We Take Requests #1: Black Bean and Veggie Burritos with Sour Cream "Salad" for Selina

So, guess what? Wait for it...

This post includes a recipe! It has been far too long and I am stoked to be back in the kitchen and cooking like mad.

The inspiration for this recipe came from my best buddy Selina (who is also the author of the awesome blog Selindiana). I love creating recipes based off random ingredients, it sparks my creativity and sometimes ends up being a really good meal. So I mentioned that I was more than willing to take requests and she gave me a list of things she had on hand. I narrowed it down to things that I had on hand and this super tasty burrito and sour cream salad was the end result.

Have I mentioned I take requests? If you have something you want made veggie, or just have a bunch of ingredients lying around and you want me to try my hand at making a meal out of it, leave me a comment and I'll see what I can do. :-)

Anyways, onto the good stuff!

The tasty filling.

Sour cream salad.

The finished product.

Black Bean and Veggie Burritos

Makes enough filling for 3 large burritos.

2 tbsp. canola oil

1 medium potato, washed and cubed

1 yellow onion, chopped

1 zucchini, chopped

2 jalapenos, seeded and minced (you can use a milder chile like an Anaheim too)

1/2 cup sweet corn (fresh or frozen)

1 1/2 cups black beans, cooked

salt, to taste

Heat oil in a medium sized skillet on medium-high heat. Add the potatoes, onion, and zucchini. Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add the jalapeno, corn, and black beans and cook for an additional 5-10 minutes, or until everything is cooked and heated through.

Sour Cream Salad

Makes enough to top 3 burritos.

1/2 cup sour cream

1 tomato, chopped

1/2 cup lettuce, shredded

1-2 tbsp. lime juice

1/2 tsp. Mexican oregano

a pinch of salt

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and chill until needed.

Putting it all together

cheese (optional)

salsa (when I don't use homemade, I LOVE Mrs. Renfro's ghost pepper salsa)

3 tortillas, warmed

Layer cheese and bean/veggie mixture in warmed tortillas and top with salsa, roll up. Top the finished burritos with sour cream salad and enjoy!

Yummy, yummy, yummy! 

 

Cranberry Bean and Veggie Burgers

Howdy, howdy, howdy.



















Cranberry Bean and Veggie Burgers
Makes about 4 large patties

3 tbsp canola oil
1 small potato, scrubbed, and diced small
1 onion, diced small
1 carrot, peeled and diced small
1/2 zucchini, diced small
2 anaheim chiles, seeded and diced
1/4 cup sweet corn
6 cloves of garlic, minced
salt, to taste
2 cups cranberry beans, cooked
1/4 cup vital wheat gluten
1/4 cup regular rolled oats
1/4 cup flour

Preheat oven to 375.

In a medium skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add the potato and fry for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add the onion, carrot, zucchini, chiles, and corn. Fry for an additional 5-10 minutes. Season to taste with salt.

Add the garlic and fry for about 2-3 minutes until the garlic gets fragrant. Remove veggies from heat.

In a large bowl, using your hands, mash up the beans and veggie mixture. Then slowly add the dry ingredients.

Form into four equal parts and roll into balls.

Line a baking pan with parchment paper. Place the balls on the paper and flatten.

Bake for ten minutes, then flip the burgers. Bake for an additional ten minutes.

Remove from oven and allow to rest for 10-15 minutes.

Top burger buns with your desired fixin's and enjoy!

Well, that's all for now.

'Til next time.

Jessy's Broccoli with Spicy Peanut Sauce

I have been wanting to make Jessy's (from Happy Vegan Face) Broccoli with Spicy Peanut Sauce since I saw her post about it awhile back. I've just been waiting for the local broccoli to come back around. I found some when I went to the Root Cellar, and I knew her recipe was exactly what I wanted to do with it. Since we had such an abundance of local veggies around, we decided to load the stir-fry up with other veggies rather than use rice. The only thing we did differently than Jessy for the sauce was to use sesame chile oil instead of regular sesame oil. This peanut sauce is one of the best I've ever had!















