French Bean & Spelt Berry Salad ~ The Perfect Vegan Meal

I've made it a habit to shop the liquidation stores in town.  We have about four or five in the area and often there are many items I use to cook with that are marked down considerably.  Sometimes the packaging is damaged or the original price was just too high and the items didn't sell well in the local markets.  That is a big deterrent when people are just beginning to incorporate plant based cooking in their diet.  Organic fruits, vegetables, and many products are more expensive in the grocery stores.  It doesn't have to be that way though.

Yes, if you shop in the conventional grocery stores, it will be more expensive to eat whole foods. But, shopping the local farmer's markets and buying what's in season, getting to know the local gardeners and farmers, shopping the discount stores like the liquidation stores, and growing your own veggies, are good ways to keep the cost low.  Many items seem to be more expensive at first glance.  For example, Celtic Sea Salt usually costs about $6-$8 a pound.  But, that pound lasts me for months and months.  I use coconut milk quite often, the only thing I use from a can, and the brand I like is usually $2.29 a can.  I can find it now & then at the liquidation store for sometimes as low as $1 a can.  I usually buy all they have and stock up. I use pre-made organic, low sodium vegetable broth for cooking my beans.  I used to be happy when it was two for $5.  I've found it in the liquidation store as low as ten for $1.

Recently there were a lot of Bob's Red Mill products on the shelf.  I picked up some French beans I'd never seen before, Flageolet Beans, and there was a great recipe right on the back of the bag.  It's the perfect vegan meal, "protein, greens, & grains". The original recipe calls for Kamut berries, but I used some spelt berries I have already.  Any whole grain or combination of grains can be substituted for the Kamut berries such as:  whole oat groats, hull-less whole barley, wheat berries, long grain brown rice, or spelt berries.  I substituted fresh beet greens for the spinach and a fresh white onion from the garden for the green onion.

French Bean & Kamut Berries Salad

2 cups cooked Kamut berries or other whole grains
2 cups cooked Flageolet Beans
1 cup green onions, chopped
1 cup fresh tomatoes, chopped
2 cups spinach or other fresh greens, chopped

Vinaigrette

1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 TB white wine vinegar (I used organic apple cider vinegar.)
2 TB Dijon mustard
1/4 cup shallots, minced
1 tsp Thyme
1 tsp Tarragon (I used fresh rosemary)
1 TB fresh parsley, minced
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp black pepper.

Soak beans, about 1 cup, overnight.  Drain water and rinse off beans.  Place beans in a pot covered with plenty of water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer placing lid on pot.  cook beans until beans are soft, about 1 hour.

Place Kamut or other Spelt berries, about 11/2 cups in a pot and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to a simmer and place lid on pot.  Cook until berries are soft, about 1 hour.

While the beans and berries are cooking, mix vinaigrette ingredients together in a large bowl.  Chop veggies and place in bowl.

Drain beans and berries and rinse in cold water. Measure out 2 cups of both the beans and berries and add them to the other ingredients in the bowl.

Blend together  all ingredients and chill for a few hours or overnight.  Serves about 10.

~~Enjoy~~

Spelt Berry and Black Rice Risotto

These are the first carrots of the season from Mike & Ruth's Organic Farm, Willow Grove Gardens.  I just couldn't resist these characters.  They probably grew in some hard soil.  I saw nothing but personality.  They became an important part of our Spelt Berry and Black Rice Risotto.

It's starting to look like summer on the farmer's tables. We're starting to get some vegetables more and more each weekend at the market.  I got some great beets this weekend, which I roasted and tossed with some honey, fresh orange juice, and a bit of ginger.  I tossed in some pine nuts I had soaked and dehydrated last week. I don't think we got a picture of that yet.  We'll probably get one when one of us has lunch this week.

I also picked up a couple more Marigolds, and Celosia flowers for the garden.

