Smokin' Chickpea Gumbo

A while back, my book club read Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and we had a theme of "Southern cooking" for the pot luck. Not being a southerner in a Northeast Florida book club, I was shaking in my boots about what to make. How could I be authentic (and vegan) and not walk away like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oab78cM9SOF-Ek

Well, long story short, I looked to my vegan heroes, Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero's Post-Punk Kitchen  and Veganomicon. I found 2 delightful gumbo recipes (Okra Gumbo with Chickpeas and Kidney Beans and Smoky Red Peppers 'n' Beans Gumbo) that sounded great, but which one to make? I loved the idea of using chickpeas to add a heartiness to the dish, but that smoky flavor was too good to pass up, too. I agonized for days while the book club date got closer and closer. Finally, the day before, I decided I would make both...well, one dish that combined the best elements from both recipes. The result was a hit! Poor Denise has been dogging me for the recipe for months and I couldn't tell her I had actually forgotten which recipes I used. So this afternoon, I finally pulled it together and figured it out.

Tonight I made the gumbo using the 2 recipes, but I paid a little more attention to what I was doing. I made a few adjustments - less tomatoes since DC isn't too keen on really tomato-y stuff. I used half the amount I had originally planned on using and it worked out great. The amount listed below is the amount I used. I used a little less green pepper this time and I think last time I must have added some Cajun seasoning which I've left out here. Feel free to add in a 1 teaspoon to The Spices.

We ate this tonight with short grain brown rice and The Best Damn Vegan Biscuits I pinned the other day. It makes a LOT so get ready for some great left overs!  Let me know how you like it.

Smokin' Chickpea Gumbo

The Roux

3 tablespoons oil or vegan margarine. This recipe has less fat than a traditional roux. Add more oil (about 3 Tbsp) if you want a more traditional roux
1/4 cup flour

The Holy Trinity

1 large-sized onion, diced
1 green bell red peppers, diced
1 roasted red pepper, diced
1 stalk celery, sliced thin

The Spices

5 cloves garlic, minced 
2 bay leaves 
2 tsp. smoked paprika 
1 tsp. dried thyme  
2 tsp. oregano 
¼ tsp. allspice  
a grind or two of freshly ground nutmeg (or a pinch) 
pinch of cayenne (or more if you like your gumbo hot)
2 tsp. salt
fresh black pepper

The Liquids

1 cup chopped tomatoes or 1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes
3 Tbsp tomato paste
1 1/2 to 2 cups vegetable broth at room temperature
1 cup ale-style beer
½ tsp liquid smoke

The Veggies
2 cups okra, sliced (or use a 10-ounce package of frozen pre-sliced okra)
1 1/2 cups cooked red or kidney beans (a 15 oz can, rinsed and drained)
1 1/2 cup cooked chick peas (a 15 oz can, rinsed and drained)

The Garnish

1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
Freshly cooked white or brown rice
Hot sauce

Making the roux

First make The Roux: Preheat a wide, heavy bottom pot over medium-low heat. Add the oil and sprinkle in the flour. Use a wooden spatula to toss the flour in the oil and stir constantly for 10 to 14 minutes, until the flour is carmel colored and smells toasty. Don't let it burn! If it burns, start over. No joke, start over.

Add The Holy Trinity and toss to coat the vegetables completely in the flour mixture. As the vegetables release moisture, they will coat more and more. Cook it this way, stirring often until the vegetables are soft. Add The Spices and stir for a minute or so until everything starts to smell wonderful.

The Holy Trinity and the roux

Next, add the tomatoes and cook them down for about 10 more minutes. As the tomatoes break down, the mixture should become thick and pasty. Then add the rest of The Liquids (add the broth very slowly and stir while you're adding it) and then The Veggies and turn the heat up and cover to bring to a boil. Stir occasionally.

Red beans and chickpeas

Once boiling, reduce the heat to a simmer and let cook uncovered for 30 to 45 minutes, stirring occasionally until the stew is nicely thickened and the okra is tender. If it’s too thick, thin it with some vegetable broth. If it’s not as thick as you like, just cook it a little longer.

