Sprouted Garbonzo Bean Salad

I love sprouting. I am so happy that I purchased my sprouter. Mine is a 3 tray system that drains itself and leaves a perfect amount of water in each tray. My advice to you: invest in one and, more importantly, use it. The greatest thing about sprouting beans is that they are no longer a legume when they come alive, they are a vegetable packed full of great nutrients. Today I decided to make a vegan salad using the sprouted garbanzo beans (chick peas) [possibly as an apology to my herbivore friends about my last recipe....]. If you need directions on how to sprout garbanzo beans, check out The Daily Raw Cafe. She shows you how to sprout if you don't want to invest in a sprouter but have a few mason jars kicking around (all you need is a special strainer lid which is available at health food stores). Anyway, here goes the recipe. This is very delicious and nutritious food. Serves 3-4.

Ingredients

Dressing:

1/4 cup raw apple cider vinegar (Bragg's is good)

1/3 cup olive oil

1 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp ground pepper

1 tsp dried oregano

2 tbsp raw agave nectar


Salad:

4 cups sprouted garbanzo beans

1/2 orange or yellow bell pepper

1/2 red onion

1 tbsp chopped fresh mint

1 tbsp chopped fresh basil


Directions:

1) When the garbanzo beans are sprouted with a small tail no larger than in the picture at the top, rinse them thoroughly, steam for 10-12 minutes, rinse under cold water and put in bowl.

2) Dice the red onion and bell pepper. Finely chop the mint and basil. Add to beans.

3) Mix all dressing ingredients in a small bowl and whisk until creamy. Pour over top of salad and toss.

4) Enjoy!!


So, there you have it. A delicious vegan recipe. At one point, this recipe was raw but, unfortunately, I got food poisoning from the raw garbanzo beans. Sprouting beans can be finicky and if you aren't careful and don't rinse them thoroughly enough, they can be toxic. I fell victim to this. To avoid going through the same thing I did, boil or steam the sprouts for safety. Have fun with this recipe. I hope you like it.


Cheers!




 

Sweet and Spicy Barbecue Ribs

Sweet and Spicy Barbecue Ribs

Here it is folks. My First barbecued meat recipe of the season. I just recently acquired a barbecue from the 70's that, up until recently, has been unused, sitting brand-spanking new in my grandfathers storage. I don't understand what it is but this barbecue produces the most flavourful meats. It must be the inefficient design and flaws with it that add character. Anyways, onto the recipe. I decided to add pictures to the directions for this recipe. This is not the traditional style of boiling the ribs before they hit the barbecue. I steam them in beer. It adds a very unique and delicious flavour. Also, I have made my own rub for these ribs that add a nice spicy, sweet, and exotic flavour to the meat. As for the barbecue sauce, I have yet to develop my own, so I'll leave it to you for what kind you are in the mood for. Just make sure it's a sweeter one. I personally chose to get a nice smokey flavour with a hickory BBQ sauce and I added a tablespoon of brown sugar to sweeten it up more. Anyways, enjoy this process. I hope you try it. It may take a couple hours to make but it's so worth it.


Ingredients:

Rub:

2 tablespoons sea salt

2 tablespoons raw sugar (or conventional sugar)

3 tablespoons brown sugar

2 tablespoons ground cumin

1 tablespoon chili powder

2 tablespoons ground black pepper

1 tablespoon cayenne powder (more for more heat)

1/3 cup paprika


Ribs:

2 racks of side ribs or back ribs

2 bottles of Wheat beer (Hefferveisen or Weissbier; Alexander Keith's White works too)

1 large orange

1 cup BBQ sauce (choose a sweeter one or add a tbsp or 2 of brown sugar)


Directions:

1) Put all the rub ingredients together in a Tupperware container. Make sure brown sugar is loose and not a clump. Put lid on container and shake vigorously. Put aside.

Pull back the thin membrane

2) To prepare the ribs, flip them over to the bone side and remove the very thin layer of membrane if it's still there. By using a spoon, you can get under it so you can grib it (you may need to use a knife to start it if it's too difficult). The it pulls of the rest of the way easily.

Sprinkle on spices and rub all over

3) Sprinkle on a generous amount of the spices on both the meat and bone side of the ribs. Rub the spices all over the meat making sure every bit of it gets spiced.

