recipe

Vegan MoFo IV: It’s Finally Here!

/ Kelly / 5 Comments

It’s finally here – Vegan MoFo IV begins today! As excited as I am for this MoFo, new beginnings always send me on a long path down memory lane, so I can’t help but reflect a bit on last year’s MoFo experience.

Thirteen months ago marked the beginning of Vegan MoFo III. Thirteen months ago also marked the official beginning of my life as a vegan. During MoFo III, I posted every single day. During MoFo III, I lived with my parents and worked a part-time job with hourly pay. Coincidence? As if.

During MoFo III, I thought to myself, Daily posts? No big deal! Imma rock this shizz and get all up in MoFo’s grill, every day! I’m a new vegan and nothin’ can stop me! Burnout?! What’s that?!?

Ah, naiveté. This year, I live in a big-girl apartment and work a full-time, salaried, big-girl job. I often work 45 – 50 hours a week, and sometimes when I get home from work I’m absolutely exhausted, and the thought of writing up a blog post (not to mention making food about which to blog!) seems like the foodie equivalent of climbing Everest while wearing a bikini, keeping my eyes shut, and having noodles for arms. Plus, as I’ve said before, it’s deadline time for writers at my company, so things are extra busy these days.

Not to mention the fact that I’ll be  on a sUp3R sP3c!@L work trip this weekend, working 12-hour shifts on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. I’ll be lucky if my destination (a small town outside Columbus, Ohio) has any vegetarian options, never mind sweet vegan eats that’d merit a MoFo post.

So, November? Yeah, not really the ideal month for hot MoFo action.

However. Having said all that, here are some more factoids about me: I’m a little bit of a masochist. And I’m a perfectionist. And OCD? Yeah, she and I are kinda sorta best frenemies. And so. This year, for Vegan MoFo IV, I am going to post every single day. There, I said it out loud – I’m accountable now! I’ve been thinkin’ about how to make this a fun, enjoyable experience, one that won’t leave me weeping on the floor, cursing the blogosphere, and swearing off anything besides frozen burritos just as that most venerated of time periods – Christmas baking season! – begins. So here are some themes and topics you can look forward to in the month ahead:

  • Nomadic Noshing. I’ll try out some [mostly] authentic foods inspired by places I’ve visited, places I’ve lived, and places I’d like to visit.
  • Cookbook Challenges. Let’s face it – there are some cookbooks I underuse or (heaven forbid!) don’t use at all. I’ll choose a couple of those sad, neglected books and pick recipes that’ve slipped under my radar ’til now.
  • Erudite Eats. I’ll make foods inspired by my favorite books, films, works of art… that sort of thing. I’m really excited about this one!
  • Keepin’ it Raw. I’ve dipped my toe into the ocean of raw foods before, but ’til now I’ve kept it simple with chocomole, banana soft serve, zucchini noodles, and simple stuff like that. It’s time to wade on in and go for a swim!
  • Spreadin’ the Bloggy Luuurve. Y’all have some great recipes out there, and it’s high time I stop just bookmarking or starring them or adding them to my Crap I Want to Make document, and actually make them!

I’ve also got another idea to take MoFo to the next level: interactivity. When I know I have lots of time to devote to cooking, I’ll ask you to challenge me, to suggest recipes for me to try. If I get too many suggestions, I’ll use a random number generator to choose a few of your suggestions and cross my fingers and toes that I don’t wind up making opera cake and vegan turducken.

Beyond those special topics and themes, I’ll also post recipes, product reviews, and – let’s be honest here – the occasional cop-out food survey. And to start things off, how about one of those recipes?

Forgive my silly attempt at a sriracha spiral...

Thai-Inspired Cocobutternut Soup
Ingredients (Makes 1 or 2 servings)
~ 1/2 butternut squash, roasted and gently mashed
1 can light coconut milk
1 t dried lemongrass
Curry powder, salt, and any other spices to taste

After roasting your squash, heat coconut milk and spices in a pot. Transfer all ingredients to a blender (in batches, if necessary), and puree until smooth. Serve with sriracha for a kick of spice.

…yep. That’s it. Simple and quick. :) I think I liked this soup, but I’m not sure. I definitely liked the idea of it, but my reservations towards coconut-flavored things kept me from falling madly in love with it and running off to Vegas to get hitched. Maybe you’ll like it, though.