Right before serving, add the lemon juice and adjust the seasonings to your liking. Let it sit for 10 minutes. Remove the bay leaves and serve in a big, wide bowl, topped with a scoop of rice and some Frank's.

Just before it simmers

I used NewCastle Werewolf Ale tonight. 

BYOH(eat) with Frank's Red Hot sauce
(or Tabasco if you must)

Tropical Storm Comfort Food

Last night Tropical Storm Beryl blew right through the heart of Jacksonville - the first major storm to hit JAX directly in over 100 years. If the sustained winds were just 5 miles an hour stronger (75mph), she could have been classified as a Category 1 hurricane and would have had the honor of being the first hurricane EVER to hit Jacksonville directly. As one of the many lucky ones, I awoke with power still on while the wind and rain continues. I've never done well on rainy days as some of my dear friends can attest and I woke up today with a passion for some comfort food. Not the mac and cheese kind, but the warm and cinnamon-y kind. It had to be apple-cinnamon muffins.

Of course, the first place I also run for great recipes that won't kill my lifestyle/diet is Fat Free Vegan Kitchen by Susan Voisin. I just love, love, love everything she does and I have honestly never found a bad recipe. While I couldn't find exactly the muffin I was looking for, I did find this Berries and Spice muffin recipe that sounded like it could be the base of what I craved. I adapted her recipe in a couple of ways. First, I nixed the margarine in the crumb topping. I don't even keep margarine (or butter) in the house and the only oil in my cabinets is a oil spray and some olive oil which we use sparingly in rare cases (like when DC cooks LOL!). However, I did like the idea of the topping, so instead of dropping both the oil and water as Susan suggests, I doubled the water. OK, maybe that wasn't such a great idea. I probably should have just put in the half tbsp that recipe called for, but I was able to turn it around by adding a little more flour to the mix. What I ended up with was a crumbly mixture of flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon. I also nixed the nuts in this recipe as I don;t keep those around either. I subbed in the cinnamon instead since that's what I was craving.

I increased the lemon juice a bit from 2 tsp to 1 tbsp because...are you ready for this? I had half a lemon in the refrigerator and when I juiced it, I got about a tablespoon (or 3 teaspoons). What waste it, right? After all it's the acid from the lemon juice that combines with the baking powder and soda to make the bubbles that make these little guys rise up, so if 2 teaspoons is good, 1 tablespoon is better :)

Finally, instead of the berries, I added a chopped apple and some raisins. They turned out really great! The little crumbs of flour, sugar and cinnamon turned out different than if I would have used margarine with it. They weren't the soft crumbs I'm used to. They took on a crunchier texture which worked well since there were no nuts in the topping. I was really pleased with how tall they got! I guess that extra tsp of lemon juice did make a difference!

Here's my recipe (shameless adapted from Susan's):

2 T brown sugar
2 T unbleached white flour
1 t cinnamon
1/2 tablespoon water (I used more, but start with this much and go from there)

1 1/3 c soymilk
1 T lemon juice
1 apple chopped
raisins

2 c whole wheat flour
1/3 cup sugar (I used a scant 1/3 cup, but you'll probably like more sugar than I do)
1 t baking powder
3/4 t baking soda
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 t ginger
1/8 t salt

Preheat the oven to 375F.

Mix the first 3 ingredients together, then ad water a few drops at a time and stir lightly with a fork to make crumbs. Don't add too much water, just enough to get a few fine crumbs started. Set aside to use as topping.

Mix the soymilk with the lemon juice in a 2 cup measuring cup. It will curdle somewhat - that's good! Add the chopped apple to the cup and enough raisins to push the liquid to the 2 cup mark.

Mix the dry ingredients, flour through salt, together. Make a well in the middle and pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Stir just until moistened (overstirring will make muffins tough).

Spoon the batter into muffin cups that have been oiled or lined with silicon muffin cups. (do not use paper liners with oil-free muffins–they stick!) Top each muffin with an equal amount of the cinnamon mixture. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool in pans on a rack for 5 minutes. Remove from pans and cool slightly before serving warm.

