They might not be pretty but these beans have sole.

This is my go-to for when there are random greens wilting in the crisper and random beans threatening to turn evil because I made too many for another recipe earlier in the week.  I cant believe its taken me this along to post about this considering I eat some variation of it once a week at least.  But here it finally is ready for you to bask in the awesomeness that is its ease of preparation and its ability to use up those pesky left over ingredients in a tasty way.

The great part of this recipe is you can change it up with whatever combo of greens and beans you have on hand.  White beans are best: garbanzo, fava, navy, cannellini, or giant white lima beans are all beans Ive used with success.  Then mix and match your beans with spinach, kale, rainbow chard, beet greens, or pretty much any other dark leafy green you happen to have around.  Lima beans with beet greens and a drizzle of lemon juice or garbanzos with kale and some fresh rosemary are my favorite combination but feel free to mix and match and let me know what you come up with.

Greens and Beans

1/2 pound of dried beans (or about 2 cups left over, cooked beans)

3 tablespoons oil

2 cloves garlic, diced

rosemary, lemon juice, or other seasoning (optional)

salt and pepper, to taste

handful of greens

If youre starting out with dried beans prepare them according to package directions.  Once you have your beans prepped, in a large (preferably non stick) pan, heat the oil over medium high heat.  When the oil is hot, toss in the beans and cook them, agitating them every so often so that they dont burn, for about 15 minutes or until they are browned on all sides.  If your beans are sticking to the pan or drying out too quickly, pour in a little more oil to moisten things up. 

Once the beans are toasted, lower the heat a bit and add the garlic, any other seasoning you would like and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Cook for another couple minutes or until garlic is to your preferred level of doneness.  Now add some greens and allow the warm beans to wilt down the greens.  Once your greens are wilted youre ready to eat.

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Someday soon when I have a couple seconds to breath I will tell you all about the fabulous weird wine and bizarre food party I hosted on Sunday. It was fabulous and oh so much fun. I adore my wine loving friends and spending the day in the kitchen dreaming up tasty culinary oddities with Jacob is my new favorite hobby. We did a lot of playing off each other to co-create yummies for this party. It was a lot of fun and it was all highly amusing.

This focaccia is what I made as a place to spread the very spicy and complex mustards that Jacob brought along homemade the night before. He posted the recipes for those on his blog (which you should be reading) and so here is the bread to go along with it.

They worked out really well together. The bread was just moist and hearty enough to be a perfect base for the mustard. I was surprised that it was so good for such an embarrassingly easy recipe, this is rarely the case for gluten free bread after all. This bread was also a nice place to spread cheese. Next time I may even try spreading it in a cookie sheet to make a thinner crisper bread thats more crostini like.

The wheat eaters at the party had no idea this was sans gluten and the plate of focaccia disappeared faster than you could say “mustard seed.” Id say that counts as successful party food.

Flax Seed Foccacia

2 cups flax meal
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon sea salt

1 tablespoon agave nectar
5 eggs, whisked
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup olive oil

In a large bowl combine flax meal, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt.

In a smaller bowl, mix together agave, eggs, water and olive oil.

Stir wet ingredients into dry, mixing well, then allow to stand for 2-3 minutes so that batter thickens. Pour batter into a greased 11 by 7 or larger glass baking dish. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes or so until a knife comes out clean

Cool. Cut into squares. Slather in extremely spicy and delicious mustard a la Jacob.

Original recipe from Elanas Pantry.

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