curry, burritos, and cookies, oh my!

Happy Friday!  I cannot believe it is already the end of the third week of January.  Next weekend is the last weekend of January, which blows my mind for two reasons: first, I can't believe I blinked this month away already.  Second, something for which I have been preparing since May is finally culminating...or at least, beginning to culminate: my dear student has her first college music audition.  Tomorrow is our last lesson before the audition, our last chance to iron out any last kinks.

Between that and a few other things that are irrelevant to a food blog, I've been a little distracted lately...pondering the meaning of life (why did I marry a philosopher?), what I am doing with mine (why am I so introspective?), and ultimately, how to be happy.  I do want to share some fun food stories, so here's a random selection from the last couple of days.

Last night, since the Spinach Drought finally ended, I finally made Chickpea and Spinach Curry from Vegan With a Vengeance.

I was going to write last night, but I got distracted by the pure incompetence of someone from whom I've been waiting to hear news for at least a week.  I was too pissed off to focus on the relatively calm post I had in my brain - I thought a fun title would be Calming Colors: Chickpea Beige.

I love the color combination of this flavorful curry: bright red tomatoes, emerald green spinach, and golden-beige chickpeas.  Although I appreciate the bold colors of crimson and hunter, it is the subtle, creamy taupe of the garbanzos that pull everything together and make this dish a thing of beauty.  This is no testament to my still-developing photography skills, but if I saw the picture above in a cookbook, I would want to make that dish purely because it is attractive (and appears to be made of food I like).

Even though the Great Spinach Famine of 2011 is coming to an end, we're not back in business quite yet, so I was only able to get half of what I needed.  As a result of forgetting that while mixing the curry spices, the result was a little more intense than it usually is, but it was still very tasty, even if it took Mister three breads to get through his servings.

Tonight, I made Barbecued Black Bean and Tofu Burritos, also from Vegan on the Cheap, which I've made once before.  Although I went back and read that post, in which I commented on wanting to marinate the tofu, here's what I did instead:

I sliced it as thin as I could without tearing it, then laid it on some towels to drain a bit.  After spraying and heating my skillet, I arranged the slices and let them cook a few minutes while I seasoned the "up side" with sea salt and chili powder, then sprayed them with olive oil.  Once the tofu was popping enough to nearly flip itself over, I turned each piece and seasoned the half-cooked sides.  One more flip and I turned off the burner while the tofu finished cooking on the cooling-down skillet.

I will always do it that way - it came out so well.  Also, as the black beans were simmering in my home-made barbecue sauce, it seemed like there was too much liquid, so I looked in the fridge and found what I was looking for: leftover cooked rice.  I tossed that in, stirred it up and let it heat through, then lined each tortilla with 3-4 tofu slices and dumped a healthy bit of beans-n-rice on the tofu and rolled it all up.

Sooo tasty...  Speaking of tasty things, do you know what time of year it is?

That's right, kids - it's Girl Scout Cookie time.  One of my most recently hired and trained employees brought some in to sell for her daughter, but she just straight up gave me these: Shout Outs are brand new to the line up.  Round wafer cookies, embossed with one inspiring word (3 of the 4 I've already eaten said "Lead" and I wonder if I should be taking that as a message), and aside from an undefined "Sugar" in the ingredients, these sweet treats appear to be vegan - no milk, eggs, or other recognizable animal bits to be found in the nutritional label.  Also, I'm a pretty big fan of serving sizes like this: 4 cookies = 130 calories.

miso bad at beans + chopsticks

I really need to stop doing that.  I mean, really, there are only so many times you can turn "miso" into a culturally insensitive pun before it's not funny anymore.  Or, maybe it was never funny and I'm too much like my father.  Regardless, I couldn't resist, so forgive me this one last time.

In case my wretched title didn't give it away, tonight's dinner was Miso Udon Stirfry with Greens and Beans from Appetite for Reduction.  I was a little hesitant by the time I started prepping because it seemed like a lot of work.  Somewhere in my pondering, though, it appears I started combining the ingredients lists for two separate recipes because after I had washed my plum tomatoes and pulled out the ginger, I realized they weren't a part of this recipe and back in their chilly home they went. 

Once I set about prepping the ingredients that actually are a part of the recipe, everything went pretty quickly.  Once again, I must attribute my new-found speed with my handsome new knives.  Whenever someone says "size doesn't matter," I've become convinced they don't know how valuable an extra couple of inches are.

I'm talking about my 6" utility knife.  Get your mind out of the gutter.

