Tamale Pie

Now this is another recipe with unlimited options and possibilities. I have never had tamale pie, vegan, vegetarian or otherwise, but for some reason I just had to have some! My base recipe was from here. I also wanted to incorporate some tempeh, so here is my final result:

For the filling:
1 package tempeh, grated
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 cup of vegetable stock
1/2 onion, chopped finely
1 red bell pepper, minced up so the bean won't see it or she won't eat it
1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup frozen corn, rinsed in a colander to get that yucky freezery taste off
handful of chopped cilantro
5 fresh from the CSA tomatoes, seeded and chopped. Sub a big ole can of tomatoes if you gotta.
1 tsp cumin
1 Tbsp chili powder (mine isn't too spicy)
some salt
1 cup of shredded jack cheese

For the topping:
1 1/2 cups corn meal
1/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 cups buttermilk
2 Tbsp canola oil
1 egg, beaten

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Marinate the tempeh in the broth and soy sauce while you chop up everything else.

In a 12 inch cast iron skillet, saute the onion for about 10 minutes over medium low heat, or until just getting brown. Add in the bell pepper and garlic and cook until soft. Add the tempeh (drained if it looks too soggy) and cook 10 minutes until brown. Dump in the rest of the ingredients through the salt. Sprinkle the cheese over the top in a nice even layer.

Mix up the cornmeal, soda and salt in a bowl. In another bowl mix together the egg, oil and buttermilk. Stir into the cornmeal mixture until smooth, then pour over the filling in the cast iron pan. Bake for 30-40 minutes until the cornbread top is browned and a knife comes out clean.

Makes for killer leftovers, and the little bean thought this was a great "pie", even if it wasn't sweet :) Oh, and it isn't too attractive so no picture for this one.

Going back in time...

I started this post about a month ago. Guess I'll finish it...
We started our CSA share pickup 2 weeks ago and that makes for the ingredients for lots of easy quick veggie/salad dishes. Not really "cooking". However, we got two pints of grape tomatoes last Tuesday and I was afraid we'd get more tomorrow (we did)...so here's what I found: Pasta with Kalamata Olives and Roasted Cherry Tomato from Epicurious. So super quick and Delicious. My only changes were to omit the capers, use 1/4 cup feta, and toast the pine nuts. Not bad for me, usually I tweak things a lot more. This was really really tasty. Unfortunately I discovered a horrifying result from eating certain pine nuts...for a week afterwards everytime I ate ANYTHING I had a terrible bitter taste in my mouth. Somewhat common, as I found from a quick google search. No one else in the family had the same reaction, but now I am pretty gunshy from pine nuts. These were Trader Joe's brand, guess I'll try another type if I ever get brave again.

The roasted tomatoes with plenty 'o garlic

Last night (this is back in early January) my dear husband made a Spicy Peanut Dressing from the lowfat Moosewood cookbook that was really tasty. It is a basic recipe and made in the blender so it is super easy. I made it again a week or so ago, & I made a few changes because I had a specific flavor I wanted. So here we go:
1/2 tomato, seeded and chopped
3 T creamy, salted peanut butter
1 tsp agave nectar
3 T lime juice
1 T soy sauce
1 minced garlic clove
handful chopped cilantro
splash of rice wine vinegar
The salad was composed of red leaf lettuce and scallions.
This was one of my first veggie cookbooks and I am having fun going back to this. However, I still get put off by the number of fish recipes. Ah, the vegetarian fish tree, where I pick all of my fish to eat ;)

Indonesian Style Fried Rice

This is adapted from a recipe out of Vegan Planet. I had the cookbook checked out and renewed from the library for about 6 weeks total, it is HUGE. I read through it totally but didn't have time to actually make much from it. I made some notes on this dish & cooked it after I returned the book. It was really tasty, but unfortunately didn't stick with me long. I was ready for a serious snack before bed.

