Socca Beet and Onion Casserole

Whoa has It been a while since I have posted a recipe. Not that I haven’t wanted to or that I haven’t been making food, I just have been busy A.F. And truthfully I am as busy as ever but I happen to have my phone next to me when I was making this little casserole dish thing that I have made a few times now and I think it well worth a share.

What is it you ask? It is a creamy but dense chickpea base covered in tender roasted beets and onions with a lemon tahini drizzle. It is simple to make, super delicious, and can be tweaked in a million different ways to your liking.

Is it a fantastic dish to serve at say a Thanksgiving? Well yes, yes it is. You can serve it as a side or even make it bigger and have it as a sort of main dish. It’s a good protein that is naturally gluten and grain free, vegan, and blah blah blah. What really matters here though is that it is damn tasty and also bonus, it is so siimple to make and can even be prepared a day in advance so no stress. We will take all the wins here.

-C

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Socca Beet and Onion Casserole

makes a 8x8 casserole

• 1 cup chickpea flour

• 2 cups boiling water

• 1 teaspoon salt plus more to taste

• ground black pepper

• 2 teaspoons cumin (feel free to omit or use a different spice.Thyme or rosemary are equally delicious )

• 2 medium beets

• 1 large onion

• a lemon

• 1-2 tablespoons tahini

• teaspoon or so olive oil.

Note. This dish is excellent made and eaten right away but also gets even better (in my opinion) cooled and reheated. Also you can change up the veggie situation and use whatever ones you like.

Place chickpea flour in a bowl and slowly whisk in boil water with a fork so that there are no lumps. Mix in cumin and a teaspoon of salt and a pepper. Scoop batter into a lightly oiled 8X8 casserole dish (you can use a round cake tin or a cast iron skillet as well) and set aside to rest for a few.

Preheat oven to 400.

Grab beets and onion and slice in about 1/8 thick slices. Layer slices on top of chickpea mixture, making it look pretty if you feel like it. Once the veggies are layered, lightly drizzle the top with a teaspoon olive oil and sprinkle with a good pinch of salt and pepper.

When the oven is preheated, covered the baking dish and place in oven,. Bake covered for 1/2 hour then remove covering and bake for another 20-30 minutes or until the beets are nice and tender and a tester poked into the center of the dish comes out clean. Remove from oven,

Once it’s out of the oven grab a little bowl and add the juice of the lemon to the tahini and mix. Season with salt to you liking.

Now serve. Drizzle the top with the tahini mixture and cut yourself a big old piece. Yes drizzle extra tahini on top. Sure squeeze on more lemon. You do you.

Store leftovers in fridge. Reheat in hot oven for 10 minutes..It gets crispy!

Almond Crusted Tofu

Are you a tofu person? I am very much a tofu person. I know that some people still think tofu is not so great or that it doesn’t taste like much or my favorite, that it doesn't taste like meat. And with that I say, well tofu isn’t meat so duh and yeah, it doesn't have a super powerful taste but it does taste good (especially really good fresh tofu) and tastes even better when you make it with tasty ingredients. But If you are a tofu person you already know that.

This tofu is good. I mean really really good. It is dredge and breaded in almonds and then baked until crispy., like a tofu nugget of sorts. I mixed mustard and vinegar into the dredge for some tang and added garlic and red pepper flakes to the almond coating to give it a bit more flavor but if you were feeling something different, say curry or Italian flavoring, well by all means, give it a go. I think the next time I make these (probably tonight) I am going to add a shit ton of cumin and chili powder and way more red pepper flakes. My stomach is rumbling already. And hopefully they will be to spicy for the mr so I don’t have to share. Its my craving. He can eat something else. Ha!

Now to the almond crusted tofu!

The stuff. A brick of firm tofu (which I have smooshed out a lot of liquid), whole almonds, and oats. Then there is flax meal, mustard, vinegar, almond milk, garlic powder, red pepper flakes, and salt and pepper.

Cutting up the tofu. Fist cut brick in half. Then turn each half on its side and cut into three equal pieces. flip back down each piece then can be cut into 4 triangles. And if you want to cut it up differently well then who am I to tell you otherwise.