This picture does not do the meal justice. I should have stirred the sauce in before photographing it, but it smelled so good and I was hungry.

In the stir-fry we used a head of local broccoli, 1 cup of local shiitake mushrooms, 1/2 a local golden zucchini, about a 1/2 cup of local yellow and purple wax beans, about a cup of local okra sliced into 1/2 inch coins, local onions, and petite bell peppers from our container garden. The peanut butter used in the sauce was made at an intentional community about an hour and a half south of us. Wahoo for local food and Jessy's killer sauce.

I also want to mention that Brett and I are going to start rating our recipes somehow and will create a favorite recipes index as well. We don't post recipes on this blog unless we liked them, but there are so many that we can't remember them all. Now, there are a lot of recipes for a reason. It is because we like to try to eat as locally as possible, which often means working with a lot of the same ingredients. If you don't change it up, eating this way can get stale fast. Not to mention, we already had a lot of recipes before I started the blog.

Oh, and if any of you try the recipes from this blog, let us know what you thought, you guys can contribute to the rating system too.

I will try to get on tomorrow to post the weekly local booty update. Brett's mom and grandma are coming to visit this afternoon and tomorrow, Sundays we watch football, and Monday is Brett and I's 6 year anniversary. So expect the garden update to be a little late, but we will get it done.

'Til next time!

Veggies with Spicy Chile-Garlic Sauce

We don't often venture outside of Mexican food, when we do, it is generally some sort of Asian food. This is one of those "some sort of Asian food" posts. It's nothing against other cuisines, but beyond Mexican and Asian, we do Middle Eastern occasionally, and even more rarely, Italian food. I am one of those freaks of nature that has never really been too big of an Italian food fan. What can I say? Mexican has always been my favorite kind of food. I'm lucky I met Brett because he concurs on this as well.

This was really easy to make - it was our way of taking advantage of the remaining abundance from summer. September is one of the best times of year because it is harvest time! It's also the time when the staples of summer (tomatoes, cucumbers, etc.) are still hanging on, but on their way out, and the staples of fall (potatoes, cabbage, broccoli, etc.) are coming in full-force. It is the time of year to experience the best of both worlds.

Anywho, on to what you all really want - the food!

Just a reminder of the produce legend:
no asterisk = grocery store
* = farmer's market
** = CSA
*** = Container or Community Garden



























The second picture is my dish with extra sriracha, 'cause I'm a freak like that.

I do have to say that I have a strong affinity for the bottle with the rooster on it. I love me some sriracha, it is one of the best things there is!

Veggies with Spicy Chile-Garlic Sauce

2 cups brown Basmati rice, cooked

Chile-Garlic Sauce:
1/4 cup water
4 tbsp shoyu (or other soy sauce)
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp mirin
2 tbsp organic sugar
1-2 tbsp sriracha sauce (or 2 Thai chiles, seeded and minced)
a couple of pinches of salt
a couple of pinches of black pepper

Whisk ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside.

Veggie Schtuff (all local!):
1 Japanese eggplant, cut into chunks *
1 zucchini, cut into chunks **
1 yellow summer squash, cut into chunks **
2 cups shiitake mushrooms, minced *
1/2 yellow onion, minced *
2 cups mung bean sprouts *
3 cloves of garlic, minced *

Heat a few tablespoons of safflower oil in a large skillet. Add the eggplant, zucchini, summer squash, shiitakes, and onion and cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring often.

Add the bean sprouts, garlic, and sauce to the pan.

Simmer for about 5-8 minutes.

Serve over brown Basmati rice.

Yummy, yummy, yummy.

Tonight, we are doing a "breakfast for dinner" kind of thing. I made a vegan take on Huevos Rancheros awhile back, so tonight I am going to try making the "real thing", sans cheese of course. I rarely eat eggs, and will only eat them from one local purveyor who has a very small operation going, seems to treat the chickens quite well, and isn't doing anything on an environmentally degrading scale. We had some lying around and Brett had the Huevos Rancheros at a local restaurant called Cafe Berlin last weekend so he wanted me to try it out at home. We'll see how it goes.

