Easter and Dried Cranberry Beans

Hope everyone had a good Easter! I spent the day working. Or rather, hiding in a box in the backroom and scaring my co-workers when they walked in. So much for being a soon-to-be college graduate. But I'm beginning to hold less hostile feelings towards my place of work, especially since my co-workers are pretty fuggin' sweet.

Anyway, onto the Easter cooking: A former sublet-er left behind a bag of dried cranberry beans, a product which I had never cooked with before. Nor had I ventured into the land of cooking with dried beans. Why bother when I can just haul a heavy bag of canned beans from Trader Joe's?

Anyway, the cupboard was looking rather bare, and I had yet to receive my first paycheck from my new job, so I decided to get creative. And by get creative I mean: to the Internet!

Stewed beans with polenta.

I found a recipe for stewed borlotti (fancier name than cranberry beans) beans with polenta, which called for corn meal (check), dried borlotti beans (check), onion and garlic (check). After soaking the beans, sauteing the onion, garlic and herbs in a pot, and simmering the beans in said pot with some broth, it turned out delicious and filling but a tad bit salty. Perhaps it's because of the new chick'n boullion (fake chicken broth from Portland!) I used, but I'll give this recipe another shot.

Lemon garlic beans with mushrooms and tempeh

After depositing my check in the bank, I headed straight to Trader Joe's, of course. I'm one of the few female college students who blows their first paycheck on groceries, rather than clothes. I had recently discovered this recipe from the Post Punk Kitchen, where it called for fava beans to be stewed in a pot, while you sauteed some red onion, mushrooms, and garlic, before coating the mixture in bread crumbs and tossing it into the pot. The author suggested adding some marinated tempeh, and I was more than happy to comply. Sooo fucking delicious, definitely going to post my somewhat-modified recipe here soon.

Oh and my meals the past few weeks have been vegetarian, so I'm thinking of keeping up with the trend. Being a veggie was difficult when I didn't know how to cook, or was too lazy to think of creative swaps. Now that I've found multiple vegan sites (they make everything look so easy and delicious!), they've somewhat guilted me into feeling like a lazy, uncreative cook.