I had about two pounds of tomatoes and a bag of Bob’s Red Mill Premium Lima Beans hanging around so I made this.

Ingredients for around 10 servings

28oz dry lima beans (or one 28oz bag of Bob’s Red Mill Lima Beans) – soaked in water last night for today

1/2 oz fresh oregano sprigs

2 Tablespoon dried thyme

4 bay leaves

1 onion – cut in half

1 banana pepper – cut in half (not the sweet…the regular that is actually hot)

2 carrots – cut in half

14 oz Italian crushed tomatoes (or tomatoes that you removed skin and roasted at least 4 hours)

1 garlic clove – ground to paste or microplane

3 Tablespoons red wine vinegar

2 lb assorted heirloom tomatoes – cut in bite size pieces

2 Tablespoons bomba calabrese (I like the Coliccio brand even though it’s very inconsistent….sometimes it’s mild, sometimes it’s a bomb of fiery heat…but it usually is full of flavors)

fresh torn basil to taste (about 10-20 leaves depending on size)

sea salt to taste (up to a Tablespoon added near end)

Directions

Drain and rinse the lima beans and add them to a large pot with water to cover the beans about two 1/2 inches on medium high heat. Add the oregano, thyme, bay leaves, onion, banana pepper and carrots. When the beans start to boil turn down the heat to a slow simmer and cook till the beans are tender…….(about an hour).

While the beans are cooking make the tomato vinaigrette. In a medium bowl add the crushed Italian Tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes, garlic, vinegar and bomba and mix well and put to the side or in the refrigerator.

When the beans are done you drain them. (***you might want to save the flavorful bean water for a soup…later in the week you can turn this into a bean soup) Toss out the bay leaves, oregano stems, onions and carrots. When the beans are cool carefully mix together the beans with the tomato mixture. Taste and add salt to your liking. Serve with fresh torn basil.

Enjoy!

I recently went to an Indian Restaurant near me called Vaigai and I enjoyed a South Indian Beet Dish called Beet Poriyal. I never had beet poriyal before and didn’t know how to make it so I looked up a few recipes for it. I thought Dassana Amit’s recipe of www.VegRecipesofIndia.com sounded the most delicious of the recipes I found so I sort of followed along…but made just two changes. One I wanted another vegetable in it besides beets so I thought onion would be ok since the dish is savory. I didn’t have urad dal……so I looked it up and it was described as an Indian Lentil that is used for it’s earthy flavor so I substituted pink lentils but tripled the amount because I didn’t think the pink lentils would be as flavorful. Anyway it came out delicious…….This dish uses two hard to come by ingredients. One was called asafoetida. They sell it in tiny green boxes at Whole Foods and I bet you can find it at the Asiana Market. The other ingredient I happened to have was curry leaves…..I buy them and keep them in my freezer. I think if you leave out the asafetida out your dish it will NOT have the right flavor.

Ingredients for around 4 servings

2 Tablespoons coconut oil

1 lb beets – peeled – cubed

1/2 large sweet onion – cubed

1 hot pepper – (today I used a chili guero and it was just right) – chopped

12 curry leaves fine chopped (this herb is controversial and some people use it like bay leaves and remove when done….. I fine chopped because I felt the dish needed the flavor and the Indian Cook on Food Network chops and puts curry leaves in dishes so it’s ok!)

1 teaspoon black mustard seeds

1 Tablespoon lentils (or the real recipe calls for 1 teaspoon urad dal)

good pinch asafetida

salt to taste

1/3 cup water

4 Tablespoons grated coconut

Directions

Get a pot on medium heat with the coconut oil and the black mustard seeds. Heat till you hear the seeds popping and then add lentils, pepper and onion. Cook till onion is soft. Add curry leaves, asafetida, beets and water. Cover with foil and cook till beets are tender. Top with coconut. (add salt to taste)

Enjoy!

A special Thanks! to Dassana Amit of www.VegRecipesofIndia.com for sharing a delicious recipe!