Category: Homemade Staples Worth Trying

Delicious Instant Pot Pinto Beans

Leave a comment
Delicious pinto beans with no overnight soaking needed.

You are going to LOVE these flavorful and delicious pinto beans. They are so so easy to make in the instant pot and NO SOAKING NEEDED! WOO HOO!

Ingredients:

  • 5 C. Pinto Beans, rinsed with water
  • 1/2 Anaheim Pepper or 1/2 Jalapeño Pepper
  • 1 T. Minced Garlic
  • 1 Large Onion, Chopped
  • 3 T. Cumin (I love cumin so if you don’t, add just 1 T.)
  • 2 tsp. Chili Powder
  • 2 tsp. Salt
  • 10 C. Vegetable Broth or enough to cover 1″ above pinto beans

Put a little vegetable broth in the instant pot and turn pot on the “sauté” setting. When pot is hot, add garlic and cook until fragrant (approximately 2 minutes). Add pepper and onion. You may need to add more broth here so it doesn’t burn. Sauté for approximately 5 minutes and then add cumin, chili powder and salt. Cook until you smell that luscious smell of spice. OOOOO do you smell it? I LOVE that smell.

Add beans, stir with a large spoon, and then add the broth. Stir again. Turn instant pot off and then push “manual”. Set the time to 55 minutes. When instant pot beeps and it’s done cooking for the 55 min, release the air vent out after 10-15 min. Taste beans to make sure they are spiced to your liking and add more salt if needed.

For this burrito, I layered it with mashed sweet potato, quinoa, and beans. Roll it up to eat like this. Or, to make a taco salad out of it, top with avocado, lettuce, salsa, vegan cashew sour cream, and your favorite vegan dressing. Enjoy!

Delicious Granola (oil free)

1 Comment

This recipe is one that you’re going to want to keep handy. It’s delicious on its own for a snack, or pour almond milk over it and you have yourself a real treat! I also like throwing a handful in my oatmeal.

I actually made two batches of this–one with almonds and honey (for all of you non vegans 🙂 and one with agave, coconut, and peanuts. I loved the agave, coconut, and peanuts one!! So delicious! Ahhhh my mouth is watering thinking about it, so let’s get to it…….,.

Recipe is adapted from Cooking Classy.

Granola (no oil)

Yield: 8 cups approximately

Prep time: 10 min. Cook time: 30 min. Total time: 40 min

4 c. Whole oats (don’t use quick oats)

2 c. Amaranth flakes

1 c. Slivered almonds or peanuts (I love peanuts)

1/4 c. Coconut, the wide kind (optional)

3/4 c. Packed light brown sugar

1/2 c. Agave or honey

1/4 c. Water

1 tsp. Cinnamon

1/2 tsp. Salt

1 tsp. Vanilla

1/2 tsp. Baking soda

1 c. Dried berries (optional)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, toss together oats, amaranth flakes, coconut and sliced almonds, set aside.

In a medium sauce pan, combine brown sugar, agave, water, cinnamon, and salt and bring mixture to a boil. Allow to boil for 1 min. whisking constantly and remove from heat. Stir in vanilla and baking soda and whisk until foamy. Be careful here because the baking soda makes it foam up a lot.

Carefully pour mixture over oat mixture and toss to evenly coat. Spread mixture onto an even layer on a Splat mat or parchment lined baking sheet. Bake in preheated oven for 30 min until golden brown. I cooked it for 10 min intervals and then tossed it a bit to get even cooking. Remove from the oven, toss in dried fruit and allow to cool completely. Store in airtight container but make sure granola is completely cool first.

Enjoy!

Homemade Yogurt in a Slow Cooker

Leave a comment

image
Whole milk is put in slow cooker. Put lid on and heat to 180 degrees

image
Tools needed– I prefer the meat thermometer over the candy one and a whisk is a must. Stir milk every 30 min or so. It took me 2.5 hours to get the milk up to 180 degrees.

image
Cool the milk after to 108 degrees. You don’t want to kill the live cultures your going to add. I put a towel over so the condensation doesn’t drip down into the yogurt. I also removed the slow cooker insert from the base so it would cool quicker. This usually takes about 1-2 hours.

image
Stir the live cultures into a bowl with about 1 c. of the warmed yogurt from the slow cooker. I just put about 3 tablespoons of the live cultures yogurt in. This was from a previous batch that I had made, but if this is your first time making it, any organic whole yogurt with live cultures (the most important thing) will do and then you can use this yogurt that you’re making for the next batch. Stir this back into your

image
Wrap a beach towel around the slow cooker to insulate it.

image
Place the slow cooker in the oven WITH THE LIGHT ON for 8 hours. If you leave it in longer, it will taste more tangy. Remove from oven and put in jars with some 1 tea. of vanilla in each jar, stir and refrigerate. It is so delicious. You won’t want to buy store bought yogurt again!