Rice Noodles with Vegetables and Adzuki Beans

Thanks to my recent purchase of coconut aminos, I'm having lots and lots of fun with Asian inspired cooking.  Tonight, I decided to do a vegan stir-fry with adzuki beans and lots of fresh vegetables, including red onion, shitake mushrooms, yellow bell pepper, baby carrots, garlic, bok choy and fresh cilantro.

The adzuki bean is small in size and reddish/purplish in color.  According to wikipedia, they have been used in Asian cooking for centuries, with fossilized beans found in ruins dated to 4,000 BC!  The beans are a good source of protein, iron, magnesium, potassium and folic acid. While they're often used in sweet preparations, I enjoy them in savory dishes like tonight's concoction.


I finely diced 1/4 of a large red onion and half a yellow pepper.  I then thinly sliced a large handful of shitake mushroom caps (I find the stems to be too tough), as well as eight baby carrots (if you're using a whole carrot, 1-2 peeled should be sufficient). 

Once this selection of the veg was cooking, I heated a 3/4 full kettle of water on the stove and began sauteing the onions, mushrooms and peppers in oil, seasoning with black pepper.  When the kettle was hot, I put the rice noodles in a metal mixing bowl, poured over the hot water, and let the noodles soak for 10 minutes.

As the noodles soaked, I added the carrots and 3/4 of the can of adzuki beans.  I then minced three cloves of garlic in my chopper, sliced the bok choy and chopped the cilantro.  I then added these last three ingredients, and, when the garlic was fragrant, added some coconut aminos and sesame oil.

When the 10 minutes of soaking was up, I drained the noodles and stir-fried them with the vegetable bean mixture for two minutes, allowing them to absorb the flavors of the sauce and finish cooking. I then put the noodles in a bowl and garnished them with sesame seeds.

The result was very flavorful and filling.  If I made it again and wanted to add a spicy element, I would add a bit of Sriracha or some red pepper flakes. 

Cauliflower Steaks with Chile Corn Salsa

I've been seeing a lot of recipes for cauliflower steaks lately, so I decided to give them a try tonight.

Roasting cauliflower gives this healthy vegetable a creamy texture and a buttery flavor.  I didn't let mine get as brown as some of the other recipes (I was HUNGRY), but I did pan saute it and then roast it enough to give it some color.  Some of my "steaks" broke apart, likely because I cut them too thin.  But, the thicker you cut them, the longer they will take to cook.

For the salsa topping, I did a saute of red onions, corn, anaheim chiles and tomatoes.  Anaheim chiles are low on the scoville scale, but still gave this dish a nice amount of heat.  If you want to punch up the heat more, you can substitute jalapenos or serranos, or even habaneros (beware - those suckers are HOT!).

If you were up for a big meal (as yours truly was after a fun, athletic yoga class), you could probably take out two "steaks" topped with salsa.  But, one would likely also be satisfying, or make for a nice side dish or light lunch.

Cauliflower Steaks with Chile Corn Salsa
Serves two as a (hearty) main dish, four as a side or light lunch

One head of cauliflower, sliced into thick "steaks" 
2 Tbsp+ olive oil
1/2 red onion, finely diced
1/2 Anaheim chile, minced
1 cup of corn kernels (defrost first if using frozen)
6-8 cherry tomatoes, diced
1 cup arugula
Salt, black pepper, cumin and oregano

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.

Heat oil in large saute pan.  Brown the cauliflower "steaks" 3 minutes on each side, or until lightly browned.  Season with black pepper.  Put on baking sheet and roast for 20 minutes, or until desired brownness.

While cauliflower is roasting, saute onions and chiles in olive oil on high heat until the onion is translucent and the chiles are softened, about five minutes.  Stir in the corn kernels and tomatoes.  Season generously with cumin and oregano, as well as with salt and pepper to taste.  When the pan liquids begin to bubble, reduce heat to medium and allow the salsa to thicken for five or so minutes.  Keep warm.

When the cauliflower steaks are nearly done, raise heat on the salsa and stir in arugula until slightly wilted.  Top steaks with salsa and serve immediately.

Spicy Rainbow Stir-Fry

One of the biggest things I missed when I started dealing with my soy allergy was Asian inspired cooking.  I thought I had come to accept that I wouldn't be able to enjoy these types of dishes again.

Fortunately, my fellow yogini and food blogger Valerie came to the rescue.  Valerie blogs at City Life Eats.  She follows a vegan and gluten-free diet.  Since she can't have soy sauce either (in her case, wheat is the culprit), she also needed to find an alternative.  Her discovery?  Coconut aminos.

