Things To Stuff In A Tortilla (and some other random things)

Check out the new blog layout! I was doing some other "administrative" tasks and decided I wanted to make a little change. I hope it is still easy to read and navigate - comments are welcome.

I also re-did the recipe index. It was quite hard to navigate and required lots of scrolling. Some funky things also happened with the HTML and it would have been a pain in the ass to try to fix manually, so I just started fresh and created a new index. I hope this one is easier to manage.

And finally, I also updated the J's Recommended Reads post, it was out-of-date and also needed a bit of editing.

Needless to say, lots of work has been going on behind the scenes here at Veg*n Cooking.

It has been quite a week or so too with the arrival of Butters. Things are slowly moving along, but the "peace" between the cats is tentative. And Butters is a kitten - all he wants to do is play and whenever the other cats come to try to sniff him, he bats at them and changes the whole mood entirely. He is kind of a punk though - he has a tendency to bite, which we are hoping we can discourage him from doing (it hurts, the little shit!) and he bothers the other kitties when they try to go to the bathroom and that is frustrating too. But he's also really sweet. He likes t have his belly and chin rubbed, he lets you hold him and get in his face, and he is really soft.

Admittedly, he has been far more interested in Gabby and Nermal than Brett or I and I am just having to deal with that at the moment and try not to smother him in love like I want to. :-)

When Butters was found, he was starving in a dumpster - on his vet forms they called him "Orange Dumpster Kitty" at first. When I read that on the papers the first day we had him, it made me tear up a little bit - it is pretty sad, BUT he was lucky. In the little over a week he has been here, he has put on weight, his coat looks shiner and thicker, his coloring is brighter, and he is active and playing. Hopefully things stay on the up and up and the little guy is okay. He was found during an unreasonably cold time here in Missouri - it is hard to believe her survived. But he made friends at the vets office, they sent him with food, bowls, a bed, toys, medicine, all sorts of stuff. It is amazing what a cute kitten can do to a person. :-) He is gaining weight incredibly quickly. I had taken to calling him "Butter Bean", but I might have to start calling him "Butter Ball". :-)

Check out some recent pictures.


I love the tongue!


Brett did buy this giant stuffed elephant (we call him Packie) for me, but both Nermal and Butters have claimed him and I don't have the heart to take him from them. I mean, see?


So cute when he isn't biting you...


Gabby doesn't realize that Butters is sleeping with her. :-)



Though this picture is blurry, it is my favorite we have of Gabby - it captures her essence - curious and super sweet.

Alright, enough with the kitties and onto the food!

What follows are three simple meals - 30 minutes or less, that are tasty when stuffed into a tortilla or taco shell. We really like our tortillas and taco shells...


Option #1
2 tbsp safflower oil
2 red potatoes, scrubbed and cubed
1/2 onion, chopped
1-2 red New Mexican chiles, chopped
1/4 cup sweet corn
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup black beans
salt

Heat oil in a large skilled and add the potatoes and cover, stirring often, for about ten minutes or until they begin to soften a little bit.

Add the onion, chiles, and corn. Cook for an additional ten minutes.

Add the garlic and beans and cook for an additional five to ten minutes.

Stuff ingredients in a warmed tortilla and serve with super hot salsa!

If you eat cheese, Manchego is a good addition to this option.


Option #2
2 tbsp safflower oil
1 large sweet potato, peeled and cubed
1/4 cup sweet corn
1/2 cup black beans
chipotle chile powder
New Mexican oregano
cumin
salt

Heat oil in a large skillet. Add the sweet potato and cook for about ten to fifteen minutes until the begin to caramelize and soften.

Add the corn and black beans and season to taste. Cook until heated through.

Again, you just need to stuff your ingredients into a warmed tortilla and serve.

If you eat cheese, Cotija is a good pairing with this option.


Option #3 (Vegetarian)
2 tbsp safflower oil
2 small red potatoes, scrubbed and cubed
5-6 baby portobello mushrooms, sliced
1/4 yellow onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced
salt
2 eggs, scrambled

Heat oil in a large skillet. Add the potatoes, mushrooms, and onions and cook for about fifteen minutes or until potatoes begin to brown and soften. Stir often.

Add the garlic and season with salt to taste. Cook for an additional five to ten minutes or until the potatoes are soft.

Layer potato mixture in a warmed tortilla and top with some scrambled egg. Enjoy!

If you eat cheese/dairy - shredded Mexican cheese blend and/or sour cream are a nice addition to this option.

And now for something completely different...


Doesn't that just look so darn appetizing? Well, it might not look good, but it sure tastes good.

J's Pink Egg Salad
1 egg, hardboiled and chopped
2 tbsp yellow onion, chopped
1/2 small carrot, peeled and microplaned (hence the pink color)
2 tbsp hot pepper relish (instead of the cucumber kind, I like spicy, that's just how I roll)
2-3 tbsp mayo or Veganaise
1 tbsp spicy brown mustard
a few dashes of cayenne

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and adjust ingredients to your liking.

I serve this on toasted Jewish rye bread with lots of baby spinach.

And finally, here are a couple of other things I've made as of late...


