Onward!

Thinking back on the past year some of the best times we had were working on this blog- cooking together, working out together and so I am thrilled to be diving into this work again! Last night- in preparation for the challenge to begin today- we had the croc pot going with pounds of black beans, the bread maker running with oatmeal break cooking inside (smelling SO good), and loads quinoa cooking on the stove. (Let the games begin!)

Since the blog went dark in April I have mastered a few more recipes (really proud of my vegan mac and cheese- thank you pinterest) but am also excited to dive in and try some new techniques. I recently started bread making, which I hope to highlight here not just in a bread maker (which is wonderfully easy) but also the old fashioned way… (vegan pizza dough included!)

I also am more and more astonished with the number of processed vegan foods I find in the grocery store. While I am excited to see more people cooking and eating veg/vegan (as it results in more recipes to find online) many of the ingredients are ones I would prefer to avoid! In the next 50 days, I am striving to eliminate all processed vegan foods from my cooking- although we are still searching for the elusive vegan burger recipe that will actually stay together (we’re still trying to keep ours from falling apart without eggs). We’re going to try to go complex and from scratch on all of this- such as making seitan from scratch (our first attempt was ok- but we are excited to master it!).

While last year we had high hopes of doing many things consistently for 36.5 days, we did take concrete steps in the right direction and now are proud owners of Rosetta Stone (which works really well!) and have an ever growing stack of books to be plowing through (although we certainly enjoyed our time with the Hunger Games this year!)

We look forward to you joining us, not being too upset that we can’t join you at happy hours and giving us suggestions along the way. Tonights cooking adventure… vegan winter chili and black bean, tempe enchiladas! Pictures and recipes to follow!

And... We're Back!

It's January 3rd again- and what did we want to do more than anything else today? As crazy as it sounds, it's true. We wanted to go for our "Not eating out" challenge again- but for this time- not 36.5 days- rather 50 days.
Today we woke up in Denver- packed out bags, hoped a flight home to D.C., spent $137 on groceries at the store (we literally came home to bare cupboards and an empty refrigerator), unpacked them and stated, "okay, we start tomorrow."

And that's just what we intend to do- 50 days of home cooked, home prepared meals together and on the go. While last year was challenging, it actually became so much more fun, collaborative, tricky and fulfilling than we ever could have dreamed. So we are back for more - for longer.

So starting tomorrow we're up and running. We look forward to new and different recipes this year, exciting adventures and the many "eating out" temptations that await. We hope you'll join us- come over for meals, host us for meals, try new meals, and send love and comments along the way.

But for now- to the next 50 days: BRING. IT. ON.

Campaign Bean Recipe

As the President's reelection campaign kicks off- I figured I would share a recipe I learned from a volunteer while I was working on the campaign. It would be an understatement to say we ate poorly on the campaign. I often reminisce about Eagle Square Deli across from our headquarters in New Hampshire and how I felt as those if we didn't eat out at one of the local delis each day we would be losing votes for the Senator- the fact that they had delicious food certainly didn't hurt. However, as we got to the final stretch, everyone in New Hampshire it seemed was eager to provide us with food to keep us going. Being a vegetarian at the time I was limited in what I was able to eat, but there were some delicious side dishes that we were able to sample over that winter. One of them was a delicious baked bean recipe. One particular volunteer brought what I recall must have been at least 6 pounds of it over one night to the office which is to encourage all of you to try the recipe in large quantities. I hope that you enjoy- it is relatively simple if you have a crock pot or don't mind leaving your oven on over night:

Campaign Baked Beans

Ingredients:
1 lb. beans (pea beans, yellow eye or red kidney- your choice.)
1 1/2 quarts water
1 tsp. salt
1/3 cup brown sugar (I use dark brown)
1 tsp. dry mustard
1/2 cup molasses (not blackstrap - too strong)
1 large onion, cut in sixteenths

(1) Rinse beans well and pick over. Add to cold water and soak overnight.

(2) Cover the beans and bring to a simmer until tender. Usually about an hour

(3) Pre-heat oven to 275 degrees.

(4) Drain beans, reserving at least 2 cups of liquid.

(5) Mix liquid with sugar, mustard, molasses and salt. Put onion in the bottom of a pottery baking pot, add drained beans and then add the sugar mixture. Cover and bake for 5 to 7 hours. I check the beans every now and then. If the liquid goes down below the level of the beans, add more bean liquid (if there is any) or just water.