Coconut aminos are made from the sap of coconuts.   According to the product website, coconut aminos are a great source of amino acids, which help with rebuilding muscle tissue, enhancing the nervous, immune and digestive systems.  They also taste remarkably like soy sauce.

I decided to do a colorful stir-fry with a variety of veggies, including shitake mushrooms and bok choy (which is a great source of Vitamin A and Vitamin C!).  I used  the coconut aminos to make the sauce, and served the vegetables over brown rice.

This had all the amazing flavors I've been missing without the unpleasantness of an allergic reaction.  Thanks for the great recommendation, Valerie!

Spicy Rainbow Stir-Fry
Serves 3-4

1/2 a red onion, thinly sliced
8 shitake mushrooms, stems removed and thinly sliced
1 large yellow pepper, thinly sliced
1 cup of shredded carrots
1 head of bok choy, green and white parts, sliced
2 tbsp cooking oil of choice (I used olive because that's what we had in the house)
2 tsp sesame seed oil
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
Sea salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes to taste
2-3 Tbsp of Coconut Aminos (or use soy sauce if you don't have allergy issues)
4 cups of cooked brown rice
Sesame seeds

In a wok or large pan, heat olive oil and sesame seed oil.  Toss onions and mushrooms and season with salt and black pepper.  Saute until softened, 3-4 minutes.  Stir in carrots, peppers and bok choy and cook until heated through, another 3-4 minutes. 

Add garlic and ginger and cook until fragrant, 1-2 minutes.  Add coconut aminos, scraping any brown bits from the bottom of the pan as you stir.  Season with red pepper flakes (a little goes a long way!)

Serve over brown rice and garnish with sesame seeds.

Vegan Black Bean Quesadillas and Kale Chips

Yesterday, I cooked up a large batch of black beans to use for this week's meals.  Tonight, I used some in my vegan quesadillas.

To make the filling, I cut 1/2 a red onion and one yellow pepper into strips.  I sauteed them on high heat until they were soft and slightly browned, a little over five minutes.  I then stirred in the black beans and some minced garlic, and generously seasoned the mix with cumin, salt, pepper and fresh cilantro.  Once the mix was heated through, I removed it from the heat and stirred in a few handfuls of baby spinach.

To cook the quesadillas, I used my griddler.  The griddler is essentially a combination of an electric grill pan and an electric griddle.  Using the panini setting on high gave me grill marks on both sides.  Before I put the top layer of tortilla on, I added cheddar and mozzarella daiya.  I then let the quesadilla cook until brown grill marks appeared on top and the quesadilla was flat.

While the quesadillas were cooking, I made a quick salsa with heirloom grape tomatoes, minced red onion, fresh cilantro and lime juice.

I  also made my own kale chips, using this recipe as a guide for prep and cooking time (300 degrees, 20 minutes).  I decided to amp up the seasoning by adding minced onion instead of salt and pepper.  I think I added a little too much olive oil, but the seasoning mix was spot on.

The quesadillas were very filling.  Granted I overstuffed the second batch, which is what I had for dinner tonight.  I ended up eating three of the four slices.  The first one was a little flatter, and that's likely what I'll eat for lunch tomorrow.

Sunday Night Dinner: Stuffed Peppers

Awhile back, I mentioned that I was looking forward to making stuffed peppers, and I finally got around to it this evening.  After researching a few recipes, I decided to wing it.

There's a number of variations you can do with stuffed peppers.  You can serve them cut in half, with each side of the pepper forming a little bowl, or you can take the top off and stuff the entire pepper.  Either way, you will want to make sure you scrape out the seeds and the inner white parts.  For this recipe, I elected to cut the peppers in half, figuring that it would be easier to store and transport the leftovers for lunch.  I seasoned the insides of the peppers with salt & pepper and put them in a baking dish coated with cooking spray.

For the stuffing, I sauteed red onions and mushrooms, seasoning them with salt and pepper, and let it go until the onions were translucent and the mushrooms were soft.  I then added sliced grape tomatoes, a can of cannellini beans, and four cloves of minced garlic.  When the garlic was fragrant, I stirred in some leftover bulgur and some rough chopped arugula, and seasoned everything with Italian seasoning.  I then took the filling off the heat and stirred in some mozzarella daiya.  Once the daiya melted into the filling, I stuffed the six pepper halves and then topped them with more daiya.

I covered the dish with foil and put it in the oven at 375 for 45 minutes.  When there were 10 minutes to go, I removed the foil to let the tops get a little crispy.

