Objects in This Mirror May Not Be as Vegan As They Appear

I don't know what your Facebook feed looked like on Tuesday, but mine definitely had a trend - the return of the Pumpkin Spice Latte.  The fervor was so strong that I think there may have been an unofficial parade for it.

Even before I went fully vegan, it had been awhile since I had a milk based drink at Starbucks.  I am a big fan of their Zen teas and their snacks, especially when I'm traveling for work, but Frappucinos and lattes never really sat well in my stomach. And, for the longest time, I didn't think I could have soy milk. But, today, when I went in with my co-workers today to grab a bag of roasted almonds, I saw that that their soy milk is organic (and thus GMO-free).  So, I thought I'd try the Pumpkin Spice Latte with soy milk and no whipped cream.

I tried it and I liked it.  I was all set to blog about it.  But, then a voice in the back of my head said "Before you blog about this yummy vegan drink you had, maybe you should confirm that it's actually vegan."

My first stop was the Starbucks website.  They have a handy dandy nutrition calculator, but I couldn't easily find ingredients on their site.  So, I googled.

My answer?  Vegan?  Not so much.  Nope.

Rather than hem and haw about this, I'd like to pass on a few thoughts that you can apply in general to your own vegan journey.

1.  If it matters, do the research.  Just because something looks like it's animal product free, doesn't mean it is.  And if you feel strongly enough about eating any animal products, or if you have food sensitivities, it's worth the time to ask.  Read Don't Kill the Birthday Girl to learn more about where milk and caesin can lurk, especially if you have food sensitivities (plus - it's a great book!).  Thanks to social media and websites, it's usually easy to get that information.  And if an eating establishment won't respond to your customer concerns, do you really want to eat there?  Although I wish Starbucks had a truly vegan coffee option, I do credit them for being forthright and responsive about customer ingredients.  

2.  It's not the end of the world as we know it.   So, I had some condensed milk.  While I'm not happy about it, I'll move on.  Just like if you decide to go vegan and have a little bit of cheese or bacon or what have you, either inadvertently or by choice, don't beat yourself up about it.  I fully commend folks that have the commitment to be fully vegan, lifestyle and all.  But, like any eating plan, going "off plan" once doesn't mean you're "off plan" forever.   From just going Meatless Monday to cutting back on animal product consumption, you are making a big difference.  I'll quote Gene Bauer again - "Don't let perfect be the enemy of the good."  Chalk it up to a learning experience.  If you ate it with intention, allow yourself to meditate on why you made the decision, how you felt afterwards and be at peace with it.  If you ate it inadvertently, see #1 and be at peace with it.

3.  Conversations Matter.  One of the comments on the Your Daily Vegan Post above essentially said "you had a little milk - get over it."  If you follow a vegan diet, you're going to run into this type of conversation at some point.  Use this as an opportunity to patiently explain why you've made the choices you've made, and how many great animal product free options there are out there.  Just like you don't want people to judge you for making vegan choices, don't judge those who aren't up for a vegan lifestyle, or aren't "vegan enough" for you.  Everyone's on a different journey.  Let's all make a vegan lifestyle as accessible as possible.

When it comes down to it, I won't be consuming another pumpkin spice latte in it's current form because a)It's too much sugar for me and b)I feel better when I'm 100% dairy free.  To get my pumpkin goodness, I may try this pumpkin spice breakfast shake.

Vegetable Soup with Navy Beans

Wow, was my last blog December 18?  Holy cow.  Let me give you a quick recap of the past few weeks - our niece arrived December 19, then it was Hanukkah, husband's birthday, making a few meals (nothing I haven't blogged before) for my brother & sister-in-law, volunteering on Christmas Day at Washington Hebrew Home, a road trip with the in-laws and grandmother-in-law to visit the new baby, home yoga practice and lots and lots of naps to recover from it all.

With all this busyness and craziness, we decided we could use some serious comfort food.  And what's better comfort food in the winter than homemade soup?  Better yet, a hearty, vegan friendly vegetable and bean soup?

I've been wanting to play with dried beans for awhile.  Sure, they're a heck of a lot less convenient than canned, but the trade-offs are worth it, especially when it comes to texture and flavor.  Also, the variety of dried beans at our local Whole Foods is amazing.  They have a number of heirloom beans that I'm really looking forward to trying.  So, if you are able to plan your meals ahead, I really encourage you to give dried beans a try!