…and with that, I’ll wrap up my inaugural MoFo IV post. You should know that I essentially wrote this post twice yesterday because WordPress ate the first one. You should also know that, despite it having been a frustrating day in the food department (burnt oven fries and dry pie dough and stupid kitchen towels that kept falling off the oven handle, oh my!), I resisted my urge to cry and/or give up on MoFo before it began. Instead, I immediately rewrote the post. I know that I forgot a totally awesome title for a couple of my themes/topics, but other than that I think I recreated it fairly well. An inauspicious beginning, perhaps, but things can only go up from here, eh?

Anyway – happy MoFoing, and I’ll see y’all tomorrow!

Fibertastic Pumpkin Muffins (or, how I learned to suck it up and use my pumpkin pie mix)

/ Kelly / 4 Comments

Remember when my inner food snob reared her ugly head, inspired by an accidental purchase? I showed my true colors and disparaged the accursed can of pumpkin pie mix that made its way into my grocery basket one day when I mistook it for the far more acceptable pureed pumpkin.

Sneaky devil!

Well, I still stand by my opinion that pumpkin pie mix has no place in my kitchen cupboard, thank you very much. However, I still had to use up the rest of the mix, so with a little creativity, I came up with another place for it: muffins. Yeah, I totally ignored every recipe in the whole wide world that says, “Be sure to use pumpkin puree, NOT pumpkin pie mix OR ELSE YOUR BAKED GOODS WILL EXPLODE AND YOU WILL DIE.” Pshhh, whatevs. I purposely used this sucker in a batch of muffins. And you know what? It worked. SO THERE.

Nobody suspects the s3cR3t iNgR3d13nT!1!!!11!!

Fibertastic Pumpkin Muffins
Ingredients
1 flax egg (1 T ground flax + 3 T warm water)
1 C pumpkin pie mix
1/3 C nondairy milk (I used almond)
1/3 C applesauce
2 T oil
2 T molasses
Heaping 1/4 C raw sugar
1 t vanilla
1 C whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 C toasted wheat bran
1/3 C old-fashioned oats
1 T baking powder
1/4 t sea salt
1/2 t cinnamon
1/8 t allspice
1/4 t ginger
1/4 t nutmeg
1/8 t cloves

Preheat your oven to 350˚.

In a medium bowl, combine the flax egg, pumpkin pie mix, milk of your choice, applesauce, oil, molasses, vanilla, and sugar until well mixed. In a large bowl, sift together the dry ingredients. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until just combined. Pour spoonfuls of the batter into greased muffin tins and fill them about 3/4 full. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Et voila! Healthy, fiber-rich muffins that use up a good portion of your ungodly-sized can of pumpkin pie mix. You could also make this with regular canned pumpkin and just up the amount of milk you include, and maybe add some more spices. This recipe is loosely based on the Pumpkin Bran Muffins from Vegan Brunch, but I changed a fair few ingredients and adapted it for my own nefarious needs. By which I mean (obviously) my need to use up the mix.

I’ve still got a bit left, but I’ve discovered another use – as an addition to oatmeal. I’m accustomed to adding regular pumpkin to my oats, but I won’t lie – the additional sugariness of the mix adds an undeniable bit of sweet yumminess to my breakfast.

Anyway, that’s all I’ve got for ya today. I hope I survive this crazy windstorm the Midwest is battling, because one of my best friends is visiting this weekend, and we’re going to geek it up and hang out with Neil Gaiman at the House on the Rock. Yeah, no biggie. ;) Anyway, my posts might be sparse for the next few days, so have a great weekend and a fantastic Halloween! Do you have Halloween plans? Will you dress up? And – more importantly – do you like Neil Gaiman?!

Apple-Carrot Harvest Bread

/ Kelly / 1 Comment

Hello, friends! Happy Tuesday. Sorry for the prolonged silence – remember when I said that summer made a triumphant return to Wisconsin? Well, this weekend things really got crazy – the temperature soared into the low 80s and quite possibly shattered a record or two. So, needless to say, I made sure to get outside and soak up some rays. Gotta stock up on enough vitamin D to get me through the dark days of a Wisconsin winter!