Peppers, mid-assembly proces

I can see many variations on this dish, using the formula of something with a meaty texture, a grain, beans, something to add creaminess, additional veg, and a green veg.  Here are some ingredients you can use in various combinations for your own stuffed peppers:

Meaty Texture: mushrooms, vegan sausage, vegetarian grounds
Grain: bulgur, quinoa, brown rice, couscous
Beans: black beans, pinto beans, chickpeas, kidney beans
Creaminess: daiya or other cheese alternative (vegan), boccatini, cotija, feta (lacto-ovo)
Additional Veg: zucchini, corn, onions, garlic, tomatoes
Green Veg: spinach, arugula, kale, swiss chard

My peppers tonight have more of a Mediterranean vibe  I can see a delicious Mexican version with onions, vegan chorizo sausage, quinoa, black beans, cheddar daiya or cotija, corn and spinach, seasoned with cumin, garlic and cilantro, perhaps drizzled with some tomatillo salsa.  You don't necessarily need to use a meat substitute or beans or a cheesy element - feel free to add or subtract any ingredients that you'd like!

Still Alive and Cooking

Yes, it's been two weeks since my last blog and likely that long since I actually cooked a meal that didn't involve macaroni and cheese or reheating pizza.  Fear not - I've had a number of work related dinners out over the past few weeks, so I have been eating meals other than those usually consumed by picky three year olds.

While I finally had a night at home, I'm headed out of town on yet another business trip tomorrow.  So, I decided to go simple tonight: whole wheat rigatoni with sauteed onion, mushrooms, garlic, yellow pepper, spinach and grape tomatoes.  The "sauce" was made with tomato paste concentrate, parmesan, black pepper, italian seasoning and a touch of white wine.  It was a light dish perhaps more suited to summer than a Fall, torrential rain filled evening, but at least it didn't come from a box.

Vegetarian Rosh Hashanah Part II: Romanian Vegetable Stew

For my bridal shower, my friend Maya gave me a wonderful cookbook, Olive Trees and Honey: A Treasury of Vegetarian Recipes from Jewish Communities Around the World.  It's written by Gil Marks, who is both a rabbi and a chef.  The book contains hundreds of recipes, all of which include a history of the dishes in question, as well as background on the region and cultures where the dishes originated.

I'll be making several dishes from this book for tomorrows meal.  Tonight, I made Romanian Vegetable Stew, or Guvetch.  According to Rabbi Marks, Guvetch is a popular Romanian dish that his family enjoys at potlucks and other family celebrations.  Its origins can be traced back to Turkey in the 14th century.  The flavor comes from slow cooking of a variety of vegetables.  The Rabbi adds that you can use whatever veggies you like, but the Romanian version includes plenty of garlic.

The version I made included eggplant, tomatoes, green beans, onions, zucchini, red and green peppers and garlic.  I used our Le Creuset baker, which was just a tetch too small for the amount of veg called for in the recipe, but will be perfect for reheating and presentation.  There's not a lot of seasoning, but the sauteeing of the eggplant, onions and garlic looks like it will add a nice flavor dimension, and I made sure to add plenty of salt and pepper.  Also, the 90 minute cooking time should help the flavors develop.

We won't be tasting the dish until tomorrow, but I thought I'd share a visual preview.

Adventures in Random Vegetables: Cherry Bomb Peppers

After practicing yoga very regularly the last several years, I've noticed I'll often get odd ideas in the middle of a particularly vigorous class.  Granted, one of these weird ideas was "I don't want to eat meat anymore," and clearly, that's worked out well for me.

Tonight, after a particularly creative warrior sequence, I got fixated on the following idea - "I want to cook with a vegetable I've never eaten before."  Given that I'm an adventurous eater, this was no small challenge. 

However, the Safeway next door to my yoga studio actually has a nice produce section with a variety of more exotic items - rambutans, dragon fruit, quince, etc.  Given the bevy of fruits available, I was confident I'd find a vegetable that would suit tonight's yoga induced craving.

Cherry Bomb Peppers

I decided to go with Cherry Bomb Peppers, which, coincidentally, were featured on a rerun of Chopped I watched this weekend.   I wasn't sure offhand how hot they were, so I only grabbed two.

After I, along with a platform full of red line refugees, was abandoned by an impatient metro driver who shut the doors before all the passengers could even get off the train and left with a TWENTY minute wait for a train (yoga only gives me so much beatific patience - I. WAS. MAD.), I had time to do a little culinary research on the Cherry Bomb before I got home and got cooking. 