Sping is here and so are nopales!

Last weekend, DC and I found the Jacksonville Farmer's Market just a bit north of our office. Along with some late winter citrus, early strawberries, and other bargains, we found a basket of nopales - prickly pear cactus pads. The young Hispanic man minding the stall looked at us quizzically and asked, "you eat these?" Then he scrunched up his face when I said "Yes!" Maybe he only knows abuelas who eat them or maybe his family does something non-edible with them. Who knows? Anyway, I've been hooked on nopales after visiting Sian Ka'an near Tulum, Mexico. There were also a few places in Tucson that would reliably serve nopales (or nopalitos) with enchilada sauce and tortillas, namely Tonia's 33 and La Indita - oh man I miss those!

One word of advice: don't want to do the cactus too far ahead of time. Like okra, it gets a little slimy. That's not a bad thing, in fact, it's the slimy substance that has been found to help regulate blood sugar. Be sure to check out this episode of Scientific American if you want to learn more about the regulating properties of desert plants.

Tonight I seared the nopales on top of the stove and paired them with a spicy jalapeno mango salsa since mangoes were on sale and a little Daiya cheddar-style in whole-grain tortillas.  I served this with my "amazing" black beans and Brazilian orange rice on the side. At the last minute I remembered the ultra-ripe plaintain and made muduros (fried sweet plaintains) which couldn't be easier.  Finally, no Latin American meal (or any meal for that matter) is complete without some chocolate, so I'm baking up a batch of No Meat Athlete's Black Bean Brownies. However, after this filling meal, I think the brownies will make a better dessert throughout the week. Well, maybe just a little piece tonight...to be sure they're OK :P

First I de-spined the nopales. I don't think I did a beautiful job, but we didn't get any spines in our mouths either! This, of course, is essential if your nopales are fresh and not already de-spined (sometimes they are or if you buy your nopales in a can, it's that much easier). Then I rinsed them thoroughly and put them aside to cook later. Next I made the salsa, the beans, and the rice in that order. When the rice and beans were cooked, I grilled the nopales, warmed the torillas and made the plantains. The recipes below reflect the order in which I made them, however, since I'm opposed to giving away recipes that others spend their time creating and put into cookbooks, you'll have to check out Viva Vegan to get the rice recipe. Buy the book, it's totally worth it! You can also check out No Meat Athlete's Black Bean Brownies on the website which has TONS of other great recipes as well!

 
Amazing Black Beans

1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
2 Tablespoons sofrito (or 2-4 cloves garlic, chopped)
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon Mexican oregano, crushed
1 bay leaf
1/2 can chopped tomatoes with habenero peppers (use plain tomatoes for something a little less hot)
1/4 c. water
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
salt and hot sauce to taste
2 Tablespoons to 1/4 c fresh cilantro, chopped

Use a little non-stick cooking spray in a 2 quart saucepan. Add the onions, pepper, and sofrito (or garlic) and steam-fry until the onions are clear and the pepper is soft. Add a little water if you need to keep it from sticking. When the onions are cooked, add the spices and continue cooking for another minute or two until it's really fragrant. Add the tomatoes and the water and stir everything together well. Finally add the beans and cook for 30 to 45 minutes. Adjust the salt and heat. These can wait on the back burner while you do everything else. Add the cilantro just before serving.

Spicy Mango Salsa

1 small onion, chopped fine
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped fine
1-2 fresh jalapenos, chopped fine
2 very ripe fresh mangoes, peeled and chopped
2 Tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
1 teaspoon salt
juice of 1 lime

I used my small food processor to chop everything up, but you can do it by hand if you like. Mix it all together in a bowl and try to avoid eating it all before dinner!





Grilled Nopal Burritos

2 prickly pear pads (nopales), de-spined and rinsed
1 Tablespoons cheddar-style Daiya
2 Tablespoons spicy mango salsa
1 tortilla

Lightly spray a griddle pan with oil and until very hot. Sear the nopales until brown on both sides. remove from heat and cut into thin strips (about 1/2" x 2").