However, the high temps don’t negate the fact that it is, quite obviously, still autumn. Ochre and burnt rust colors dominate the skyline; most of the trees around here have changed already. It’s quite sensorily confusing to feel summer-hot while hearing brittle eaves crunch underfoot and seeing yellows and oranges and reds. These autumnal colors are also prevalent in my food lately, because I haven’t given up on autumn-inspired meals and ingredients. Carrots and apples and pumpkins, oh my! Inspired by a bounty of freshly-picked apples and the beautiful, bright carrots from my latest CSA share, I came up with a perfectly autumnal recipe:

 

Autumn in bread form?

Apple-Carrot Harvest Bread
Ingredients:
2 medium-sized apples, grated
2 carrots, grated
1 flax egg (1 T ground flax + 3 T warm water)
2 T oil
3 T applesauce
1/2 t vanilla
2/3 C rice milk (or other non-dairy milk of choice)
1/3 C vegan cane sugar
1 1/2 C flour
1/2 C whole wheat flour
2 t cinnamon
1/8 t cloves
1/4 t nutmeg
1/4 t salt
dash ginger
3/4 t baking soda

Preheat your oven to 350˚F and lightly grease or spray a loaf pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk the water and ground flax to create your flax egg. This is a great time to grate the carrots and apples. Next, add the oil, applesauce, milk, vanilla, and sugar to the flax egg. Whisk until well-mixed. In a large bowl, sift the remaining dry ingredients together. Then add the wet ingredients to the dry, mixing until just incorporated – be careful not to overmix! Fold in the grated carrots and apples, pour the batter into your loaf pan, and pop that baby in the oven.

I baked mine for probably 45 – 50 minutes, and it was just a little bit under-done in the middle. I recommend keeping it in for longer – just wait until a toothpick or thin knife inserted in the center comes out totally clean. Remove from oven, let cool, and enjoy! You now have a slightly dense, very flavorful, and quite healthy quick bread, perfect for enjoying with a mug of tea and a good book on a cool afternoon.

…not that I’ve had any of those recently. :)

Hey, don’t leave yet! You still have one more day to enter my giveaway! I’ll choose a winner tomorrow night at 9:00 CST (not 7:00 as previously mentioned… I’ll be in class then!). So get on it!

Cinnamon & Spice Squash Stew (+ bibliophilia!)

/ Kelly / 6 Comments

In case you didn’t know, I am a bibliophile. I do have a B.A. in English, after all. Nothin’ (except maybe a strong caffeinated beverage) gets my heart a-racin’ like a big stack of books. I’m like a kid in Willy Wonka’s factory in a library or bookstore… or anywhere with well-stocked bookshelves, really. However, I think that my favorite book-y locale is a good ol’ fashioned used book sale. You know the type, the Friends-of-Such-and-Such-Library-Quarterly-Book-Sale type deal where you exchange a few crumpled dollar bills for a towering stack of books. I stumbled across one such sale last month and exercised an extreme amount of self-control, only buying a few books and a couple of old maps and box of stationery (for $1!!!). But since then, I’ve had a hunger – a desire, a craving! – to waste time browsing the stacks, to pile a basket high with cheap, well-loved tomes, and to generally satiate my bibliophilic urge.

Today I finally got to do just that, at another used book sale held by the same organization. Oh, it was heaven. I spent $6.25 and came away with a stash of language books (Hebrew! Italian! German! French!), more maps, more stationery, and novels. Lots and lots of novels.

Oh, rapture!

Doesn’t that just make your heart happy? Mine is singing with joy. Most of those cost just a quarter. Isn’t that ridiculous? A quarter! I was particularly pleased with the Canterbury Tales, because I have a rather embarrassing Chaucer collection and I always like adding to it with another version of the Tales. This is a prose version, and I don’t think I have one of those yet! So exciting. That bibliophilic urge? I don’t think it’s satiated so much as kindled! Ah well.

I also managed to snag a few old copies of Vegetarian Times magazine. As I perused the October 2008 edition, a recipe for the charmingly-titled “Spicy Fall Stew Baked in a Pumpkin” caught my eye, and I decided to channel that idea and create something similar for my own dinner – Cinnamon & Spice Squash Stew.

Squashlicious!