For those of you unfamiliar with Scoville Units, it's a measurement of how much capascin is in a pepper.  Capascin is the chemical that gives peppers their "heat."  The higher the amount of capascin, the more heat a pepper has.  According to this chart, a Cherry Bomb has 2,000 Scoville Units, which puts it solidly ahead of a bell pepper (10 units), but still less spicy than other familiar peppers such as Jalapenos (4,000), Serranos (8,000) and Habaneros (200,000).  Since I regularly use Serranos in my guac, I had better sense of the heat I could expect from the Cherry Bombs.

Anyhow, I decided to finely dice my Cherry Bombs with my Oxo chopper.  I didn't get them as small as I'd like, but had I been less hungry and cranky from my metro debacle, I  would have worked at them a little more.  I then put some minced yellow onion in olive oil and let that cook up, and then added the peppers, shredded kale and black beans.  I seasoned the mixture with a healthy amount of cumin and oregano.  We put it on top of brown rice that my husband made in the rice maker while I was stuck waiting in tunnel and hungry (yes, still bitter two hours later), and I put some mozzarella daiya on mine to balance out the heat a bit.

Husband was a big fan - he finished his meal before I even got halfway through mine, and I'm usually the faster eater.  I liked it also but I think it would have been improved with more of a "sauce."  I was hoping to use some vegetable broth to make one, but our carton in the fridge smelled off, so I didn't use it.

As for the heat, it was satisfying, but not overwhelming.  My lips are still a little tingly a few hours later.  If you like hotter salsas or spicy guac, you'll enjoy cooking with Cherry Bombs.

Concoction Again: Farro with Kale and Mushroom Sauce

I was in concoction mood tonight, and decided to hit our local market after work.  I picked up yellow onions (I prefer red, but they were looking sickly), kale, cremini mushrooms and some pale yellow peppers from Scenic View Orchards, which supplies a number of produce items to the market in the summer months.

I finely diced half of the onion and sliced the mushrooms.  While those were cooking up in some olive oil, I seasoned them with freshly ground black pepper.  Then, I finely diced the peppers and tossed them in as well.  I added some minced garlic, and once it was fragrant, squirted in some tomato paste.  From there, I added white wine, oregano, red pepper flakes ,sea salt and basil.

Yellow peppers from our local market.

As that bubbled, I chiffonaded (is that even a word?) some kale.  For those of you who aren't familiar with this technique, it's cutting greens into ribbon like strips.  Here's a helpful tutorial.  The curly kale was a little challenging to roll, but I made it work.  I was hoping the chiffonade would help it wilt faster and I was semi-successful in this regard.  However, I decided to throw a lid on it to help it along.

We served this over leftover farro.  It was spicier than I intended (methinks the peppers were not "sweet" as advertised), but husband and I like spicy, so I was ok with that.  If you don't have farro or aren't into it, I think this would also make a nice pasta sauce.

Roasted Vegetable Pasta Salad

If you haven't guessed by now, I am a huge fan of anything with roasted veggies, so I jumped at the chance to make the Roasted Vegetable Pasta salad from the newest edition of Clean Eating Magazine.  (It's on Page 48 if you're a subscriber).

For those of you who aren't familiar with the magazine, it's chock full of recipes that eschew refined carbohydrates, added sugars, high amounts of saturated fats and processed foods containing lots of additives and preservatives.  Each issue comes with a food budget planner and a monthly meal plan.  While not all the recipes are veg, they're full of fresh fruits and vegetables, and it's often easy to sub or modify to make the dishes veg friendly.

This recipe calls for roasted peppers, onions, tomatoes and zucchini, and a vinaigrette chock full of garlic and fresh herbs.  It also calls for goat cheese, but it can be made vegan by omitting the cheese. I thought it would be perfect to take to tomorrow's Fourth of July BBQ. 

I did make some subs to this recipe for a variety of reasons.  First, as much as I love eggplant, we're taking this to a party at my brother & sister-in-law's house, and as she is allergic to eggplant, I omitted it from the recipe.  To make up for it, I added some navy beans and an orange pepper in addition to the red, yellow and green.  Second, although I was dying to try kamut pasta, it wasn't available at Balducci's (and their whole grain pasta offerings were scant, in my opinion).  Since we had enough errands to run yesterday without another stop, I ended up going with some nicer traditional macaroni. 

Another sub I made was the verjus, which is made from the juice of unripe grapes. They did have that at Balducci's, but only in a large-ish bottle.  A quick google search revealed that red wine vinegar was an okay sub, so I used that and fresh lemon juice.   And, finally, I doubled the whole recipe, which serves eight as it's written in the magazine.

My mother always told me that pasta salad tastes better the second day, so the whole thing is marinating as we speak.  I'll bring the goat cheese along and plan to toss it in right before we serve it.  We'll see how it tastes tomorrow!

