Vegan fashion show (sort of) and Crockpot Black Beans

Last night my first three-session Beyond Meatless Mondays class concluded.  What a joy! I loved meeting my students and connecting with vegans, vegetarians and veg-curious! The final session, Bunny-Friendly Living, focused on veganism beyond the plate. While we had a conversation around the horrors of violence against animals for fashion, I chose to share an upbeat, incredibly positive video on vegan fashion, courtesy of  Leanne Mai-ly Hilgart of Vaute Couture.

After we watched the video I took the students to another classroom to show them vegan items from my own closet and home.

JL goes Vegan Bunny-Friendly Fashion

I made a point to bring items that spanned price ranges.  I showed my $36 pea coat from Alternative Outfitters, a $100-ish poncho from HoodLab, and my $400+ coat from Vaute Couture (in eggplant, which I got for only $237 because I’m on “the list” – you can be, too, just sign up here.) I had shoes ranging from $30 to boots over $100 as well has plant-fiber winter has and scarves and a few skin care items.  It was a non-fashion-show show and it was fun!

Now that the March class has concluded I’m gearing up for the two-session class in April (only two spaces left!) and  May cooking demonstration classes.  (By the way, you don’t have to be in Colorado Springs to work with me!  The curriculum I use for my small group coaching-style classes is based on material I use for one on one coaching via phone or Skype with clients everywhere – if you’re interested in coaching, read about it here.) I am also getting ready to take on my new clients for Kitchen Coaching and my Weekly Home Cooked Meal service. I want to thank SouthSideBusiness.com for announcing these services on their site and Matthew Schniper, Arts Editor of the Colorado Springs Independent, for sharing it on Twitter. I’m so grateful for the community support!

Have I mentioned how much I love my job?! 

Speaking of that, Sunday I asked for your questions about professionalizing your passions – please leave those questions in the comments here!

Moving on to food, I have a confession. I cheated on my pressure cooker.  I was crazed last weekend and didn’t have the time to babysit the pressure cooker so, finally, I made dry beans in the crockpot. It was pretty liberating to toss everything in the crockpot and leave for the day and to come home to perfectly cooked beans.

Here’s what I did:

  1. I soaked 1 and 1/2 cup dry black beans overnight (they turned into 4 cups of soaked beans!).
  2. I rinsed and drained the beans before adding them to the crockpot.
  3. I added 6 cups of water, 4 cloves of diced garlic, and two bay leaves.
  4. I covered and cooked on high for 5 hours.

I don’t use salt when cooking dry beans because they may not cooking evenly and/or the skins on the bean may split.  In this case I didn’t even salt the beans after I cooked them – I decided to season the beans based on how I used them.

Sunday night, my omnivore husband made us a quick meal by sautéing the beans in a bit of extra virgin olive oil with yellow peppers, cumin, red pepper flakes and sea salt.  He served the beans over a baked potato and topped it off with Sriracha.

IMG_7898

The avocado and tomato slices were a nice touch because I needed that cooling element – so spicy and so good!

Yesterday I wanted to once again show my students how easy it is to whip up delicious vegan meals so I used some of the beans and tossed a salad with greens, crisp veggies and hemp seeds and added it to the class presentation last night.

Black Bean and Hemp Seed Salad on JL goes Vegan

If you are a fan of cooking dry beans in the crockpot, would you mind sharing your tips in the comments? I’d love to play around a bit more with this method!

8 thoughts on “Vegan fashion show (sort of) and Crockpot Black Beans”

  1. I soak my beans overnight, in the morning drain the beans and put them in slow cooker with fresh water and turn on low. Depending upon the bean, they can take from 5 to 8 hours.
    I do not want to have to be home waiting for the beans to finish (like with a pressure cooker), so this works great for me. They cook unsupervised. My beans are usually for the purposes of bulk cooking, so I just want to have a big pot cooked so that I can freeze or refrigerate them. I love using the slow cooker!
    Robin Robertson’s and Kathy Hester’s slow cooker cookbooks have a basic bean cooking recipe; I’ll be your local library has at least one of their titles.

    1. @f46414763112181cbb7d0deea09ad697:disqus , thanks for the input – I think I needed to cook on high because I’m at a higher altitude and beans cook slower up here (even in the pressure cooker!). I will definitely try them on low, for longer, to see how they turn out. I have both Robin and Kathy’s book – thanks for the reminder!

  2. I have an electric pressure cooker that I can literally set and forget, then have beans, soups or grains ready in 15-30 minutes. Next to my Vitamix, it’s my most used kitchen gadget. I love your vegan fashion un-show; what a great idea!

    1. Uh oh, @695938c0389f938166f495029d403f1c:disqus, don’t talk me into another appliance! 🙂 And thanks about the un-show! 🙂

  3. Oh, I cook a bag of beans in my crockpot every couple of weeks! I add the beans from the bag to the slow cooker, 1 tsp salt, a bay leaf, and fill with water, and cook on low for six hours. I have tried with black and garbanzo beans, but that’s it. I believe kidney beans need to be brought to boiling after being soaked, so I wouldn’t try those, but everything else should be fine.

    1. @google-06a397e7d66347b1277aeee5b1eae446:disqus, thanks for the input! I’m finding the comments so helpful!

  4. I make refried beans in my crock pot. I use a 2 lb bag of pintos, rinse them, and soak them overnight. In the morning I drain and rinse the soaked beans, add them to the crock pot with a couple of quartered onions, some garlic cloves, and sometimes I add a few whole jalapenos. Cover with water, set on low and let it cook. I let it cook until I get home from work. I remove most of the liquid (but reserve it) and then start mixing up with an immersion blender. As the beans sit and cool they get a little thick, so I add some of the reserved cooking liquid. I freeze these in 2 cup containers. My daughter who is away at college always takes a couple of containers with her back to school because she loves them so much.

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