My stew shares barely anything in common with its VT cousin, other than the fact that it is baked in a winter squash. It’s a mish-mash meal, comprised mostly of CSA veggies and some Black Japonica rice my parents brought when they visited this summer. It’s also a hearty, warming dish full of autumnal veggies, and I washed it down with a cold glass of apple cider. It seems a little silly to provide a recipe for something so full of random ingredients, but I’ll do it anyway – just for posterity.

Cinnamon & Spice Squash Stew
Ingredients
1 acorn squash
1/2 cup uncooked Black Japonica rice
3/4 cup cherry tomatoes*
3/4 cup chickpeas
Small bunch of leeks, chopped into small rings
1 clove garlic, diced
Small pat Earth Balance
Generous sprinkle cinnamon
Dash sage
Dash thyme
Dash crushed red pepper
Salt & pepper to taste
Toasted walnuts (optional, but delicious!)

Cook rice according to the directions on the package. While it’s cooking, chop up the veggies. Melt the EB and then sauté the garlic and leeks until soft. Add the tomatoes, chickpeas, and spices and let simmer. Preheat the oven to 425 or so. Meanwhile, slice the top off the acorn squash and remove the seeds and stringy bits. Place the squash into a pan filled with a little water (you might need to chop a bit off the bottom of the squash so it’ll stay upright in the pan). When the rice is done, combine it with the tomato-chickpea mixture and spoon it into the squash. Place the sliced-off top back onto the squash, put it into the oven, and roast it for 45 minutes or until the it’s soft and tender inside. Remove from oven, top with toasted walnuts, and enjoy! You can eat it straight from the squash or spoon it – along with the squash! – into bowls.

*I used a handful of frozen cherry tomatoes – when my parents visited, they gave me a huuuge basket of tomatoes from their garden. So I threw a bunch of them (3-4 lbs, maybe!) in a freezer bag, and now I just pop ’em into recipes as needed! Works like a charm.

Do you write down random recipes you create on the fly? How about book sales – are you into them?

Garden Fresh Guacamole

/ Kelly / Leave a comment

We’re gonna have to make this a quickie (twss) because it’s late and I must go to work in the morn, but I wanted to get a fast post up tonight because I’M GOING CAMPING TOMORROW! We’re only going for one night, but I haven’t been camping in ages so I am wildly excited. I even made a variation of VeganDad’s granola bars and the Independence Day Wieners from 500 Vegan Recipes for the occasion.

But first – something simple yet satisfying, made from veggies from my CSA and my parents’ garden (more about that soon).

Goodness greenness.

Garden Fresh Guacamole
Ingredients
1 avocado
1/2 – 1 small jalapeno, seeded and diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 medium tomato, chopped
Juice of 1/2 lime
Other spices to taste, or a spoonful of your favorite salsa for the cheater version

Mash up the avocado. Add the other veggies. Eat.

…yeah, everybody and their mom knows how to make guac, but whatevs – this was a simple version I created with veggies I had on hand. Piled onto organic blue corn tortilla chips made right here in Wisconsin, this sure hit the spot on a warm summer day.

…and that’s all she wrote. Happy Friday, all!

Pixiepine Swag & a Chocolate-Covered Breakfast

/ Kelly / 3 Comments

A package full o’ wonders made its way into my mailbox a few days ago. I was so excited to win Pixiepine‘s smoothie and drink mix giveaway, because look at all the awesome swag I received:

A whole lotta yummy!

Everything was wrapped in some beautifully cut tissue paper, but unfortunately it got a little ripped up and didn’t photograph well. :( But at least the contents survived unscathed! Yesterday, I tried out this Natural Calm powder mix.

Calming cows?

I mixed the packet with hot water as instructed and drank it like tea. The flavor was… interesting; it was sort of sour and I couldn’t really take more than a few sips at a time. But between bites of my cereal, I had no problem finishing my mug. I don’t know if I necessarily felt calmer after drinking it, but I’ve got so much going on right now that I doubt anything other than a stiff drink could mellow me out! ;P

This morning, I tried out one of the products I was most excited to receive – Amazing Grass Chocolate Green SuperFood. I knew I didn’t want to just drink this in a smoothie, but what else could I do? Hmm…

How mysterious...

