Tag Archives: Vegan

Eggs, Food, pulses, scratch cooking

Quick post about egg replacements…

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Well, the price of eggs is currently rocketing up, and it doesn’t look like they are going to come down for a while.

Now, eggs are marvelous things and it’s nearly impossible to replace them (over easy is my favorite way, and you can’t easily fake those), but for some things, you can use something else.

If you know me, you know I love my pulses. So I will let you know there is something lurking in a can of chick peas/ceci/garbanzo beans/ chana dal (I will never for the life of me know why the shortest names isn’t the one we settled on).

So get your can of ceci. Open it and strain it, SAVING THE LIQUID. That liquid is called ‘aquafaba’ or ‘bean water’. And 3 T of it will replace an egg in baking or cooking. Can you fry it over easy? No. Can you use it as a binder in your meatloaf? Yes. Can you use it in place of your egg bath when breading something? Yes. Can you use it in baking? Yes. Can you use it as an egg wash? Yes- but it will only brown, not get glossy.

Can you make angel food cake with it? Yes- but it will take a LOT of beating. But yes, meringues can be made out of it.

So, for scrambling and frying and dipping toast into, you’d have to splurge on real eggs. But for cornbread or brownies or breaded pork chops, you can use a little bean juice instead. And ceci just has no real color or flavor, so it works very well. It also freezes, so you can just pop a serving out when you need it.

And what to do with those beans (peas) that are leftover? Well, other than making hummus (who doesn’t love hummus?) I’m going to share with you a ceci salad and a ceci ‘scramble’— both good ways to eat them that are slightly eggy in their own way.

So get a medium sized fry pan and cook

      1/8 of an onion, diced

            1T oil

For about 3-5 minutes. Add

            2 cloves garlic minced

Cook about 1 minute. Add

1 cup ceci

            ¼ tsp turmeric

            Salt and black pepper

Mash and heat through. Add

            Pinch cayenne

            1 tsp lemon juice

1 ½ tsp parsley, minced

Serve it up. A bowl of that is a large breakfast and a great way to get your pulses in.

And a ceci salad that is decent on crackers or as a sandwich filling:

2 cups ceci (about 1 can), slightly mashed

1 dill pickle, minced (or pickle of your choice)

¼ cup red onion, diced

Mix those in a bowl. Dress with a mixture of these, and serve.

            2T mayo (use vegan if you are)

            2 tsp apple cider vinegar

2 tsp prepared mustard

            ¼ tsp each salt and pepper

1/8 tsp turmeric

That’s that. Of course, trade out ingredients you hate or don’t have, but the turmeric does help the color and flavor. I made the salad the other day, so I have a photo of that.  

And here is hoping the prices go back down…

Food, health, pulses, Uncategorized, weight loss, weight loss, whole grain

Chick pea Marbella (etc)

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Chick peas Marbella, bulgar, zuchini

Chicken Marbella was a hot and happening dish in the very early 80’s, and swept the country as a company dish. It’s got a complex flavor with some odd seasoning choices that make you go what? when you cook it and mmmm when you eat it. And it is a pretty good company dish.
But when you want a meat free pulse based meal… well, turns out, this works with chick peas.
It’s what we had last night for dinner. And that one change made the meal vegan as well as high fiber.

To about 3 cups (2 cans) of chick peas (garbanzo, ceci, hummus) add

1/4 cup chopped prunes
2T capers
2T red vinegar
2T olive oil
2 T brown sugar
2 T white wine
12 sliced green olives
1/3- 1/2 head garlic chopped
1 crumbled bay leaf
2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp salt AND pepper

Pour into a shallow pan and bake about 40 minutes.
I assume letting this sit overnight would make a good cold salad for a hot day, but right away, the chick peas were bland.

That’s literally it, for a dish my omnivore family prefers to the meat version.

Last night I also discovered that bulgar cooks on the range in minutes. I always prepped mine for tabouli, by pouring boiling water on it and letting it sit for hours, so I never thought of it as a ‘fast’ starch. But it is, faster than pasta, slower than couscous. Took less time than the zucchini took to prep and cook.
It was 1 cup of medium ground bulgar, 2 cups water, 2 T oil, pinch of salt in the pot together, covered, for about 10 -12 minutes. Then off heat, the last of the water was absorbed.
2 medium zucchini, 3 cloves garlic, 1T oil, salt and black pepper. Cooked with cover on, mostly.

Food, money saving, pulses, scratch cooking, sourdough, Uncategorized

Sausage and peppers, only vegan…

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completed meal
bread and beans- what life is made of

We have many vegan dishes in our recipe box, because vegan to us is simply another way to eat. These are not ‘sacrifice’ meals, but meals that really would not be made better with meat anyway. I like to bring this one to pot lucks, because it’s vegan and grain-free, which sometimes makes it one of the only things a guest can eat.
And it’s tasty. An omnivore friend has deemed it ‘sausage and peppers’ and we agree.

And, it’s simple. If you don’t have an instant pot, you can do it on the range or in the oven. If you do it in a slow cooker, start with beans that have been boiled first (not completely cooked through), though.

The first thing to do is soak the beans. My current way to do that is to put dry beans in the Instant Pot for a 4-minute cook, with water, a little salt, and a bay leaf. You can do a ‘quick soak’ with the same add-ins on the range (a 2-minute boil and a 1-hour soak) or do an overnight soak first in plain water. I like the way the bay and salt flavor the beans as a base for pretty much anything.

Navy beans soaking. Any white bean will do.

Then you want to cook a lot of onions (I used 3 large ones) in a lot of olive oil until they are translucent. That is the only cooking that will happen outside of your bean pot. You then toss the onions and everything else into your pot, and let it go until it’s cooked all the way.
It’s seriously that simple. Serve it with bread, or over pasta or rice, and it’s a great, tasty, cheap and healthy meal. Leftovers will be done with pasta tomorrow at our house.
Yes, you can cut the oil down, but there is no other fat in the meal, and olive oil is healthy. 😉 (Do NOT use ‘high quality’ olive oil for this. This is your cooking oil.)

Onions cooking… mmmmm

1# white beans soaked (As mentioned, a little salt (1/2 tsp) and a bay leaf if you are doing a quick soak adds nice flavor)


3 onions, sliced or chopped
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 tsp salt
Sautee these three until the onions are translucent.



3 large green bell peppers, sliced or chopped
1 hot pepper- optional. Add more or less, and any pepper you like. I add 1 sliced pepperoncini. This is not to make it hot (although you can) this is to add a little flavor. The pepperoncini is not really hot, but adds a bit of brine to the dish.
1 quart crushed tomatoes (standard can)
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dry oregano
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2c water
add all of these to the pot and cook until done.

all ingredients except onions and water in IP
Cooked beans.