Sweet Potato & Bean Burritos- Makes 4 Burritos

Mashed Sweet Potatoes- for the burrito

1 Large/1.5pd Sweet potato or Yam

Prep One
Peel Sweet Potato and slice into thin, round disks.
Bring big pot of water to boil.
Drop in Sweet Potatoes and let boil 15 to 20 minutes, till fork Tender.
Put in boil and mash into a smooth mashed potato.

Prep Option 2- Preferred Method
Preheat oven to 400F
Peel Sweet Potato and cut into small, square chunks, or disks. Place in bowl with 1 to 2 tsp oil, coat well. Place flat on a baking sheet. Bake till soft. Depending on size of pieces 30-50minutes. You can let them caramelize a little bit but don't let them burn. Cook cover for the first 15 minutes, Flip potatoes. Uncover, Put them back into the oven and bake for another 15 minutes take out and flip. Keep doing this till they are done and somewhat carmalized. Take out and Mash. Add a small amount of water if needed.

• Optional: You can add a small amount of chili seasoning to these when you add the oil. If you do this don't let the chili seasoning burn.

• If you leave them plane and made double you can use them to make Sweet Potato Perigees the next day. Of just leave them in chunks and eat as a side dish.

• A facebook friend put these instructions up for cooking Sweet Potatoes that I have never tried. This is exactly what she said..."i can give you a tip on cooking sweet potatoes that I have used for years... I think it is easier then peeling them first and then boiling.... plus.. you don't boil all the nutrients out of the potatoes..... Bake them at 400 for about 30 to 45 minutes.... then peel them... peeling is so much easier :-)"

So there are many ways to cook them. Or just purchase a canned or frozen sweet potatoes.

After they are mashed set aside.


Preparing Dried Kidney Beans

Pour dried beans into a colander. Pick through to make sure there are not rocks. Rinse the beans. Put the beans a a bowl 3 times as deep as the beans. Fill the boil with water that goes over the beans by a couple inchs. Let set over night. Check to make sure the beans have not sucked up all the water before you go to bed. If they have add more water. It is better to have to much water then not enough. The beans will double in size.

Drain them inthe morning. Put in fresh water in a pot. Place on stove and let simmer 4 to 6 hours. Try not to over cook them if you are going to freeze the extra. They will get mushy and not unthaw good. Take off stove when they are tender and the texture is palatable.

This works for most beans. Different beans have different cooking times though. So keep a watch for doneness.

Re-fried Beans

1/2 Small Onion, chopped
Water, to simmer onions in
1 Clove Garlic
2 Cups prepared Kidney beans, Beans only
1/3 to 2/3 cup of water
1/2 Tsp Cumin, ground
1 Tbsp Chili powder
Pinch cayenne pepper, optional
1 tsp Mustard
1 Tbsp Soy sauce, Reduced Sodium

Cook on Medium heat
Put oil in the pan, Let it heat, add onions and garlic. Don't burn the garlic it will be bitter. Cook onions till soft. Add the beans and mash with a potato masher of the back or a ladle of big spoon. Let cook a few minutes. Then add half the water. It will look pretty liquidy at this point. But when you let it simmer a little it will thicken. The more water you add the longer it will need to simmer to thicken up. If you only add half or 3/4 of the water it will only need like 10 minutes. After the water has heated add the seasonings, mustard, and reduced sodium, soy sauce. Let simmer till desired thickness is reached.

















Now to bring it together.

Flour Tortilla
Vegan Butter, I use Smart Balance light

• Heat a skillet with a small amount of butter. Place tortilla shell on top of butter and move it around so the outside of the shell is covered. Add some Sweet Potato mash & beans to the shell; Less potatoes then beans. Take a fork and fork your shell into a burritos and after the under side gets some round toasty marks flip so the top can do the same.

• Or you can warm the flour shell and put the potatoes & beans in. Place in a casserole plate and stick into a 350F preheated oven. Top with some vegan cheese like Daiya. And let it melt in the oven for about 10 minutes.

• You can use corn tortilla shells to. Fry them, Lawyer them into a casserole dish with the topping and bake till desired doneness.

• You can also turn this into a liared dip. And dip freshly made chili tortilla chips.

• Or make it as a pizza topping or calzone adding daiya cheddar cheese. And ater it comes out you can add veggies like: lettuce, tomatoes, etc... and taco sauce.

Nother Use for Mashed plain sweet potatoes.. Yummy Sweet potato Pasta sauce!

Wraps

Wraps are easy and quick here is a couple super quick and easy choices.

