my new found appreciation for avocados

After my half-marathon I wanted something delicious to celebrate with. As I mentioned in my last post, I recently found out that I no longer have a food intolerance to avocado – hurrah! And so guacamole, chips, and Mexican beer sounded like the perfect way to kick back and relax.

I haven’t eaten much guacamole, due to being made ill by it, so I wasn’t sure which recipe to use. I thought of the recipe in Vegan Brunch, but alas, my cookbooks are now packed and I didn’t feel like digging through boxes to find it. So I went to Allrecipes.com and searched for the highest rated guacamole recipe. To go along with the guacamole, I picked up a bag of baked tortilla chips.

Guiltless Gourmet makes a few different flavours of baked chips. Not all of them are vegan, so make sure to check the ingredients. The blue corn (pictured above) definitely are. Are they as good as fried chips? No. But I like knowing that they are healthier for me and besides, once you dip them in guacamole or salsa or turn them into nachos, you really can’t notice that much of a difference in taste. The texture is a bit different though. Not necessarily in a bad way, but different.

I thought the guacamole was delicious. My husband (who has had guacamole far more often than I) said it was great, but the tomato should be omitted because “real guacamole doesn’t have tomato.” I have no idea about that. Anyhoo, here is the recipe as I made it:

Guacamole (adapted from Allrecipes.com)
-2 large avocados, peeled and pitted
-1/2 lime, juice
-1/2 cup diced red onion
-1 roma tomato, diced
-3 cloves garlic, minced
-1/2 tsp cayenne (decrease this if you don’t like spicy…we both love spicy food)

Mash together the avocados and lime juice. Mix in onion, tomato, garlic, and cayenne. Tastes best if it sits in the fridge for awhile.

vegan mofo: simple and quick tostada

So here is another thing I like to make for dinner when I have zero time: refried bean tostadas! It’s pretty simple…I spray a corn tortilla (there is usually a package in my freezer) with cooking spray and heat it up each side over medium heat in a skillet. When that’s done I spread it with some refried beans (usually out of a can) and then top with whatever veggies I have on hand. This week it was red bell pepper, onion, and romaine. Oh, and usually I like to douse it with salsa and hot sauce too. And there you have it, a delicious dinner ready in about 15 min.

vegan mofo: baked chimichangas

This semester I seem to constantly be rushing off somewhere, so I don’t have a lot of time to make supper most days. Twice a week I am teaching an undergraduate class and I come home completely drained (don’t get me wrong, I am enjoying teaching, but it takes a lot out of you!). When I don’t have a lot of time to cook and I am feeling exhausted, I like to turn to baked chimichangas.

It’s simple…just heat your oven to 400 F. Take a tortilla, put in whatever fillings you desire, roll it up, spray with cooking spray, and cook until it is crispy…about 12 min. or so. Here’s the chimichanga I had on Tuesday.

Okay so that one is kind of blah and boring-looking, but here is a better looking one with more colour from back in the summer:

vegan mofo: Vegan Plant – part deux

I still need to finish up my reviews from Vegan Planet from last week’s cookbook challenge.

I bought a bag of adzuki beans almost 6 months ago, but I never used them simply because I wasn’t sure what to do with them. So I thought it was perfect that Vegan Planet had a recipe for a saute with winter squash and adzuki beans. Against my better judgment, I used a hubbard squash from the farmer’s market instead of butternut. I adore anything and everything with butternut squash. I wasn’t sure what hubbard tasted like…while it’s okay, it lacks that sweet flavour that I adore in butternut. So while this dish was just ‘okay,’ I think it would have been better if I listened to the author and used butternut.

I also made the polenta chili casserole (without the ‘cheese’). We thought this was just alright…we both felt that we would have preferred chili with some cornbread, but that’s just how we roll I guess. I based the chili on her 3 bean chili (with a lot of added spice) and it was pretty good.

even more misc. foodstuffs

It seems as though my posts these days are always just a hodge podge of misc. foodstuffs. Well, keeping with that theme, here are some things I’ve eaten the past few days. First up, eggplant paprikash from Susan V. This was really good! Susan served her’s over pasta and next time that’s probably what I will do as well. Instead of using her sour cream recipe I used the last little bit of Tofutti Sour Supreme I had in my fridge. Even the omni bf liked this stuff. Well, as much as he ever likes a vegetable dish.