Warm the tortilla on the hot pan turning to warm both sides. Remove from heat. Place the nopales on the tortilla and top with Daiya and salsa. Roll, cut and enjoy!

Here's how the nopales looked on the griddle:

 And then a little browner:

Here's how the burrito looks before it's rolled up:

And one last picture of the whole enchilada, I mean burrito!

 

Let me know if you try this! 

Faux Pho

Since we finished unpacking late last Sunday evening, this is the first  weekend day we've had to explore Jacksonville. This morning I ventured out early to find the one and only Whole Foods in JAX. It's larger than the ones in Tucson and has features like a gelato and chocolate bar, a juice bar, and a bakery. I also found some crazy new (to me anyway) vegan products from Sophie's Kitchen. I was very curious, so I bought the vegan prawns along with the tahini, miso and tofu that had originally gone there for, although I had no clue what I intended to do with them at the time.

A little later, David and I went in search of an Asian market and found Hung Thinh Supermarket which is way up on the north side of town. While not as huge as LeeLee Oriental Market in Tucson, Hung Thinh had a great selection of Asian foods that we've been missing at the local Publix. Soon, we were picking up vegan "meat balls" and "vegan big meat slices" in addition to cilantro and bean sprouts. From there it was a small jump to making Pho for dinner. We just needed some fresh rice noodles and Thai basil. I've had requests for the recipe, but we really didn't use one, so I'm going to just give some general guidelines here. Traditional pho is made from thin slices of beef and seafood put on top of fresh rice noodles in a large bowl into which boiling hot broth is poured. The broth rapidly cooks the meats and noodles. The dish is usually topped with cilantro, Thai basil, culantro, and mung bean spouts. The main thing to keep in mind with any pho is to make everything thin so it will cook quickly.

First, the broth - we were lucky enough to find some vegetarian pho broth cubes, but if you aren't that lucky, start with some veggie broth and add a star anise (whole) and maybe some garlic to it. You want a good amount of broth. Get it started heating while you're doing all the cutting.

Next, the noodles - fresh rice noodles make the best pho, but if you only have dried ones soak them in water for a few minutes first. If you boil them the way you would regular noodles, you'll end up with mush. If you can't find fresh or dried rice noodles, I think it's OK to use wheat noodles (gasp!), but these WILL need to be cooked to al dente first.  Put the noodles into the pho bowl first.

Then the "meats" - We used a variety of vegan meat alternatives. I'm not opposed to eating these once in a while. They provide a chewy texture that's pretty hard to find in tofu and vegetables. They also increase the variety of foods I eat and allow me to be creative AND eat some comforting foods. Tonight I used some of the vegan prawns, some Gardein beefless tips, and the "Vegan big meat slice" (I do not lie, that's what is on the package. This is the closest I can get to a webpage for it). For the meat slices, I had to rehydrate them in water for 10 minutes. Then I squeezed the water out, sliced them in very thin strips and marinated them in some Sriracha, soy sauce, and Chinese rice vinegar for a few minutes.

We also used some kind of "vegan meat balls" that we found. Honestly, all this ended up being too meaty for me and I left a lot of it in the bowl, so next time I would probably use half the meat alternative or less. I've also made this just using very thinly sliced mushrooms - portobello, shitake, and crimini are really good choices, not to mention much more readily available and less weird.  Be sure to slice them super, super thin. No chunks of mushrooms allowed! Put these uncooked on top of the noodles and spread them out a little.

Add some extra veggies - we used a peeler to make really thin strips of carrot. We also added some very thin strips of green pepper. I think that some shredded spinach or cabbage would be good as well, but we were going for a more traditional look tonight. Add these on top of the "meats" and/or mushrooms.

Garnishes - these are really important, so don't skimp! They make the difference between good pho and great pho. As I said before, we used chopped cilantro, basil leaves, pickled onion, bean sprouts and culantro, but other options include jalapenos, fried garlic, chopped onions and lime wedges. Oh! Almost forgot - we bought some pickled limes today, so we chopped those up and used those as well.These go on a separate plate so that everyone can add to their taste. You may also want to put some hot sauce (Sriracha), soy sauce and/or vegan fish sauce on the table.