Vegan Riblet Wrap

1 Morningstar Riblet
2 Trader Joes Lime Jalapeno Flour Shells (Very yummy!) or shell of your choice
1/2 Tsp Smart balance light (or other vegan butter)
Corn

Cook the riblet in the microwave as directed. Heat up pan and take the shell to smear around the butter. Place the shell in pan to start browning. Put the riblet in a bowl and pick apart into small pieces. Place half the riblet & sauce on the shell. Place corn either in the shell or on the plate. The corn is really good with this. Let the shell brown nicely and get crisp not floppy. This is so yummy and addicting.

There are so many more concoctions you can come up with

Ideas:

• Vegetarian refried beans w/ tomato, lettuce, & sauce
• Vegetarian refried beans with tofurky slices

• Tofurky slices & vegan ham slices w/ vegan swiss cheese (opt)
• Tofurky slices w/ Dijon mustard

• Left over tofurky roast w/ stuffing, corn, green beans (any side you had) w/ a cranberry dipping sauce.
• Tofurky, Ham, Dill slice (kinda like a Monti cristo w/o the egg & cheese) w/ a soy gravy mustard sauce
• Scrabbled tofu
• The omelet from Vegan brunch
• Grilled or roasted veggies: green peppers, onions, mushrooms, etc with a dipping sauce
  
• PB&J
• Vegan Sloppy Joes
  
• Vegan Burger fried w/ simply organic taco seasoning w/ tomato, lettuce, etc w/ optional tofutti sour cream
  
• Vegan burger whole or crumbles w/ caramelized onions & sauteed mushrooms
• Vegan burger whole or crumbles cooked. Add BBQ sauce & onions rings
• Vegan crumbled burger fried with peas, carrots, green beans, vegan worcestershire sauce, pepper, etc ( Kinda like a Shepard's pie in a wrap)
  
• The Monti Cristo Idea form above w/ a Vegan coleslaw both cooked inside the shell
• Indian food would go good in these also. Alot of Indian food is eaten with bread kinda as a spoon. These breads are normally Roti /Chapati or Parantha. Which you can prepare easily and use almost just like this instead of like a spoon. For a more authentic taste & feel.
  

You can also do desserts.

• Like cooked apple w/ Cinnamon & vegan butter of choice. Put between two shells and toast in pan.
• Semi- Sweet chocolate chips or carob chips with peanut butter

The possibilities are endless!

Almond Milk recipe

Almond milk instructions.

Basically you:

• Measure out 2 cups or 10oz of almonds and soak them over night.

• Then you drain them and put them in the blender with 6 cups of water. You blend it all together with a high speed blender.

• Some people like it plain others add some dates for a sweeter end product. I'm sure you could add other sweeteners like agave nectar if you would like.

• After it has been blended you poor it through cheese cloth or something similar to remove the almond pulp.

Then you have the milk. It will keep for 3-7 days.

After you strain the pulp either freeze the almond pulp for cookies and such or dry it with a dehydrator and make flour! So there is really no waste.

Kale & Potato Enchiladas w/ Chips Plus Potato & kale soup

There are tons of recipes for Potatoes and Kale and I know why.. Because they go so well together.

Kale & Potato Enchilada's
Make sure you buy the book it is Great!

This recipe came from Veganomican..... and it is really good. It takes a little time but it is worth it. This was the first time I have ever had enchiladas so I am sure you figured out that this is the first time I have made them. The mix in Potato and Kale mix was so Yummy and the sauce was a good topper. But It can be kinda messy... But like I said well worth it.

We also made chips out of the rest of the corn tortillas. They were a nice salty & crunchy extra.

Tortilla Corn Chips

Just cut the tortilla
Spray with oil
Sprinkle / salt
Put in the oven at 350F
and bake till browned and crispy.. Between 7 and 15 minutes..

There are also so many different toppings you can add. The possibilities are endless.

Kale & Potato Soup

I loved this recipe from Vegan Vittles. It turned out awesome. It was supper easy and I made it two days in a row when I was sick. It is definitely a comfort food..! I don't know what else to say about this one.. Just TRY IT! You will love it... Buy the book!!!! All the comfort food you could ever want... Plus potatoes and Kale are both super cheap and you can make a ton of it. I think I will have this for dinner today.