Banana cake! I had some bananas on the counter I've been using for smoothies get a little too ripe on me, so what to do? Make banana bread! Brett and I prefer it to be more "cakelike" than "breadlike", so I just used my Banana Bread recipe but put it in an 8x8 pan and cooked it for an hour instead of an hour and fifteen minutes or more.

I also used all whole wheat pastry flour instead of just part.


When Brett was at the store the other day, they were out of his beloved cookies. I have been in a bit of a baking mood so I decided I would make him some. I just used my Super Yummy Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe and subbed in a mixture of M&M's and Reese's Pieces for the chocolate chips. He hasn't missed his store bought cookies after all...

AND - I was able to get at least something semi-wholesome into his cookies but using whole wheat pastry flour. :-)

'Til next time.

J's Onion Soup

Well not only have I been a bit obsessed with soup lately, Brett and I have both been fighting a nasty cold that doesn't seem to want to go away. So soup has been an even bigger part of our lives lately.

Nothing feels better on a sore throat than a flavorful, brothy soup. At least that is how I feel.

I wanted something simple, tasty, and that would also do the trick. I've never been much of a chicken noodle girl (or a "No Chicken Noodle" girl as it now stands), and I really love the taste of caramelized onions, so I thought I'd give this a shot.

It turned out good - darn good, and it was easy to make, and that is the only tolerable cooking that can be done when sick. Not that I don't like quick and easy meals on a good day though either...

Anyways, check it out.


















The local booty legend (aka revealing my sources):
no asterisk = grocery store
+ = local produce from The Root Cellar
++ = The Peace Nook (will denote whether product is local or just from the Nook)
* = farmer's market
** = CSA
*** = Container or Community Garden
**** = the non-profit buying club, Blue Planet or Purcell Mountain Farms

J's Onion Soup

Mushroom Broth:
1 package portobello mushrooms
1 yellow onion, halved
5 cloves of garlic, crushed
2-3 tbsp Earth Balance or butter
6 cups water

Melt EB or butter in pot over medium-high heat.

Add the mushrooms and onion and cook until they begin to caramelize, about 15 minutes. Add the garlic and cook an additional 10 minutes.

Add the water and simmer over low heat for about an hour.

Strain broth with a wire mesh strainer. Reserve at least 3 cups.

Rest of the Soup:
2 tbsp safflower oil
2 red onions, peeled and sliced
2 yellow onions, peeled and sliced
6 cloves of garlic, peeled
salt
pepper

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook until they begin to soften and caramelize, about 15-20 minutes. Add the garlic and cook an additional 5 minutes.

Transfer to a food processor or blender and blend until smooth. Add the mushroom broth in batches until it is at your desired consistency.

Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Very simple, very good.

J's Songs of the Day:
Japura River - Philip Glass
Paru River - Philip Glass

'Til next time.

J&B's Random Eats of Late

As you can probably imagine, while I was still cooking before the wedding, blogging about cooking or trying many new, complicated things wasn't really on my agenda. I did, however, photograph some of the food - just random things I threw together or things I am playing with for Selina and I's cookbook, so I thought I'd share 'em.


My take on Wasabi-Tempura Asparagus (and button mushrooms!) from Vegetarian Planet. I served it with a sweet and spicy peach-soy-chile sauce.


A radish salad inspired by a recipe from the awesome Callina.


Simple and tasty corn and tomato salad.


A new and improved recipe for Pico de Gallo.


A black bean and rice stuffed omelette with tomatoes, onions, garlic, chiles, and cilantro.


Brett's bowl of goodness (eaten with tortilla chips) - cilantro-lime rice, black beans, cheese, guacamole, radish salad, and corn salad.


Drunken beans Take 1!


This was really easy, and Brett simply adored it: sliced portobellow mushrooms, black olives, spinach, cumin, salt, pepper, a splash of lime and Mexican pepper cheese.

I got some pictures of the container garden today, and some market pictures from yesterday I will post at some point, after I post the CoMo honeymoon pictures. Whew!

There is a lot of stuff to post about!

'Til next time.

Weekly Local Booty 11/23-11/29/08 & A Local Veg*n Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving. I enjoyed seeing my family - and the weather was beautiful and fairly warm, but we're happy to be back home. I will talk a little more in depth about our Thanksgiving (and will include recipes!) at the end of this post.

Brett is loaded down with homework this weekend - the professors didn't give any leniency for the holidays and so, due to our being out of town, he has close to a week's worth of homework to get done by Monday. Needless to say, I want to make sure he is well fed and as comfortable as possible - I've been there, and it is no fun, especially when there are important term papers in the mix. I will likely go to graduate school in a few years, but have really enjoyed not having to do homework all the time, Brett still being in school reminds me why I decided to take a few years off and work full-time before going back.

Anywho, The Root Cellar made it easy for me to plan some tasty meals. We were there earlier in the week to get produce for our Thanksgiving meal and noticed a lot of really good looking options for when we came back to get stuff for our weekly meals, so I already had some ideas in mind.

We didn't get anything from our garden this week. The outdoor container plants are really struggling, and the pepper plants started indoors just aren't big enough to produce yet. The greens are moving along, some better than others. I will discuss this more in the monthly garden update - I should be able to get that up by Tuesday.

Here is this week's haul from The Root Cellar. This ran us $48.