OK, now remove the star anise and turn that broth up until it really rolls in the pot. Then carefully ladle it into the bowls and add your garnishes and condiments while you're waiting for everything to heat through. The great thing about vegan phoDig in!

Just for because, I'm adding a little onion pickle recipe I quickly threw together tonight. it probably doesn't even qualify as a pickle since it didn't sit more than half an hour, but it sure was good!

Inez's very simple onion pickle

1 sweet onion, very thinly sliced
1 tsp. sea salt
2 Tbsp. rice vinegar

Salt the sliced onion and then squish it together in your hands until the onions soften. Add the vinegar and let it sit for a while. Idk if this will keep well, so eat it soon! :)

Chili Rellanos - vegan style

Chili Rellano casserole

Whew! I know we don't really have much to brag about given that my friends and family on the east coast had both earthquake and hurricane this week, but nevertheless, it's still been hot here in Tucson. We've matched high records a couple of times this week and today was no different. While my friends are hunkered down braving wind, rain, and overdoses of Jim Cantore (or so I imagine), I was up at 4:45 am so I could get a bike ride in before it got too damned hot :)

In the dry heat conditions we have here - today's humidity is a whopping 23% today and that IS whopping - one of the best ways to stay cool is to warm up to a sweat. Unlike the sweltering tropical conditions back east, sweating feels good here because it evaporates and cools you down as it's meant to. So, I've been thinking hot food lately - Indian and Thai mostly, but the need for Mexican surfaces every few days which is one of the main reasons I <3 Tucson.

The green "Hatch" chili harvest is upon us and last week we got some "medium" green chilies from our local Sunflower Market which have been sitting around waiting for some inspiration.  My first thought: chili rellanos! Now, I haven't had chili rellanos since I went vegan in January, due in large part to the eggs, cheese and fat contained in them, but after last week's smashing success with Susan V's (FatFreeVegan.com) Eggplant Parmesan recipe, I knew just what to do. I used the "cheese sauce" as the base of the recipe and made up the rest. Here are the basic instructions:

What you will need:

6-8 green "Hatch" chilies  - mild, medium or hot as you like them
1 recipe Cheese sauce (see below)
1/2 c. prepared enchillada sauce
1 c. fresh or toasted breadcrumbs
1/4 c. Daiya cheddar vegan "cheese"

1. Prepare the chilies: Split and seed the chilies. Boil them in salted water until they are somewhat tender, drain and rinse to cool them.

2. Prepare the "Cheese sauce": While the chilies are cooking, mix the "cheese sauce" which I have copied verbatim from Susan's blog. I'm not messing with perfection! Don't worry about how this looks or tastes out of the blender. Trust me, it will be fine, no not fine...perfect!

Susan V's. "Cheese sauce":

1/2 cup extra-firm silken tofu
1/2 cup unsweetened soy milk
1/2 cup vegetable broth
2 tbsp. cashew butter or tahini
1 tsp. onion powder
1 1/2 tbsp. nutritional yeast
1/2 tsp. salt (optional)
1/8 tsp. white pepper
2 tsp. corn starch


Place all the "Cheese sauce" ingredients in a blender and blend until completely smooth. Blend again right before using to make sure that the ingredients haven’t separated.

3. Open the enchilada sauce: I used Rick Bayless's Frontera Oaxacan Red Chili Mole sauce, but you can use any prepared enchilada sauce (or better yet, make your own and send me the recipe!).

Assembling the casserole is easy. Simply layer the chilies (I ripped/cut mine in smaller pieces), pour the "cheese sauce" on top, and add the enchilada sauce on top of that. I had meant to put a layer of breadcrumbs between the chilies and the cheese sauce, but I forgot and it was fine without them, so put them on or not as you like. Finally, top with a little bit of Daiya cheddar vegan "cheese" and bake at 400 for 15 -20 mins or until its lightly brown and bubbly on top.