'Til next time.

Sun-dried Tomato Pesto Pasta with Fresh Tomatoes and Sautéed Zucchini and Summer Squash

Well, I took a half day from work. We got all of our gardening supplies, transplanted peppers, an avocado tree, some wheatgrass for the kitties, and sowed a wheat/barley/oat grass mix in a small pot for them. We wanted to transplant the One Ball squash today too, but the pot is huge and we are trying to figure out some sort of "back-up drip pan". Sometimes they get overwatered, even the ones with the little catchment trays, but when you've overdone it, you've overdone it, and since the plants are going to be set on or near carpet, we wanted back up. We'll either think of something or get a different container. That one may have to be strictly "outdoors".

Anywho, after these and some other tasks were attended to, I figured I could try to catch up a little bit and do one of the three recipes I have in "backlog" to post about. In case you've all been wondering where all the basil and pasta were going (and I know how much you have), one word, pesto! This is just one of the variations we've been playing with, nothing special. Simple, fresh, and yummy - you can't beat that.

Just a reminder of the produce legend:
no asterisk = grocery store
* = farmer's market
** = CSA
*** = Container or Community Garden















This is another one of those things that nobody would eat if they only ate pretty things. :-)

Sun-dried Tomato Pesto
Makes about 1 cup

2-3 cups fresh sweet basil *
1/3 cup of walnuts
1 jar of sun-dried tomatoes, drained
1/2 cup good olive oil
6 cloves of garlic, peeled *
a couple of pinches of fresh black pepper

Combine everything in a food processor until smooth and well blended.















Sun-dried Tomato Pesto Pasta with Fresh Tomatoes and Sautéed Zucchini and Summer Squash

penne pasta *
1/2 large zucchini, chopped ***
1/2 large yellow summer squash, chopped **
1 tsp safflower or coconut oil
3-4 large tomatoes, chopped * and ***

Cook pasta according to package directions.

Heat 1 tsp safflower or coconut oil in a small skillet. Add the zucchini and squash and cook for about 10 minutes or until well cooked.

Toss pasta with a few tablespoons of the pesto (or to taste), then toss in the fresh tomatoes, zucchini, and squash.

Yum! I'm glad it is almost dinner time here!

'Til next time.

J's Spicy Mexican-ish Brunch Hash

I made this for brunch over the weekend. It was very easy and very tasty - an excellent way to enjoy the abundance at the farmer's market. We are really trying to relish in it while we can. We are going to attempt to eat as locally as possible over winter, but it will be more difficult. Tomorrow when I post a "mini round-up" of how folks are doing in the Unplug Yourself initiative, I will outline our goals for eating as locally and sustainably as possible over the winter. I am also pondering a "what's local on our table" either page or element on the sidebar for easy viewing of what we are eating locally each week. Would anyone be interested in this element or page?

Anyways, there are a lot of peppers in this, so it might seem like it was really spicy, but it wasn't too spicy for Brett to enjoy. He's lucky I didn't add that second habanero, I wanted to, but thought I was pushing my luck with the one.

As those of you who have been following this blog know, we gave up avocados back in June for Chile's Quit Now Challenge. Since then, the only time we have had avocados has been when we go to our favorite local Mexican restaurant El Rancho, or when my dad brought a bunch down with the (apparently dying) avocado tree. In doing the challenge, the idea wasn't to give up avocados completely but rather, to become less reliant on them, and I think we very much succeeded. I bought an avocado this weekend for the first time since before the challenge in June. I thought it would really round out the brunch hash and would also be a really nice treat. So this meal includes guacamole!

Just a reminder of the produce legend:
no asterisk = grocery store
* = farmer's market
** = CSA
*** = Container or Community Garden

Well, here it is!


