Moroccan Vegetarian Carrots and Chickpeas

Last week I got sick. Like stay in bed, high fever, moan and groan sick. I actually reached the point where I didn't even eat much; and for me that says a lot. I basically lived off of oatmeal, cream of wheat, and orange juice for a week straight. In fact, other than that one soggy chunk of carrot floating in the can of soup I so desperately bought from CVS, I actually did go an entire week without eating a single vegetable until my friend took pity on me and gave me some minestrone soup from the sandwich shop where she works.

So when I finally started to feel better, one of the first things I did was make a real meal. With vegetables.

The thing is, because I was already low on food when I got sick, and what little I had sort of hit the dust in the fridge while I was out of commission (my poor mushrooms!), I didn't have a whole lot left in the vegetable department when I finally made my comeback. The one thing that I did have was 5 pounds of carrots. Carrots are awesome in many ways, one of which being like any root type vegetable, they last for a really really long time - even when you get them at the supermarket and they've already been sitting around for no one knows how long.

So anyway, I'm feeling better, want to eat a real meal, and have a bunch of carrots but little else. Inspired by the fact that I no longer felt like I'd just run head first into a wall with cotton stuffed in my ears and nose, I decided to make something new. So I started scrolling the internet and came across this.  Actually, I was the first thing that popped up when I searched 'vegan recipe with carrots' in google, so I didn't have to do much scrolling. Hahaha.

The recipe looked really easy, really delicious, and totally up my alley, so I tried it out.
And I absolutely loved it!

I guess it's a Moroccan type dish. It has chickpeas, carrots, onion, and a bunch of spices including cinnamon, ginger, turmeric, cayenne pepper, as well as a hint of sweetness from honey and raisins.
I was going to post the recipe here with my alterations (I made just a few), but I decided why bother. The recipe is awesome as is, so it's easy enough to just give you a link to where I found it. But before doing that, I want to give you a few suggestions.

First, I only cooked it for about 15 minutes after adding the carrots. Second, I'm out of cayanne pepper, so I used crushed red pepper flakes. They worked really well. Third, I used agave nectar instead of honey. It works well and is a little less sweet, which I like. Forth, I didn't add raisins. I wish I had, but I have very few raisins left and wanted to save them for my oatmeal. But I think that if you have raisins, you should definitely use them, even though the recipe says they're optional. And last but definitely not least, I put it on top of rice, which after trying it with and without rice, I really preferred.

So, once again, here's a link to the recipe:http://moroccanfood.about.com/od/vegetarianmaindishes/r/moroccan_carrot_chickpea_tagine.htm

Spouting Beans and other things

Some of the best and most affordable foods to eat fall under the categories of beans and legumes. And the cheapest way to buy them is dried. But as you probably have noticed, eating them when they're rock hard doesn't work all that well. So that leaves two options: soaking or sprouting.
Soaking is great, and the method that I've always used. When I first started soaking dried beans it drove me a little nuts, because I couldn't just say "I want beans" and have them magically ready. The thing about soaking beans is you need to leave them over night. It takes practically no effort on your part, but its not instantaneous. Truthfully though, its totally worth it. You'll save A LOT of money and you just need to get used to thinking about your meals a little ahead of time. Plus, if you soak a whole bunch, you can just stick some in the freezer and keep them for ages without the risk (or rather unavoidable certainty) of spoilage.
But soaking beans is not what this post is about. Today I wanted to talk about sprouting them [for food, not too make more beans :) ]. I first became interested in sprouting beans when I began looking into the world of raw veganism, a practice that intrigues me although I have yet to fully try it. The really cool thing about sprouting beans and grains is that you don't need to cook them. The frustrating part is that it takes more than just a night. I'll admit that I haven't tried it very many times, and I did get a little frustrated at first, but it turned out to be really fun. The key is to figure out a method that works. So I'll give you a few tips (and pictures) and hopefully send you on your merry way with the encouragement to try it out, even if just for fun. I really encourage you to try it out because if you haven't thought much about where your food comes from/ what it is, then sprouting will blow your mind. I'm sure if you're reading this you at least have some basic understanding of how plants grow. But this is a way to really understand and feel the connection between a seed and what's on your plate:

Alex the cat wanted to be in the picture too!

So heres what you do. Its super simple:

1. Get some beans! The beans are going to swell a lot, so just keep that in mind when you choose how many to use.
2. Find a jar and a bowl and something to cover the jar with that will keep the beans from falling out (you're going to invert it in the bowl) but that water can leak through. I used an old stocking.
3. Soak the beans over night.
4. Drain the soaked beans, rinse them, drain them again and put them in the jar. If they fill the jar up more than halfway you definitely need a bigger jar!
5. Then cover the jar with the mesh, or stocking, or whatever material you're using to keep them in there. And put the jar upside down sitting in the bowl, which will catch the water draining out. I keep the jar at an angle so that the water can actually drain out.
5. Over then next few days they'll begin to sprout. Two or three times a day you should rinse them and pretty soon you'll be good to go.

Another way to do this, and easier now that I think about it, is to forget about the jar and just have the beans sitting in a strainer over a bowl. Unfortunately though, I can't do this in my current house because I have a cat who loves to eat things. But if you don't I would strongly recommend just using a stainer.