We enjoyed ours with a wink and a nod to those wet east-coasters by raising a bottle of Genessee Cream Ale that we also found at Sunflower the other week. The chilies were hot, hot hot (!) even though they were marked as medium. Be extra careful if you buy the ones marked "hot." We were coughing, sneezing, and watering while these were being cut. They seemed to calm down a little after cooking, but still held enough heat to make us sweat and grab for our beers. The red chili mole was a little sweet for my taste, but that didn't stop me from devouring half the pan. DC ate the other half :) Here's to the back end of Irene!

Look what the UPS guy brought me today!

I'm so excited to get my new Blentec blender! That's right, I finally broke down and bought something powerful enough to actually blend smoothies, salad dressings, and all that good stuff. After almost a year of striving for a raw food diet and struggling with my old food processor - really asking waaaayyy too much of it (just look at that poor sad thing in the background!), I wanted to get just the right one, but the pros and cons of Vita-Mix vs. Blendtec had me in decision paralysis for the past few months.

But then I saw this. Ignore the creepy people and skip forward to 3 minutes and 30 seconds into the video and just watch for 30 seconds. My jaw dropped. This is the new Blendtec WildSide Total blender and it not only beats the pants off the older Blendtec model, but the Vita-Mix as well. Plus, it's easier to clean, lighter and shorter so it fits under my cabinets which means I can keep it on the counter and use it every day.

So what am I going to make first? I guess I'll try my super-duper deluxe breakfast smoothie first thing in the morning and hopefully I'll save some time by a) blending faster and b) not making a mess I have to clean up!

Super Duper Banana Smoothie

1 medium banana (peeled and frozen)
1-2 tsp. greens powder (I like the cocoa flavored stuff, of course!)
1-2 tsp. mesquite powder
1-2 tsp. protein powder
1-2 tsp. raw carob powder
2 c. cold water (I like mine a little more fluid than most smoothies)


Optional - one of the following:
1 Tbsp. peanut or almond butter
4 or 5 frozen cherries

Blend until smooth and enjoy!

More than just marinara - the spaghetti squash dilemma

Someone asked my this week about what to do with spaghetti squash, specifically what to do other than put spaghetti sauce on it. Hmmmm.... good question! It's winter squash season and we got our first spaghetti squash of the year at the CSA last week. I was checking out their website and found this great recipe for spaghetti squash salad flavored with orange juice and parsley. Sounds pretty good. I might substitute cilantro for the parsley seeing as I love cilantro.

You can also toss the cooked squash with half a cup of orange juice, the same amount of chopped parsley and a little salt or pepper for a warm salad or side dish. Any leftovers can be eaten cold the next day or reheated in the microwave. (Listed on the Spaghetti Squash Ideas page)

 So the other recipe on the CSA webpage is a spaghetti squash lasagna which got me to thinking about the Greek "lasagna" dish pastistio. I first had this dish while married to my first ex-husband. His mother (Ya-ya) made an excellent, if meaty, pastistio. For years, I've substituted veggie burgers for the traditional ground lamb or beef with pretty tasty results, but this weekend I set out to find whether I could recreate this dish using spaghetti squash instead of noodles. It worked! In fact, I think I prefer it with the tiny strands of squash instead of macaroni.

This recipe does take some work, but it's well worth it. We had enough for leftovers and it was even better re-heated! Here's the recipe:

Pastistio

The "noodle" part:
1 medium sized spaghetti squash, halved, seeded, cooked and cooled. Set aside.

The "hambuger" part:
2 cups of ground veggie meat (I used a mixture of Lightlife Gimme Lean sausage and Morningstar Farms Grillers) OR 2 cups cooked lentils OR 1/2 lb. ground meat (traditional is lamb or beef)
1 onion, chopped
2 T. olive oil
1 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (yes, cinnamon - you'd better put that in!)
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp white pepper
2 cloves garlic, chopped
salt to taste
3 T tomato paste
3 T water

Saute the onion and "meaty stuff" in the olive oil. when it's almost finished, add the oregano, garlic and spices. Cook for 1-2 minutes  more until the spices become aromatic. Then add the tomato paste and water. Mix well. Put aside.

