Lasasgne And Meaty Beany Chili

Amy did something wonderful:  she cleaned the kitchen Saturday.  I hate cooking in a filthy kitchen, and sometimes, especially if we make something pan- and bowl-intensive during the week, stuff gets piled up in the sink and on the counters, until you cannot navigate the place at all.  But Amy rose to the occasion - she cleans the kitchen and cleans and refills the cat boxes in exchange for gas money, so it works out great.  I had quite a bit of cooking I wanted to do, so it felt good to pull out my chopping knife and cutting board in a clean kitchen.  I also have The New Farm Cookbook, which I had made the melty cheeze recipe from a few nights ago and had some left over.  I was feeling lasagne, so...

I took the vegan lasagne recipe from The New Farm Cookbook, and messed with it a little bit.  In addition to the melty cheeze, I added some mozzarella flavored Daiya, which really enhanced the mouth-feel of the lasagne.  I made this last night, but since no one has been home for dinner besides me, and Amy doesn't like lasagne anyway, I have dined on it two nights in a row.  And I plan on taking some of it to lunch this week.  I'm still not so sure about the melty cheeze recipe from that cookbook - I think the nooch flavor is too heavy, and for some reason, it doesn't taste cheesy to me, even though Amy says it tastes cheesy to her.

For the church pot luck this afternoon, I made Meaty Beany Chili and Corn Muffins.  People ate up the corn muffins.  The chili was pretty good, I think I will make it again, and not use quite so much chili powder, and use green peppers instead of the golden pepper I used.  Maybe even add an extra jalapeño or two, though I really don't like my chili all that hot.  This tasted a bit too tomatoe-ey for my taste.  Maybe I should have added two TBSP maple syrup instead of just one.  I am not sure.  I did use diced tomatoes instead of tomato purée.The lentils make it "meaty" just like ICM says they will.  So, a definite keeper.  I do know one thing - the house sure smelled wonderful when we woke up this morning. (I cooked it overnight because the pot luck luncheon was directly after church at 1115.)  The corn muffins turned out practically perfect.  I just wish I had a larger lidded box to carry them in.  I will definitely make those again as well.

Smoky Fiesta Black Bean Tamales

Smoky Fiesta Black Bean Tamales

■2 cups masa harina

■1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

■1 sweet onion, diced small

■1 large carrot, diced small

■1 red bell pepper, diced small

■1 can diced green chiles or 1 Anaheim pepper, diced

■2 minced garlic cloves

■1 T. baking powder

■1 1/2 t. sea salt

■1 T. nutritional yeast

■1-2 t. liquid smoke (depending on your preference)

■1 t. red chili flakes

■1 t. mesquite powder (optional)

■1 C. cashews (soaked for 4-6 hours if you don’t have a power blender)

■1 1/4 C. water

■20 dried corn husks

Method: Place the corn husks in a large bowl of hot water. Cover with a plate so that the husks stay submerged. Next, make cashew cream, combine cashews with the water and blend until completely smooth. Set aside. Heat a non-stick sauté pan over medium heat, add onion, carrot, bell pepper and Anaheim peppers (if using). I used a dry pan (you may need to add a bit of broth or water to your pan if it starts to stick) and stirred occasionally until the onions were translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic cloves and red chili flakes and heat for a minute or two more. Set aside. In a medium bowl, combine masa harina, baking powder, sea salt, mesquite powder and nutritional yeast with a wire whisk. Add the vegetables (including the canned green chilies) to the masa harina and stir to evenly distribute. Now add the cashew cream and mix all to combine a nice moist dough. If dough seems too dry, add water a Tablespoon at a time. Using a 1/3 cup measure, scoop the tamale dough onto a corn husk. Roll up tightly like a burrito, tucking in the ends as you go. My batch made 15 tamales, but a few of my corn husks were small, so I needed to use 2 husks to get it to roll up properly (which is why I included 20 husks). Next, put a steaming basket inside a large lidded pot, add water, making sure the water doesn’t rise above the bottom of the steaming basket. Heat on stove until water is boiling. Add the tamales carefully to the steaming basket so they don’t unravel. Reduce heat to medium-low and steam, with the pot lid on, for 45-50 minutes. Tamales are ready when the dough is firm and holds together. Remove from heat and let cool for 5-10 minutes before serving.

