Recipes: Freezer Food, Beans

Where have I been? My summer accounting classes have been kicking my butt, but in a good way! I've been learning tons of great stuff about Business Tax Forms, general bookkeeping, and how to prepare my own and analyze other company's financial statements. Bookkeeping a great vegan career, no animals are harmed in the making, because we only crunch numbers (:P). My goal is to help small vegan-friendly businesses be as successful as possible, so wish me luck! Only two more classes to go and I will have finished my Summer Course-Load :)

I have been the main chef of my household, but since I've started taking night classes my husband's been pitching in after his long work days to feed us... to make it easier on him I've done this, and I recommend it to anyone who doesn't have a lot of time to cook every night, but loves yummy home-cooked meals.

The top shelf of our freezer has frozen tupperwares full of home-cooked, black beans, and the bottom self is home-cooked lentils... all from scratch.

For both recipes I started with dry beans (black beans, and lentils respectively) and soaked them (about 6-7 cups each) in a large pot filled with enough water to generously submerge all beans, and a tablespoon of salt. The longer you soak the less time you will need to cook them, I like to soak for an hour and do other things then come back to it, just remember to cover.

After soaking I turned the heat on and brought to a boil, then brought the heat all the way down to low. This is where the two recipes differ:

BLACK BEANS:

Added- 1 chopped onion, several cloves of chopped garlic, a handful of chopped jalapenos, 1-2 tablespoons of Chili Powder, a teaspoon of cumin, cracked pepper and a few large chunks of potato (NOTE: Potato when cooked in beans absorbs the stuff in beans that gives you gas... So when I serve/eat my beans I avoid eating the potato).

Optional: You can also add a bay leaf or two, Soy Rizo, or other veggie protein, and bell peppers are good in it too.

LENTILS:

Added- 1 chopped onion, several cloves of chopped garlic, a handful of chopped jalapenos, (we add that into just about everything we eat/cook), 1-2 tablespoons of yellow Sweet Bombay Curry Powder, 2 teaspoons of Cumin, 2 vegan bouillon cubes, a couple heaping tablespoons of dried parsley flakes, and some cubed potatoes (these ones I always eat).

Optional: You can also add other veggies like broccoli, bell pepper, kale, spinach, carrots, whatever you wish.

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For both large pots (I cooked them on separate days), I stirred in all my ingredients and let everything slowly cook on low heat for an hour + until the beans were soft. After it was all cooked I scooped into tubs (avoiding as much of the liquid as possible) to seal and freeze and that was that. The left-over liquid I saved and made soup with to eat after I was done.

To re-heat, I'll take one tub out of the freezer and place on a dish towel on the counter to defrost for an hour or so... then I like to re-heat on the stove with whatever veggies (or veggie protein) I want to add to make it taste fresher. But since all the heavy lifting is already done, you can also just microwave and eat as is. Then place the rest of the tupperware in the fridge (if you don't eat it all) and after defrosted it will last for a week or so.

Great to eat as soup (add broth), in tacos, or however... I want to try to experiment with mashing the beans into homemade veggie patties... will post when I try it. GOOD LUCK!