and threw it in the freezer. Here it is unthawed and packed with other goodies for my friend Carla at work. (It was my turn to make lunch.)

 

 

Low sodium V8 juice, the risotto, organic steamed cauliflower, organic kiwi, and Cinnamon Teddy Bear Graham crackers that I raided from Julia. 

 
This is adapted from a Peter Berley recipe. His calls for 3 tbs extra virgin olive oil, but since this is braised I really don’t see the point. You could just as easily drop it totally, or drop it down to 1 tbs and use something more flavorful like dark sesame oil or peanut oil.

Basically drain and blot 1 package of firm tofu. Cube, and then set in a frying pan with…

• 5 tbs low sodium soy sauce
• 3 tbs 100% maple syrup
• 1 tbs oil of  your choice or none at all
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tsp chili paste

bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for another 4 min. Helpful to toss the tofu so it’s evenly glazed before covering.

I garnished with green onion and served up with steamed jasmine rice and a side of steamed mustard green with a splash of soy sauce and sesame seeds.
 
I gave it to the two year old but skipped the greens ( too chewy for her) and fork mashed the tofu into her rice. She liked it fine.

I haven’t posted in a long time but it isn’t because I haven’t been cooking or photographing. Rather than try to catch up in detail, I decided to just post some eye candy and begin anew.