For this soup, we decided to go with a simple navy bean.  Fun fact - these beans got their name not because of their color (they're off-white), but "because they were a staple food of the  U.S. Navy in the early 20th Century."  Like other legumes, navy beans are an excellent source of fiber and protein, and are also a "good source of folate, manganese and vitamin B1 as well as the minerals phosphorus, copper, magnesium and iron."

Beans soaking

Beans cooked

I used VeggieTable.com as a guide to preparing the beans .  After picking through the three cups of dried beans, I soaked them for eight hours in nine cups of water.  I then boiled them in the soaking liquid for ten minutes, skimming foam off the top.  After ten minutes, I reduced the heat to a simmer, added a generous teaspoon of salt, and simmered the beans covered for one hour.  My husband and I tasted the plain beans when they were done and agreed that we vastly preferred them to canned!  We then put them in the fridge to use in today's soup.

One of my favorite soups is minestrone, which traditionally includes vegetables, beans and pasta.  According to Wikipedia, minestrone translates to "the big soup" and is usually made from whatever ingredients you have in the fridge.  What I ended up making was minestrone inspired, as we used up a lot of what we had in the fridge.  But, I elected to leave out the pasta at the last minute, so I'm hesitant to call it a true minestrone.

Behold the aftermath of the chopping!

To start the soup, I diced one large white onion, half a bunch of celery, three yukon gold potatoes and two zucchini.  I also sliced up several handfuls of baby carrots and minced four cloves of garlic.  I sauteed all the veg in olive oil until it was translucent, about ten minutes.  When the good brown bits started to stick to the bottom of the pot, I poured in a little bit of vegetable broth to deglaze the mix.

I then added in a large can of whole tomatoes and their liquid, breaking up the tomatoes with a spoon.  Then, I added three cups of the cooked beans.  Using the neat little herb mill my sister-in-law gave me recently, I ground up some sage and rosemary and mixed that in, along with fresh thyme, dried oregano, sea salt and black pepper.  Finally, I added a carton and a half of veggie broth.  Once the soup came to a boil, I let it simmer for an hour, which made our entire apartment, and probably the hallway, smell like yummy vegetable soup.

We had the soup for lunch today with some crusty bread.  It was warm, hearty and had a nice kick from the garlic and pepper!  Better yet, we have tons of leftovers, and I think it will taste even better reheated, as the flavors will continue to combine.

Adventures in Kabocha Squash

Now that we are in the midst of Fall, all the local markets have an abundance of squash to choose from.  There's the familiar butternut and acorn, but also carnival, hubbard, turban and other lesser known varieties.

This means, of course, that I finally was able to procure kabocha squash.  I wrote in a previous blog that I had a delicious preparation of kabocha squash at SEI back in March and that I've been stalking it ever since.  Now that squash is available in abundance, I was able to procure one.  Granted, once I bought it, I didn't have the foggiest idea what to do with it.

So, I did some research.  Kabocha is also known as Japanese Pumpkin, likely because of it's pumpkin-like shape and the fact that it is primarily grown in Japan.  It is also a popular component of vegetable tempura, which means many of us have probably had it without realizing it.  Kabocha, like many bright orange vegetables, is rich in beta carotene, and also a nice source of iron, vitamin C and potassium. 

I did some googling to see how kabocha is often prepared.  I saw a lot of soups with thyme, and I figured I could get the same flavors by cubing and roasting the kabocha and seasoning it with fresh herbs.  This was an excellent plan, but I didn't take one thing into consideration.  The kabocha is the Fort Knox of vegetables.  I even had trouble hacking through it with my trusty Wusthoff.  So, after I finally got it in half, I scraped out the seeds, put it face down on a baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray and roasted the kabocha halves in the oven at 400 for 40 minutes.

I took the kabocha out of the oven to cool.  In the meantime, I minced a shallot, prepped the fresh thyme and shredded some kale.  When the kabocha was cool enough to handle, I began cutting chunks of it from the shells.  It had an almost crumbly texture - possibly, I let it cook for too long, but it had a nice flavor.

I then put the shallots to work in a gob of soy-free Earth Balance, and then added the kabocha chunks, thyme, salt and pepper, kale and fresh parsley.  I then added in some leftover freekeh from last night.  It looked a little dry, so I added a splash of wine to moisten things up. 

The result was a nice, filling cold-weather meal.  The kabocha was similar to butternut squash, but nuttier and creamier (the latter creaminess may have come from the large hunk of faux butter I cooked it in).  I put just the right amount of salt in to enhance the flavor of the whole shebang as well.

