Gail's Veggie Chili Beans

Gail's Veggie Chili Beans - No meat

I do not soak the beans over night. And, I do not bring them to a boil and let them soak, etc.

Total prep and cooking takes about 4 hours.

1 1/2 gallons of water in a large pot.

Put stove on high heat.

Rinse 1/2 gallon of pinto beans in strainer, add to pot of water. Stir.

Do not cover.

Cook on high, lower heat to medium high when necessary so the water and beans do not boil over the pot.

Add about 4-5 onions, chopped. Stir.

Add water to pot if necessary. Stir beans occasionally throughout the 4 hours.

When beans start to soften (this takes about 3 hours) add fresh diced tomatoes or one or two large cans of Crushed diced or crush peeled tomatoes with tomato puree or tomato paste to the pot of beans.

Alternative to the tomatoes is about 3 cups of spaghetti sauce.

Cook until beans are soft.

Add seasoning to pot of beans. I add the seasoning by eye. About 2-3 tablespoons.

I make a large batch of chili seasoning to last for a few servings. I use an empty spice bottle to put all the ingredients in. Then shake well to mix all the ingredients.

Seasoning:

12 tsp. chili powder
2 tsp. paprika
2 tsp. salt
4 tsp. cumin
4 tsp. oregano
4 tsp. garlic salt
2 tsp. cayenne pepper
2 tsp. onion salt

Sharing Food - Soup

Vegetable Soup

In a large pot add water and put stove on high. Lower heat to medium if/when necessary.

ALL ingredients are optional.

Add:

2 onions, chopped
5-6 stalks celery, chopped
5-6 carrots, chopped
6-8 large potatoes, cubed

Optional, any other vegetable, fresh or frozen, ie. broccoli, mixed vegetables, green beans, peas, corn.

Optional, one or two cups of mixed lentil beans, raw split peas.

When vegetables are cooked or almost cooked, add to boiling water about 16 ounces of uncooked elbow macaroni or cut up spaghetti or any other macaroni.

Add seasoning. Seasoning can consist of a "touch" of salt, garlic, onion salt, oregano, and basil. Optional, if I have extra spaghetti sauce, I add 2-4 cups of sauce to this pot.

Sharing Food - Rice

When sharing food at the park, I never use meat or meat base, fish or dairy products - when I prepare the food.

In the past, when we received already prepared products - donations from the stores - meat, fish, cheese, etc., we would immediately distribute the food to the needy rather than having it all go to waste.

Long grain brown rice when we have it, white rice if brown rice not available.

Optional - add chopped onion to water before adding rice.

1/2 gallon of water in large pot
Add a little vegetable oil to water
High heat until boiling
Add 1/4 gallon of rice and stir thoroughly for vegetable oil to prevent rice from sticking
Lower heat to a low, cover pot.
Rice is usually done when all water in the pot is gone.

White rice takes 15-20 minutes to cook.

Brown rice takes about 45-50 minutes to cook.

Seasoning for rice is optional, ie. salt.

If rice is done cooking for "awhile" and you need to get it hot again:

In a small pot, boil water, chopped onion, and seasoning to taste. Seasoning can consist of a "touch" of salt, garlic, onion salt, oregano, and basil. Optional, if I have extra spaghetti sauce, I add that to this pot and heat, reducing the amount of water.