Vegan Crockpot Fasolakia (Greek Style stewed green beans and potatoes)

fasolakia
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COLD! Ugh, I hate it……I would trade the cliché rain for whatever this bad air quality, bone splitting, frosty snow, gray doldrums this PDX winter has turned into. I miss just being water logged from rain, and when the weather is like it is now, the type of food I want is comfort food, but I also want to try to maintain plant based meals several times a week….is that possible? I say yes and today’s recipe encompasses both, vegan and comforting. As a kid my favorite dish at the Greek festival was fasolakia, which is a slow cooked veggie dish with a good glug or two of rich olive oil, while my sisters would munch diples and loukamathes I would be eyeing their green beans…haha! I also am trying to open my mind to crockpot cookery or lack of cookery (there I go again). For some reason I really detest “crockity” pots, figuring if you have a stove why would you need this silly contraption, cluttering up my already cluttered kitchen. I stay home during the week with my kids (both of which are currently sick, so where usually my six year old is at school, she is now home fighting with her brother between coughing fits) I understand not everyone has this luxury (depending on how you view it of course) so I want to venture into a safe way for working gals and guys can eat great without worrying about setting their home ablaze whilst at work and changing the view of “vegan” cuisine as rabbit food. Nobody wants to dive into cold kale salad when it feels like Jack Frost is robbing you of your humanity. So here it is my first post using a crock pot!
Ingredients put in crock pot in this order:
Glug or two of olive oil
3 peeled and quartered potatoes, I like Yukon gold for this
1 tsp dried oregano
1 medium onion, sliced
3 cloves garlic, sliced
1 15 oz can diced tomatoes
1 pound frozen or fresh whole green beans
1 15 oz can chickpeas, drained, I used these to bump up the protein, you can omit them if you want but I like them in this, makes it heartier.
1 cup water
1 tsp each salt and pepper
Handful of kalamata olives chopped (optional)
Basically put the ingredients in your crock in the order listed, and cook on high for about 2-4 hours or low if you want to start it the night before or before you leave for work. I served ours with couscous, which takes 5 minutes to make and serve, good with a fresh squeezed lemon juice. This is really easy and tasty, and will not be the last of my crockpot experiements!

Roasted Sweet Potato with Tahini Kale slaw

kaleslaw
This might just be the best Kale slaw recipe ever! Kale is a veggie that everyone should get used to eating, it’s very healthy but can sometimes get a bad wrap because folks don’t know how to work with it. Growing up I only saw kale used as a garnish for plates, haha, but then one St Patty’s day my mom found a colcannon recipe and since then I have loved it. I’ve tried a lot of kale salads here in P-town, but I really love the one at Wholefoods markets. I’ve read a lot of blogs trying to copy the Wholefoods garlic tahini dressing, and after trying a few different ones, I think I figured it out…..The potatoes for this recipe are basically this recipe, cut in half, with only one type of potato, same method though, but you could use squash or whatever roasted veggies you like.
Slaw:
1 bunch Kale, stemmed and chopped, I used Lactinato, but curly is fine too.
Rinse and stem kale, chop, and place in a bowl, crush the leaves until they turn bright green and shrink in size. Top with dressing.
Dressing:
¼ Cup Tahini
¼ Cup water
¼ Cup apple cider vinegar
1 clove garlic, smashed
2 tbsp. Bragg’s liquid aminos
¼ Cup nutritional yeast
In a blender combine all ingredients until smooth, if you don’t have a blender you can hand mix it, just make sure your garlic is minced very small.
I top my slaw with the roasted potatoes, black sesame seeds, sunflower kernels, and some cilantro, of course all of these are optional and easy to change out with what you have on hand. This is a great way to introduce plant based recipes to those who aren’t familiar or skeptical. Try this at your next pot luck!
kaleslaw2