What could be behind that packet?! Well, last night I remembered Katie‘s post about using it in super healthy pancakes! Chocolate for breakfast? Um, yes, please!

I think Katie must be psychic, because I woke up this morning to find her post about chocoholics in my Google Reader. Needless to say, this further solidified my resolve to make a delicious chocolate-covered breakfast. I decided to make a recipe mash-up for my pancakes, mixing Katie’s recipe with Isa’s pancake recipe from VWAV. Here are the results!

SuperFood? You better believe it!

These were yummy, but not quite perfect. I used half a banana, but next time I’ll use applesauce because I’m a freak who doesn’t really like bananas. And I used a flax egg, but I don’t know if that was actually necessary. I am glad that I used blackstrap molasses, though; you can’t beat that little boost of calcium! Anyway, here’s the first version of my recipe for Chocolate SuperFood Pancakes. You really can’t go wrong with a batch of ~8 pancakes that include 7 servings of fruits and vegetables!

Chocolate SuperFood Pancakes
Ingredients
3/4 cup flour (I used a blend of AP and whole wheat)
1 packet Amazing Grass Chocolate SuperFood
1 t baking powder
pinch salt
1 flax “egg” (1 T ground flax whisked with 3 T warm water… optional!)
1/2 small banana, mashed (or 1/3 cup applesauce)
3/4 cup vanilla rice milk
1 1/2 T blackstrap molasses
1 T Sugar in the Raw
Healthy handful chocolate chips
H2O as necessary

Make your flax egg and set it aside. Sift all dry ingredients except the sugar into a large bowl and mix. In another bowl, mix all wet ingredients plus the sugar and whisk together. Add the flax egg and whisk some more. Add wet ingredients to dry and mix until just combined. If the batter is too thick, add tablespoonfuls of water until it reaches a good consistency. Throw in your chocolate chips, mix it all up, and cook on a lightly oiled pan over a medium burner. Voila!

Introducing the VeggaBar!

/ Kelly / 7 Comments

Although I definitely took advantage of the empty kitchen while my parents were on a mini-vacation this weekend, I’ll admit that my innovation and creativity were not particularly high. Sure, I followed a couple of recipes and had an especially productive Friday, but I’ve been itching to try something new. So when I came home from a trip to Trader Joe’s with a package of delicious Medjool dates, my mind instantly began pondering the creation of some kind of raw (or nearly raw) bar.

Now, obviously this is not my invention. I adore Larabars, and although I’ve yet to try Angela’s Glo Bars, they look amazing. And lots of other bloggers have come up with similar concoctions lately. Averie’s shared some scrumptious-looking Raw Vegan Donut Holes while Katie’s Fudge Babies are taking the blogworld by storm. What with these girls’ creations and the availability of tantalizing raw bar and cookie recipes in raw food books, it’s clear that this is a dessert variety that’s definitely in vogue at the moment.

And that’s okay. I felt like I was in good company when I was in the kitchen experimenting with my own version of raw(ish) bars. I enjoyed the results of my personal experimentation, and it’s fun to think about all the variations I could try in the future, taking inspiration from all the other wonderful bloggers out there who’ve made their own contributions in this realm. So without further ado, here are my Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookie VeggaBars!

Aren’t they cute? Inspired by the adorable mini Larabars (trick or treat sized, perhaps?), I made a bunch of tiny bars along with some circular “cookies”. If I owned any cute smallish cookie cutters, I definitely would’ve utilized them! These are yummy little nuggets of flavor, a fusion of the Oatmeal Raisin Cookies in Ani’s Raw Food Desserts and a Peanut Butter Cookie Larabar. It seems silly to post a “recipe” for these, but I’ll do it anyway.

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookie VeggaBars
Ingredients
3/4 cup dates, pitted (I used a blend of Medjool and presoaked regular dates)
1/2 cup peanuts
1/4 cup oats
pinch salt (optional)

Add dates and peanuts to food processor; process until peanuts are roughly chopped. Add oats and salt and pulse until combined. Remove “dough” from food processor, roll it out, and cut or shape as desired!

Easy as pie, and thrice as healthy. Yum!