Make the almond crust mixture. Almond and oats along with garlic powder, red pepper flakes, and sat and pepper go into the food processor and pulses utlil a crumbly. You don’t want it to fine but also not to chunky. Think bread crumb consistency.

Now make the dredge. Combine mustard, flax, vinegar, and plant milk in a wide shallow bowl until completely combined. Let it sit for a few minutes to really thicken.

Now you are all ready to go.

To coat the tofu just drag each piece through the wet mixture making sure it is evenly coated then drag with through the almond mixture.

Once all the pieces are crusted and on the baking sheet pop it into the hot oven and bake. 20ish minutes at first then flip eat piece and another 10ish minutes after that.

Baked and crispy.

Now you eat. Grab some dipping situations (I grabbed some guac and tomato sauce) and get at it.

So good.

-C

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Almond Crusted Tofu

makes 24 pieces

• 1 brick firm or extra firm tofu

• 1/2 cup almonds

• 1/4 cup old fashion oats

• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

• 1/2 cup warm plant milk

• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

• 1 tablespoon mustard

• 1 tasblepoon ground flaxseed

• salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 450

Remove tofu from package and gently press out as much liquid as you can. Cut the tofu brick in half then flip each piece onto it’s side and cut each half into 3 equal pieces. Flip back down and then cut each third into 4 triangles. Or just cut the tofu into 24 each sizes pieces of your choice. Set aside on a dry towel.

Make the dredge. Combine flax seed, mustard, vinegar, warm plant milk and a inch of salt and pepper in a shallow bowl until completely combined.

To make the almond crust place the almonds, oats, garlic powder, red pepper flakes and a good pinch of salt and pepper into a food processor and pulse for about a minute or so until the texture is a small crumb the consistency of semi fine bread crumbs. Pour into a shallow bowl.

When all parts are ready to go, line up the dredge, the almond mixture, and get a baking sheet ready with either a baking mate or a little oil to keep the tofu from sticking. Take each piece of tofu and dip it though the dredge making sure to evenly coat it and then lift it out and let the excess drip off. The drop the tofu into the almond mixture and gently toss flip ti coat each side. Place coated onto baking sheet.

Once all the tofu is coated place it into the hot oven.Bake for 20 minutes then flip each piece and bake for another 8-12 minutes or unit crispy.

Once baked, remove from oven, place on a plate and eat. Want something to dip it in? I recommend guacamole. and or tomato sauce. Mustard and hummus are also fantastic!

Roasted Corn Hummus

How much hummus is to much hummus to eat? Seriously, how much? Because I eat A LOT of hummus, like hummus everyday, sometimes (all the time) even multiple times a day. And not just a little bit. Give me a bowl of it, any sized bowl, and see what I can do.

And I like just about any hummus, but with that said they are not all created equally. Homemade is almost always the superior, (although there are some brands that I really really like), freshly made is best, heavy on the lemon is a bonus, and some kind of mix in is always appreciated.

Roasted corn hummus. Oh boy did I attack this one. A base of a traditional creamy hummus in all it’s glory, blended up with freshly picked and freshly roasted sweet corn. When whipped up together it creates a soft, almost fluffy, creamy mixtures of all the goodness. It is so freaking good and is probably going to be my repeat hummus for the foreseeable future (until the corn stops growing). It really is a stand out. The mr and the littles even loved it and that is something.

To the hummus!

The stuff. Freshly roasted corn on the cob, cooked chickpeas, tahini, some garlic cloves ,a lemon, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes , ice cubes, and a little olive oil.

Basically the only work to do. Cut corn from cob.

Add corn and garlic to food processor and pulse for a minute, scrapping down sides a few times. Add in the chickpeas, tahini, juice of the lemon, ice cubes, and red pepper flakes. Blend until nice and smooth. And that is it. Taste and add more salt and pepper if needed.

Scoop it all into a bowl and eat the hummus any way you see fit.

-C

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Roasted Corn Hummus

makes about 3 cups

• 2 roasted cobs of corn (2 cups cut from cob)*

• 2 cups (or 1can) cooked and drained chickpeas

• 1/3 cup tahini

• 2 cloves garlic

• a lemon

• 3 ice cubes

• salt and pepper

• 1-2 teaspoons red pepper flakes

• olive oil (optional to drizzle on at the end)

*There are many methods to cook corn so you can cook it any way you want. I just wet the corn still in the husk and pop it into a really hot oven or about 25 minutes.