Anyway, I burnt the broccoli, just like Isa said to and laughed to myself about a memory it evoked: [put on your flashback glasses and watch the screen] Many, many years ago, between becoming a vegetarian and learning how to cook, I moved into my first apartment in the city all by myself.  It was a terrific apartment - about twice the size of the one I moved into with my husband (yes, logic took a vacation in that decision-making process), with a bigger kitchen and a designated area to be used for dining.  I relied pretty heavily on frozen broccoli and "stir-frying" it in an old aluminum skillet as part of one of the only dinners I could make: veggie lo mein.  One night, I was doing my best impression of "making dinner" for Mister and I and he had the nerve to interrupt the rapt attention I was paying to the broccoli to give me hugs and kisses.  In the moments that followed, I burnt the broccoli and did not recognize this could be spun into a culinary delicacy.

So, after I purposely burnt the broccoli tonight, without Mister's help, I sauteed the garlic and chard while the udon boiled, and then completely forgot to steal a 1/2 cup of the pasta water to mix with the miso until I was watching the steam rise as I was pouring it down the sink.  Oh well.  This is another one of those things that always happens: If I make a fast-paced meal, like a stirfry, and especially if that meal includes broccoli (for some reason), I will inevitably forget something important and end up slowing myself down as a result.

I had two moments which gave me pause.  The first was the addition of the black beans.  I thought to myself, "how is this going to work?" while glancing at the table I set with chopsticks.  The second moment was when I was whisking the newly heated 1/2 cup of water with the 1/3 cup of miso and noticing how thick the sauce was.  As I poured it over the udon, beans, and greens, I wondered if I was missing something - tamari, oil, something.  I couldn't believe the entire "sauce" was just miso dissolved in water...but it was.  And it was delicious.

And Mister and I both had a pile of beans at the bottom of our bowls, because beans and chopsticks do not match.

not everyone likes fruit in soup

So....remember my hesitance about the Cuban Black Bean Soup? I never really went into detail, but I mentioned that the ingredients were a little off the wall. I also said that I had little doubt that I would love it, but at least a decent amount of doubt that Mister would. Well, it turns out the most tactful way Mister could find to describe the soup was, in fact, "weird." He ate it, God bless him, but I don't think I'll be able to get him to eat it again. I loved it, on the other hand, so we can just move that to the Wednesday file.

There will be no pictures, because they really didn't come out well and the soup really wasn't much to look at anyway, but here is a synopsis of our dinner experience:
The soup contains this bizarre mixture: hot sauce, black beans, coconut milk, and bananas. There are some other things, but those are the ones that make it weird. Specifically, the bananas are probably what lost Mister's vote (and won mine). I guess we can't all love fruit in soup. They added what can only be described as a buttery smell, which really confused me, even though I was the one who made the soup and therefore knew that there was not even Earth Balance in there, let alone butter. The immersion blender gave the coconut milk a bit of froth, as well as gently pulverizing just enough of the bananas, black beans, and peppers to thicken the broth a bit while still leaving chunks to satisfy Mister's desire to not feel like he could eat his dinner with a straw.

With that, we'll head right into Operation Gratitude Attitude.
1. I am grateful for the opportunity to play Christmas music at my piano for hours today, uninterrupted.

2. I am grateful for www.joshgroban.com and the opportunity to watch Josh sing one of the most powerful songs in musical theatre in the privacy of my own living room, so I could cry without shame.

3. I am grateful that facebook reunited me with a fellow JG-fan who told me that he played the part of Anatoly in a two-day performance of Chess, my favorite musical, at the Royal Albert Hall in London, directed my Tim Rice himself.

4. I am grateful that I still have one more day left before the insanity of the week starts.

mango belongs in soup

I would like to start by thanking the two ladies who left me feedback on my honey post. I will revisit that subject, as well as some other related topics, over the weekend when I have more time to put forth the thought and effort it deserves.

I don't have a whole lot to say (I'm saving it up, maybe), except that we had the Brazilian Black Bean Stew for dinner tonight and it was a lot better than my last Brazilian meal...
Yes, those are chunks of perfectly ripe mango you see atop that bed of black beans and veggies. What a genius idea! Another favorite soup recipe involving fruit comes from How it All Vegan - Curried Apple Soup. Oh, and dear Martha has a brilliant Chickpea-Apple Curry and I always forget how easily apples absorb cayenne until I've added too much and have to sweat through dinner. But then she makes up for it with the Strawberry Gazpacho (which I suddenly feel compelled to make again before all the tomatoes and strawberries are gone or twice as expensive for half the quality).

What I'm trying to say is: I think putting fruit in soup is awesome.

Anyway, this delightful melange of flavors was inspired by feijoada, the Brazilian national dish. After doing a little digging, it appears that the mango and veggies are replacing a huge quantity of pork and sausage. I'm not sure how they figured that exchange, but I think mangos, carrots, bell peppers, and tomatoes taste better than all manner of dead pig. A recipe I found lists pork sausage, bacon, and pork tenderloin as the main ingredients besides black beans. Pounds of these things. It also mentions that those pig bits are for cheaters who don't have time to cook it properly, by stewing ears, tails, and feet. Sounds great. I'll take mangos and peppers.

rice reincarnated

Today was so much fun! In the end, the farmer's market was a bust, I gave up on the Italian Market (I wasn't de-stressed enough yet to deal with the crowds and chaos), and the ultimate in self-pampering became the only thing I accomplished today. Aside from my deep desire to spend some quiet time at Cafe Fulya, I really don't feel bad about the three hours I spent in Salon Sugar today, letting Candi KaBoom do amazing things to my hair.

The salon itself is painted in shades of pale and hot pink, and there are pink and black vinyl curlicues reaching out along the walls from behind the ornate gold mirrors. There aren't words to describe how awesome this place is or how happy I am with my hair!
Also, I have finally fixed the Red Rice and Beans recipe. Also, that's a crappy name for dinner, so I gave it a spiffier title. Without further ado, I give you...

Risotto Mexicano (pronounced meh-hee-KAHN-oh)
serves 4-6
Ingredients:
1 cup brown rice
1 1/4 cups water
1 1/2 cups V8 Hot & Spicy
2 Tbsp canola oil
4 cloves garlic, pressed/minced
1 tsp chili powder
1 large red bell pepper, diced
2-3 plum tomatoes, seeded and diced
15 oz black beans, rinsed and drained
5 oz baby spinach

Bring water to a boil in medium saucepan. Stir in rice, then cover and reduce heat to lowest setting and simmer 10-15 minutes. When almost all the water has been absorbed, stir in the V8 juice. Cover and simmer 10-15 more minutes.
Meanwhile, dice the pepper and tomatoes, but keep separate Heat oil on medium heat in a deep pot. Add garlic and pepper; cover and saute 3-5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in chili powder, tomatoes, and black beans. Simmer, uncovered, 1-2 more minutes. Pour in rice and V8 - it should not have been completely absorbed by the rice yet. Simmer, uncovered, about 10 minutes, until rice is tender and most liquid is absorbed. Stir in spinach until wilted. Remove from heat and serve.

while I bake a birthday cake...

I'll tell you about dinner! Bananas and their cousins, Plaintains, attract fruit flies faster than any food I've seen, so I wanted to get them out of my kitchen as quickly as possible. I would have made the Cuban-Style Black Beans with Rice and Plaintains for dinner last night but I had my heart set on doing one of my own recipes in order to redeem myself for the Red Rice and Beans disaster.

So, tonight I rescued the plaintains from the microwave prison in which I've been hiding them in an ardent attempt to prevent the aforementioned fruit flies from invading my home. By the way - it appears to have worked. Shows you how frequently I use my microwave, though. Anyway, I "topped and tailed" them, skinned them and cubed them, then sauteed them until they were just a little browned and crispy. I discovered that the 1 cup of broth I was cooking the black beans and peppers in reduces to a nice thick sauce in the time it takes me to (once again) completely underestimate the amount of time it will take to cook brown rice.

I have a love-hate relationship with brown rice but we'll save that tale of woe for another time.

Anyway, it was a tasty and different little dinner. I was looking for something a little more piquant, but then again, I left out the three different members of the onion family written into the recipe in favor of a dash of onion powder. I more or less have a hate-hate more relationship with onions, but we'll definitely save that rant for later. I felt like I had been quite liberal with my salting, especially considering that I was using canned black beans and vegetable broth, but it tasted just a little too bland. I think, though, the bland may have been coming from the cooked-in-water brown rice and the dish just wasn't powerful enough to overcome that.

In other news, I am currently baking the Cinnamon Walnut Coffee Cake from La Dolce Vegan by Sarah Kramer. It smells so good. Mister and I are not big fans of cake, but that seems to be attributed mainly to the lack of good icings out there. Have you noticed that? How a too sweet icing can absolutely ruin a perfectly good cake? So I'm trying to decide if I really feel like risking the corruption of what presently smells like a great cake to coat it with Maple Icing from How It All Vegan (it's just a Sarah Kramer kind of night!).