J's Spicy Mexican-ish Brunch Hash
4 small new potatoes, cubed *
2 white mushrooms, minced
1/2 a zucchini, cubed ***
1/2 a yellow summer squash, cubed **
1 red bell pepper, seeded and minced *
1 poblano pepper, seeded and minced *
1 habanero, seeded and minced *
1/2 red onion, minced *
4 cloves of garlic, minced *
2 Roma tomatoes, chopped ***
2-3 tbsp fresh cilantro, minced (or 1 tsp dried) **
chili powder
cumin
Mexican oregano
black pepper
salt

guacamole
homemade salsa

Bring a small pot of water to a boil. Add the potatoes and cook for about 6-8 minutes. Drain potatoes.

Meanwhile, heat a couple of tablespoons of safflower oil in a large skillet. Add all the veggies except the tomatoes and cilantro and cook for 10-15 minutes, adding the potatoes whenever they are done.

Once veggies begin to soften, season to taste and add the tomatoes. Cook for an additional 5-10 minutes.

Stir in the cilantro.

Garnish with guacamole and homemade salsa.

We also at a few tortilla chips with our meal.

I don't fuss over brunch very often, we generally eat veggie bagel sandwiches and fruit, but every once in awhile a nice cooked brunch sounds good.

'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.

Peanut-Veggie Soba Noodles

As I'm sure you've all gathered, Mexican is by far our favorite cuisine. Behind that would be various forms of Asian food, particular Thai and Japanese. I'm not very sure as to the "authenticity" of our Asian food - but it's tasty and we like it, so that is really all that matters. As of late, Leng's Fried Rice has made its way nicely into our regular recipe routine - it's so tasty (and versatile, we just use what veggies we have on hand)!

This is, obviously, not Leng's Fried Rice, but it was a quick and easy creation that was filling and takes advantage of all the local yummies we have at our disposal right now. And, because I'm a bit of a spice freak, I douse my serving in sriracha before I eat it, Brett's not a huge fan of the sriracha, it's a bit spicy for his taste, so the hot chile sauce I use in this recipe is a milder variety that I supplement with sriracha to please my "fire tooth". Some have a sweet tooth, I have a spice tooth. And the great thing about Asian food is the sweet and spicy combinations often found, so it's the best of both worlds, and both Brett and I can be satisfied!

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

Without further fanfare, here she be!















Peanut-Veggie Soba Noodles

Sauce:
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup water
juice of one lime
2 tbsp brown rice vinegar
2 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp shoyu
2-4 chiles Japones, roughly chopped (or crushed red pepper to taste)
2-3 tbsp hot chile sauce
2 tbsp sugar
1" fresh ginger, minced
2 cloves of garlic, minced *
a pinch of salt

Veggies and Such:
1/2 package of soba noodles

shredded cabbage **
chopped rainbow chard *
carrots, sliced into thin matchsticks
yellow squash, sliced into thin matchsticks ***
zucchini, sliced into thin matchsticks ***
1/2 an onion, sliced thin *
1/2 a red bell pepper, sliced thin *

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain once cooked.

Heat a few tablespoons of water in a small sauce pan. Add the chiles, ginger, and garlic and cook for about 5-8 minutes. Add the remaining sauce ingredients and combine well.

Meanwhile, heat a tablespoon or two or sesame oil over medium or medium-low heat. Add all the veggies and stir-fry until they begin to char.

Toss pasta with veggies and sauce and enjoy warm.

This was really good, we both really like soba noodles, and when we discovered that buckwheat attracts predatory insects, we were pretty excited as soba noodles are made from buckwheat.

'Til next time.

Quesadillas de Frijole Negros, Pimiento, y Calabacín (Black Bean, Pepper and Zucchini Quesadillas)

This was, again, nothing too special, but it was very good. I have made something similar to this before - in fact, using an incredibly similar spice combination, but doing just a few things differently, adding things here and there, substituting this for that, and suddenly you have a unique meal!

I didn't get a picture of the finished product, but there was guacamole on this. It made this meal even better!