Starting from the bottom right: spinach, carrots, shiitake mushrooms, 2 Herbal Oats granola bars, 5 ripe serranos, small yellow potatoes, leeks (!!!!!), an orange bell pepper, a green bell pepper, 2 pears, a container of firm tofu* (not local), a jar of dairy-free pasta sauce made in St. Louis, 4 tomatoes, fair trade organic chocolate chips (dairy-free and not local), and a spaghetti squash.

* I have mentioned on this blog a few times that I dislike tofu. Both Brett and I do. And we have tried to like it more than we do, but there are things about it that neither of us can get past. But there are at least two things we like tofu in: one is tofu sour cream (only in moderation and not very often), and the other are our Tofu and Potato Burritos. It has been a really long time since we've had the burritos, so I decided to get a block since we had everything else on hand that we needed.

Here is this week's loot from Uprise Bakery:















Of course, a loaf of ciabatta, and this week we also picked up a granola bar.

I have the rest of the cookie posts scheduled to go up later in the week. This week's menu is compromised of many favorites including, of course, the Tofu and Potato Burritos, Smashed Yam, Black Bean, and Spinach Quesadillas, and Leek and Potato Soup (for soup and bread night).

We will be trying spaghetti squash served with the local pasta sauce pictured above, and I have something up my sleeve to use some of the peach jam in. So there won't not be as many non-sweets food posts this week because things fell into place for us to enjoy some of our old favorites!

My Nanny, an excellent canner and cook, sent us home with a nice treat that I plan on putting to use this week:















A jar of peach jam! The peaches came from my mom and aunt's yards, and they are even from within our 200 mile foodshed!

Onto our veg*n Thanksgiving. I am sorry to report that I didn't get many pictures - in fact, only one picture of the food I made for Thanksgiving (the other picture is from the trial run of the soup I made for the dinner). Things were really hectic in the kitchen and my initial prep schedule didn't pan out because my mom - I love her but she is such a clean freak I could scream sometimes - tried to renege on my being able to cook in her kitchen (because I could make a mess, what is a kitchen for anyway?!), I was finally able to convince her that I could make the soup and bread at her house without making too much of a mess, and that I would finish at my Nanny's house the next day.

The menu ended up being as follows:

Butternut Squash and Apple Soup with Uprise Bakery Ciabatta (of course)
Black Bean, Brown Rice, and Local Veggie Stuffed Portobellos
Garlic Mashed Potatoes with Shiitake Mushroom Gravy
Pumpkin-Walnut Bread

I spent a lot of time trying to come up with something at least quasi-traditional, that I thought my family would actually eat. Sadly, I was wrong on those counts, well except perhaps the traditional part. After many hours in the kitchen, a lot of thought and planning, the only things my family ate were the ciabatta from Uprise Bakery, the Pumpkin-Walnut Bread, and I think someone beyond Brett and I had a stuffed mushroom. It all turned out really well, I just don't think I will put in as much effort or make as much food next time.

I also hadn't prepared myself for the disappointment that I wouldn't be eating the other food prepared. Comments like, "It's just chicken broth" and "You can have just a taste can't you?" I don't blame them for not understanding and I don't expect them to accommodate, I mean, my great grandma is 86 years old, but I've been a vegetarian for awhile, they all knew this. They didn't prod or harass me about it too much, but I could tell it was more of an issue than I thought it was going to be.

Anyways, Brett told me he really enjoyed the stuffed mushrooms, and he and I ate a huge bowl of the mashed potatoes and gravy later on while watching a football game. I ended up leaving all the pumpkin bread with my grandparents and mom.

On to the recipes, don't let my family’s aversion to vegetarian food or anything non-traditional deter you from trying these recipes, they really were good.

The mashed potatoes we made were based on our Garlicky Mashed Potatoes recipe, we used red potatoes instead of russet (reds are so much better), hempmilk instead of soy, and I added a little dried basil and oregano to the mixture (the potatoes and garlic were local and the hempmilk was purchased from a local store). The shiitake mushroom gravy was essentially Veganomicon's Mushroom Gravy with shiitakes subbed in and maybe a few other modifications, but to be honest, I made it on the fly, so I can't really remember (I do know that I used local shiitakes, garlic, and onions).















The local booty legend (aka revealing my sources):
no asterisk = grocery store
+ = local produce from The Root Cellar
++ = The Peace Nook (will denote whether product is local or just from the Nook)
* = farmer's market
** = CSA
*** = Container or Community Garden
**** = the non-profit buying club, Blue Planet or Purcell Mountain Farms

Butternut Squash and Apple Soup
1 butternut squash, peeled and cubed (5-6 cups) ***
2 apples, peeled, cored and chopped (I used local Gala apples) +
1 carrot, peeled and sliced into thick rounds +
1 yellow onion, chopped +
1 tbsp Earth Balance
5 cups water
1 veggie bouillon cube
1-2 tbsp maple syrup
nutmeg
cinnamon
salt
pepper

Melt Earth Balance in a large soup pot. Add the carrot and onion and cook for about 10 minutes. Add the squash, apples, water, and bouillon.

Simmer for 40-45 minutes or until veggies very soft. Let cool for a few minutes.