The white sauce part:

1 T butter
1 T olive oil
1 T white flour
3 cups milk
1-1/2 c grated Parmesan cheese

Melt the butter and oil together in a heavy sauce pan. Add the flour and stir until the mixture becomes somewhat lighter in color. Add the milk all at once and stir with a wire whisk until it's creamy and hot. Add 1-1/4 c. of the Parmesan cheese and stir until it's once again creamy. Set aside.

To build it:
Pull the strands out of half the squash and put it i the bottom of a greased 9 x 9 casserole dish. press it down a little so it's flat against the bottom of the dish.

Add the meat mixture over the squash. Spread it evenly.

Pull out the strands from the second half of the squash and put those on top of the "meat" part. gently press everything down a bit with the back of a spoon.

Pour half the white sauce on top. use a table knife to make sure the sauce gets down into the dish. You should be able to add the rest of the white to the top. Sprinkle the top with the remaining Parmesan cheese, a little ground cinnamon, and some ground oregano.

Bake at 400 degrees for 35-45 minutes or utl the top is bubbly and browned. Cool after a half an hour before digging in!

Raw for Lunch

Some of you may know that I've started to incorporate more raw foods into my diet in an effort to a) lose some weight and b) control my blood sugar readings. This started with the Tree of Life website and led to various cookbooks, websites and videos that have brought not only a loss of 6 pounds in the last 6 weeks, but also a whole new menu of tasty food possibilities! I am so enjoying this so much more than I thought I would.

Today's lunch featured a new recipe that I thought I'd share with you. It's slightly adapted from the Creme Tomat recipe in Alive in 5: Raw Gourmet Meals in Five Minutes. It's especially nice right now since there were so many nice tomatoes at the Farmer's market last weekend. I used the basil we've been growing from the CSA seedling we got earlier this year and I made the almond milk by whirling 1 c. soaked raw almonds in 1 c. water and then straining it through cheese cloth. It took about 5 minutes total to make this lovely fresh, thick "milk."

Creamy Tomato Soup
1 c. fresh tomatoes
10 nice-sized leaves of fresh basil
1 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. curry powder
1 tsp. sea salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 c. fresh almond milk

Blend all the ingredients in the food processor until smooth and creamy. So easy to make!

At lunch I had the soup with the Everybody's Favorite Crackers I made this past weekend. Those are little work and are more hmmmm... shall we say "delicate" than the crackers I usually make, but they are nutty and satisfying to eat.


On another note, yesterday I had lunch with two lovely co-workers at La Fuente Restaurant on Oracle between Drachman and Grant. None of us had been there before and I was curious because I've heard both good and bad about it. The good has been ok, those who didn't like it really hated it! On entering I was disappointed not to smell the normal Mexican aromas of onions, peppers, spices or even searing carne asada, nope, folks this place smells strongly of Lysol! Not very appetizing. We checked out the "lunch buffet" which we all decided looked cold and old, so we ordered from the menu. I was disappointed to find that all the salads on the menu featured meat pretty prominently, so I decided to forgo the raw food for lunch and order something else. While we waited for our order to be taken we finished off the chips and roasted tomato salsa they had brought and we were attentively brought more. One of our party thought the salsa could have used more kick. We asked for a hotter salsa, but there wasn't any. I thought it was tasty without being too fiery as to burn my taste buds. We ended up getting  side of jalepenos to satisfy her need for heat.


I had the vegetarian platter which consisted of a chili rellano, a green corn tamale, and a Sonoran enchilada  with white rice with peas and carrots. The corn tamale was way sweeter than I would have liked. It felt like I was eating sugar, but then again, I don;t get much of that these days. I thought the enchilada was a little tough, but I liked the sauce. And there's little you can do to a chili rellano that I won't like! One of our party had the beef flutas which she thought were pretty good. The other ordered the Sonoran enchiladas (and if you've never had one of these, my east coast friends, you haven't lived!). She thought the sauce could have been zestier, but they were "pretty good." Overall, I thought the food and the service was pretty good, but even at  the end of the meal, I was still put off by the Lysol smell.