Next up, I revived the baked chimichangas. I took some refried beans, red pepper, tomato, corn, and green onion and rolled it up in a sprouted tortilla. Here it is before being rolled up:

I rolled it up, sprayed it with cooking spray, and baked it at 400 F for about 15-20 minutes. Delicious! I topped it off with some salsa and hot sauce and ate the leftover filling on the side:

I had some zucchini in my fridge that had to be used up. I remembered Susan V posting a microwave potato chip recipe and I was curious to see if it would work with zucchini. Like she says, there is a fine line between crispy and burnt. My second batch was inedible. The first batch was pretty tasty though. Not sure if I would make it again as I’m not much of a chip person, but I’m glad I gave it a try.

Lentil Enchiladas

I’ve heard nothing but good things about this recipe for lentil tacos. Finally I decided to try it for myself. However I couldn’t find baked taco shells in this city and I wasn’t really feeling the burrito vibe. Aha, why not make enchiladas?

These were super tasty and omni bf approved. And pretty cheap to make. It makes a ton of filling, but that’s delicious as leftovers.

Here is my version of the recipe, which is quite spicy and has an added chipotle so adjust to suit your tastes.

Chipotle Lentil Enchiladas:
-1 can enchilada sauce (I use store bought because it’s cheaper, but if you wish to make your own go right ahead)
-6 corn tortillas (or use a bigger casserole dish and more tortillas to use up all of the lentil filling)

Filling:
-1 c. diced white onion
-2 cloves garlic, minced
-1 cup dry lentils (I used brown)
-1 tbsp. chili powder
-1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes (adjust to your own tastes)
-2 tsp. cumin
-1 tsp. oregano
-1 canned chipotle pepper minced
-2 tsp. adobo sauce (from canned chipotles)
-2 1/2 c. veggie broth
-1 c. salsa

You will also need to make your favourite nutritional yeast cheeze sauce, or use my fat free version, which is a variation of Bryanna Clark Grogan’s:
-1/4 c. nutritional yeast
-1/4 c. flour
-1 c. water
-1 tsp. salt (obviously omit this if you are avoiding salt)
-1/4 tsp. garlic powder
-1 1/2 tsp. lemon juice
-3 tsp. prepared yellow mustard

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. In a large skillet, saute onions and garlic in a bit of water of veggie broth. Add lentils, spices, chipotle, and adobo. Stir constantly for 1 minute. Add veggie broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer 30 minutes.

2. Toward the end of the 30 minutes make your cheeze sauce. Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan. Heat over medium heat until it bubbles and thickens. Taste and adjust seasonings as you see fit.

3. When your lentils are cooked, pour in 1 cup salsa and half of the cheeze sauce. Stir.

4. Prepare a casserole dish. Spread some enchilada sauce on the bottom. Take a corn tortilla, spoon in filling, then roll. Make sure it sits seam down in casserole dish. Repeat with remaining tortillas.

5. Pour the rest of the enchilada sauce over the enchiladas and then top with remaining cheeze sauce. Bake 25 min.

I served mine on a bed of arugula with a salad on the side in order to get my greens in.

The Mexican food that would not end

I recently finished eating Mexican food for dinner four nights in a row (that’s more of a brag than a complaint). It all started with this recipe for spinach, black bean, and rice enchiladas. I saw that Happy Herbivore had made them and I noticed I had everything on hand to make them. I didn’t use the sauce recipe, instead I used store bought. I also didn’t follow the rice recipe, as I wanted to use up the ingredients I had at home. So basically I guess you could say I was inspired by the recipe, but didn’t really use most of it.

These turned out pretty good. Definitely healthy tasting. I’m used to heavy, “cheezy” enchiladas. I think next time I would play around with the recipe, and perhaps whip up a low fat cheeze sauce to go with them.

I had quite a few of these leftover, so I ended up eating leftover enchiladas the next day. On day #3 I still had quite a bit of Mexican rice leftover so I made an enchilada casserole with refried beans, some of the rice, and a cheezy sauce.

On Day #4 I still had some leftover rice, but now I also had leftover cheezy sauce and refried beans. This called for a tostada. I piled the toppings on way too high, but oh well, I had to use them up.

Nacho….Squash??

So the secret is pretty much out that I adore nacho toppings on anything and everything. Put some beans and salsa and cheez sauce on it and I’ll eat it. I really really wanted something Mexican but I also had a spaghetti squash to use up. That’s when I remembered Happy Herbivore’s fiesta spaghetti squash.