Start by removing corn from the cob. Place corn and garlic into food processor and pulse for a minute, scraping down sides a couple times, until pretty blended up. Add in chickpeas, tahini, the juice from the lemon, ice cubes, and a good healthy pinch of salt and pepper and as much red pepper flakes as you want. Blend until smooth. Taste and add more salt and or pepper if needed.

Scoop into a bowl or container and drizzle with olive oil if desired.

Eat right away with cut up veggies, smeared in pita, with a spoon, or any other way you want to eat it.

Left overs can be stored in airtight container in fridge for a few days but really, who has left over hummus?

Creamy Lemon Chickpea Asparagus Pasta

When asparagus is in season, do you also find yourself buying pounds and pounds of it and eating it with everything? Well that is me and I think I do it because one, I only eat asparagus when it is in season which is now and only for a little while so I eat it when I can. And two, there is not a whole heck of a lot in season right now so asparagus it is until other stuff starts growing. Oh and three. I really freaking love it so you know, theres that.

This is just a quick pasta dinner situation that involves the fine spring time asparagus. Nothing fussy, takes all of 15 minutes to make and fills you up all happy like. Its creamy from sunflower butter, lemony from lemon, and full of protein from the chickpeas because we all love chickpeas. All of it is tossed together and tastes fantastic in your mouth like all food going Ito your mouth should.

Now to the pasta.

The stuff. Asparagus, chickpeas, angle hair pasta, sunflower butter, a couple cloves garlic, a lemon, soy sauce, and black pepper.

Grab asparagus and cut of the woody ends then cut the stalks into smaller pieces.

Place the cut ap asparagus onto a sheet pan along with the chickpeas. You can toss with a little oil if you want.. I didn’t.

Cook up pasta. You know what to do.

Then mince up the garlic and zest the lemon .

Once pasta is cooked (air on the side of al dente) strain the pasta but reserve about 1 1/2 cups of the starchy liquid.

Once asparagus ans chickpeas are cooked, remove from oven.

Once the pasta is out of pot, make the sauce. Add garlic and a teaspoon of oil to pot along with a splash or water. Cook for a few minutes until it get fragrant then add in the sunflower seed butter, soy and about a 1/4 cup pasta water. Mix around until it forms a paste then add in another 1/2 cup of pasta water to thin it out.

Add in the cooked pastas and toss until evenly coasted with the sauce.

Then dump pasta into a big bowl. Dump the cooked asparagus and chickpeas into the pasta and toss around.

And all is left is for you to grab a couple bowls and pile it in and eat.

Simple.

-C

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creamy Lemon Chickpea asparagus Pasta

serves 2-3 people

• 1/2 pound long noodle pasta (I used angle hair)

• 1/4 cup sunflower butter or tahini

• 1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas (drained from liquid)

• 3/4 pound of asparagus

• 1 lemon

• 2 gloves garlic

• 1- 1 1/2 cups water (use water from pasta)

• 1 tablespoon soy sauce

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• black pepper

Preheat oven to 425

Grab asparagus and remove any woody ends of the stalks. Cut the stalks into smaller pieces anut 1- 1 1/2 inches long. Place on a baking sheet along with the drained chick peas. If you want, toss around in a teaspoon or so of olive oil. I did not and did not miss it. Place baking sheet into hot oven. Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until the asparagus is cooked to your liking. The chick peas are done when the asparagus is done.

While the asparagus and chickpeas are roasting, make pasta. Boil water and cook the pasta for the amount of time the it takes (check package). Once cooked, stain pasta from pot but reserve about 1 1/2 cups of the starchy water.

And mince up the garlic and zest the lemon.

In the now empty pot add in a teaspoon of oil, a splash of water, and the mince garlic. Cook on medium heat for a couple minutes just to soften the garlic up. Turn the heat off then add in the sunflower butter or tahini, the soy, the juice of the lemon and about 1/2 cup of the starchy pasta water. Mix until completely incorporated and pasty. Add in another 1/2 cup of the pasta water to thin it out.

