Bean bake

Our dinner tonight was so pretty. So, so pretty. I thought of taking a picture of it while it was baking in the oven looking incredibly enticing. But, I didn't. And then I completely forgot about taking pictures. So, here's me, now, with a look of complete culinary satisfaction on my face. Because not only was dinner pretty, but it kicked ass.


I went to see Dr. Vinny today, so my face looks extra satisfied, doesn't it?

I couldn't get the words on my shirt, now my favorite pajama top, into the picture with my face, so here it is:


My Christmas gift from my sister. I love it.

On to dinner and the reason for my giddiness. Tonight I made a recipe that Kate passed along. She made this for the Fiber Arts holiday potluck and it was tasty. It did go very well with Lucy's homemade, fresh-out-of-the-oven whole wheat bread with butter. Yum.

I adapted the recipe, which is originally from Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian. Bon appetit!

Bean Bake

2 15 oz. cans organic Great Northern beans
1/4 cup olive oil (I eyeball it)
1 large onion, peeled, halved lengthwise, and cut into thin half moons (thin is key)
2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced
1 14.5 oz. can organic fire roasted diced tomatoes
1 1/4 tsp salt (I eyeball it and probably chucked in more)
black pepper
2-3 Tbs finely chopped fresh parsley
3 Tbs fresh or 1 tsp dried oregano

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Put oil in a large pan and set over medium/medium-high heat. When hot, add the onion. Stir and cook until the onions are translucent. Put in the carrot and cook soft, stirring now and then. Now put in the tomatoes and heat through. Turn off the heat.

Put the beans and their liquid into a 2 quart baking dish. Add the onion, carrot and tomato. Add the salt, a coating of black pepper, the parsley and oregano. Stir to mix.

Bake uncovered for 2 hours. Serve hot or room temp depending on how you like it.

We had it with brown rice tonight.