When my Dad brought down the avocado tree for my birthday, he also brought down a bag of 5 huge avocados - this is more than we would ever buy at one time. I had already planned out my meals for the week, which, of course, did not include avocados, so we were scrambling to find uses for the lovely guys before they went bad. Needless to say, we had lots of snacks of chips and guacamole, I added guacamole to this dish, and I made avocado and cucumber sushi rolls this weekend - I was also able to use up the last two sheets of nori we had in our cabinet that would probably not have lasted too much longer.

Oh, and in case you couldn't tell, black beans are our most often used bean, oddly, since pinto beans might arguably be both Brett and my favorite bean - the black bean is just so versatile.

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















Quesadillas de Frijole Negros, Pimiento, y Calabacín
1 cup black beans, cooked
1 zucchini, chopped ***
1/2 cup sweet corn, cooked **
1 bell pepper, seeded and minced **
1 petite bell pepper, seeded and minced ***
1 banana pepper, seeded and minced ***
2 serrano peppers, seeded and minced ***
1/2 yellow onion, minced *
2 cloves of garlic, minced *
2-3 Roma tomatoes, chopped ***
juice of half a lime
chipotle chili powder
ground coriander
cumin
Mexican oregano
black pepper
salt

tortillas
guacamole

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

Combine all filling ingredients and season to taste.

Layer filling in warmed tortillas.

Fry and serve with guacamole.

'Til next time!

Baked Black Bean and Veggie Flautas

Flautas are a great meal any time of year if you ask me. I love how they get crispy and are a Mexican finger food - and since most Mexican food is so messy, I relish flautas. Though traditionally fried, I baked them, as well, any time I have ever tried to deep fry something, we should have had the fire department or an ambulance on speed dial. Jennifer + Hot Oil = Disaster Waiting To Happen. I have stories that I will not share at this time, but let's just say I've had my oil incident, it wasn't fun, and that I've even had an exploding salsa incident - I was lucky that I didn't get hurt in either incident, but the kitchen didn't fare so well. I am one of those people who manage to hurt myself in ways I can't even explain. Just call me clumsy.

Anyways, flautas are also great as the oven only has to be on for a few minutes and they are great mediums for disposing of some of summer's abundance - we even got to use our first garden grown jalapeno and it was good.

These flautas got a big thumbs up from both Brett and I. The only thing I will do differently next time is not make so many, they are larger than they look!

Also, be forewarned, waiting to eat these things is torture. Flautas have some special insulation property that keeps them piping hot for a long time. So while you are starving, you have to stare down the steaming flautas hoping that your first bite won't involve scalding mouth.

Anyways....





















I made two variations on this flauta. I tried them with and without a thin "schmear" of refried beans since we had them on hand. It was good with the refrieds, but Brett and I thought the flautas stayed crispier and had a good zing without them.

Black Bean and Veggie Flautas
Makes enough filling for 10 small flautas.

1 cup black beans, cooked
1/8 cup traditional refried beans (optional)
1/2 cup long grain brown rice, cooked
1 small tomato, diced
1 zucchini, diced
1/2 cup button mushrooms, diced
1 jalapeno, seeded and minced
1 hot banana pepper, seeded and minced
1/2 bell pepper, seeded and minced
1/4 yellow onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
juice of half a lime
ground coriander
chili powder
cumin
Mexican oregano
paprika
pepper
salt

small flour tortillas ("fajita sized")
salsa

Preheat oven to 400.

Heat a few tablespoons of water in a skillet. Add zucchini, mushrooms, peppers, onion, and garlic, and cook for about 10 minutes. Drain any excess liquid.

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and season to taste.

Layer a few tablespoons of filling in each tortilla and secure each with a toothpick. Bake uncovered for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

Yummy!

Fiery Black Bean, Corn, and Chile Quesadillas

The other night we had another really yummy, yet simple meal made out of mostly local ingredients. And this one did not require me to heat up my apartment for nearly as long. As much as I love potatoes, I hope we don't get more in our CSA this week, all the ways I can think to prepare them require heat. Ick.

