Jamaican Red Bean Stew

A good friend of mine passed this recipe along to me.  I made changes, as I do, to make it more plant based and use the foods that I had available.  The Savvy Vegetarian also borrowed the recipe from the book the Quick-Fix Vegetarian: Healthy (Google Affiliate Ad).  If you enjoy my blog and the delicious recipes that I share here, please follow this blog and share it with your friends.  You may also choose to subscribe via feedburner for email updates.  See the link to the right.

My version is below

Ingredients:

• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cups sliced baby carrots
• 3 scallions, chopped
• 1 sweet potato, diced
• 1 large tomato (about 2 c. chopped)
• 2 tsp curry powder
• 2 tsp fresh thyme or 1/2 t. dried
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)

• 1/4 tsp ground allspice
• 1/2 t Salt
•  Freshly ground black pepper
• 4 c. kidney beans (if you prepare them yourself) 2 (16 oz) cans dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 cups unsweetened lite coconut milk (1 can)
• 1 cups unsalted vegetable broth or water

Method:

Combine all ingredients in a pressure cooker.  Bring to pressure quickly and cook with top rocking slowly for 5 minutes.  Bring down pressure quickly or wait for it to come down on it's own.

Ingredients combined and ready to cook

chopped carrots

chopped sweet potatoes

Stew and Cous Cous Cooking

home prepared kidney beans

The stew is finished!

Dinner is served with a green salad on the side.

I also served it with pearl cous cous stirred in which was tasty.  I cooked up 1 cup of dried pearl cous cous in 1 1/4c. of water for 20 minutes then added it to the pot.

Plant Based Camping

When I started writing this I had gone over a month without a post!  I hope you will forgive me and forgive my lack of photos with my recipes.  I realized that I was worrying about getting my blog just right, about posting my recipes and messages as soon as possible and about devoting enough time to this project.  So, I took a little break.  I am still plant-based and we are going strong on the food.   I hope these posts continue to inspire you to be adventuresome and take a leap of faith for your health.

We are approaching our second family camping trip as a plant-based family.  I was worried the first time.  It wasn't long into this trial that we set out for the great outdoors and I worried that we would have enough to eat and that the kids would enjoy it. But being plant based is not difficult.  Transporting plant based food is a bit easier that it's dairy and meat counterpart.  Our kids are truly embracing plant-based at this point and aside from the occasional rumbling, 'I want meat,' don't ask for or miss it.

Here are a few of our recipes that camp well:

Breakfast

Rip's Big Bowl - I usually increase this 8x over to feed our family for a couple of days.

Oatmeal

Breakfast Bars

Snacks

Fresh Fruit - apples, oranges, bananas or easy to take along.  Berries, although tasty are easily mushed!

Trail Mix (can I just say, 'duh') the original plant-based camping recipe :-)
I usually throw together a mix of cranberries, raisins, cut up apricots with sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, pecans and peanuts.  You could really use any dried fruit, seeds and nuts in your cupboard.  I avoid very small seeds because they just get messy when trying to eat a handful!

Muffins - make ahead and you have a ready to go snack.

Peanut butter balls (or Energy Balls)

Chocolate balls

Lunch

Bread or Pita with 

• Peanut butter and jelly or honey
• hummus, lettuce, veggies
• nut butter, banana slices, apple slices

Dinner

Hotdogs, Buns & Beans - you can easily make this plant-based by switching to tofu dogs and whole wheat buns.  Opt for organic ketchup to avoid high fructose corn syrup.  Don't forget the mustard.  You can make your own or buy vegetarian baked beans.  Add a side of cut up carrots.

Hamburgers, Buns, Potato Salad - I always make my own bean burgers but you can buy them, too.  Whole wheat bun and and easy potato salad like this one (link to spring potato salad).  Don't forgot some cut up veggies - asparagus, broccoli, etc make great sides.

Chili - you can make it ahead and heat while camping.  I often wing it when it comes to chili but this recipe is VERY good if you are looking for guidance.

Spaghetti - always an easy to make transport camp dinner especially if you use jarred sauce.  

Don't forget some extra food containers to save left overs if there are any.  I like the lock tight containers or canning jars to camp with.  Both seal well for fewer leaks.

Kale, White Bean & Potato Soup

This is an original recipe.  I would like to tweak the seasoning some but I will throw it out there to the masses and you can report back to me on the adjustments that you would make.

Ingredients:

1 lb white navy beans (pre-soaked), rinsed and drained.

8 c. chopped fresh kale

1 c. (1 large) red potato, cubed

1 c. (1 medium) onion, chopped

2 t. (2 cloves) garlic, pressed

1 t of anise or fennel

1 T Miso

1 large (1-2 c.) chopped carrot

1. Add beans to pressure cooker and enough water to cover plus about an inch more. Cook beans by pressure cooker, 3 minutes rocking slowly.

2. Cool immediately, add remaining ingredients.

3. Bring to pressure again, cook 4 min additionally.

4. Cool immediately, test for seasoning.  Add salt, pepper, etc as necessary

Chocolate Pudding

1 large sweet potato (about 1.5-2 c.) (I usually cook on the 'potato' setting in microwave)
1/4 c. walnuts (optional)
2 T cocoa
1 t vanilla extract
1/4 c. dates
1/4c-1 c. of unsweetened coconut milk (I use Silk brand)

Mix in a high speed blender until smooth.  Serve warm or chilled.