Quick Taco Beans

This is a super quick way to transform a can of beans into lunch or dinner. In 15 minutes you’ll have a saucepan of stewy, flavorful beans ready for tacos, a taco plate or a Mexican-style salad. I love the flavor and texture of these beans, and though I usually use pinto beans for this recipe, it also works well with black beans, great northern, navy beans, etc. Any bean that you could envision in a taco would work for this. The longer you simmer, the thicker the beans will be. They will thicken a bit when they cool as well.

While the beans are simmering, I quickly shred some cabbage, chop a bit of cilantro, shred some cheese, chop an avocado and pull out some tortillas, hot sauce and cultured radishes. These ingredients, along with the beans, will make everyone in my family happy. My kids invariably eat bean-cheese-avocado tacos (pictured below), and Mark and I make plates with beans, cheese, cabbage sprinkled with sea salt and drizzled with olive oil, cilantro, avocado, radishes and hot sauce. I am never disappointed by this meal.

I hope you find this simple recipe useful, and would love to hear of any other ways you eat these beans.

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Quick Taco Beans

Notes: You do not drain the beans for this preparation. Just open the can and pour ‘em in. Also, I’m starting with a can of UNSALTED beans. If your beans are salted, I would add only the cumin and garlic granules at the beginning, then simmer, then salt to taste as needed at the end.

Good glug of olive oil
14.5 oz can pinto beans (or black, great northern, etc) - DON’T DRAIN!
1/2 teaspoon sea salt (see note)
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon garlic granules

Put a small / medium saucepan over medium heat and pour in a good glug of olive oil. Add the beans (liquid and all) as well as the sea salt, cumin and garlic granules. Heat the beans until they are gently bubbling and simmer for 10-15 minutes stirring occasionally (you may want to turn the heat down to medium-low depending on your stove), until the beans release some of their starch and the liquid thickens and becomes creamy.

Use for tacos, Mexican-inspired salads or with whatever else you have in your fridge :) 

Gluten-Free & Vegan Waffles

This is our house waffle recipe. In addition to making them vegan, I’ve optimized the fiber and minimized the simple starch as much as I can while still making a tasty waffle. I love the dark, nutty character of these. Because they don’t have any sweetener, they can be eaten sweet or savory. I usually go savory with smashed avocado, some homemade sauerkraut and maybe a fried egg. But pictured above is what I call the Daniel Special: with sliced banana, shaved dark chocolate and a drizzle of maple syrup. And I have to say, it’s pretty darn good.

Teff flour is one of my faves. It’s high in fiber, iron, and magnesium and also contains some calcium and potassium. It’s great for feeding kids and it makes beautiful pancakes as well. Amaranth flour also contains a decent amount of iron and calcium, so I feel really good about serving these waffles for breakfast (even with the shaved chocolate :).

If you come up with other ways to enjoy these, I’d love to hear about it!

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Gluten-Free & Vegan Waffles

Notes: You can play around with the ratio of teff to amaranth flour, as long as the total is 205 grams. As for milk, I use whatever combination of nut milk and coconut milk we have in the fridge. You can use whatever you have at home, though if you use cow milk these obviously won’t be vegan. Also… Waffle irons vary from one to the next. I previously had a waffle iron that made very large, thick waffles and I found that this batter needed less milk (and even then I didn’t love the way the waffles came out). Now I have this simple waffle iron, which I love, and this ratio is perfect for it. I like to cook these waffles on the slightly darker side.

Recipe updated 12/24/2022

Dry Ingredients:
110 grams teff flour
95 grams amaranth flour (I use sprouted)
30 grams tapioca OR arrowroot starch (sometimes called flour or powder)
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 tablespoon baking powder

Wet Ingredients:
2 tablespoons ground flax seed
1/4 cup hot water
1/4 cup olive oil
1 2/3 cups nut milk and/or soy milk

Measure out and whisk the dry ingredients in a bowl. In another mixing bowl, add the ground flax seeds and cover with the hot water. Whisk and let this mixture sit for a couple minutes to thicken, then add the olive oil and milk and whisk again until emulsified. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, mix well and cook your waffles according to the instructions on your waffle iron.

On our waffle iron this recipe makes 3 large, round, Belgian-style waffles. We usually eat them 1/4 at a time (and my kids are still small enough to do this, although Daniel is currently up to 3 waffle quarters with all the fixings) but depending on how many you’re feeding, you may want to scale it up.

These refrigerate well and can easily be reheated in a toaster oven (I imagine a regular toaster would work as well).

Enjoy!!

Quick Smashed Spanish Chickpeas

I love this recipe because it quickly turns a can of chickpeas into something special. I usually make this for lunch or dinner along with some quinoa, salad and cultured radishes, but you could also use it as a bean dip on a Friday night with a glass of wine. I haven’t done that yet but now that I’m thinking about it, I’m excited to try :)

This takes about 10 minutes to make so it’s definitely busy weekday friendly. It can easily be scaled up to use more than one can of chickpeas for a larger group.

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Quick Smashed Spanish Chickpeas
Adapted from the Smashed Chickpeas recipe (pg 51) in Jamie Oliver’s Food Escapes.

Note: I start with an unsalted can of chickpeas in this recipe. If you’re working with a can that already contains it, I would hold off on adding the salt and then salt to taste at the end.

Olive oil (Spanish if you have it, NO worries if you don’t)
1 large garlic clove, finely chopped
14.5 oz can chickpeas with the liquid
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 tablespoon raw apple cider vinegar

Pour a glug of olive into a small skillet or saucepan over medium heat and add the garlic. Let it sizzle for a couple minutes, stirring every 30 seconds or so, until the garlic is fragrant and just barely starting to brown around the edges.

Pour in the chickpeas and their liquid and bring to a simmer. Let cook for a couple minutes then remove the pan from heat.

With a potato masher (or something along those lines) coarsely mash the chickpeas, then add the sea salt, oregano, smoked paprika and vinegar. Stir well.

Finish with a drizzle of olive oil and sprinkling of smoked paprika for presentation, and people will probably think you labored over this for much longer than you actually did :)

Serves 2