TODAY

Today I am starting the rest of my life. I know that sounds a little overly dramatic... But I have finally gone totally vegan. I have been a vegetarian for about 9 years and for the last 2 pretty much 80% Vegan. But as of this year I am totally vegan and so is my husband. We just have to finish the remaining non-vegan veggie burgers and we are there... I am very excited. So I have started this new blog. It is exclusively for vegan food and food ideas. I also have another blog Respectlifeeatveggies.blogspot.com which is about food, animals, and everyday life. Later this year I intend to have menu ideas. So that when you go out and purchase food for a week and you want to try new recipes or just have a plan made it will be there. Plus I will work on making all the recipes coincide so that left over veggies do not spoil in your fridge. In other words if we use half a head of cabbage one day then within that week we will use the other half. These post will be labeled simply as "Duo Dining" until I come up with a better name. On this blog I am also going to work on posting more recipes, links to the recipes, or names of the books that the recipes came from so that you can use or find the recipe to use. Stick with me for a couple of months so that I can start putting some of those recipes together. I also have many other ideas for columns . So please stick with me...!!!! I also promise the pictures will be alot better then the ones listed below.... :)

I am also getting ready to start a store at Etsy.com which I am also extremely excited about. I still have to get organized and get a few more things pieced together before I do. There will be "Vegan " stuff, food, baby stuff, animal stuff, and who knows what else.....But stay tuned and for my blog readers I will leave discounts for my stuff.

I am so excited to start off this blog and because it is the first day of 2009 I have some food to leave you with. Its not alot but this is what I fixed today. I know that these two foods are not the best and they are super easy but stick with me for healthier foods.

"Butter Soy Milk" Dumplings

This is quick and simple and you can add veggies and tempeh or some other protein source. Or you can just leave them plane.

2 to 4 Cups- No- Chicken broth or Veg broth
2 Cups- Flour
1/4 Cup Canola oil or Vegan Butter
2/3 Cup Soy Milk
1/2 tsp Vinegar or Lemon Juice
3 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Baking Soda

Put broth in pan and bring to a boil.
Put the vinegar in your soy milk and let it set till it looks spoiled... Then add the oil to the other liquids. In a separate bowl combine all the dry ingredients. Pour in the wet ingredients and mix. Mis till just combined or your dumplings will be tough. Flatten and cut into small pieces like an inch or inch and a half wide. Lay in boiling broth. Turn once they fluff up. Take one out and check after a few minutes to see if it looks like a fluffy biscuit on the inside. Make sure there is no doughy stuff left. If you over cook them they will turn into flat hockey pucks. But they still will taste ok. But try to check one out of every bunch you throw in the pan. Don't put more than say 5 in at once. That way if you mess up you have more to try. Plus if you put to man in it will cool the broth and it will stop boiling. These turn out really good though. Hope you like them. This recipe can also be used for biscuits. Thats basically what a dumpling is just boiled... :)
If you want to add some protein like tempeh take the tempeh let it marinate in some broth to taste. Then put in the center of the dumplings. You can also do this with veggies.... They both turn out great.

Of course to start the new year off with good luck you have to eat something from the greens family. So I normally have sour kraut but today I chose to change it up... With....

Cabbage No- Roles
This is very simple. I was not a huge fan of it but John (my husband) liked it. O well. I have another recipe for cabbage roles that turns out great. I will list it later.

Half of a 3 pound Head Cabbage, shredded or Chopped
1- 28oz can of diced tomatoes
1 1/2 dry Rice white, brown or wild ( just very in cooking time)
3 cups water
Salt
Pepper

OK... The rice. White long grain rice only take 15 to 10 minutes to cook so you can throw it in. But Brown and Wild rice take upwards of 40 to 45 minutes to cook so you will need to partly cook it in advance. Leave about 20 then throw it in with the rest. So throw the rice in with the tomatos and cabbage. The rice will puff and take on the tomato taste and the cabbage will cook down. Depending on how small your cabbage is cut down will determine how long this cooks. Cook till cabbage is tender and the rice is done. Add salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy.

Now starting the year off right I will do one of the Duo Dining meals... So what do you do with a half head of cabbage? duh.. you make another cabbage meal. So here is one. I will post the pictures later.

Pasta & Cabbage
Cabbage, half 3 lb head, shredded ( long shreds or to hide it put in a food processor)
1 box wheat pasta, rotini
3 potatoes, chopped
4 oz Smart Balance light or other vegan butter
3 to 5 cloves garlic, chopped, depends on how much garlic you like
2 or 3 fresh or dried sage leaves
1 tsp black pepper

Bring water to boil. Put in your shredded cabbage let cook for 10 minutes. Add the potatoes for about 5 minutes and then add the wheat pasta cook for 12 more minutes. In a separate pan while this is cooking add the butter to melt down with the sage leaves, garlic, and black pepper. Take 2 ladles of the starchy water and add to the butter. Let cook down a little. But do not scorch your butter. When your cabbage, pasta, and potatoes are done add the sauce mix to it. And again.. your done... We love this stuff !!!!!!

But stay with me. The blog looks rough right now but I will work on fixing it up...!