What the Freek is Freekeh?

Yes, I finally cooked something!  I had a yen for farro this week, but when I was in the grains section at whole foods this week, I stumbled upon freekeh and decided to give it a try.

"What is Freekeh?" you may ask.  It's roasted green wheat that can be served like rice or pasta.  According to Greenwheat Freekeh, the nutritional advantages of Freekeh include its high percentage of fiber, protein, calcium, potassium, iron and zinc, but low place on the glycemic index scale.  Thus, it's an excellent option for vegetarians and vegans.

Like farro, non-instant rice and other whole grains, there's some cooking time involved.  I brought the freekeh to a boil and let it simmer for 45 minutes.  While the freekeh was cooking, I reconstituted some sun-dried tomatoes in hot water.  Normally, I use fresh tomatoes, but I wanted the bite and texture of sun-dried for this dish.

I then minced shallots and sliced up some fresh brussels sprouts and, when the freekeh had about 15 minutes to go, sauteed them in soy-free earth balance.  I then added some garlic, freshly ground black pepper, the sliced sun-dried tomatoes, salt, some of the poaching liquid from the tomatoes, and a splash of white wine.  I finished the sauce off with red pepper flakes and italian seasoning, and then stirred in some vegetarian friendly parmesan cheese (no rennet was used, and the cows were not given rGBH - check your labels if you want to learn more!).  Vegans can easily omit the parmesan to make this a dairy-free meal.

I am happy with the result - the freekeh was chewy and nutty, and the sun-dried tomatoes, garlic and red pepper flakes added a nice tang.  The sliced brussels sprouts were a cool contrast, and I liked the aged creaminess the parmesan added to the dish as well.  I have leftovers, so we'll see how it re-heats for lunch tomorrow.

Four Layer Chocolate Raspberry Cake

This weekend's dessert experiment was a four layer chocolate raspberry cake.  I used the fail-safe Real Simple magazine chocolate cake recipe and chose the chocolate sour cream frosting.  I wanted to do something different with the filling, but wanted to make sure I used a fresh produce item, so I found this recipe for fresh raspberry filling. 

I split the cake making process into two days so that I wouldn't be running around my kitchen screaming this morning.  Yesterday, I made the cakes and the filling.  I've always read about the need for butter and eggs to be at room temperature for baking, but never bothered to consider why.  Just so you know, according to Joy of Cooking, having butter at room temperature allows for the butter to be properly aerated, which helps with the leavening process.  So, if you want light and fluffy cakes, let your butter and eggs sit out awhile.  Mine hung out on the kitchen counter at least an hour before I started the batter.

Layers, pre-splitting.

While the cakes were baking, I made the raspberry filling.  In hindsight, I didn't need the whole recipe - halving it would have been more than sufficient.  When cooled, both the cakes and the filling went in the fridge overnight.


This morning, I made the chocolate icing.  I melted a package of semi-sweet chocolate chips in a double boiler.  A double boiler is an insert you place over a shallow pan of simmering (not boiling!) water.  This way, you can melt the chocolate without scalding or burning it.  If you don't have a double boiler, you can also use a metal mixing bowl - just be careful lifting it off the pot of hot water.  I'm shocked I've never spilled molten chocolate or 150 degree water on myself pre-double boiler.

Melting chocolate in a double boiler.

One issue I have with recipes featuring sour cream is that we always have some left over, and we rarely, if ever use it.  So, for the icing, I decided to sub something we always have in the house and eat frequently, Fage Greek Yogurt.  The tang and consistency is similar to that of sour cream, so it worked just fine for the icing.  Considering that there were three (yes three) cups of confectioners sugar in the icing, it definitely needed something to cut the sweetness.

Since we had oodles of filling, I decided to split the layers on the cake.  To do this, I used a cake leveler.  I've split layers with a bread knife before, but a cake leveler gives you much more precision, and it's only $3.29.  So, if you think you'll be baking a decent amount, it's not a bad investment.  You can also use it to level out the tops of a cake if you are putting a lot of care into decorating it, but, given that it takes all of my precision not to drop the frosting on the floor before it gets to the cake, I don't bother.  I did make one of the layers much thinner than I intended, but once it's in the middle of the cake and iced, no one needs to know . . .

Cake in cross section.

One smarty pants thing I did this time, per the suggestion on the packaging for the cake leveler, was to put some waxed paper under the edges of the cake as I filled and iced it.  When I was done, I removed the wax paper and there was no evidence of my usual dripping and spattering.