Curried Butternut Squash Soup

/ Kelly / 2 Comments

Tonight I conquered yet another taste aversion – butternut squash. Similar to my previous dislike of sweet potatoes, butternut squash has always been on my “do not want” list. My mom always used to make this apple, butternut squash, and raisin bake for dinner, and whenever she did, I’d find myself picking at the apple slices while avoiding the other two ingredients. It was that savory/sweet mix, y’know? Between that and its texture, squash is just something I prefer to avoid. Tonight, however, I decided that the indirect approach might be best – instead of eating squash face-on, in the flesh, I turned it into a soup, because I’ve never met a soup I didn’t like. Thus, Curried Butternut Squash Soup was born.

Yum.

While I don’t think I’m ready to conquer straight-up squash anytime soon, this soup has definitely helped give me an appreciation for this oddly shaped vegetable (fruit?). There’s something decidedly autumnal about this dish, and because curry-flavored anything is a sort of comfort food for me, it makes for a cozy type of meal. I’m not sure why I feel that way about curry; I didn’t grow up eating curries at all. I did, however, enjoy curry chips when I studied abroad in Ireland a few summers back; perhaps those memories have led to my pleasant associations with curry. Whatever the case, I really enjoyed the combination of the curry and squash flavors in this soup, and although the preparation of the butternut devil was a bit hellish, I’m willing to forgive it because the result is so darn yummy.

Curried Butternut Squash Soup
Ingredients (serves 3)
2 butternut squash, quartered and peeled
1 medium-sized yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
~1.5 T olive oil
~2.5 cups vegetable broth
1 t curry powder
1/2 t cumin
1/4 t coriander
1/4 t cinnamon
dash cayenne

Preheat oven to 425˚ and spray a baking pan. Prepare butternut squash in your favorite way; you basically need them quartered and de-seeded. Place the quarters on pan and bake for about 35 minutes or until squash is tender.

Once squash has baked, remove it from oven and let cool. Heat up some olive oil in a large soup pot while you chop and mince the onion and garlic, respectively. Add to heated oil and cook until soft, then turn off the heat. Meanwhile, chop the baked squash into smaller pieces and add to blender with a fair amount of vegetable stock; puree the whole mixture. You’ll have to do this in batches, adding in the onion and garlic eventually. Once everything is pureed, return to the soup pot and add spices. Stir to mix, heat everything up, and then let simmer until serving time.

You can, of course, adjust your spices as necessary and adjust your blending process depending on what kind of kitchen appliances you have. I tried using an immersion blender after pureeing a small amount of the squash, but it really didn’t work that well. I’d imagine that a Vita-Mix would work excellently here, but alas – I am not lucky enough to have one (yet).

This is a super simple recipe, I know, but it’s quite tasty, if I do say so myself. My parents and I really enjoyed it, and I hope you will, too. :)

Sweet Potato, Corn, & Black Bean Burritos

/ Kelly / 5 Comments

Apples weren’t the only produce we took home when we hit up the orchard/farm a few days ago. We also bought a couple pounds of sweet potatoes, and I’ve been itching to use them since then. To be honest, I used to dislike (read: hate) sweet taters. I know, I know. But I have issues when foods that I expect to be savory are actually sweet, and the idea of a sweet potato never really did it for me. Add in my aversion to oddly textured foods (I’m a freak, I know) and sweet potatoes were low on my list of likes.

However, in the interest of fairness, last spring I decided to give sweet potatoes another chance. I started with oven-baked sweet potato “fries” and discovered that they were actually pretty darn tasty. I cautiously raised my acceptance level from “get that crap away from me” to “I suppose I could try some.” After oh-so-bravely trying plain ol’ baked sweet potatoes (loaded with cinnamon, of course), I realized that my childhood aversion to the pretty orange tubers was just silly.

Still, though, I can’t help but harbor a secret well of distrust for using sweet potatoes in certain situations, and sweet potato burritos were definitely high on that list of dubious delicacies. But since I knew I couldn’t use those beautiful local sweet taters for anything less than an exciting, explorative dish, I knew I had to face my fears one last time. So last night I came up with a sweet potato burrito recipe that surprised and delighted me. Now my sweet potato rating has rocketed from “yeah, these are good” to “GIMME MOAR PLZ!” Take a look at these little lovelies, pre-oven.

So innocent looking...

