Slow cooker two-bean chili with quinoa

This is going to be my new go-to recipe for vegetarian chili. I've found that a lot of recipes for vegetarian chili don't have that extra thickness/heartiness that is present in a meat-based sauce, and they end up being more soup-like. This recipe, which was inspired by this one, remedies that. The secret ingredient? Quinoa, which is loaded with additional protein. If you don't have a slow cooker, you could easily make this on the stove, too. It tastes even better after it sits.

Slow cooker two-bean chili with quinoa

1 onion
1 Tblsp minced garlic
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can red beans, rinsed and drained
3/4 cup red quinoa, rinsed (you could use other kinds of quinoa as well)
3 cups vegetable stock
1 cup water
1 cup frozen sweet corn (or canned hominy)
1 can diced, fire-roasted tomatoes
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1 cinnamon stick
1 Tblsp. chili powder (use 2 Tblsp if you have a mild powder)
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. onion powder
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. salt


Saute onion and garlic in a dash of olive oil until softened. Add to slow cooker, along with all your other ingredients. Cook on high for three hours, or you could also probably do high for one hour, low for 4-6. Serve with a sprinkling of feta cheese or grated cheddar on top.

Butternut Squash and Red Lentil Soup

In January, when the sidewalks elsewhere are covered with ice, I'll gloat about the 70 degree weather here, but for now, I'm just wishing for a little bit of fall. It's been unseasonably warm, even for Florida, with 90+ temperatures during the day, afternoon thunderstorms, and humidity so thick that you could slice it with a butter knife. I tried a pumpkin spice latte at Starbuck's last week, which seemed pretty much like a cruel joke.

Nevertheless, I'm still up for some fall cooking. And I tried this recipe for butternut squash and red lentil soup, which is so amazing you must run out and make it RIGHT NOW. I altered it to use the spices I had on hand, but I had a big bag of red lentils, so all I needed was to run out and buy one of those seasonal vegetables. Red lentils are my favorite - they taste nothing like brown lentils, cook up quickly, are light and low-fat, but have tons of good stuff in them: fiber, folate, magnesium, and iron, to name a few. And combined with the very slight sweetness of butternut squash, they make an amazing combination: filling but not heavy.

Butternut Squash and Red Lentil Soup

1 butternut squash, peeled and cubed
1 cup red lentils
1 quart (4 cups) water
2 Rapunzel vegetarian boullion cubes (You could also use broth in the last step)
1 onion, chopped
1 15-oz can diced tomatoes (Mine had basil & garlic in them, you could also kick it up a notch and use Rotel)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp. dried coriander
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. salt
1 T extra virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp cayenne

Saute onions in a large saucepan coated with the olive oil. Add garlic, cook for another minute. Add squash, diced tomatoes, lentils, water, boullion, and spices. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 20 minutes until squash is tender.


Blend half of it, then put it back in the pot. I use an immersion blender to keep some of the consistency. Welcome to fall...

Moroccan Foods for Ramadan

After being married to a Moroccan for almost a decade, I finally figured out how to make harira. Harira is a tomato-based soup with meat and chickpeas that Moroccans eat to break the fast during Ramadan. I've tried a number of delicious recipes, but none of them ever tasted quite like the harira made in my husband's family. Somehow, even though I got other cooking lessons, I never learned to make harira the way they did. So finally this past summer while in Fes, I wrote down my sister-in-law's directions. I pulled out the recipe a few weeks ago and realized it was just a giant list of ingredients, a little here and there, approximated using tea glasses or small spoons, most of said ingredients thrown into a blender and then a pressure cooker, with other things added later. So I worked on the measurements until I got the recipe right. Last night we finally had some authentic food-- I've also been tinkering with the recipe for bghrir, otherwise known as the "pancake of a thousand holes," and I think I've got that one down, too. I'm writing them down now for posterity, and so I can remember what I did next time.

Harira (Serves 4)

Part 1:

1/2 lb stew beef, cut into 1 " pieces
4 large tomatoes
1 large onion
3 stalks celery, with leaves
1/2 cup parsley
1/4 cup cilantro
1 Tblsp canola oil
1 tsp. salt, add more to taste
1/2 tsp. black pepper
A can of chickpeas, drained
2 teaspoons Better than Boullion, or beef boullion cubes, or beef stock

Part 2:

1/8 cup flour
1/4 cup water
2 Tblsp. tomato paste
1/4 cup long grain rice
1/4 cup cilantro
4 cups water

Part 3:

Small handful vermicelli noodles, preferably fideo, broken up angel hair noodles that they sell at Hispanic grocery stores.

Place stew beef in a pressure cooker, or large Dutch oven (will take longer). Blend tomatoes in blender then strain them through a colander, adding strained tomatoes to pot. Blend large onion with 1/2 cup water, add to pot. Blend celery with 1/2 cup parsley, 1/4 cup cilantro and another 1/2 cup water, add to pot. Turn on the burner, bring to a simmer, keep adding stuff: oil, salt, pepper, beef stock or boullion, chickpeas (You can use canned, but if so, don't add them now, add them at the end). Seal pressure cooker, cook 45 minutes, turn off heat. If using a dutch oven, simmer about 2 hours, or until beef is tender.

