Meal in a Bowl

More beans and greens. The combinations are endless. Here we have some tiny, tasty, slightly sweet Tepary beans from Rancho Gordo mixed with collard greens, sweet onion and a bit of chipotle pepper in adobo sauce. The liquid is the pot liquor from cooking the greens.

The Tepary beans were fine to eat on their own. In fact, I kept sampling forkful after forkful before combining them with the collards. I used Steve Sando's simple, foolproof, long, slow cooking method.(Check out his website or better yet, get his wonderful book, Heirloom Beans.)

Start with a bit of sautéed mirapoix (diced carrot, celery, onion) add the soaked beans and their soaking water, then after letting them cook for five minutes at a rolling boil, turn the burner down low enough to maintain a gentle simmer, and keep the water level just above the beans until they're tender. Then salt to taste.

The collard greens were cooked the day before with yellow onion, a couple of cloves of garlic and just enough veggie broth to let them simmer nicely until fork tender and still green. I reheated them with all their liquid, a minced chipotle and about a teaspoon of the accompanying adobo sauce, adding the beans and any remaining pot liquid from cooking them. Simmer gently to reheat and allow all the flavors to marry. Taste for seasoning.

Soba Noodles with Green Beans and Peanut (Almond) Sauce

I've posted this meal in the past. It remains a favorite. Love the crisp green beans playing off the tender buckwheat noodles and sliced shallots. Each component of the dish bathed in healthy almond sauce (which tastes just like peanut sauce). Crushed or sliced raw almonds sprinkled over the top adds to the overall taste and eye appeal.

This is perfect served at room temperature when first made. But is fine, straight from the fridge, if made ahead of time or served as leftovers.

More simple fare. Healthy eating that's easy on the food budget.