Anyways, these were a bit on the spicy side according to Brett, so if you make this, keep that in mind and perhaps either cut down on the fresh chiles or use regular instead of chipotle chile powder.

Fiery Black Bean, Corn, and Chile Quesadillas

Note: This recipe makes enough for 3 quesadillas. We each had one for dinner and I took the leftovers in to work.

2 cups black beans, cooked

1 cup sweet corn, cooked

1 zucchini, diced

1 purple bell pepper, seeded and minced (any bell pepper would work fine)

1 jalapeno, seeded and minced

1 banana pepper, seeded and minced

1/4 yellow onion, minced

3 cloves of garlic, minced

juice of half a lime

chipotle chili powder

cumin

ground coriander

Mexican oregano

white pepper

salt

tortillas

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

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

Layer filling in warmed tortillas and fry if desired.

Serve with salsa.

'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.

Black Bean and Quinoa Taquitos

So, my tooth is finally gone! I didn't think I'd ever be so happy to go to the dentist. I am now happily at home, with gauze in my numb mouth, but the jaw pain should be gone! Wahoo! It's likely that I won't be able to eat solid food for a day or so, but seriously, I'm just happy the whole 'tooth fiasco' is over with!

Last night, I was still able to eat solid foods, so I whipped up some taquitos. Yet another good finger food, and really easy. Enjoy!















Black bean, quinoa and veggie filling!















Taquitos ready to go in the oven.















Black Bean and Quinoa Taquitos
1 cup black beans, cooked
1/2 cup quinoa, cooked
1 cup mushrooms, finely minced
1 zucchini, chopped
4 serrano peppers, seeded and minced
1 poblano pepper, seeded and minced
1 Anaheim pepper, seeded and minced
1 habanero, seeded and minced (optional)
1/4 red onion, minced
5 cloves of garlic, minced
1 small can of sliced black olives, drained
chili powder
cumin
ground coriander
salt

corn tortillas (we used white corn)
toothpicks
guacamole
Green Chile Taco Sauce

Preheat oven to 375.

Heat a few tablespoons of water in a small skillet. Add the mushrooms, peppers and onion and cook for 15 minutes. Add the garlic and cook an additional 5 minutes. Drain any excess water.

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

Layer filling in warmed corn tortillas and secure with a toothpick.

Bake 15-20 minutes or until tortillas crispy and golden brown.

I hope when the numbness wears off that my mouth isn't too painful. We get our first CSA box this weekend and I want to be able to enjoy some of it!

Anyways, I'm off to read, it's a gorgeous afternoon here in Mid-Missouri.

'Til next time.

Black Bean and Asparagus Enchiladas with Green Enchilada Sauce

This recipe is dedicated to the Vegan Cow Girl.

Her love for all things asparagus inspired me to try to come up with a way to use it in a Mexican inspired dish.

I have to be completely honest with you, both Brett and I were a little skeptical at first, but these turned out really good. I cleaned my plate and Brett ate so much he almost made himself sick.

And I must state for the record, roasted asparagus seriously rocks. Seriously. :-)

Green Enchilada Sauce

Makes enough for a large dish of enchiladas.

1 lb tomatillos, husked and cored

1 cup cold water

1/4 cup veggie broth

4 serrano peppers, seeded and minced

1 habanero, seeded and minced

1/2 yellow onion, minced

3 cloves of garlic, peeled

1 cup of cilantro, washed and shredded

juice of one lime

cinnamon

dash nutmeg

dash cocoa powder

cumin

paprika

dash white pepper

salt

1 tbsp good canola oil

Soak husked and cleaned tomatillos in cold water to 10-15 minutes.

While tomatillos are soaking, heat a few tablespoons of water in a small skillet. Add the peppers and onion and cook until soft, about 10 minutes.

Blend tomatillos and water in a food processor.

Add the rest of the ingredients and blend until very smooth.

Place sauce in a pan and simmer, covered for about 40 minutes.

Refrigerate for at least an hour to allow flavors to blend.

This sauce should last in the fridge about 2 weeks, it also freezes well.