Okay, I realize that they look like plain Jane burritos right there, but trust me – these were bursting with a delightful blend of flavors. I absolutely loved the textural contrast, too; I saw one recipe online that recommended mashing the potatoes and the beans, but that just seems silly to me. The whole beans and corn kernels work to give your mouth a little textural surprise in each bite. Not to toot my own horn, but this super-easy recipe is definitely a winner!

Dinner is served.
(Mom’s photo, again!)

Sweet Potato, Corn, & Black Bean Burritos
Ingredients
2-3 sweet potatoes, cooked and mashed
1 ear corn, de-kerneled (you know what I mean!)
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 yellow onion, roughly chopped
1/2 T minced garlic
Cumin
Chili powder
Cayenne pepper powder
Salsa (I used some of my dad’s homemade salsa)
4 whole wheat tortillas

Preheat oven to 350˚F.

Cook and mash your sweet potatoes using method of your choice. I nuked mine (for convenience reasons) and that worked just fine. While your potatoes are cooking, heat a bit of olive oil in a pan and add onion and garlic. When they’ve begun to brown, throw in your corn kernels and black beans. Reduce heat, add spices to taste, and let the mixture sit for a bit while you mash your potatoes.

Once your beans and corn are nice and warm, lightly heat your tortillas. Spread a couple of spoonfuls of the mashed sweet potatoes on a tortilla and cover with the bean and corn mixture. Top with salsa if desired and fold burrito-style. Be careful not to overfill! If necessary, use toothpicks to secure the burritos. Arrange them in a lightly sprayed pan – I used an 8 x 8″ pan and packed them fairly close together – and place in oven. Cook for about 12 minutes, remove from oven, and let cool for a minute or two. At this point, you can slice them diagonally down the middle and garnish as desired.

I’m on a [Zucchini] Boat!

/ Kelly / 1 Comment

The late-summer zucchini lovin’ continues! Inspired by a couple of fantastic-looking recipes I’ve seen floating around the blogworld recently, I made some zucchini boats of my own for dinner a few nights ago.

Using recipes as a vessel for a delicious stuffing is always genius in my book, but somehow I’d never thought of using zucchini in this capacity. How stupid! They make perfectly charming and delicious boats, and you can improvise the stuffing based on whatever veggies/leftovers/grains strike your fancy on a given night. When I served them, I only had two zucchini in the fridge, so I ended up serving quite a bit of the stuffing as a side dish. With a couple of slices of rye bread, this made an excellent dinner.

Zucchini looove.
(Mom photographed the meal again… hehe.)

Although I basically opened the fridge and pulled out random bits of food, I’m going to post a really rough recipe anyway. :)

Zucchini Boats Stuffed with Israeli Cous Cous
Ingredients
3/4 cup Israeli cous cous
A few zucchini
Veggies for stuffing – I used grated carrot, chopped mushrooms, fresh corn, chopped olives, and chopped onions
Spices – I think I used oregano, thyme, a bit of cayenne, and herbes de Provence
Tomato sauce, if you have a jar you want to finish
Whole wheat breadcrumbs

First, preheat your oven to ~375. Next, make your cous cous or grain of choice; I’ve seen rice and quinoa used in different recipes. As your grain is cooking, start choppin’ your veggies and and heat a bit of oil in a pan. Cut your zucchini in half and use a teaspoon to scoop out their innards. Throw all your veggies (including the zucchini innards) into the pan and let them saute up a bit; spice as desired. When they seem properly softened, add them to your grain and combine. Then add tomato sauce (or chopped tomatoes or a bit of tomato paste) and flavor with some nutritional yeast if desired. Add breadcrumbs if you feel like it.

Next, stuff your zucchini boats with the grain and veggie mixture; heap the mixture as high as it’ll go without causing your boats to capsize when you put them on a lightly oiled baking pan or dish. Liberally douse the boats with bread crumbs for a nice crunchy top, put ’em on the pan, and pop the pan in the oven. Cook until the zucchini is soft and the bread crumbs are crunchy.

…I told you it’d be a rough recipe. :) If you do try it out, I’d recommend maybe using a higher oven temperature and adjusting as needed during the cooking process.

And this concludes my latest zucchini lovefest. Have a fantastic night, folks!