The part of me that hates cakes with icing is battling with a long-ago memory of Mister making me a cake for my birthday and stating that birthday cakes require icing...and it is his birthday...

post script: the cake is way too pretty to ice:

Fiesta-dillas!

Subtitle: I love smoked tofu. Seriously, it is one of the best things ever.

Tonight, I knew exactly what my tastebuds were craving when I got home from work. Well, besides all the amazing cookies I was looking at on flickr for Isa's upcoming book, Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar, but that's another story. There was no second-guessing or mulling over the menu I have posted to my refrigerator door - tonight we were having Fiesta Quesadillas! I grabbed my little gold book and went to work dicing my peppers and tofu and prepping the garlic to be pressed. Everything was coming together very nicely...then it came time to assemble and heat the quesadillas...and I saw something kind of darkish through the bag of shredded cheddar I was intending to sprinkle on my quesadillas. I opened the bag and jiggled it around a little, peered inside, and surely enough - it was mold. Blech. So I tossed the cheese (and therefore the "quesa-") and decided to make the recipe completely vegan-friendly and renamed it Fiesta-dillas.

I didn't take any pictures because they weren't much to look at. I mean really, 'dillas more or less all look the same. If you've seen one, you've seen mine, okay? Anyway, this is another of my originals, premiered to my faithful readers (mom? lissa? rachel? maybe derek?) so I hope you enjoy:

Fiesta-dillas
Ingredients:
cooking spray
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp cumin
3 large cloves of garlic, pressed or minced
1 large orange/yellow bell pepper, diced
1 cup corn
15 oz can of black beans, rinsed
16 oz jar of chunky salsa, whatever heat you prefer
8 oz smoked tofu, diced
1/2 cup shredded cheddar (optional)

Heat oil in a saute pan on medium heat. Saute garlic and diced peppers until tender, about 5 minutes. Add black beans, corn, salsa, and cumin; stir well. Cook 2-3 more minutes, until corn is heated through. Remove from heat and stir in diced tofu.

Spray a square skillet/griddle with cooking spray and heat on medium-high. Lay out a tortilla on your work surface and spoon the tofu mixture onto one half of the tortilla. Fold the other half over and place on the skillet. If it's hot enough, there should be a quiet sizzling sound. Repeat with remaining tortillas, flipping each one after it's cooked on one side for about 1 minute. When the 'dillas are finished cooking, they will be browned on both sides and the tortilla will have become crisp. You may have to respray as you cook, and if you have a sensitive smoke alarm, let me recommend opening a window near your cooking area or employing the exhaust hood. Stack on a serving platter and serve with tortilla chips and hot sauce.

The new thing I love

Polenta. It's so good! Tonight's dinner was Polenta with Black Beans and Spinach. It was so simple to prepare that I thought I was messing up and it comes together ultra-fast! This is a great, hearty, savory meal - it will probably be amazing in the fall, come to think of it.

I popped my polenta cherry by slicing a 24 oz tube into 12 equal rounds, then grilling it on a skillet until golden and crispy. It looked a little bland, so despite the recipe author thinking polenta is fine the way it is (and she may be right!), I sprinkled each side of the polenta with some garlic powder and salt. I think it really added something, but someday I'll probably cook polenta without doing that, just to see what it tastes like unadorned.

While the polenta was sizzling away, I rejuvenated some sun-dried tomatoes (packed dry, no oil) in a cup of warm water, which I then added to the garlic and black beans in my saute pan. After flipping the polenta halfway through cooking, I laid some baby spinach atop the beans and tomatoes and covered the pot to let it wilt.

I'm still impressed with how tasty dinner was. I placed 3 polenta rounds on each plate and topped with the bean mixture. The table looked a bit bare, so I added a nice bowl of mixed Greek olives and Parmesan cheese.

I'm having a lot of first-time-I-cooked-with-that moments this week. I'm thrilled that they aren't colossal failures!

On a side note, I have no fun stories to tell of Angst begging for spinach tonight, since he was hiding in the bathroom from the thunder. I have another spinach recipe coming up later in the week, though, so hopefully I'll have my little kitchen helper then!

if you want to make this super-easy recipe, run out to your nearest bookstore and grab Vegan Express by Nava Atlas - you won't be sorry!