The enchilada filling. So very good. I took the leftover filling into work the next day and ate it by itself for lunch! It was really good.

Black Bean and Asparagus Enchiladas

1 cup black beans, cooked

1 bunch of asparagus, woody ends discarded, roasted and sliced into bite sized pieces

2 small zucchini, roasted and sliced

1/2 bell pepper, roasted and sliced

1 poblano, roasted and sliced

1/4 onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 serrano peppers, seeded and minced

cumin

chipotle chili powder

Mexican oregano

paprika

salt

vegan jack (optional)

Green Enchilada Sauce

corn tortillas (we used white corn)

sliced black olives

guacamole

When veggies are done roasting, reduce oven heat to 350.

Heat a few tablespoons of water in a small skillet. Add the onion, garlic and serrano peppers. Cook for about 10 minutes or until soft. Combine all the filling ingredients in a bowl and season to taste.

Spread enchilada sauce in the bottom of a baking dish.

Layer filling and a little bit of vegan jack (if desired) in warmed corn tortillas. Roll up and place in the pan. Top with a little more enchilada sauce.

Bake, uncovered for 30-35 minutes or until everything is bubbly and tortillas are getting crisp.

Top with olives and bake for another 2-3 minutes.

Let cool for a few minutes before serving.

Serve with guacamole.

Yum!

So, a bit of sad garden news to end this post. I did some research, and it looks like we started our pepper seeds a bit late this year. This means we are going to start picking up starts over the course of this week to transplant into pots this weekend. We did, however, learn a lot, and will know to start them much sooner next year. We are going to keep the New Mexican Chile start going, as they seem to be taking off and I've never seen a start of this pepper. We're hoping to at least get one or two peppers off of it so we can save their seeds.

Anyways.... I'll leave you with a couple of cute kitty pictures.

We've created a monster. Brett thought it was cute that Nermal was getting interested in the sink one day not too long ago. She then discovered that she could drink the running water out of the sink. Now she will only drink the running water out of the sink. And she demands it, by loudly and constantly meowing when she's thirsty. I don't think she's drank out of her water bowl for a month. Let's just say it used to be cute and now we're stuck doing it! :-)

Gabby never misses an opportunity to get in a bag.

'Til next time!

Potato, Veggie and Wild Rice Burros with Jalapeno-Tomatillo Green Sauce and Tomatillo Guacamole

This might, at first, seem like a very strange combination of ingredients to use in Mexican food. But I've learned that so long as you get the seasoning right, you can pair all sorts of interesting things together and get a fairly 'authentic' taste.

Note: This sauce is quite spicy. I would suggest using it sparingly, and if you aren't into spice, perhaps skip this sauce. Also, we are going to try this using a mix of long grain brown and wild rice next time, I think it would be even better that way.

Jalapeno-Tomatillo Sauce















Makes 3 cups

3 tomatillos, husked and chopped
15 jalapenos, seeded and minced
1 habanero, seeded and minced
1/2 yellow onion, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup of cilantro, washed and shredded
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup water
cumin
white pepper
salt

Heat a few tablespoons of water in a small sauce pan. Add the peppers and onion and cook for about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 5 more minutes. Add the tomatillos and cook an additional 5 minutes. Transfer veggies to a food processor.

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until very smooth and fairly thin, adding the liquid in batches.

This will last about a week in the fridge and freezes well. I kept one cup out to use this week and froze two, one cup portions for later use.

FOR: Tacos, Tostadas, Taco Salads, Burritos and Burros, Quesadillas, Fajitas, Flautas, Nachos

Spicy Tomatillo Guacamole
1 avocado, peeled and mashed
1 clove garlic, minced
4 Chiles Japones, minced (or crushed red pepper)
chipotle chili powder
cumin
dash of cayenne (optional)
salt
juice of half a lime

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and chill for about a half hour to let the flavors blend.

Potato, Veggie and Wild Rice Burros

1 sweet potato, peeled and cubed
2 red potatoes, scrubbed and cubed
chili powder
cumin
ground coriander
Mexican oregano
dash cinnamon
pinch unsweetened cocoa powder
salt
1 tsp coconut oil

Preheat oven to 425.

