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. 

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.

a week of smitten kitchen

After eating this pasta every day for a week, it didn't take me long to realize that I need to cut recipes in half. 

That strategy worked. 

Sort of. 

It just meant that I ate ratatouille 3 days in a row. 

And after that, corn risotto-stuffed poblanos for another 3 days. I'll get the hang of this someday.

The recipes this week are all from Smitten Kitchen, one of my favorite cooking blogs. Deb Perelman writes the best stories to go with each recipe, takes great pictures, and I think she's funny and down to earth. Both of these recipes are from her new cookbook, The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook. 

To accompany my poblanos, I made black beans. I winged it here and simmered black beans in veggie broth, sauteed onions, garlic, and cumin. Drew would be so proud of me for forgoing a recipe (though doing so was admittedly difficult). I also added a couple chopped tomatoes, fresh picked from the garden.

In addition to the ratatouille and poblanos, I also made vinegar slaw, breakfast apricot crisp, and a spring salad with potatoes. As you can see, I'm a big fan of the Smitten Kitchen. The recipes are fairly low maintenance, but Perelman doesn't resort to shortcut cooking or baking. Some of the recipes are pretty standard, but she also has ones with interesting twists. I will always have a soft spot for Smitten Kitchen. After all, it was after consulting Perelman's tutorial that I finally mastered pie crust. 

nachos

I love nachos, but before meeting Drew, making them myself didn't occur to me. Drew sauteed veggie crumbles, onion, garlic, and black beans with a variety of spices, but as usual, I wasn't paying attention. He poured the mixture over a pile of tortilla chips, topped it with grated cheddar cheese, and baked it in the oven just long enough to melt the cheese. 

I usually turn my nachos into a salad, adding lots of lettuce, salsa, avocado, and sour cream. It feels more virtuous this way.

un-chinese food, or Drew's super-secret surprise

Super-secret surprises are, well, super secret surprises that Drew and I plan for each other when we accomplish a milestone. There are few rules governing super-secret surprises. Obviously, it must be a secret. Beyond that, there is a lot of latitude. It doesn't have to be elaborate or expensive or complicated. It just has to be a surprise. The second rule is that they are reserved for milestones only- qualifying exams, prospectus defenses, marathons. Super-secret surprises aren't for just any occasion, so no birthdays, anniversaries, or holidays. The idea is that no matter the outcome of these (usually stressful and nerve-wracking) events, there will always be a super-secret surprise to look forward to. We don't remember exactly when we began referring to these as super-secret surprises, though I suspect that it was when I ran my marathon.  

My super-secret surprises for Drew tend to involve food; his involve either food or crafts. Here are some examples: When Drew took his qualifying exams, I made him pastries and gyoza like the ones we ate in Beijing. When I defended my dissertation prospectus, Drew transformed our garden into a pumpkin patch and surprised me with dinner. When I ran my first (and only) marathon, Drew made me a special trophy, and when I ran my 1000th mile, he made me 3 types of bagels each representing a city 1000 miles away. And when I recently interviewed for a job, Drew made me a giant gold star.   

Last week, Drew defended his dissertation proposal. The easy thing to do would have been to make him Chinese food, but that's cruel and unusual punishment for someone about to spend a year in China. And so I thought I'd be clever and make un-Chinese food. I bought egg roll wrappers and wanton wrappers, and stuffed them with Italian, Mexican, and Indian food.

First up: ravioli with a pesto and four cheese filling (maybe five). The recipe is inspired by Giada's Four Cheese Ravioli with Herb Pesto.

Next, I made egg rolls stuffed with taco filling and samosa filling. The taco filling is the Post Punk Kitchen's recipe for ancho lentil tacos (I used veggie crumbles instead), and the samosa filling is from Veganomicon (of Post Punk Kitchen).

The meal was a big hit, and Drew was impressed (and very relieved that it wasn't really Chinese food). I boiled the ravioli as one usually would, and I baked the egg rolls (though we did decide that frying is superior to baking, which we did with the leftovers).

black bean, zucchini, and olive tacos

This was the second time we made black bean, zucchini, and olive tacos, and I had forgotten how much we enjoyed them. The recipe is from Appetite for Reduction, from the vegan cookbook authors who brought you Post Punk Kitchen.

Drew was in charge of the tacos (black beans, diced zucchini, black olives, onion, garlic, jalapenos, salsa verde). He made a chipotle sour cream, added some cheese, and we toasted the corn tortillas and ate these as tostadas, not tacos (messy, but more filling). I made the rice (jalapenos, onion, garlic, diced tomatoes, green chiles), which is loosely based on this millet recipe from Veganomicon, which is, you guessed it, from the Post Punk Kitchen too.

soyrizo, black bean, and corn enchiladas

This was a planned, yet unplanned dinner.  A few weeks ago, I picked up some breakfast burritos at Chronic Taco after running group and then stopped at Trader Joe's to get some soyrizo in case Drew wanted some in his burrito (I got chorizo in mine and didn't want him to feel left out).  He didn't, electing to go with the fake bacon we had at home instead.  Anyway, we also had some leftover enchilada sauce in the refrigerator, so we decided it was time to make enchiladas.  That's the unplanned part of dinner. 

I almost never cook without a recipe, but that's exactly what I did last night.  I sauteed an onion, jalapenos, and garlic, and then added the soyrizo.  I dumped in some black beans, corn, the remaining bottle of enchilada sauce, and cilantro and then let it simmer.  Drew made the enchilada sauce, which is based on a recipe from Simply Recipes and can be found here.  We also roasted red potatoes (usually we make beans and rice, but I wasn't feeling it), which Drew mixed with jalapenos, onions, and chipotle powder, I believe.

Though we make enchiladas a lot, we don't actually make enchiladas.  Instead, we make an enchilada lasagna.  We're ambitious enough to make enchilada sauce and cook black beans (as opposed to using the canned stuff- the bean juice weirds me out), but we can't be bothered with making enchiladas.  It's too much work, so instead, we layer enchilada sauce, corn tortillas, filling, and cheese (cheddar and queso fresco this time).  

After about 30 minutes in the oven at 350 degrees, we have this: