Beans and Cornbread

It isn't very photogenic but it's oh so good! An ultimate comfort food and cheap to boot, everyone needs a good recipe for this classic so here's mine.

Ingredients:

Beans:

2 cans of beans (any kind or a variety), drained and rinsed, OR 3 cups of cooked beans
1 large onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 roma tomatoes, diced and seeded
4 slices of mock ham, chopped (optional)
1-2 tbsp pure maple syrup
Salt and pepper to taste

Cornbread:

1/4 cup + 2 tbsp cornmeal
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp milled flax seed + 2 tbsp water, mixed
1/2 cup non-dairy milk
1/8 cup canola oil

In a large saucepan, saute the onions and garlic in a little oil over medium. Add the mock ham and heat through. Mix in beans and about 1/8 cup of water (enough to make it very slightly soupy) and stir. Add chopped tomatoes and maple syrup. Season to taste, cover, and simmer about 20 minutes. For cornbread, heat oven to 400*, mix dry ingredients in a large bowl and wet ingredients in a smaller bowl. Mix the wet mixture into the dry mixture and stir until just moistened. Pour into a greased muffin tin (makes about 6) and bake 15-18 minutes. Place cornbread muffins in a bowl and spoon beans over top. Makes about 3-4 servings.

Lasagna

I threw together a veggie lasagna tonight using the mozzarella Daiya cheese. It was pretty good, but I'm not that great with lasagna. I've made maybe 5 in my life. Ok, so I'll remind you not to put a layer of noodles on the top without putting sauce over it. It's dry. It's hard to chew. But the rest of it was pretty good. I made a small lasagna in an 8"x8" casserole dish so you'll want to double this if you make a full size one.

Ingredients:

4 lasagna noodles
1/2 jar of pasta sauce
1/2 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large carrot, shredded
1/2 medium zucchini, chopped
1/2 cup Boca crumbles (optional)
1/3 cup of Daiya cheese (or less)

Break each noodle in half. Boil them until tender. Drain and set aside. Saute the veggies in oil until softened, add Boca crumbles and sauce, heat through. Layer the noodles, sauce mixture, and cheese in a casserole dish. Makes about 3 layers. Bake in a 375* oven about 30 minutes.

The Boca crumbles really weren't necessary. They tasted fine but I didn't feel like they really did anything for me. I'll leave them out next time. I used about 1/3 cup of cheese for the entire thing but even that much seemed like a little too much. Maybe 1/4 cup would be better. I used the veggies I had on hand but of course you could experiment. For those of you that like them, I'm sure mushrooms would do well in this.

Shepherd's Pie

This is something I'd never even tried until after I went vegetarian. I guess it's a common meat dish, sometimes called "Hamburger Pie". I'm surprised I never tried it because it seems like *exactly* the type of dish I would have loved as an omni. Not to mention super cheap and would have been great those times I had $8 for a whole week of groceries plus what was left in my pantry. Oh well, I'm over it. It's not like it's really healthy or anything so I wasn't missing out on much in all those years. This came from Living Among Meat-Eaters.

Ingredients:
1 cup dried lentils
1 large yellow onion
2 carrots, chopped
1/2 cup celery, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
Olive oil for sauteing
1 tsp mixed dried herbs (marjoram, thyme, basil, ect)
1 8 oz can of tomato sauce OR 1 15 can of stewed tomatoes, chopped
2 tbsp soy sauce
Salt and pepper
4 medium potatoes, cooked and mashed
paprika
nutritional yeast

Cook lentils until tender, drain and set aside. Preheat oven to 350*. Saute onion, carrots, celery, and garlic in oil until softened. Add herbs, tomatoes, soy sauce, and lentils. Salt and pepper to taste, stir. Spoon mixture into a lightly oiled baking dish. Spread mashed potatoes over top, drawing fork over the surface to make ridges. Sprinkle paprika and nutritional yeast flakes over top of potatoes. Bake 45 minutes.

The only thing I change about this recipe is that I increase the amount of veggies and use different ones sometimes. I added zucchini once, which was good, and my boyfriend requested cabbage the next time, so we'll see how that goes. I also omit the soy sauce. I find it plenty salty and flavorful enough without it. Other people may like it with the soy sauce though. Sometimes I put the nutritional yeast on it, sometimes not. If it's not your thing, just leave it off.

This is a good, hearty meal, but holy starch! Save it for a once in a while meal. ;-)