chile verde and jalapeno scallion cornbread

Drew is a peculiar vegetarian: he doesn't consider beans to be a main dish or a "real" source of protein. I've tried, but I cannot convince him otherwise. Though he's a fan of beans (particularly baked beans), he just doesn't think that they're main dish worthy, at least not on their own. For him, a meal has to have a "real" protein source: tofu, tempeh, seitan, or a mock meat (he is aware that this doesn't make sense and that he's being irrational). I, however, am a huge fan of beans and add them to whatever I'm eating whenever I can. I say that Drew's peculiar because shouldn't the vegetarian be trying to convince the meat-eater that beans can be a main dish and not the other way around? 

Since Drew's return from China, we've fallen into a routine where we cook two days a week and eat leftovers on the remaining days (except Saturdays, when we go out to eat). We each choose a meal for the week, and we serve as executive chef when cooking our selected meal while the other serves as sous chef. 

With the weather cooling off and as we transitioned into fall and then into winter, I wanted to make lots of soups and stews. The problem was that beans were the primary protein source in any soups and stews I wanted to make, and I had to figure out a way to get buy-in from Drew (we can always veto one another's meal selection). Somehow, I figured out that if I just agreed to add seitan or tempeh to the stew, Drew was satisfied. I can't remember how I stumbled upon this solution, but I'm happy I did.

We made a chile verde with white beans, seitan, potatoes, and tomatillos. 

 To go with it, I made a jalapeno scallion cornbread.

Both recipes are from Veganomicon, which is pretty much the vegan cooking bible. 

rum raisin bars and cranberry-orange-walnut scones

My general pattern with baking with alcohol is as follows: buy liquor for a specific recipe, use a couple tablespoons, shove the remaining liquor to the back of one of my baking shelves (yes, I have so many baking ingredients that they take up 3 shelves), and promptly forget about said liquor.

Lately though, my baking motto around here is "add booze." About a month ago, I took inventory of my kitchen, making mental notes of everything that needs to be used up by the end of July. I found near-full bottles of bourbon, rum, amaretto, and frangelico. Since then, I've been frantically trying to use up the liquor, which is tough to do without simply drinking it. 

So, I made a chocolate amaretto cake from the Magnolia Bakery Cookbook . I also added rum to pumpkin bread and pineapple upside-down cake. I've added bourbon to blondies and banana bread. And sometimes, I just pour frangelico into a shot glass and just sip it (it's the only one of the four that I'll drink). I'm doing my best to bake with the booze, and I'm waiting for Drew to come home so I can make him this Flourless Chocolate Hazelnut Cake (he doesn't read my blog, so I'm not worried that he'll find out).

Last weekend, I made rum raisin bars from the Fat Witch Brownies cookbook. Not at all too heavy and not overpowering, these were quite good. 

Okay, I'm not adding booze to everything around here. I also made cranberry-orange-walnut scones, from Vegan with a Vengeance. I think Drew would be proud of me for taking some liberties in baking these. I added dried cranberries and toasted walnuts, and I substituted oats for half of the flour in an effort to make the scones healthy and appropriate for breakfast.

I broke the "add booze" rule because they were for my breakfasts this week and I thought it would be wrong to eat something with alcohol in it at 7 in the morning. 

vegan chipotle mac and cheese

Having grown up in Minnesota, I used to have what my friend, DG, affectionately called "Scandinavian tastebuds" (or was it Midwestern tastebuds? This was over 10 years ago, so I forget). Anyway, I used to hate spicy food. I would break out in a sweat at the sight of a jalapeno pepper. Everything had to be mild, which often overlapped with bland. 

DG didn't give up on me. In the two years that we lived together, in addition to introducing me to fresh herbs and garlic, she worked on improving my tolerance for spicy food. For instance, despite my half-hearted protests, she made her enchiladas with the hot or medium sauce instead of the mild. She might have even tossed in a jalapeno pepper for good measure.   

But it worked. Between DG and Drew (whose tolerance is higher than mine), my tolerance for spicy food has increased exponentially. Sometimes I don't even recognize myself. A few years ago, we were at an Asian restaurant in Milwaukee and when I ordered the stir fried noodles, with a spiciness level of 3 chili peppers, Drew turned to me and asked "You sure you want to do that?" It's a valid question; the old me would have balked, but I responded "It's okay because 3 chili peppers in the midwest are probably like no chili peppers in California" (and I was right).  

After years of living in California, I've also become somewhat of a hot sauce fiend. Between my refrigerator at home and in my office, there are 6 bottles of hot sauce. Last weekend, I read that putting hot sauce on your food is a very California thing to do, and I laughed out loud as I recalled dousing my breakfast burrito in Cholula earlier that day. For the most part, I've resisted turning Californian, but I guess I'm not immune to some of its influences. It's a good thing I'm leaving; otherwise, the next thing you know, I'll be getting botox, plastic surgery, and a diamond so big that a village in Africa surely died for it. 