Blend in a food processor until very smooth, add a little more water if needed to get desired consistency. Add maple syrup and spices to taste.

Serve with warm crusty bread.

Black Bean, Brown Rice and Local Veggie Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms
Makes 12 stuffed mushrooms

12 medium portobello mushrooms, stems removed and cleaned
1/2 cup black beans, cooked ****
1/2 cup brown rice, cooked ****
1 carrot, peeled and chopped +
1 green bell pepper, seeded and minced +
4 cloves of garlic, minced +
1/2 yellow onion, minced +
1-2 tbsp safflower oil
basil
oregano
thyme
black pepper
salt

Preheat oven to 350.

Heat oil in a small skillet. Add the carrot, bell pepper, garlic, and onion. Cook for about 10 minutes or until veggies are soft and starting to caramelize a little bit.

Combine veggies with black beans, brown rice, and seasonings to taste.

Spray a baking sheet with oil.

Stuff a tablespoon or so of the filling in to each prepared mushroom.

Roast for about 30 minutes.















Whole Grain Spelt Pumpkin-Walnut Bread
Recipe adapted from here.

1 1/2 cups whole grain spelt flour
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 cup organic raw sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup pumpkin puree +
1/2 cup safflower oil
2 eggs (or replacer) ++ (local)
1/4 cup water
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped +

Preheat oven to 350.

Spray a bread pan with oil.

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl.

Combine pumpkin puree, oil, eggs, water, and spices in a small bowl.

Slowly combine the wet and dry ingredients in the large bowl.

Stir in the walnuts.

Spread batter into a prepared bread pan and bake for 60 minutes or until a knife or toothpick in the center comes out clean.

The Pumpkin-Walnut bread is really, really good. We didn't get to bring any home with us, so I am going to be making a loaf this weekend, sans walnuts (Brett doesn't like nuts), so Brett and I can enjoy some of it.

Well, I'm off to enjoy a relaxing night of reading, soup making, and perhaps some cookie baking. Those Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies were really good and didn't last long around here. I also thought that reading a textbook might not seem as bad if you had a yummy cookie to go along with it.

'Til next time.

Weekly Local Booty 8/31-9/5/08

First off, I am very happy to say our oven is fixed! I was really starting to resign myself to the idea of not having one for at least the weekend. It got to be around 3:00 in the afternoon and nobody had shown up to fix it, so we phoned the office who said that they were "pretty sure" that someone was planning on stopping by. The minutes ticked by, and it got to be around 4:30, and I began looking at raw food websites and going through my thumbdrive for easy stove top recipes I have created (I have created far too many recipes, I still need to try most of them!), there was a knock on the door, and about 20 minutes later, our oven was back in action.

I am going to take something from this experience - I rely on the oven quite a bit. Having a grill, especially during the summer, would alleviate a lot of its use, but it made me think I needed to branch out, use the stove top more, and try more (mostly) raw foods - though my oven will still likely be my favorite gadget, we are such suckers for the roasted vegetable.

Anyways, on to the local grub! It's been unseasonably cool here (it feels like late October!), and, as usual it seems, rainy, I think the plants are confused. This is what we got from our container and community gardens this week.















A yellow straightneck squash (and a glass of sun tea). We were very happy that the squash was able to reach maturity considering the squash bug problem.















A jalapeno and bell pepper.















Starting from the right: roma tomatoes, a jalapeno, 3 banana peppers, butternut squash, and a couple of zucchini. I knew there was one zucchini on the plant, but was pleasantly surprised when I went back to "check-in" on the one zucchini that there were two. And the "bonus" one is actually the big one.

Here is this week's CSA quarter share:















Starting from the right: a yellow summer squash, a jalapeno, 2 mystery red peppers, another one of those mystery green peppers (I forgot to ask him what these were so I'm going to email Dan to help me identify them), a cucumber, an onion, lots of little heirloom tomatoes, more tomatoes, a green bell pepper, some apples, and cilantro.

This week's farmer's market booty ran us a whopping $31.















Starting from the right we've got: 4 red bell peppers, 2 red onions, lots of tomatoes (we really love, love tomatoes), 4 small new potatoes, 2 habaneros (Brett agreed to let me save the seeds out of these so long as I promised to mostly use them for my own food, and to use sparingly when I feed them to him - I agreed. I'm dreaming of some dried, crushed habaneros next summer!), 4 sweet potatoes (!!!), 3 cucumbers (we like cucumbers a lot too), sweet basil, locally made penne pasta, and one gigantic cantaloupe - it's HUGE!

I made a pesto pizza last weekend and somehow forgot to post about it, so I'm going to end with it. This was nothing special really, it was mostly a way of trying to use up the remaining organic all-purpose white flour that has been lurking in our cabinet for quite some time. It was really good, and the white flour is almost gone now, I could probably make one more crust with the last of it, and then we're going to figure out how to make a whole wheat (or partially whole wheat) or some other whole grain pizza crust that actually tastes good - you know, not like a slice of wheat bread, and one that has good texture. Any suggestions on recipes or types of whole grain flour to try?

Anyways, I've included my recipe in case any of you out there like white flour or have some that needs to be used up.

