#18: We're baaaAack!! And married!
We're back from sabbatical, and dare we say, better than ever
What happened during this hiatus? Where’d we go? Do we even cook anymore? Are we back for good?
Yish to all that ish!
We got married, y’all 🎉🎉
And dang, we had to make time to plan that wedding! We only have so many hours in the day! Gosh!
But seriously, apologies for our absence. We loved you then, and we love you even more for sticking around. To sweeten our return, we have some snazzy updates for the future of beans cooks, and we have a feeling you’re going to dig beans cooks 2.0!
Beans cooks has received some love. An update, a refresh if you will. She is resurfacing from her slumber like sleeping beauty and better than ever! She’s ready to snatch that prince! (Neither of us have watched, nor read — you can do that, right? —sleeping beauty in a very long time, so please disregard if the metaphor doesn’t actually work. Mwah! Hehe! 😘)
We still have a rockin’ weekly food plan for you — we follow it ourselves and love the time it saves on grocery shopping, and generally hangry back-and-forth 6pm game of “wELL wHat do YOU wAnNa hAve for diNneR?!” Each week we’ll feature one recipe from the schedule, and pop in some cute pics while we’re at it.
Now, here is where is gets fun!! New! Paid subscribers will receive full access to our new Meeks’ Eats’ and Tay Takes. Free subscribers, you’ll get a tasty-taste, too.
Every two weeks, Meeks will share titillating case studies. The trial, error, and eatings of that week’s topic. It might be a dessert, a beloved condiment, or bread! Spoiler alert, there will likely be lots on bread!!
On alternating weeks, Tay will share, um, how do we say this, a “take” (?) on whatever the fudge she wants. The vibe is chaos and fun, and offering content that is food-related/adjacent because variety is the spice of life!
Hugs!
Xo, Tay & Meeks
Monday: Cavetelli (can sub for dried pasta! Orecchiette, or any short form pasta is A+ here)
Tuesday: Enfrijoladaaaas
Wednesday: Steamed tofu skin with ginger, black beans, and frizzled scallions from The Vegan Chinese Kitchen by Hannah Che
Thursday: Warm marinated lentil, walnut sal (our recipe of the week!)
Friday: Play on a waldorf sal from Salad Freak by Jess Damuck
Saturday: Sticky sesame spongy tofu and smashed cuc’ salad from The Vegan Chinese Kitchen by Hannah Che
Sunday: Dilly double beans and farro from Salad Freak by Jess Damuck
Hot tip: don’t have one of the above cookbooks? Give google a whirl, you might be surprised with what you can get ;)
Fruit & Veg 🍓🥬
Broccoli
Garlic
Red onion
White onion
Jalapeno
Tomato
Cilantro
Dairy 🥛🧀
Parmesan
Sour Cream
Oaxaca cheese, or similar
Pantry 🥫
Semolina flour
Jar of pepperoncini peppers
Refried pinto beans
Chipotle pepeprs in adobo
Vegetable stock
Breads 🍞
Corn tortillas
Protein 💪
Vegetarian sausage
Eggs
OSS (Oils, Spices & Sauces) 🍯
Olive Oil
Salt
White vinegar
Marinated Lentil, Walnut Sal
A new fave! This one is so simple, and comes together hella quick in a pinch. In the time that it takes to make lentils in the instant pot (or just use cans, lazy-ass), we’ve already made the dressing and extras, plus had some time to kill!
Ingredients
Fruit & Veg 🍓🥬
3 garlic cloves - minced or grated
Lots of basil - torn up
Dairy 🥛🧀
Feta - small or large bits, however you like (Vegan feta or olives if subbing)
Pantry 🥫
1.5 cups black or green lentils
1 cup walnuts, almonds, or pecans - coarsely chopped
0.5 cup golden raisins
OSS (Oils, Spices & Sauces) 🍯
Salt
Pepper
EVOO
1 tbsp Cumin seeds
1.5 tsp Ground coriander
0.5 cup white wine vinegar
Recipe
Cook the lentils according to the package, and drain
Make the spiced walnut oil
combine 0.5 cups EVOO and your chopped walnuts to a saucepan over medium-low, until they start getting a little golden. 5 mins perhaps.
Add in the cumin, ground coriander, and garlic. Combine.
Add in the golden raisins, vinegar, and a couple pinches of salt
Dress it!
Add the lentils into a serving bowl, slap on that walnut oil, and mix it up.
Add in the torn up basil and feta, and mix again.
Bon app’ baby!
Post-lentil and walnut sal thots
Tasty! Next time I would add in some lemon juice (half lemon or so), and add some lemon rind to the walnut oil before the vinegar for a couple minutes. No pith on the rind.
Good protein, would make a good picnic or lunch meal. Add some plain, salty-ass chips on the side for crunch and vibes.
How’d that recipe go? Share with others what the flip happens when you replace olive oil for ranch — we love to hear it! 🙃
Welcome back to my two fav cooks! I say that with pure, unbiased joy, as a fellow food lover not as your mom and now, proud Mom- in-law. I can't wait to try this delicious week. Congrats!