So last week, I made this vegan chipotle macaroni and cheese from the Post Punk Kitchen.

It was really simple. You soak some cashews, drain them, and then process them in the food processor with veggie broth, garlic, nutritional yeast, and chipotle peppers. The recipe calls for 4 peppers, but I was feeling adventurous (or stupid, depending on how you look at it), so I added 6. I surprised myself by doing this, as the old me probably would have added only one or maybe two. This dish turned out really well and just manageably spicy. As you can see, I added corn and black beans because I love veggies. 

A while ago, in an effort to inject lots of veggies into one meal, I made the Chubby Vegetarian's taco salad. The filling is a mushroom and eggplant "meat."

And scrolling through my phone, I found this picture of the granola bars I made a couple months ago. The recipe is from the Smitten Kitchen. 

And so is the recipe for the mushroom lasagna I made a few weeks ago. Sadly, I was so ravenous that I forgot to take a picture.

in january

In January, I made a blue cheese and caramelized onion gallette from A Year of Pies. 

And a pot pie stew and sweet potato biscuits from Appetite for Reduction.

I also discovered some new blogs. The first is A Sweet Spoonful, which I heard about from Eating From the Ground Up and Orangette. The blogger, Megan Gordon, from A Sweet Spoonful recently released a cookbook called Whole Grain Mornings. I haven't flipped through the cookbook, but I've been perusing Gordon's blog. I like her writing style and her stories, and I like her emphasis on whole grains. I made steel cut oats with a blueberry compote (her recipe calls for cranberries, but I didn't have any one hand).

. 

I also stumbled upon The Chubby Vegetarian. I made a veggie meatloaf

and veggie meatballs

and a barbeque eggplant sandwich with caesar cole slaw.

I've also been reading The Kitchn and Food52 and my name is yeh.

tempeh helper

This is embarrassing to admit, but I went through a brief period of time between college and grad school in which I had a strange fascination with Hamburger Helper. I don't really remember much about it. Some co-workers were surprised that I'd never had it before, and though they weren't exactly singing its praises, I felt like I missing out. And so I made Hamburger Helper a few times, once with actual hamburger, but the rest of the times with veggie crumbles. I don't remember what kinds I made, and though I didn't think they were horrendous, they didn't become a habit, largely because I was horrified at the high sodium content.

I had forgotten all about Hamburger Helper until sometime last year, when I purchased "Appetite for Reduction: 125 Fast and Filling Low-Fat Vegan Recipes" by Isa Chandra Moskowitz, author of many vegan cookbooks and blogger over at Post Punk Kitchen. 

This version is far superior to any boxed version. Sure, the "cheese" here is fake, but you are lying to yourself if you think it's real in the boxed version. Anyway, this version is made with tempeh, and it's super easy to make, which is perfect when it's the end of the quarter. Or really anytime you need a fast and easy meal.

Drew roasted some carrots with...oh dear, I wasn't paying attention, but they were a bit spicy. I also made these biscuits.

muffuletta, roasted leeks and potatoes

It's the end of the quarter, and you know what gave it away?  It wasn't the stress or fatigue, but rather, our slacker eating habits. Last week, we ate out a few times, which is pretty uncharacteristic.  This week, we were prepared, and we pulled homemade lasagna (made earlier in the quarter) from our freezer and next week, we'll do the same and eat soyrizo, corn, and black bean enchiladas.  

Despite being tired and busy, we did manage to make muffulettas.  I don't know the provenance of muffulettas, but I know the main components are cold cuts, cheese, and a marinated olive salad.  Our version is a vegan version made with roasted eggplant, spinach, and roasted red peppers, in addition to the olive salad.  The recipe is from Veganomican, by Isa Chandra Moskowitz, who blogs over at Post Punk Kitchen.    

I adore Moskowitz, and I have all of her cookbooks (and she has published many of them).  Many people are skeptical of vegan cooking and baking, but Moskowitz's cookbooks show you that it's easy and super tasty (okay, except for Veganomicon, which is a bit labor intensive).  I have never been disappointed with her recipes.  

The olive salad is addictive, and fortunately, there is a bit leftover, which is perfect for eating with the leftover bread you scoop out to make the gigantic sandwich.  I've been lucky in the past- I've been the one to assemble the sandwich by myself, but this time Drew and I did it together, so I had to share the leftover olive salad with him.  But I shouldn't complain- he did let me have the last bite. 

Drew roasted leeks and potatoes, both of which were amazing.  Usually, leeks aren't considered a side dish (apparently they are in England), but after eating Drew's leeks, I'm baffled as to why not (we had intended to make a leek and potato soup, so that's why we had the leeks).  Drew par-boiled the potatoes first, so they were extra crispy after baking them.  It's a bit high maintenance, but worth it in the end.