Well, I can already say I forgot to put in the liquid smoke.  Because there's no place where it says in this recipe to add it.  The ingredients are not in order, so I had to figure out what to do with what was in the ingredients as I read the recipe.  Well, they won't be smoky, but hopefully will taste okay.  I will add liquid smoke to the leftover mixture tomorrow (I will have to remember to cut it in half)

Tamales are a LOT of work.  The kids were helpful, so that was good.  And if all else fails, well, we can have beans, vegetables and bread.  I am steaming them on top of the stove and in the rice cooker (which has a steaming basket for veggies)

Positively Pantry Chili and Vegan Cornbread

Tonight's dinner features Positively Pantry Chili from Vegan on the Cheap and vegan cornbread (with some modifications) here.  I used homemade vegan sour cream (made from the recipe in VotC) instead of plain silken tofu, and I used regular sugar instead of turbinado sugar.  The way I am trying out new recipes this week, you'd think it was the Vegan MoFo.  But no, it's just me, trying to save money AND eat better.

One of the ingredients of the chili:  Asian BBQ sauce (it doesn't call for that; that is what I used because it is what I have).  I loved the aroma coming from the slow cooker when I opened my front door this afternoon after a long day.  It tasted fairly good, though, Brian did say it was too spicy for him.  I think I will cut back on the chili powder when I make it again.  The cornbread was seriously delicious; we ate half of it, and have half left for another meal.  This recipe, with some continued modification (I also need not to use so much water) is definitely a keeper.

More vegan chili

This is a new recipe:

1½ 28 oz. cans of whole tomatoes, ground/chopped in the food processor
2 onions, diced
1 red pepper, diced
1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and diced
1 bag of beef style crumbles (soy product)
2 15 oz. cans black beans
1-2 TBSP chili powder
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper

Sauté the onions and peppers in olive oil.  Add to pot.  Add tomatoes, and all other ingredients to pot.  Simmer for several hours.

I might add some brown sugar.  I have to taste it after an hour or two and decide.

Vegan chili from Food.com

http://www.food.com/recipe/Vegan-Chili-334694

One thing they do not say is that most Worcestershire sauce is NOT vegan.  So, we're going to leave that out.  We're also leaving out the mushrooms because the kids don't like them.  Additionally, it's a good idea to add onions and garlic, even though they are not indicated in the recipe.  I cannot imagine chili without onions!  Marcus added two peppers instead of one, and also diced up some carrots to add texture.

I think this would be really good with some corn bread.  Vegan corn bread, coming up!
http://www.food.com/recipe/vegan-cornbread-115929

Veganomicon black bean burgers with a twist

Instead of ketchup or tomato paste, I added BBQ sauce (vegan as far as I know, but not really entirely sure - it sure tastes good)  to the black bean burger recipe from Veganomicon.  So far, so good.  With sweet potato fries.  Brian & I will have a good lunch.  No meals out today.  Too many crazy people out there on the road and elsewhere this Black Friday.

Update: General Tso's tofu at China Delight for dinner.  Oh well...

Black Bean Burgers

We made the Black Bean Burgers recipe from Veganomicon, the Roasted Brussels Sprouts from Vegan With A Vengeance and mashed potatoes with a secret ingredient - grated onions.  All in all, a delicious meal!  Thanks to Amy for your help and your idea for the onions in the mashed potatoes.

update - those black bean burgers are GOOD

Sweet potato and black bean stew with quinoa

I made up this recipe, because I didn't have all the ingredients for any of the recipes I looked up that involved sweet potatoes and black beans. 

First, I cooked a boatload of quinoa in my rice cooker.  Turned out pretty good, though I guess I needed to rinse the quinoa a little better.