Just a reminder of the produce legend:
* = farmer's market
** = CSA
*** = Container or Community Garden

















Using Up the White Flour Pizza Dough
3 cups of organic, all-purpose white flour
1 small package of active dry yeast
2 tbsp olive oil
1-2 tbsp organic sugar
1 tsp salt
(you could add herbs to the dough too, I bet that would be good)
1 cup of very hot water

Combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Slowly add the oil and the water. It's easiest to use your hands to work the dough.

Spread out the crust on a pizza stone dusted with flour, using your fingers to pinch the dough at the edges to create a crust.

Pesto Pizza
1 Using Up the White Flour Pizza Crust
1 batch of walnut pesto (the basil and garlic were * from the farmer's market)
3 Roma tomatoes sliced ***
6 baby portobello mushrooms, sliced
1/2 a zucchini, sliced into rounds ***

Preheat oven to 375.

Spread pesto on the crust and top with tomatoes, mushrooms, and zucchini.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown.

This was really yummy!

It's making me hungry! I'm off to make some sort of Mexican-ish (surprised?) hash using all the goodies we got from the farmer's market.

Oh, and we got most of our seeds in for the greens, herbs, and "kitty fodder" for our attempt at an indoor winter container garden. I'll be starting some of those goodies today, but more on that in the garden update.

'Til next time.

B's Eggplant "Steaks"

This was my favorite kind of meal - a team meal! You see, Brett came up with this (awesome) meal idea, we went to the market together to get the necessary grub, and I made the meal. It worked out great!

We are coming around to eggplant. For the longest time, I did not like eggplant, and neither did Brett. I had only had two experiences with eggplant, and both were bad. The first was a rubbery, greasy, and cheese laden "eggplant parmesan" (ick!), and the second was baba ganoush - Brett was present for the baba ganoush experience and it too was bad. But then, at our good friends' wedding, they prepared a special vegan meal for yours truly that contained eggplant, and my opinion began to change. I then attempted to create something similar at home, and my opinion changed even further. After this meal, I can now say that we do like eggplant, at least in the applications we have had it in since the parmesan and baba experience.

Anyways, this is also one of those meals that looks like it took a long time, was expensive, and complicated to make, but it wasn't at all. This meal took less time to prepare than a lot of our quesadilla recipes.

Just a reminder of the produce legend:
* = farmer's market
** = CSA
*** = Container or Community Garden

So, here she be!


B's Eggplant "Steaks"

The "Steaks"
1 eggplant sliced into rounds (only the thick part of the eggplant) *
balsamic vinegar
salt

The Topping
the rest of the eggplant, diced *
10 baby portobello mushrooms, minced
1 yellow summer squash, minced ***
3 cloves of garlic, minced *

1 cup of brown Basmati rice, cooked

Marinate eggplant steaks in balsamic vinegar for at least 2 or 3 hours.

Preheat oven to 425.

Put "steaks" on a baking sheet and baste with more balsamic (the leftovers from the marinating process).

Bake for 15-20 minutes, turning a couple of times and basting with more balsamic until eggplant is lightly browned and soft.

Meanwhile, heat a few tablespoons of water in a small skillet. Add the topping ingredients, and season with salt and any remaining balsamic from the marinade. Cook for 10-15 minutes, or until veggies are soft. Drain any excess liquid if necessary.

Place a bed of basmati rice on a plate and lay down the steaks side by side. Top with the veggie mixture and enjoy!

We had this with ciabatta bread chunks (the bread came from the farmer's market) and herbed olive oil to dip the bread in.


Nothing special here, but definitely tasty. All I did for the herbed olive oil was mix in some dried basil, thyme, oregano (regular, not Mexican), garlic powder, black pepper, and salt.

It was the perfect complement to the meal! Yum!

In other cooking news, my kitchen is officially "out of order" for a little while.

Last night, I was making a stuffed poblano pepper recipe I created (they were awesome, I'll be posting about them soon!). Well, the peppers were getting close to being done, and I had the (electric) oven door open to keep an eye on them. Suddenly, part of the lower element got really red and incredibly bright. Then it started sparking. It looked like a welder's torch! We got out the fire extinguisher and turned off the oven. But yet the element kept burning, sparking, and melting. The super hot area just kept moving along the element. It was loud, bright, and I must admit, a little nerve wracking. I mean, the oven was OFF! We decided to wait a few minutes, thinking it would cool down as the oven cooled, but no, it just kept going. Brett eventually had to go turn the breaker off! We think it would have continued until it melted the entire element and likely caught something on fire. So needless to say, our oven/stove is out of commission.

Brett will be calling "maintenance" this morning (I use the ""s because our maintenance is awful, horrible really, I have a hard time calling them "maintenance", more like "we'll rig something up and then never come back and actually fix it"), so hopefully we won't be without a stove/oven for too long. We rarely cook anything in the microwave, and neither of us are fans of processed foods too much, so it looks like some of our local restaurants may be getting some business from us over the next day or so (or however long it takes them to actually getting around to fixing it).

In other, less exciting, news, I created a J's Recommended Reads page yesterday (located below the "J's Currently Reading" element on the sidebar) that includes the most influential, informative, or entertaining books that I have read (now of course, this is just my humble opinion). I included links to either the books website, a wikipedia entry describing the book, or a book review. No links to Amazon or anything, I am no sales person. Not to mention, I recommend checking with your local library or getting together with some folks to do a book swap as opposed to purchasing the books. And if you are going to purchase these or any other books, please consider doing so at a local book store rather than Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Borders, etc.

