Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Beans, Greens, and Things

After yesterday's raw food fast, I gained a whole new appreciation for cooked food. I'm pretty sure I could never go 100% raw (or even 50% raw). Raw food is nice and all, but nothing beats a steaming, hot soul-soothing bowl of beans and kale with cornbread. So that's exactly what I whipped up tonight:


Everything in this bowl was grown within 100 miles of my apartment (well, except for the seasonings). The beans came from Northeast Arkansas. My Granny gave me a bag of what she called "agriculture beans" the last time I visited, and she got them from someone's garden. I'd never heard of an agri bean before, but they taste like a regular brown bean. The green stuff is kale I picked up at the Memphis Farmer's Market on Saturday.

Seasoned with a little Liquid Smoke (yea, not local but whatev), Cavendar's seasoning (made in Arkansas, but not likely sourced there), and Greens Seasoning, this was one delicious bowl of beans.

Of course, you can't eat beans without cornbread! I needed to test the Whole Wheat Buttermilk Cornbread recipe for my cookbook anyhow, so this was a great opportunity.


I'm not going to give out my secret recipe, but I will say that I was pretty impressed with this cornbread. I developed the recipe before giving up white flour, so this was the first time I made it with whole wheat pastry flour. I dare say it's actually better with whole wheat...and of course, I baked it in my cast iron skillet. I also add frozen corn to my cornbread although growing up, we never ate it that way.

12 comments:

Marisa L. S. said...

Looks yummy, I love kale and cornbread!

Anonymous said...

You truly inspire me to eat more raw and local foods!

jessy said...

oh wow! this looks glorious! and hooray for local foods! :D

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

I'm 75% raw, which works perfectly for me - I can't do 100% raw, since I live in a cold climate (I need my oatmeal!! haha).

Local foods ALWAYS taste and look better - yum!

Alicia said...

can you believe I've never had cornbread? can I come visit? uh, I'm more than 100 miles away, not specially environmental friendly...

Me said...

This looks great. Can't wait for the cookbook!

ChocolateCoveredVegan said...

Mmm corn bread. Yum yum. I’m with you—I don’t think I could ever do 100% raw!

Jess said...

YUM! Kale + Cornbread = Love.

I don't know if I could ever do 100% raw (nor would I really want to, nor do I think it's necessary for optimum health), but raw, local foods sure are gorgeous & delicious. I like to center my meals around raw foods, but I don't know if I could live without muffins, CORNBREAD, chili, etc. etc. However, I used to say I couldn't live without cheese, too, so... Who knows?

I want that cornbread, dammit. Give up the recipe! :) I love whole wheat pastry flour. It's absolutely magical!

Theresa said...

I'm with you, I love cooked food far too much to ever go raw! Unlike veganism, it doesn't strike me as necessary for my ethics or my health. It works for some people, and they can have it ;)

Lindsay (Happy Herbivore) said...

mmmm I love cornbread (yours looks delightful) & I've been meaning to eat more pintos! what a great idea!

Anonymous said...

I want some! Looks and sounds delicious. "You, my friend, are a magician." (Name that quote)

Vegan_Noodle said...

This is totally one of my favorite meals of all time... and even better that most of it was local!