I garnished the cake with fresh raspberries and stuck it in the fridge for awhile so it could handle the car ride and being out on the table.

The verdict - nice and chocolately, but not overly sweet.

Kombuch-What? Adventures in New Beverages

My friend Elena and I hit Cafe Green yesterday for a post yoga dinner.  For those of you unfamiliar with Cafe Green, it's a sit-down restaurant on 17th Street in Dupont with an organic vegan menu and a nice selection of raw dishes.  I enjoyed a Vegan Cheeseburger, which was soy free, topped with daiya and served on a whole grain roll.  The ingredients included "sprouted quinoa, lentils, and seven fresh veggies, including kale and mushroom." Other than $4 for a "side salad" which was a teensy bit skimpy, no complaints here.  We also both had vegan (and again soy free!) vegan cheesecake, which I enjoyed immensely.  I really appreciate how well the menu is labelled for folks with allergies - items are clearly marked as gluten free, nut free or soy free, which makes it easy for diners with food sensitivities and more severe allergies to pick a dish they'll enjoy.

The real fun treat of the night was me trying Kombucha for the first time.  I've heard people talk about it, but I've never had the opportunity to try it.  What is Kombucha, you may ask?  According to the Mayo Clinic:

Kombucha tea is a fermented drink made with tea, sugar, bacteria and yeast. Although it's sometimes referred to as kombucha mushroom tea, kombucha is not a mushroom — it's a colony of bacteria and yeast. Kombucha tea is made by adding the colony to sugar and tea, and allowing the mix to ferment. The resulting liquid contains vinegar, B vitamins and a number of other chemical compounds.
Health benefits attributed to kombucha tea include stimulating the immune system, preventing cancer, and improving digestion and liver function. 

I will note that the article then goes on to note that there are no medical studies that really support this, and that some people do have adverse reactions to it, so the Mayo Clinic recommends proceeding with caution.   Other folks swear by its disease curing properties.  I actually wasn't aware of any of the medical claims or concerns when I tried it.  I just like trying new foods that don't make me sneeze.

Anyhow, I had Synergy's Trinity flavor and enjoyed it.  It was flavored with raspberry, lemon and ginger, which offset the sour tang I understand plain kombucha can have.  The bubbles were quite refreshing.  I definitely could see me enjoying it a few times a week, medical miracles or no.  All I know is that it tasted good and my stomach felt just fine afterwards.

Chayote Squash - What Is It and What Will I Cook With It?

A month or so ago, I could have sworn I saw an article in Clean Eating or Vegetarian Times that made burritos with chayote squash.  I was determined to try it, but the chayote was elusive.  The local market?  Negatory - they don't go more exotic than a yellow bell pepper.  The Giant near our apartment?  Nada.  The Safeway by my yoga studio where I'd sworn I'd seen them dozens of times?  Not a single chayote in sight.  Ditto for two Whole Foods Markets and a Balduccis.  Just when I thought there was some sort of mysterious chayote shortage, some finally popped up at the local Giant and I snagged them right away.

Today, when I went to make said burrito dish, I realized I either hallucinated the recipe or misplaced the magazine.  So, I decided I'd work the chayote into a concoction.

Mind you, I had no idea how the chayote should be prepared or what it should taste like, so I turned to the trusty internet.  Per Wikipedia:

The Chayote in all it's glory.

The chayote (Sechium edule) . . . is an edible plant that belongs to the gourd family Cucurbitaceae along with melons, cucumbers and squash.  Chayote is native to Mesoamerica where it is a very important ingredient to the diet. Other warm regions around the globe have been successful in cultivating it as well. The main growing regions are Costa Rica and Veracruz, Mexico. Costa Rican chayotes are predominantly exported to the European Union whereas Veracruz is the main exporter of chayotes to the United States.

Interestingly enough, the chayotes I bought were from Costa Rica, so maybe there is something to this shortage thing . . . but I digress.

The chayote fruit is used in both raw and cooked forms. When cooked, chayote is usually handled like summer squash, it is generally lightly cooked to retain the crisp flavor. Raw chayote may be added to salads or salsas, and it is often marinated with lemon or lime juice. It can also be eaten straight, although the bland flavour makes this a dubious endeavor. Whether raw or cooked, chayote is a good source of amino acids and vitamin C.

I did taste a bite of the raw chayote and it was fairly bland, like a watered down apple.   So, I decided to put it in a cooked dish.

