Day 94 Squash, Chickpea and Barley Stew

Squash, Chickpea and Barley Stew

3/4 Dried Chickpeas

1 Cup Dried Barley

2 1/2 Pounds Butternut Squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 1 inch cubes

2 Carrots, peeled and sliced

1 Red Onion, chopped

4 Cups Vegetable Broth

1/2 Cup Red Wine

2 Tablespoons Tomato Paste

1 Tablespoon Fresh Ginger, peeled and minced

1 1/2 Teaspoons Ground Cumin

1 Teaspoon Salt

1/4 Teaspoon Saffron

1/4 Teaspoon Freshly Ground Pepper

1/4 Cup Cilantro

1/4 Cup Lime Juice

1/2 Cup Roasted Unsalted Peanuts, chopped

Cooked chickpeas and barley

1.  Place chickpeas in a large pot and cover with water.  Heat to boiling, then reduced heat to a good simmer.  Cook for an hour.  Add the barley and enough water to cover.  Cook on medium until chickpeas and barley are almost cooked.  Return heat to high and boil out most of the water.

Butternut squash

2.  Add the squash, carrots, onion, broth, and wine to the pan.  Heat should be on medium.  Dissolve the tomato paste into the broth.  Add the spices.  Cook 1 hour at a simmer.

3.  Turn off heat and add the cilantro, lime juice and peanuts.

Goes well with Spinach Salad

Pairs well with 2014 Domaine Cheveau Pouilly Fuisse

Soundtrack Jim Byrnes - St. Louis Times

Addicted to Results 5/7 and 5/8

5/7
Going all out lunch at breakfast - a vegan hot dog on a whole wheat bun the tomatilla avocado salsa and ketchup. I also had some tea and fruit plate at Atwater's.

Lunch was the Tofu Stir Fry, this time served over some barley that I had frozen a few weeks ago.

Dinner was some of the barley and the last of the tomato sauce that I had used with the eggplant sandwiches. I had tomato cucumber salad on the side.  The product below was called Citrus Vegan Spareribs.  They were made with a mix of soy protein and wheat gluten.  They would not remind you of spareribs in any way -maybe more like a type of chicken.  The nuggets were very chew and not very palatable.

'Spareribs'

5/8

Breakfast was my last orange. I ate it before going to gym.  When I got back, it was the last the vegan hot dogs.

For lunch, I mixed some leftovers together - the last of the sundried tomato risotto, some sauteed onions, and the corn and tomato mix.  They worked well together.

Veggie Pizza

We went to the Can Company for dinner.  On the 2nd Thursday of each month during the spring and summer, they have a band playing.  Last night was the Kelly Bell Band.  We started with a bottle of cremant and a veggie pizza at Chesapeake Wine Company.  No cheese on my half.

Tangerine Sorbet

I have not gone to Cold Stone Creamery in years because of my lactose intolerance.  On a whim I decided to check and see if that had sorbet or non dairy milk ice cream.  They had one sorbet, but it was a great flavor - tangerine.  Mine was mixed with black cherries and pecans.  We also made our way through a bag of potato chips.

Privateer Day

This was a beautiful day in Baltimore.  That meant walking down to Fells Point for Brunch and Privateer Day.  This day celebrates the small private ship owners who took up the cause of the US and attacked and boarded British ships during the War of 1812.  Some played the role of pirate and seized the goods of the boarded ships.  So there were a lot of folks walking around in pirate garb.  We started our day at Red Star for brunch. I had a spicy black bean burger with garlic fries.  Spicy and garlic are the key words here. 

 

Once home, I made a large batch of barley for future recipes.

Barley

The first of those would be a Barley Soup for supper.  I sautéed a mix of garlic, carrot, celery and mushrooms in olive oil.  Next, I added some white wine to soften and flavor the veggies.

To make it soup, I added my veggie stock, Beyond Meat 'Chicken', cayenne spice mix, pepper and green onions.   A toasted Acorn Squash Roll was toasted and we poured a little bubbly to complete the meal.

Barley Soup

 

After dinner we took a little walk to O'Donnell Square.  The plan was for some sorbet at Vaccaro's.  However they were packed and we did really want to wait.  Tommy got a pastry and the crepe shop and we were about to head home.  I wondered if Cup Love had a non dairy frozen yogurt, so we checked it out.  They did have a soft serve strawberry sorbet which I will try one day. But even better was a vegan Ginger Cupcake with pumpkin granache and banana frosting.  Great way to end the day.

Partially eaten cupcake.