Add pasta to the sauce and toss until completely coated then dump it all into a big bowl. IF the sauce if to thick to toss with pasta, add in a little bit more starchy water to lose it up. Grab the roasted asparagus and chickpeas and toss them into pasta along with a teaspoon or so of the lemon zest. Top with freshly ground black pepper.

Now Eat.

Can be serves hot, room temperature, or cold.

Black Bean Burgers

It had been a while since I had made any type of bean burgers. Why? I don’t know. It is probably because I am like a little who plays with one toy for too long and get stick of it. But if I rotate the toys (the food), maybe take a few away for a while (eat what is in season), once I get back to it, well it is just the best. So yeah, just like a little. Huh?

Black bean burgers. These are super simple with not a whole heck of a lot going into them. I used to make these with a lot more veggies but the mr really seems to like them more with less. I’ve got it down to just beans, onion, oats, and spices. Simple but very effective in both taste and in texture. One of the things thatI love about these burgers is that they don’t completely crumble apart when you bite into them so if that is an issue you have with your burgers, welp, hopefully this recipe will solve that. And will solve any food boredom rut you might be in. And solve the issue of being hungry because obviously you are going to be at some point. Hence the bean burgers.

Now to the burgers!

The stuff. Black beans, oats, an onion and a couple cloves or garlic. Then there is ground flax seeds. cumin, chili powder, and paprika, apple cider vinegar, tomato paste, and salt and pepper.

Start by cutting up onion and rough chopping garlic.

Place it into a hot skillet with the spices and some water or oil. Cook on medium heat.

While the onions are sweating, blend up oats into a course oat flour.

And once onions and spices are fragrant and soften a bit, add in beans, tomato paste, and vinegar. Stir around and cook for a few minutes or until everything has melded together.

Dump the bean mixture and flax seed into food processor with oat flour and pulse until everything is incorporated and smooth(ish).

Scoop into a bowl and refrigerate so mixture has time to set up.

Once mixture is set, divided into 6 equal portions and place on a baking sheet (lined or greased). With wet fingers, pat down into patties then pop them into hot oven. Bake until browned and crispy.

And that is it. Now get to eating cause that is why you made them!

-C

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Black Bean Burgers

makes 6 burgers

• 2 cups cooked and strained black beans

• 1 small onion

• 2 teaspoons to 1 tablespoon cumin (higher amount if you really like cumin… ME!)

• 1 teaspoon chili powder

• 1 teaspoon paprika

• 2 cloves garlic

• 1/2 heaping cup of old fashion oats

• 1 tablespoon flax meal

• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

• 2 tablespoon tomato puree or paste

• salt and pepper

• Serving suggestions are Avocado, salsa, pickled onion on cornbread or regular bread or whatever!

Start by chopping up the onion into small pieces and slicing up the garlic (don’t mince) into a few small pieces. Place into a good sized skillet with the cumin, paprika, and chili powder, and a good splash or water or a little oil (I used water) and place on medium heat. Cook for a few minutes or until fragrant and onion has started to soften a bit.. Add a splash more water if it start to dry out to fast. Once slightly cooked, dump in beans, add tomato paste and vinegar and mix around. Keep on heat and cook for another 5 or so minutes until everything had melded together. Remove form heat and let cool for a few minutes.

In the meantime, place oats into a food processor and blend unit until it forms a course flour. It doesn’t need to be super fine and a few whole pieces is fine. Once bean mixture has cooled just a bit, dump into the food preocessor on top of oat flour. Add in the flax and a pinch of salt and pepper. Pulse until completely incorporated, stoping to scrap down sides if needed. Some chunks are fine and don’t blend more then it needs to be.

Once blended , scrap mixture into a bowl and place in fridge for 15 miutes- /2 hour so the mixture has time to set. (Can also be left in fridge (covered, for a few days)

Preheat oven to 400.

Once the mixture has been set up, scoop into 6 equal sized portionsl and place on a pan with parchment, a mat, or has been ightly oiled. With wet fingers, smoosh each ball into a patty. Place burgers into hot oven and bake for 30-35 minutes, flipping half way through. They are done when they are nice and brown and crunchy on both sides.

Once baked, remove form oven and eat them like you want. I suggest eating with salsa, avocado , pickled onions and if you want a bun, do a bun. I served mine with cornbread cause that is what I had and it was not hated at all.