So what's a Sonoaran enchilada you ask? It's a flat, deep-fried masa (corn meal) patty smothered in enchilada sauce, served with shredded lettuce and sometimes a fried egg on top. They are chewy, satisfying and not at all like the enchiladas at other Tex-Mex places. Sonoran enchiladas are also known as the "original" gordita.  Apparently though gorditas are usually stuffed with meat or other fillings while the enchiladas are just masa patties with sauce and cheese on top. here's an interesting discussion of gorditas or "little fatties" on Chowhound. The difference between La Fuente's gordita and its Sonoran enchiladas is similar to this discussion in that the gorditas are filled with meat and are served with lettuce, cheese and tomatoes (taco toppings) instead of enchilada sauce. I tried to Google a good image of an Sonoran enchilada, but not one of the images labeled Sonoran enchilada looked even remotely right! I'll leave Googling "gordita" up to you!

Simple Fare

After a hard or stressful day at work, it's nice to come home, put on your pj's and cook something simple and hearty, especially now that the weather is getting cooler. Beans and rice are one of those dishes we look to for peace, comfort and satisfaction. I have the good fortune of being able to go home for lunch and yesterday I threw a few pinto beans into the slow cooker with some water. This also works if you put them on in the morning - no soaking necessary. They cook beautifully!

Our bean dinners turn out slightly different every time depending on what type of beans, vegetables, and/or herbs/spices we use. Some things never change: a little oil, onions, some kind of peppers (sweet, hot or a mixture), garlic, sofrito*, and a few pieces of tomatoes.

Most times we use Annatto oil which is made by boiling annatto seeds in olive oil until it turns a beautiful red color, but last night we used olive oil (about a tablespoon) to saute the onions, peppers, sofrito, and garlic. Into this mixture, we add the spices. This is where it gets fun. David dives into our spice cabinet and starts sniffing everything. How he feels determines the spice for the evening. Last night there was Spanish (smoked) paprika, oregano, some Goya Sazon, a little ginger, fresh ground black pepper, and a bay leaf. After the spices began to heat up, we also added some Morningstar Farms organic breakfast sausage patties and a little bit of water to steam them apart. When the vegetables were tender and the soy patties were all broken up, we added the cooked beans, tomatoes, and some kalamata olives. We let the whole thing simmer while the rice cooked.

One word of advice about rice...brown rice and jasmine rice don't mix well in a rice cooker! We've been very successful combining long grain brown and white rice together though. Anyway, after 2 cooking cycles on the rice cooker, we had our rice and pinto beans with a very nice Beringer pinot noir while we watched Monday night's  episode of The Daily Show.


So, I did a lot of "we" talking above, but really David made those beans while I worked on another simple dish for today. It's based on a dish I had last weekend at Chef Alisha's European and Bosnian Cafe (Oracle and Rudasill-ish). They called it simply "Cabbage Salad" and I can't think of a better name for it. It was shredded cabbage, olive oil, a splash of vinegar, salt, pepper and dried parsley. My first version of this was just slightly improved by using fresh parsley instead of the dried stuff. Last night, I got a bit more creative and added some color to it.

I shredded a half head of green cabbage thinly with my Cutco carving knife (and yes, I was extra careful after last week's fiasco with the smaller, but similar slicer!) and I mean as very thin as I could get it. This is important for having a tender salad as compared to one you have to chew like a cow. Then I sprinkled the shreds liberally with salt and crushed the shreds up with my (impeccably clean) hands until the cabbage turned moist and bright green in color. Then I added a small red pepper, chopped, 1 stalk of celery, chopped, and about 2 tablespoons of fresh parsley. For the dressing I drizzled 1 tablespoon of olive oil, some fresh ground black pepper, and a few splashes of rice vinegar (or you could use apple cider vinegar) over the whole thing. Mix it up and yum!

*Sofrito is a blended mixture of onions, red sweet pepper, hot peppers (to taste), garlic, some salt and lots of cilantro. You can make it in large batches in the food processor and then split it up in smaller bags in the freezer. It lasts a long time!