Pour in 1/2" of beer

4) Preheat the oven to 325°F. Pour the beer into a baking pan or small roasting pan. You will want the beer to be 1/2" deep.

Put orange slices in the beer

5) Slice the orange into thick slices to place in the beer. The ribs will sit on these oranges preventing them from submerging too far into the beer.

Place ribs in pan - cover with tinfoil

6) Place the ribs bone side down into the pan. Then cover pan tightly with tin foil and place in oven.

Cooking times vary for the ribs that you use.

For Side Ribs: Bake 1-1/2 to 2 hours


For Back Ribs: Bake for 1 to 1-1/2 hours

Thickness of the meat could also be a factor so check the ribs periodically in the last 15 minutes to 1/2 hour of cooking. You may also need to cook the ribs longer than the approximate times above. If you poke the meat with a fork or metal skewer and it goes in easily, the meat is ready to barbecue.






*Note: At this point in the cooking process, you can refrigerate the ribs for a couple days before barbecuing them*

Place ribs on BBQ and baste with sauce

7) Heat up barbecue on high. Once the grill is hot, turn the heat down to medium and put the ribs on. Flip after a few minutes and start basting with barbecue sauce.

Flip and Baste until dark brown in color

8) Being careful not to let them burn, keep flipping the ribs and basting them with BBQ sauce for 20-25 minutes until they turn a dark, rich brown colour.


9) Enjoy!!














                                             
So, there you have it. My first blogged barbecue recipe. I'm very excited for the summer. I'm going to try and create a lot barbecue recipes (including vegetarian ones for my vegetarian and vegan friends). I hope you'll follow along with my blog this summer and even try out a few of these.


Cheers!!

Bean Salad w/ Apple Cider Vinaigrette

Bean Salad w/ Apple Cider Vinaigrette

Well, it's time to end my food-blog hiatus. School has ended and summer is coming. Before you say it, I will... Barbecues!!! Tasty, tasty barbecues. Before I post my special barbecue recipes, I'm going to start with this salad recipe. Bean salads, at least in my family, are a staple at barbecues. Since I had all the ingredients handy and a fresh batch of daikon sprouts, I thought I should make something tasty with them. If you have a sprouter, try and find daikon seeds and grow them yourself. If you don't have a sprouter, buy one..... or buy a pack of broccoli sprouts. Okay, to the recipe. There are two ways to make this salad, the lazy way and the foodie way. I'm going to tell you the foodie way but if you want to do it the lazy way, feel free to use canned mushy beans. Serves 4-6.

Ingredients:

Dressing:

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1/3 cup olive oil

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1 tsp dried oregano

1-2 tbsp raw sugar


Salad:

1/2 cup dried garbanzo beans (or 1 can)

1/2 cup dried romano beans (or 1 can)

1/2 cup dried kidney beans (or 1 can)

1/2 small red onion

1/2 large yellow or orange bell pepper

1 tbsp fresh mint

1 tbsp fresh basil

2-3 green onions

1 1/2 cups daikon sprouts (or 1 pack broccoli sprouts)


Directions:

1) For the lazy way: open the cans of beans, rinse any sauce off in a colander and put in a salad bowl.

2) For the foodie way: soak all dried beans separately for 6-8 hours maximum (make sure you cover with at least 1 1/2 cups of water to accommodate expansion).

3) Drain and rinse the beans in a colander. Put beans in separate heavy bottom pots (you could probably mix the beans together; however, they may cook at different rates) and heat until boiling.

4) Simmer beans on medium heat for 1 to 1-1/2 hours. Keep testing them periodically after 45 minutes of boiling until they are at the consistency you want. [This may seem complicated and arduous but it's the best way. It's so much better when "mushiness" is not a description for your salad].

5) After boiling, rinse beans with cold water and put into the bowl.

6) Dice the red onion, bell pepper and green onions. Finely chop the fresh herbs. Put all veggies, herbs and sprouts into the salad bowl.

7) Whisk all the dressing ingredients together until creamy. Pour over the salad and toss well.

8) Enjoy.



So, there you have it. My food blog hiatus is over and you have a new tasty recipe you can try. I really hope you try this salad. This recipe is definitely a keeper for me. If you don't like beans, try the dressing on other salads, I'm sure it would be the same awesomeness that it was on this salad. Don't forget, comments and questions about my recipes are gladly accepted on this blog.


Cheers