Saute 1/4 red onion, minced in 1 Tbsp peanut oil over medium heat. When soft (2 minutes or less) add 2 grated carrots, 2 cups small diced napa cabbage, and 1 minced clove garlic. Fry up for about a minute or two, it should all soften quickly.
Add 1 packaged crumbled, steamed tempeh with 1 T soy sauce and 2 1/2 tsp sugar. Let the tempeh get a little brown while stirring, a couple minutes. Dump in 2 cups of cooked basmati rice and 1 T soy sauce. Stir over heat until heated through. Serve with diced cucumber and chopped peanuts, and for me...a serious dosing of Sri Ra Cha. And a digestive enzyme so my tummy cooperates with all the chili sauce ;) So tasty! But probably best as a side, even with the protein from the tempeh.

Couple a dinners

This first meal is called, cook WAY too much food for 2 people. Upper left, good ole standby Beijing style veggies from Trader joes, to the right, Moosewood vegetable tofu dumplings, cooked pot-sticker style, middle is brown rice, then bottom is tempura zucchini. 2 small zucchini's made an obscene amount of tempura.
















Because neither the dumplings or tempura would keep, I really stuffed myself. I also made a quick ponzo-style sauce, with soy sauce, veggie broth, mirin, and a squirt of lime juice. Much better than straight soy sauce, which is what I usually would have done.



















Then, this one is fake summer style pasta. Fake, in that only the cherry tomatoes & basil were the fresh summer veg. Frozen corn and green beans rounded out the veggie count. It was a quick saute of 3 or 4 cloves of garlic, then cook the tomatoes for 5 minutes, then stir in the corn and green beans until warm through. Toss in the minced handful of basil and handful of crumbled feta and there you go. I oversalted the penne cooking water, so the little bean only ate the tomatoes and green beans. But it was also darned tasty to the adult eaters...

Sort-of breakfast for dinner

Many times, too many to count, we enjoy breakfast for dinner. Usually pancakes or scrambled eggs with english muffins, tonight I had a ton of potatoes and corn tortillas to use up. So I whipped up breakfast tacos: tofu scramble with roasted potatoes and jalepeno salsa (El Pato, from a can. Cheap and darn tasty). The tofu scramble is from Vegan with a Vengeance, but the recipe is posted online, I omit the mushrooms of course, and lately have been adding a couple chopped up leaves of kale with the garlic and cooking it down. Yummo. Due to the super-savory nature of the meal, it isn't so breakfasty and is quite dinnery. It is just that I usually eat the scramble for breakfast because it is so quick and easy. I also make a bunch of the seasoning mix up ahead of time, better than measuring out the cumin, thyme, paprika and turmeric each time. Mi esposa le gusta los tacos. Bien.

The little bean's first recipe creation

The little bean is quite an accomplished kitchen assistant, she knows the basic ingredients for oatmeal cookies and pancakes and enjoys setting everything up. She can crack an egg surprisingly well, loves the egg beaters and stirs like a madwoman. But now she has graduated to recipe creation: simple but apparently good.

Plain yogurt with chocolate syrup. Snack, dessert or any old time, she and her dad enjoy a nice bowl of plain yogurt drizzled with Trader Joe's chocolate syrup. What a pair they make!

The little bean loves kale?!?!?!? and fettucini with lemon cream sauce

So I check on her dinner consumption progress, and she is devouring the fresh fettucini with butter and parmesan (Duh) and all of the kale has been removed from her plate and set on her table. She ate one bite under duress, and pronounced it "yucky". No surprise there.

Hubby and I are finishing our fresh fettucini with lemon cream sauce and he has to pick up the little honey who is crying. His seat at the table is usurped by the little bean, who proceeds to SHOVEL IN his remaining kale. About a 1/4 cups worth at least. "I'm eating daddy's kale" "I'm eating kale for dinner" is announced between mouthfuls. And during.

What!?!!?!? I mean, I go crazy for the stuff, but what toddler would? (Her dad thinks she might have scurvy) (just kidding).

The lemon cream pasta wasn't picture worthy, very bland looking, but super tasty...

2 cloves minced garlic
1 tablespoon earth balance
1 tablespoon flour
1 cup low fat milk
zest from one lemon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 grated parmesan cheese
fresh ground pepper, a few good cranks

Soften the garlic in the margarine. Add the flour, stir over low heat until well blended. Pour in milk, lemon zest and nutmeg off the heat, then bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer for a couple minutes. Stir in the cheese and pepper well and remove from the heat. We don't usually mix the sauce in the noodles ahead of time. This was about enough sauce for 1 pound fresh fettucini.