Second, I diced and roasted two large sweet potatoes.  This was almost too much, except for the brazen sweet potato lover (me). 

In my soup/stew pot, I sautéed a diced onion and added a can of black beans (drained) and a can of diced tomatoes (with juice).  I seasoned it with a TBSP of chili powder and a tsp of cumin, as well as a dash of garlic powder.  TASTY!

I combined all these things and VOILA!  Pretty good for an improvised recipe.

The kids liked it better once they added some Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce.

Crockpot Black Bean Stew

Brian has a chorus concert tonight, and we very much need dinner to be ready by 5.  Hopefully, that will be the case.  The thing is, the crockpot recipes in the cookbooks cook in under 8 hours.  I have anywhere from 10-13 hours before we eat dinner, so I need something with a longer, not shorter cooking time.

 Soooooo....
This is one I made up all by myself.  Pretty much.  I cut up carrots, celery, and potatoes and put them in the crockpot.  Then I emptied a bag of dried black turtle beans into the pot.  I added ½ tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp oregano, 1 tsp cumin and 1 TBSP chili powder to the mix.  My greatest fear with this is that I may have added too many dried beans and not have enough water to cook them completely.  The pot is chock full to the brim.

Roasted Sweet Potato and Black Bean Chili

Roasted Sweet Potato and Black Bean Chili

Food wishes Chef John goes vegetarian (vegan, actually, if you leave out the sour cream, or use vegan sour cream).  My husband Marcus found this recipe on teh interwebs. This is what I'm making today.  I have transcribed the recipe from the video and am posting it below.  This is definitely a good cause, and especially as a vegan, I feel that we DO have enough food to feed the world - it's terrible that children starve, when if people adopted a vegan diet, we could feed everyone.  Just my opinion.  At any rate, sign the petition.  Kids need to be fed.  And we can start, by feeding our own children good nutritious food.

Here's the website to sign the petition:  Sweet Potatoes on the menu at One.org

And now, the transcribed recipe:

Roasted Sweet Potato and Black Bean Chili

Ingredients:

2 lbs orange-fleshed sweet potatoes

1/2 tsp ground chipotle pepper, or to taste

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbsp olive oil, divided

1 onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 jalapeno, sliced

1 tbsp cumin

2 or 3 tbsp Ancho chili powder, or other chili powders, or to taste

1/4 tsp dried oregano

1 can (28-oz) diced or crushed tomatoes

1 cup water, more as needed
1 tbsp corn meal

1 tsp salt, or to taste

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp unsweetened cocoa

2 cans (15-oz) black beans, drained, rinsed

cayenne to taste

vegan sour cream and cilantro to garnish, if desired

Peel and cube  3 sweet potatoes.  Place cubed sweet potatoes in a bowl and add salt and chipotle chili pepper and olive oil, stir to coat.  Place on baking sheet and roast for 20-25 minutes at 400ºF. 

Meanwhile,  sauté onion, red pepper and jalapeño , chili powder , cumin and oregano until onions are translucent.  Add crushed tomatoes and bring to a simmer, adding salt, sugar, water and corn meal.  While simmering, add cocoa and simmer for thirty minutes.  Stir in black beans and sweet potatoes, and keep warm until ready to eat.

Update:  This is positively delicious!  YUM YUM

Spinach-bean quesadillas and a short update

http://vegweb.com/recipes/spinach-and-bean-quesadillas

These turned out really well.  It was nice and simple and didn't take too long.  I used fresh spinach instead of frozen, so it was a bit on the bitter side.  I also used the pepperjack variety of Daiya, and omitted the salsa.  Still a good dinner.  I will definitely make this again.

Slow going on practicing clarinet and doing water aerobics.  I have not felt well recently, and am just plain tired.  When I went to the doctor, they did a urinalysis and lo and behold I have a bladder infection.  I am now on a course of Bactrim, so hopefully that will clear up in a few days.  Hopefully I will feel more like exercising on Monday.