In a blender, blend flour, 1/2 cup water, 2 Tblsp tomato paste. Add to pot, along with rice, cilantro, and 4 cups water. Simmer uncovered for 30 minutes, stirring frequently to keep flour from sticking.

Best if you let it sit for another hour or two before eating. Salt to taste. It should be a slightly thick soup. If too thick, add more water. Just before eating, add a very small handful of fideo noodles.

Serve with lemon. Some people also put in lentils; you could do 1/4 cup or less at the same time you add the rice. This is the best soup ever; very filling.

Bghrir (Pancake with 1000 holes)

1 3/4 cups semolina
1/2 cup white flour
1 tsp. salt
1 cup milk, warmed slightly
3 cups water, lukewarm
3 eggs
1 Tblsp yeast (or a yeast packet)

Sift semolina, flour and salt. In a separate bowl, mix milk, water, eggs, and yeast with a whisk. Add SOME of the milk mixture to the semolina until mixture gets thick-- like a thick soup. Put that in a blender, blend for 3-4 minutes. Now strain it through a colander and then add the rest of your milk/eggs mixture. Allow to rise in a warm place for two hours.

Batter will be frothy. Stir gently with a ladle, and fry, crepe-style (not too thick) in a small frying pan coated with nonstick cooking spray over medium heat. Pancake will gather lots of tiny holes, but don't turn it over-- when it's golden on the bottom and done on the top, place it on a cookie rack or clean dish towel, but don't stack. This makes a LOT of tiny pancakes.

Before serving, heat another skillet with some butter (or butter substitute) and honey. Warm the pancakes you will be eating in the honey mixture, then stack on a plate to keep warm. Extra ones keep well.

Slow Cooker Vegetarian Chili

I have a slow cooker I don't use very often. A neighbor gave it to us as a wedding gift several years ago, and each time I get inspired to use it, I start searching for recipes on the Internet, ending up discouraged when all the recipes seem like they're about hearty American fare I'm not always interested in eating, such as Brunswick stew. But I do like the idea of throwing a bunch of things in a pot and having them simmer slowly over a couple of hours, even if I'm still not convinced that a regular pot-on-stove couldn't do the same thing. Nonetheless, I tinkered with this easily adjustable vegetarian chili recipe from the Food Network and came up with the following. You could easily substitute other things you have on hand-- corn, different types of beans, eggplant or green pepper instead of zucchini, etc. With all the spices, this ends up being pretty flavorful.

Slow Cooker Vegetarian Chili

1 14 ounce can diced tomatoes (you could use Mexican-flavored)
1 1/2 cups vegetable stock
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can red kidney beans, rinced and drained
1 zucchini, chopped into small pieces (could substitute red or green pepper here)
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, pressed
1 tablespoon minced pickled jalapeno (from can or jar) and/or canned chipotle pepper
1/2 cup portion butternut squash or sweet potato puree (optional)
1 Tblsp chili powder (I've been using Penzey's medium hot chili powder lately and it's sooo good)
1/2 Tblsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. ground coriander
1 tsp. Tabasco sauce

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Your favorite cheese, shredded (sharp cheddar, mont. jack with jalapenos would be good)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Put all ingredients up to Tabasco in slow cooker. Cook on high for 3-4 hours, low for 6-8 hours. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add more water if necessary. Just before serving, stir in cilantro. Serve with grated cheese on top, cornbread on the side, and if you like, a dash of sour cream.

split pea soup

Probably most of us need to eat more vegetables. I can always manage to incorporate one or two in a day, and I can do vegetarian entrees, but I often find myself lacking imagination with side dishes or easy main courses. Usually I don't beat myself up about it, but there's a baby on the way so I've been trying to eat better. (I'm also feeling the urgency to catalog all the recipes I make on a regular basis so I will have easy dinner ideas to turn to once my life turns upside down). On a lazy Saturday when I might otherwise succumb to the urge to just make cheese quesadillas for lunch, I've been making the split pea soup recipe from 101 cookbooks. These are the quantities I use for two people, especially since it's so easy you can make it again sometime, and you may not feel like eating leftovers later...

Split Pea Soup

1 onion, chopped
dash olive oil
1 cup green split peas, rinsed
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. vegetable boullion (I use Better Than Boullion)
2 1/2 cups water
dash cumin or smoked paprika
lemon juice (optional)

Saute onion in olive oil until translucent. Add split peas, boullion, salt, and 2 1/2 cups of water, and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer, covered, at least 20 minutes, until peas are tender. Mash with potato masher, add a dash of your favorite spice and a squeeze of lemon juice at the end. Serves 2.