And finally, it is not too late to sign up to participate in the Unplug Yourself initiative. Feel free to sign up for as little or much as you would like, whatever works for you is what you should "commit" to. This is one of many opportunities to join in with likeminded folks and get on the path to sustainability. Doing these initiatives together gives us all a support network, and a wealth of information and tips based on others' experiences. We do hope you all will consider getting involved.

'Til next time!

J's Spicy Stuffed Mushrooms

Yum! This meal was far easier than I thought it would be and man was it tasty. I must admit, I was a little nervous about making a "Mexican-ish" stuffed mushroom, but it turned out far better than I could have even imagined, and did I mention it was easy? The meal prep took about 15 minutes (I already had the beans and rice cooked, we always have cooked beans and rice on hand), and then another 20 minutes to bake, during which, I did other things. I love easy meals as I work full-time and though I love cooking, I don't want to spend hours in the kitchen after a long "hard" day at work.

Oh, and we love Peruvian Yellow peppers, they are very spicy, but not so much that Brett won't eat them, and they have an amazing flavor, similar to habaneros, but the spice level isn't quite there. Yay for me and yay for Brett! We saved the seeds out of these bad boys in hopes of growing some next year. Too bad the pasilla seeds didn't work out though, the pepper wasn't mature (which they have to be in order to get seeds that will actually grow) and they just rotted and turned brown. I really want to grow pasillas (and cascabels) so I will likely be buying seeds for those online next year (blech!), but I will keep the seeds from the mature fruits, so it should (hopefully) only be a one-time thing.

Anyways, sorry for the aside. Onto the food!

Just a reminder of the produce legend:
* = farmer's market
** = CSA
*** = Container or Community Garden

















J's Spicy Stuffed Mushrooms
large mushrooms for stuffing, cleaned and stems removed (we used "Portobellinis" which are portobellos in between "regular" and "baby" sized)

Filling:
1/2 cup black beans, cooked
1/2 cup long grain brown rice
3-4 Roma tomatoes, diced ***
1 small green bell pepper, seeded and minced ***
1 Peruvian yellow pepper, seeded and minced *
1 pasilla pepper, seeded and minced *
1/2 small yellow or red onion, minced *
2 cloves of garlic, minced *
chili powder
cumin
paprika
Mexican oregano
black pepper
salt

vegan jack (optional)
or
"Mexican blend" cheese (optional)

Preheat oven to 350.

Heat a few tablespoons of water in a small skillet. Add the peppers, onion, and garlic. Cook for 10-15 minutes or until veggies are really soft. Drain any excess liquid.

Combine the rest of the filling ingredients and season to taste.

Stuff mushrooms with the filling and bake for about 20 minutes.

Turn on the broiler.

Remove the mushrooms from the oven and top with a little vegan jack or dairy cheese.

Place under broiler, watching very carefully, until melted.

This made 6 stuffed mushrooms and enough filling for me to take in a burrito for lunch the next day at work.

These were so good and so easy that we will definitely be having these again. We might play around with different types of mushrooms to stuff too.

Brett will be posting the final challenge check-in for the Quit Now Challenge, so any Quitters out there beware!

'Til next time!

Quesadillas de Seta Picante (Spicy Mushroom Quesadillas)

This was yet another easy and tasty meal. It is really hard for me to believe that I used to hate mushrooms before I went vegetarian. And even after I went veg, it took me almost a year to be willing to try mushrooms, and now, I am kicking myself for missing out on such a good thing for so many years, but, at least I know now, right?

These quesadillas were fairly spicy and I used something I rarely buy - vegan jack. It is not required in order for this to be a yummy meal, I took the leftover filling ingredients and made them into a burrito for lunch the next day sans vegan jack and they were still really good, but it is a nice addition. I keep saying that I need to get the Uncheese Cookbook, but after the disappointing purchases of Veganomicon and Vegan with a Vengeance, I have been a little jaded and torn about whether or not to try getting any other cookbooks. We'll see I suppose. If anyone out there has or has tried anything from the Uncheese Cookbook, please give me your honest review of it so I know whether or not to cross it off my list.

Just a reminder of the produce legend:
* = farmer's market
** = CSA
*** = Container or Community Garden

Anywho...















Quesadillas de Seta Picante
1 cup quinoa, cooked
2-3 cups mushrooms, minced (we used baby portobellos)
1/2 yellow onion, minced **
1 bell pepper, seeded and minced ***
2 poblano peppers, seeded and minced ***
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced ***
2 cloves of garlic, minced *
chipotle chili powder
ground coriander
paprika
cumin
Mexican oregano
dash unsweetened cocoa powder
dash black pepper
salt
vegan jack (optional)

tortillas
salsa

Heat a few tablespoons of water in a medium skillet. Add the mushrooms, onion, peppers and garlic and cook for 10-15 minutes or until soft. Drain any excess water.

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and season to taste.

Layer filling and vegan jack in warmed tortillas and fry if desired.