 We had half a red onion in the fridge, so I minced that up.  I diced one of the unpeeled chayotes (you get more out of one than you'd realize - there's no seeds or pit to scoop out) and stripped an ear of fresh corn.  At the same time, I also started up a pot of quinoa. 

In my big saute pan, I heated up some olive oil and sauteed the onions and corn, and then added the chayote and seasoned the mix with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper.   I bashed up four or so cloves of garlic and threw that in, along with about a teaspoon of cumin and juice from half a lemon.  I then took the whole thing off the heat and stirred in some fresh cilantro leaves.

To serve, I grabbed some mixed lettuce, and tossed 1/4 of the quinoa with about a cup of the bean and chayote mixture to put on top of it.  I reached for my faux cheese initially, but I decided it would be better without it.

The cooked chayote had a nice crunchy texture, and it picked up the flavors from the seasonings and the rest of the dish.  I anticipate eating the leftovers cold on a salad, or as a burrito filling, or even in an omelet.  I may also add some avocado to it once the two on my counter are at peak ripeness.

Concoctions

As I was rushing to get out of work in time to get to yoga class, the fiance called me to let me know he'd be home late.  And then he asked "What are we having for dinner?"

Crap.

Yes, I love to cook ridiculously time consuming recipes.  But, sometimes I am:

A) Lazy
B) Facing a random assortment of things in the kitchen that seem to make absolutely no sense
C) Hungry enough to start gnawing on furniture

When this set of circumstances occurs, dinner is a Concoction.

Concoction is a term of my mother's - we can call her the Queen of the Concoction.  She can survey the fridge and the pantry, throw in whatever random things are available in no set amounts (aka "Enough"), cook it on the stovetop for no set time (aka "Until It's Done").  This, essentially is how I learned to cook, and also why my secret dream is for Chopped to have an amateur competition, because Mom and I would so take everyone down.  In fact, as I was sharing the blog with Mom, she said she liked it, but also asked "Are you just going to do recipes?" and I replied, "No, I promise to blog about Concoctions."

Behold the Concoction as it sautees and bubbles!

So, tonight, when I first walked in the door at 9:30, fiance was still at the gym and hunger was hardcore setting in, it was definitely Concoction time. 

First, I surveyed my options - we needed a grain, a protein and lots of veggies.  Since I love weirdo grains, we fortunately had a lot of options.  I decided to go with one with a shorter cooking time - pearled couscous.  Pearled couscous is also known as israeli couscous.  The grains are slightly larger and rounder than regular couscous.

As for protein, we had a ton of canned bean options.  I decided to go with chickpeas, since the couscous was taking us in a middle eastern direction anyway.

Next, I surveyed my produce options - leftover green onions from my veggie enchilada experiment, leftover celery root from the lasagna experiment, garlic cloves, mushroom slices and broccoli raab (okay - so I might have picked the last two items up at Safeway on the way home from yoga, but I didn't have to use them tonight).  In case you're not familiar with it, broccoli raab is a slender green vegetable.  And, as I learned tonight, it's not a form of broccoli.

After I chopped everything up, I heated olive oil in my large skillet and got the couscous going.  The onions went in first, followed by the mushrooms, fresh ground pepper, celery root, broccoli raab and chickpeas.  I added some leftover vegetable broth and let the whole thing cook down.  When the veggies were sauteed to my liking (maybe 12 minutes or so - I only know because that's how long the couscous took), I tossed in the couscous and shredded parmesan and, voila, Concoction in around 18 minutes.  And yes, it was tasty!

The finished product!

Ultimately, when you're pressed for time, you can eat a frozen meal, which is about as appetizing as a frozen brick and likely about as good for you, or you can make a Concoction.  So, if you are looking to make your own Concoction, here are some tips:

1.  Concoctions work well if you tend to have good stuff already in the fridge.  If the only stuff in your fridge is mustard, a leftover hot dog bun and bologna, you are not going to be happy with your Concoction.  So, start eating fresh produce, whole grains and beans if you're not already.

2.  Keep a well stocked pantry - As much as I eat fresh, there are a number of non-perishable items that aid any cook.  Canned beans keep well, and if you're leery of BPA, you can get ones that are BPA-Free.  Also, having a variety of quick cooking whole grains - quinoa, couscous, whole wheat pasta - will help you out.  If you really are in a crunch, I am also a fan of microwaveable pouches.  Seeds of Change makes a nice grain blend.  You should also have olive oil, an arsenal of spices and herbs (fresh is better in most cases, but dried works in a pinch . . . ha), and garlic cloves.  Cartons of vegetable broth are also a nice touch.