Spelt Berries, Black Rice, and Fresh Vegetable Risotto

The carrots were a wonderful addition to this original concoction.  I'm still not sure whether it's stew or risotto.  But, it's more like a risotto, so I'm, sticking with that for now. I didn't know what I was going to make, I just wanted some wheat berries.  I have some sprouted already, but I wanted some cooked berries this week too. I set two cups of spelt berries to soak early Saturday morning, they were ready to cook by the time I got home from the farmer's market.

I cut up a couple fresh Walla Walla onions, some fresh garlic tops, a shallot, a red bell pepper, and the fresh carrots I just picked up.  Sautéed all of them together in some avocado oil, until the onions were just tender  I got the cold pressed avocado oil on a trip through the liquidation store on Friday.  I have found an occasional trip through one of those local stores, saves some money on the cooking supplies. I have to go when I have some time to walk slowly through the isles. Nothing is ever the same or in the same place.  It's like a treasure hunt.

While the vegetables were sautéeing, I added a dash of sea salt, fresh ground black pepper, a couple sprigs of thyme and some fresh rosemary.  Then added the soaked and drained spelt berries.   I let them brown just a couple minutes before adding four cups of low sodium organic vegetable broth.  I added about a cup of Forbidden black rice and two yellow zucchini squash, peeled and chopped into 1 inch chunks.  I brough this all to a gentle boil and then simmered for about 45 minutes.

Whole Spelt Berries with Grilled Butternut Squash

I wanted to make something with wheat berries this weekend and I had a nice butternut squash on the kitchen table that I thought would be nice to use.  This is what I came up with. 

Spelt Berries with Grilled Butternut Squash, Pineapple, & Water Chestnuts

I soaked about a cup and a half of whole spelt berries overnight.  I then sauteed a chopped onion in olive oil, sea salt, ground pepper, and ginger until tender. I added the berries and let them brown a little bit. Then I added three cups water and simmered until tender, about 45 minutes.  While that was cooking I chopped and grilled a butternut squash until it was browned and tender in about a tablespoon of coconut oil. I added that to the undrained spelt berries, with some chopped green onions, chopped fresh pineapple, a small can of sliced water chestnuts I had in the cupboard, and a handful of Italian parsley. I made it when I got up this morning and it made a very good warm late breakfast.  My husband said the fresh pineapple would appeal to anyone with a sweet tooth.

Triple Berry Risotto

Triple Berry Risotto

Hard Red Spring Wheat Berries, whole Barley, and Spelt Berries

This is a simple meal, warm and comforting.  This is a variation of the vegetable barley risotto recipe on the back of the bag of whole barley from Bob's Red Mill.

2-3 TB garlic chili oil
1 large onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups combined whole barley, wheat berries, and whole spelt berries
2 cups or more zucchini, cut in about 1 inch cubes
6 cups low sodium vegetable broth
2/3 cup Sherry cooking wine
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup grated Romano cheese

Heat the broth to almost a boil for adding to grains later.

In a large pot sauté onion and garlic in the oil, about 2 minutes.  Add in the dry grains and sauté for about five minutes stirring often, allowing the grains to brown a little.  Add in the heated broth, sherry, and zucchini and bring to a boil.  Turn down the heat to a simmer, cover pot and cook for about an hour depending on how you like the texture of your grains.  It may take a little more than an hour.  Remove lid and add in cheese.  Cook an additional 10 minutes with no lid.

This can be made without the cheese using nutritional yeast instead of the Parmesan and Romano cheese.

Fresh & Simple and from the Garden

Steamed Spaghetti Squash with Zucchini and Summer Squash Hummus, and a bowl of fresh Gazpacho Soup.

All picked from the garden this week.

The Zucchini and Summer Squash are blended with some sesame tahini, a couple small Anaheim peppers, garlic, cumin, fresh lemon juice, and a tablespoon of garlic/chili sunflower oil.

The soup is blended fresh tomatoes, cucumber, garlic, a couple peppers, sea salt, a dash of pepper, a handfull of fresh cilantro, and a little red onion.

I poured the blended mixture over fresh chopped tomatoes, and cucumbers and some whole steamed spelt berries. I garnished the soup with chopped avocados.