The next food post I do will be yet another mushroom post, seriously, mushrooms rock, what was wrong with me?! ;-)

'Til next time!

Simple Food for Simple People

Last night for dinner, I marinated a bunch of chopped local veggies (an eggplant, new potatoes, zucchini, garlic, onions, and a tomato) in some balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and sea salt. I did the same with two large portobello mushrooms and let everything get nice and soaked in for 2-3 hours in the refrigerator. I was trying to remake that really yummy vegan mushroom dish we had at our good friends' wedding a few weeks back, without having to spend all day making a balsamic reduction. It worked!

I roasted the chopped veggies in the oven at 450 for about 40 minutes, and added the pan of mushrooms and let them all cook for another 10 minutes. I then turned the mushrooms and let 'em go for another 10 minutes. Once out of the oven, I topped the mushrooms with the chopped veggies and melted some organic Muenster cheese on Brett's (he liked it but said it would have been better with provolone - just a tip for you cheese eaters out there). This was a very special dinner too, it was incredibly good for something that was this easy. Brett said he would have paid good money for it in a restaurant, but then again, he would say that wouldn't he? Especially if he wants me to keep feeding him... ;-)

In all seriousness, this was really good. Our only complaint was that there wasn't more. We'll have more mushrooms next time. I thought adding some cooked pearl barley to the "filling" would be really good too.

As I very happily noted just a few weeks ago, we have a Hammond organ now, and we love it. Brett plays the guitar so now that I'm more comfortable with the organ (meaning, I can kind of pick out a melody, I'm getting there), we have been experimenting and "jamming" together. He has learned the bass lines or rhythm guitar sections to some jazz songs and I have learned the melody, then we play together - so far we've gotten part of my favorite jazz song down "Blues in A Minor" by the Modern Jazz Quartet, we've gotten the legendary Bill Evans' "Lullaby for Helene" (I like the take on The Complete Bill Evans on Verve without the whole orchestra section), I've learned some Tetris music (hehehe - Brett is working on the "bad guy level" music from the original Super Mario Bros), I've attempted the "Girl from Ipanema", but so far, it's just not quite right, I started to work on "Canon in D" and realized I was far, far out of my range of abilities with that one - such a pretty song though, I really like the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet's take on it. So much fun! The Hammond also has a nice bass walk feature. So once I had learned the A minor scale, we put that on for a back beat and had a bluesy-jazzy jam session.

Our latest project is "Bouree", but the Jethro Tull version, not the Bach one. I like JT's take on it better. Brett plays the bass line, I play the flute part. :-)

I want to thank Cookiemouse for giving me the idea of uploading a Youtube video of the song we are working on.


Well, this is my last day off of my long weekend. I've got some emails I want to catch up on later in the day, but the most part, today will be spent with Brett, the Playstation, books, and the Hammond.

Enjoy this gorgeous Tuesday!

Oh, and I'll try to catch up on all your blogs in the next couple of days.

'Til next time!

Roasted Veggies with Cranberry Beans, Marinated Roasted Portobello Mushrooms, and Brown Rice

This meal could have also been called 'Really Simple Food That Speaks For Itself'. I am always amazed at how good veggies are when roasted. They don't need anything, just a bit of salt. They have enough of their own flavor.

I was looking for a simple, yet tasty and healthy dinner the other night, and I think I found the perfect meal! Brett and I raved about this and were also happy with how good something so basic could be.

We made some long grain brown rice and cranberry beans to go with the roasted veggies.

The portobello mushroom was marinated in balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and about 1 tsp of juice from a jar of kalamata olives (Brett's idea - a good one too!) for a few hours and then roasted, along with a zucchini, red bell pepper, garlic, some small onions from our CSA, and some asparagus.

Once all the veggies were roasted, I sliced them up, tossed them with just a bit of olive oil, and layered them over plates of brown rice and beans. This was a really good meal.

Marinating the portobello.

Pan full of veggies ready to be roasted.

The finished product. Yum!

Remember when I talked about the lovely bagel sandwiches Brett and I have been enjoying the other day? Well, I had actually taken pictures of the sandwiches and fruit, but was too lazy to post them. So I'll do it now. :-)

This was Brett's sandwich. He had veganaise, spicy mustard, leaf lettuce, tomato, cucumber, and pickles. And of course, some beautiful organic cherries.

My sandwich was the same as Brett's less the pickles. I also had an organic peach and some extra cucumber slices on the side.

And finally, Brett and I made a really awesome find the other day. Now, I'm not sure how many Americans have noticed that Coca Cola does not taste like it used to, at least not how I remember it as a kid. I chalked it up to the fact that they now use high fructose corn syrup and a myriad of other crazy chemicals. As a result, I do not drink 'regular' soda anymore, I rarely drink 'non-regular' soda, but when I do it is generally Izze or Jarrito's (Mexican soda, are you surprised?). Well, when Brett and I were at the store the other day, browsing the 'ethnic' aisle, we noticed Mexican Coca Cola, in a glass bottle (how soda should be), sweetened with sugar, and with an ingredients list about half as long as American Coca Cola. It was far more expensive than American Coke ($1.69 a bottle for this stuff), but it is so much better than American Coke, seriously. I won't drink it very often, as it's expensive, comes all the way from Mexico, and, well, soda is not all that good for you, but it will make for a nice treat from time to time.

