Quinoa with Navy Beans and Almonds.

I'm a big fan of Dr. Neal Barnard. His book Reversing Diabetes totally gave me the last little push I need to get my family converted over to a plant-based diet. I've gone through a lot of his recipes from that book... and was totally stoked to see he had a new cookbook, the get healthy, go vegan cookbook, coming out. I got on the waiting list at the library (all of 1 person was ahead of me) and waited.

This is my first try from it, and it was yummy, simple and fresh. I made it that night because I had all the ingredients on hand. I can't wait to try more...

1 cup quinoa, rinsed in a fine sieve

1/4 cup vegetable broth

1 cup cremini mushrooms, sliced

1/2 cup onion, chopped

1/2 cup red bell pepper, chopped

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 (15-ounce) can white navy beans, drained and rinsed

kosher or sea salt to taste

freshly ground black pepper to taste

1 tablespoon slivered almonds, toasted

2 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped

Bring 2 cups of water to a boil in a small saucepan. Add the rinsed quinoa, bring to a boil again, lower the heat, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the vegetable broth in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and saute for 2 minutes. Add the onion and bell pepper and saute for 5 minutes until the mushrooms are browned. Add the lemon juice, beans, and cooked quinoa. Season with salt and black pepper and mix well. Garnish with the almonds and parsley, serve.

{{This is for you Lady... Makes 4 servings, 1/4 of the recipe has 50.9 grams of carbs. {It was in the book, I didn't calculate that one out.)}}

the get healthy, go vegan cookbook - page 109

Tomato-Rice Soup with Roasted Garlic and Navy Beans

I love me some roasted garlic... and all throughout a soup - yum! This was awesome soup, amazingly healthy... the only downfall was we were eating hot soup in 97* weather. I followed the recipe, but added some kale at the end. And it called for a can of navy beans, but I added the leftovers from the Rustic White Beans and Mushrooms. Perfect. It made a ton of soup, so I froze half of it for a later don't-feel-like-cooking day.

2 bulbs garlic

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium-size yellow onion, diced as small as possible

1 cup long-grain brown rice (I actually love the short-grain brown rice from the bulk bins at Sprouts, I always have that on-hand, so I use that)

2 bay leaves

2 teaspoons dried thyme

1 teaspoon dried marjoram

2 teaspoons salt

several pinches of freshly ground black pepper

2 (28 ounce) cans crushed tomatoes

1 (15 ounce) can navy beans, drained and rinsed (about 1 1/2 cups)

PREHEAT the oven to 425*F. Roast the garlic for about 45 minutes, until soft. You should be able to feel if it's soft by pressing with a knife or your finger.

Preheat a soup pot over medium heat. Saute the onions in the olive oil for 5 to 7 minutes, until translucent.

Add the rice, bay leaves, thyme, marjoram, salt, and pepper and cook, stirring, for about 2 minutes. Add the crushed tomatoes, then fill up the can with water twice and add the water (that's 56 ounces of water).

Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer for about 45 minutes.

Remove the garlic from the oven. When it is cool enough to handle, squeeze the roasted garlic out of its skin and into a small bowl. Use a for to mash the garlic to a relatively smooth consistency, then add to the soup once the rice is nearly tender.

When the rice is completely cooked, add the beans and heat through. Then it's ready to serve - just remove the bay leaves beforehand.

BELLY BITERS:

shayne {yum} jen {yum!} ava {eh.} nolan {"it's gooood!"} corynn {tore.it.up!}

Veganomicon, pg 137

serves 10 to 12

time: 45 minutes

Rustic White Beans and Mushrooms

This was one of the first recipes I tried from my library checked out copy of Veganomicon... and it was good enough for me to want to buy the book - thanks to those mushrooms. It was also my first time to cook old beans, and see just how bad beans can not turn out. I tried it this time with the Sage Bread Crumb topping, which made the dish this go-round. It made a lot, even for our big appetite family... and we're not huge on leftovers... So I was glad I found the leftovers useful in the Tomato-Rice Soup with Roasted Garlic and Navy Beans. Score!

Veganomicon, pg 120

serves 6 to 8

time: about 65 minutes (not including bean-soaking time) 

BELLY BITERS:

shayne {eh.} jen {alright} ava {loved the beans, hated the shrooms} nolan {good} corynn {loved!}