plantains

EBF has a new home! You like? I surely hope so, because getting here wasn’t easy. Don’t get me wrong, I know moving is a pain. Honestly though, I thought that since I wasn’t having to lug box after box of tangible items that moving my blog to my own server would we a piece of cake. WRONG! Perhaps it’s because I’m trying to move 1.5 years worth of posts and photos but things didn’t go as smoothly as planned. I still have quite a bit of tidying up to do and I’m not certain I love this template. Needless to say, there might be some changes in the near future until I’m satisfied with the look.

I do want to share with you all some of my recent eats, particularly some of the comforting dinners I’ve been cooking up lately. The first is a recipe that took me straight back to the Cayman Islands. I think I mentioned it in one of my recaps posts, but while in the Caribbean I had some amazing coconut rice and beans. I knew that once I was home I needed to recreate something similar to share with Isaac. This past weekend I finally got around to it and whipped up coconut rice with red beans, sweet corn, and a very ripe raw plantain.

I used this recipe as a guide to make the coconut brown rice. It’s vegan and quite delish.

Coconut Brown Rice and Red Beans

• 1 TBSP extra virgin coconut oil
• 1 large yellow onion, chopped into small pieces
• 3 cloves of garlic, finely minced
• 3 cups of cooked brown rice
• 1 (16 ounce) can of adzuki beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 (16 ounce) can of kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 (15 ounce) can of light coconut milk
• 1/2 tsp. dired thyme
• Sea salt and ground pepper to taste

Heat the coconut oil in a large saucepan on medium heat. Saute the onion and garlic until the onion becomes soft and translucent.

Add the rice, drained beans, coconut milk and thyme. Bring the pot to a simmer and cover and cook over low heat until most of the coconut milk has evaporated. It should take about 15-20 minutes and the mixture should be moist, but not watery.

Season with sea salt and pepper and serve hot with sweet corn.

I

Plantains aren’t usually eaten raw in Caribbean cuisine, however if they’re ripe enough (almost completely black on the outside) they are soft, sweet and delicious raw. I learned this the hard way because if they aren’t ripe their hard, bland and not so tasty. This one took me 2 weeks after purchasing to get it ripe enough.

Last night I decided it was time to put a baby butternut from Isaac’s parents garden to good use.

I followed Gena’s recipe for Pumpkin Pie in a Bowl Soup.

It was heavenly per the usual. I think I’m in love with pumpkin pie spice. And yes, the pumpkin lips were totally worth it.

Last, but most certainly not least was the dinner I made tonight. I used the leftover (Hide the lentils) Tomato Sauce that I made last week and froze to make Lentil Veggie Chimichangas from Eat, Drink and Be Vegan. Let’s just say that I am so happy I bought this cookbook. I’ve loved all the recipes I’ve tried so far and this one was amazing. I’ve actually never had a chimichanga at a mexican restaurant (I typically go for veggie fajitas), but this one blew me away.

Served straight from the oven with a couple slices of avocado.

The veggie filling was sautéed yellow bell pepper, red onion, squash, and fennel seed.

Isaac and i both insisted that this was one of the best Mexican dishes we’ve ever had. That’s saying something because Isaac has had his fair share of Guadalajara Especiales.

I’ll be back to regular posting once I figure out all the bells and whistles that come along with being self hosted. In the meantime please bear with me as I work out the kinks and don’t forget to update your rss feed or links to the new site!

- Brittany

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