Check it out:

Refresco is right! ;-)

'Til next time.

Marinated Portobello Mushroom and Veggie Fajitas with Chile-Lime Sauce

I've been on a slight marinating kick lately - especially marinating mushrooms and veggies for Mexican-ish food. This time I decided to highlight the portobello mushroom in a marinated fajita as, well, they are one of both Brett and my favorite mushrooms.

This is another spicy dish, for less fire, omit some of the hot peppers from the 'veggie mix' in the fajitas.

Since Brett and I aren't eating avocados for a month, I've decided to try to be creative with salsas to go with our meal so guacamole and avocado won't be necessary. I decided to go with a Chile-Lime sauce this time and it paired with the marinated mushrooms and veggies well. The sauce is also pretty spicy, remove the seeds from the peppers before blending if you want a milder sauce. Brett made some tofu sour cream and it turned out excellent this time, I love the way the tofu sour cream compliments really spicy food.















Chile-Lime Sauce
2 serrano chilies, minced
1 habanero pepper, seeded and minced (optional)
1/4 yellow onion, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1/3 cup veggie broth
juice of one lime
cumin
pinch sugar
pinch white pepper
pinch salt

Heat a few tablespoons of water in a small skillet. Add the peppers and onions and cook for about 10 minutes, add the garlic and cook another 3-5 minutes. Drain any excess water and transfer to a food processor.

Add the rest of the ingredients and blend until smooth.

Return to the stove in a small sauce pan. Simmer on low for about a half hour until thick.

Mushrooms and veggies marinating.

Just Another Fajita Marinade
1/8 cup vegetable oil (you could get away with less, but this marinade does need some oil)
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
juice of one lime
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 chipotle chilies in adobo, roughly chopped
4 dried New Mexican Chile peppers, roughly broken up
1 tsp. sugar
Mexican oregano
chili powder
cumin
ground coriander
salt
dash white pepper

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and marinate veggies for at least an hour. Remove dried chilies and chipotle chilies (if desired) before cooking veggies.

Marinated Portobella Mushroom and Veggie Fajitas
Marinate the following veggies:
2-3 cups portobello mushrooms, sliced thin
1 red or yellow bell pepper, seeded and sliced
2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and sliced
1 serrano pepper, seeded and sliced
1/4 red onion, sliced

The Other Stuff:
small tortillas
Chili Lime Sauce
tofu sour cream

Heat a skillet over medium heat. Add the veggies and cook for 15-20 minutes, adding more marinde if neccesary, or until soft.

Divide filling in two bowls. Serve with warmed small tortillas, Chile-Lime sauce, and tofu sour cream.

I love fajitas, and marinating veggies is an incredibly easy way to take a meal to a different level.

'Til next time.

Mushroom and Asparagus Burritos with Roasted Salsa Verde

I was initially very wary of using veggies like asparagus in Mexican food as it didn't seem very 'authentic'. Well, I've quickly gotten over that because many ingredients, whether authentic or not, can be turned into yummy Mexican-inspired meals with the right flavor combination.

Wanting to enjoy the abundance of fresh, local, organic asparagus we've been getting from our CSA, I came up with these burritos. They were really good, and as my first Mexican meal without avocados or guacamole, I must say, this was fantastic!

I made a roasted salsa verde to go with the meal. The burritos and the salsa paired wonderfully. The salsa is spicy, flavorful, and very easy to make.

Roasted veggies out of the oven.

Everything in the food processor.

The finished product, so good!

Roasted Salsa Verde

Makes 1 1/2 to 2 cups of salsa.

1 lb tomatillos (about 10), husked and washed

4 serrano chiles

1/4 yellow onion

4 cloves of garlic, unpeeled

1/3 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

juice of one lime

cumin

salt

1 1/2 cups veggie broth

Preheat broiler.

Layer tomatillos, serrano chiles, onion and garlic on a baking sheet. Drizzle with cocout oil and salt.

Roast in the oven for about 3-5 minutes on each side.

Once veggies are roasted, allow to cool for a few minutes, then remove the stem and peel the peppers. (Remove the seeds if you don't want a spicy salsa.)

Combine all ingredients in a food processor until very smooth.

Transfer salsa to a sauce pan. Add the veggie broth and simmer on low for about 2 hours or until the salsa is very thick.

This sauce will last about a week in the refrigerator and freezes well.

Mushroom and Asparagus Burritos

2 cups cooked black beans

1 bunch of asparagus, woody ends discarded, roasted, and cut into 1 inch pieces

1 red bell pepper, roasted and sliced

1 package white button mushrooms, minced

1 package baby portobello mushrooms, minced

2-3 hot peppers, seeded and minced

1/4 red onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

cumin

chili powder

paprika

ground coriander

cayenne pepper

salt

tortillas

Roasted Salsa Verde

Heat a few tablespoons of water in a small skillet. Add the mushrooms, peppers, onion, and garlic. Cook for 10-15 minutes of until veggies are soft. Drain any excess water.

Combine all filling ingredients in a bowl and season to taste.

Layer filling in warmed tortillas. Roll up and fry if desired.

Serve with Roasted Salsa Verde.

'Til next time.