Melt coconut oil in a baking dish in the oven.

Combine the potatoes and spices and bake,covered with foil, for 30-35 minutes, or until potatoes are soft.

1/2 cup frozen green beans, cooked
1 zucchini, roasted and sliced
4 serrano peppers, minced
1 habanero, minced
1 poblano pepper, minced
1/4 yellow onion, minced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 cup cooked wild rice
salt

tortillas
spicy tomatillo guacamole
jalapeno-tomatillo green sauce

Heat a few tablespoons of water in a small skillet.

Add the peppers and onion and cook for 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for an additional 3-5 minutes. Drain any excess water and combine veggies in a small bowl and season with salt.

Layer rice, potatoes, veggies and some Jalapeno-Tomatillo sauce if you desire. Fry if you like andserve with spicy tomatillo guacamole.

Now, I don't know about anyone else, but I used to be averse to the idea of buying fresh spices as I didn't know what to do with an entire bunch. Well, I am still fairly averse with most fresh spices, though I'm going to be getting some through our CSA, so I better get over that. However, I will buy cilantro. After I've used what I need, we wash the rest of the bunch and hang it upside to dry. Then we use it as a dried spice. It's really easy and works great on most herbs.

If you notice, there are two jalapenos back there too. I've slit them and am hanging them in a first attempt to dry peppers (in anticipation of having to preserve some of my hopefully abundant pepper yield). I've looked into it fairly extensively, and from what I've read, all you have to do is slit them, hang them in a non-humid area and wait. We'll see.

'Til next time.

Portobello and Cranberry Bean Quesadillas with Pico de Gallo

This meal made my mouth very happy. I really love trying out new beans and salsas. Today we used cranberry beans. These beans are typically used in Italian or Spanish food, but I like to do things my way, call it rebellion if you will - they worked wonderfully. :-)

These beans may look like pinto beans, but they are not. They get freakishly large once cooked, like a really fat lima bean. If you cannot find cranberry beans, pinto or kidney beans would be a fine substitute.

The Pico de Gallo is a fresh condiment made of chilies, onions, tomatoes and some spices, and can be as hot or mild as you want it - you can vary your peppers accordingly. I like quite a bit of spice, but can't get away with too much, especially when they are fresh peppers, as not everyone (Brett) is a spice freak like me. But I can still get away with making it far spicier than some people might like it.

This was Brett's quesadilla, topped with guacamole and cilantro.

This was my quesadilla topped with guacamole and more Pico de Gallo.

Pico de Gallo

6 roma tomatoes, chopped (or 2-3 large regular tomatoes)

1/4 red onion, minced

1/4 cup fresh cilantro (or 2 tbsp dried)

1 jalapeno, seeded and minced

2 serrano peppers, seeded and minced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

juice of half a lime

1-2 tsp white vinegar

cumin

salt

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl. Refrigerate for a half hour or so to allow flavors to blend.

Portobello and Cranberry Bean Quesadilla

Makes enough filling for two large quesadillas (may have some beans left over).

2 cups cooked cranberry beans

1-2 large portobello mushrooms, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 a red bell pepper, roasted and sliced

1 zucchini, roasted and sliced

chipotle chili powder

ground coriander

Mexican oregano

cumin

salt
vegan jack (optional)

2 burrito sized tortillas

guacamole

Pico de Gallo

Heat a couple tablespoons of water in a medium sized skillet. Add mushrooms and garlic and season with a few pinches of chipotle chili powder, cumin and salt. Cook until mushrooms are soft, about ten minutes.

Meanwhile, in a medium sized bowl, season warmed beans with chili powder, coriander, Mexican oregano, cumin and salt.

Layer beans, mushrooms, roasted veggies, vegan jack and a bit of Pico de Gallo in a warmed tortilla. Fold tortilla over and fry if desired.

Top with guacamole and more Pico de Gallo.

'Til next time!