3.  Prep produce in advance - if your stuff is pre-washed and chopped, your Concoction will come together more quickly.  You can also have fresh-cut items on hand, like the sliced mushrooms I bought.  There are also fresh stir-fry mixes, shredded carrot and cabbage, chopped pepper mixes, bagged greens, etc. The faster you cook, the faster you eat.  And the more produce you eat, the healthier your meal is.

4.  Make Sure It's Pretty.  This is another edict of Mom's - "Food should be colorful."  As the saying goes, you eat with your eyes first.  The more of a variety of colors there are on your plate, the more appetizing the Concoction will be.  And, since fresh vegetables are the best way to put a lot of color in your meals, incorporating them in the Concoction will make your meal healthier.  So, you can do brown rice and mushrooms if you please, but I guarantee you'll be happier if you put in some carrots, yellow pepper and zucchini.  The trick is having all that stuff on hand in the first place, granted.

5.  Have something to put all this stuff in.  Having a lot of storage containers will facilitate both your prepped items, and leftover ingredients and additional servings of the Concoction for you to eat for lunch the next day.  We like these GlassLock containers.  They seal securely, which is important if you are bringing food to a potluck or bringing leftovers to work. 

I'll likely feature more Concoctions as the blog goes on, so stay tuned.

Vegetable Enchiladas

My soon to be in-laws were joining us for lunch today, so I decided it was time for a treat: vegetarian enchiladas.

When I attempt something new, I futz around on the internet until I find a recipe that looks interesting, and then I play with it a bit.   I decided to start with this Food Network Recipe, which was from Rachel Ray's $40 a Day show.  Rather than use pre-made green chile sauce, I decided to make my own green salsa recipe using Simply Recipe's Tomatillo Salsa Verde.  And, we decided we needed some "yellow rice" on the side, so I found this recipe from TammysRecipes.com.

How Do You Raja a Pepper?
Cooking 101: Read your recipe and read it again.  So, before I started cooking, I read the at the enchilada prep and it said to prepare the peppers "raja style."  Frankly, I had no clue what this meant.  Google was my friend again here - I found this helpful article that told me to roast them, sweat them, and cut them up.  Ah, easy enough.  Even though the recipe said only to roast the poblanos, I thought it would be nice to also roast our friends the bell peppers, which I thought would add a nice flavor element to the dish.

Behold, the beautiful poblanos and bell peppers before I stuck them under the broiler:

I won't lie - I am lousy at timing things.  My mother's adage about how long things should be cooked?  "Until it's done."  Hence I never got in the habit of looking at a clock.  But I can tell you I rotated them with tongs until each side was nice and charred.  I could have probably let them go longer, but I am impatient.


So, What is a Tomatillo?
If you've gone to Chipotle, or eaten salsa verde, you've had a tomatillo.  But, since I promised my future father-in-law I'd look it up, here it is, per Wikipedia:

The tomatillo (Physalis philadelphica) is a plant of the tomato family, related to the cape gooseberry, bearing small, spherical and green or green-purple fruit of the same name. Tomatillos, referred to as green tomato (Spanish: tomate verde) in Mexico, are a staple in Mexican cuisine.

The salsa recipe gave the option of roasting or boiling them, and I decided to roast for enhanced flavor.  I also cut it down to one serrano - it was fine and had plenty of kick.  I also left out the sugar - I'm trying to use as little refined sugar as possible when I cook (baking is another story :) ) and I didn't see the need for it.

Finished Product and My Vegetarian Tweaks

  I made the following additional switches & subs:

• For the enchiladas themselves, I swapped out mushrooms for black beans - we wanted the added protein and the color oomph.
• Also, I was going to use yukon potatoes per the original recipe, but, frankly, I got lazy and decided not to bother.  It was fine without them.  I (meaning Balducci's) also didn't have the hoja santa or espazote.
• For the rice, I used olive oil in lieu of butter, and vegetable broth in lieu of chicken broth.  We also used brown rice.  The tumeric got it nice and yellow - you honestly wouldn't know the difference.

I did use Monterey Jack cheese, but, if you wanted to go vegan, you could use a soy cheese or Daiya.  Personally, I'd recommend the Daiya - it does melt well and tastes more like cheese.

 Everyone had two servings, so I am considering this a success!