I didn’t follow her recipe (or any recipe) but the idea is the same. I roasted the squash in the oven. I then topped it with some black beans, bell pepper, and corn. I dumped a bunch of salsa on top of that and finished it off with a fat free cheez sauce…sooo delicious. The only down side was that it was new salsa I wasn’t used to, and while I normally enjoy Hot salsa, when this one says ‘hot’ it means hot. I was sweating profusely and the bf was worried about me so he brought me lots of soymilk.

Nacho Spaghetti Squash

• 1 spaghetti squash, roasted (or cooked in microwave)
• 1 1/2 c. black beans
• 1/2 red bell pepper, diced
• 3/4 c. frozen corn kernels
• a batch of your favourite nutritional yeast cheezy sauce
• salsa

1. Lightly saute bell peppers until tender. Add in beans and corn kernels until heated through.

2. Make your cheezy sauce.

2. Spread spaghetti squash out on plate. Top with bean/pepper mixture. Top with cheezy sauce and salsa.

Tofu Scramble Tostada Creation

I had some leftover tofu in my fridge along with various vegetables that had to be used up. So of course I immediately thought of a tofu scramble. I also wanted something smothered in cheesy sauce. I thought of a breakfast burrito type deal, but then I had a moment of creativity and went for a breakfast tostada instead.

Tofu Scramble Tostada

• 1/2 lb. extra-firm tofu, pressed
• 1/2 c. chopped onion
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 1 tsp. paprika
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. chili powder
• 1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes (more to taste)
• miscellaneous veggies you want to throw in (e.g., bell pepper, mushrooms, spinach, etc.)
• 2 tbsp. nutritional yeast
• a batch of your favourite nutritonal yeast cheezy sauce
• 2 tortillas (I used spelt tortillas)

1. Preheat the broiler.

2. Saute onion in water (or veggie broth) for 5 min. Add garlic, cumin, paprika, salt, chili powder, and red pepper flakes. Saute another 3-5 min. Throw in any other veggies you might be using. Depending on the veggies you use, you will have to saute for a bit longer.

3. Crumble in tofu. Add nutritional yeast. Sprinkle in additional water so mixture does not stick. Continue to stir tofu for approximately 10-15 minutes, until it starts to brown. Add water as needed to prevent sticking.

4. Meanwhile, make your cheezy sauce.

4. When done, transfer mixture on top of tortillas. Top with cheezy sauce. Broil for ~5 minutes.

Makes 2 tostadas.

Cheezy Jalapeno Cauliflower Bisque

We had a few jalapenos in the fridge that I wanted to use up, so I decided what a perfect time to try cheeze jalapeno cauliflower soup from the PPK. Based on the reviews, and my own love for thick, creamy soups, I did change the recipe a bit. Excuse the bad picture, but we all know I am inept at taking soup pictures.

Cheezy Jalapeno Cauliflower Bisque (Adapted from PPK)
-1 head cauliflower, chopped into small florets
-2 tbsp. olive oil
-1 large onion, diced
-3 cloves garlic, minced
-3 jalapenos, seeded and minced (keep some of the seeds if you want it spicier)
-1 1/2 tsp. salt
-2 tsp. paprika
-1/8 tsp. turmeric
-1 tsp. cumin
-4 c. water + 1 veggie bouillon cube
-2 c. water
-2 tbsp. arrowroot (or cornstarch)
-1 c. nutritional yeast
-1/2 c. frozen corn kernels
-1/4 c. salsa
-1/2 tsp. lemon juice
-2 tsp. dijon mustard

1. In pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add onions and saute until tender (about 5 min.). Add garlic, jalapeno, salt, paprika, turmeric, and cumin. Saute for additional 2-3 min. Add 4 c. water and the bouillon cube. Cover with a lid and bring to a boil.

2. Mix arrowroot and 2 c. water together in a separate bowl/measuring cup/whatever. Stir until dissolved. Add this to the soup. Also add the nutritional yeast. Stir until dissolved. Lower to a simmer. Once simmering, add the cauliflower and corn kernels. Cover and let simmer for 20 minutes, or until cauliflower is quite tender. Towards the end, add the salsa.

3. In batches, transfer the soup to a blender and blend for a few seconds. You don’t want it to be completely pureed, I like to still have some chunks of veggies in there. Alternatively, just use an immersion blender in the soup pot. Once it is blended, transfer back to the soup pot and heat the soup back to temperature. Taste to see if the salt/pepper/spice suits you. If not, tinker around with it. When done, serve.

Serves 4.

I think this soup would also work quite well with potatoes instead of cauliflower. That would definitely make it more filling. I ate just this soup for dinner (along with bread) and found I was hungry again in a little while. It’s definitely a soup to be eaten along with something else.