Adventures in Spices: Smoked Paprika and Za'atar

Awhile ago, I had bought some smoked paprika and za'atar with the intention of using them to season homemade pita chips.  I still haven't gotten around to making the pita chips, but I did decide to experiment with the seasonings in tonight's concoction.

Smoked paprika is sometimes  referred to as "Smoked Spanish Paprika."  It's made from "smoked, ground pimiento peppers," and, not shockingly knowing it's alias, it can be found featured in Spanish cusisine.

When I bought the smoked paprika at Whole Foods, the cooking consultant who helped me locate it recommended I pair it with Za'atar, a "mixture of sumac, sesame seed and herbs frequently used in the Middle East and Mediterranean areas."

Tonight, I put some wild rice up in the rice cooker. While that was bubbling away, I sauteed a finely diced Vidalia onion in olive oil and stirred in some cremini mushrooms, chickpeas, diced yellow pepper, shredded carrots, minced garlic and kale.  I stirred in the cooked rice and seasoned the whole thing with a teaspoon of Za'atar and half a teaspoon of the smoked paprika.  I definitely got the smokiness I expected from the paprika.  And, it was a nice flavor adventure compared to my typical Italian (oregano, basil) or Mexican (cumin, cilantro) influenced concoctions.

Busy Week? Make a Dinner That Stretches

It's been a busy few weeks for me and it will only get busier.  Now that I'm back from my office's annual convention, I find myself in the final gauntlet (read: less than two months to go) of preparing for our wedding.  So, between random wedding tasks, work and yoga, I find myself with limited time in the evenings to cook.

Stretch Meal #1 - Beans & Veggies Over Brown Rice Blend.

In times like these, I need to balance my desire for nutritious, sustaining meals with some sense of variety with the desire to have said meal at hand quickly.  The best way I've found to accomplish all of this is a Stretch Meal.

What's a Stretch Meal, you may ask?  It's a series of meals that uses essentially the same ingredients, but takes on different forms.  One of the best ways I've found to do this is to make several servings of a bean and veggie mixture that can be repurposed in different formats.


I started my Stretch Meal on Monday by sauteing shallots, two yellow peppers (cut in very narrow strips), a cup or so of chopped mushrooms and several handfuls of spinach in olive oil, and stirring in a can of black beans.  I seasoned it with ground black pepper and oregano.  In hindsight, I should have added some cumin. 

I also had some Lundberg Jubilee Wild Rice going in the rice cooker.  This particular rice blend is a blend of Wehani, Black Japonica, short and medium grain red rice, short and long grain brown rice and sweet brown rice.  I find it has a more interesting flavor and texture than plain brown rice.

Once the rice and veggies were done, I plated about 1/3 of the veggie mix on top of the rice, and added some cheddar style Daiya for good measure.

Stretch Meal #2 - Black Bean and Veggie Burrito

Tonight, I used another 1/3 of the veg mixture to make a bean burrito.  I wrapped all the veggie goodness in a flour tortilla with (you guessed it!) more cheddar style daiya, and let it heat up in the microwave in two minutes.  Add in a side of steamed cauliflower and broccoli and my dinner was in front of me in five minutes.

I still have enough veg mixture left over for one more meal - I could do a spinach salad with it, make a quesadilla, or mix it with wholegrain pasta and tomatoes for a Southwestern style pasta dish.

Vegetarian Cheesesteak - Brought to You By My Friend Seitan

My co-workers were asking me about a vegetarian diet today, specifically how I get protein.  It's a common question when you tell people you're a vegetarian, I suppose. 

Now, I'd venture to guess that most people's first suggestion about protein for a vegetarian would be tofu.  One challenge I have is that I've got a soy allergy.  It's nothing life threatening, but I do get violently ill if I have too much of it.  So, that puts tofu and a number of "fake meats" out of the picture.

That said, I really don't feel protein deprived - I eat all kinds of beans, lentils and nuts (with the exception of walnuts and hazelnuts, which make me even more violently ill than soy).  Quinoa, farro, bulgur and wheatberries are also good sources of protein.  I still eat the occasional egg and dairy product.  And, I'm a big fan of Quorn - both in the grounds and tenders styles.   (I will share a post on the glories of Quorn sometime soon - the stuff is really amazing).

But, my #1 favorite vegetarian protein source is seitan.  With a single serving having around 25 grams of protein, it's a great way to work more protein into your diet if you're concerned you're not getting enough.  I avoided seitan for awhile, because I assumed that it was soy based.  In actuality, seitan is a form of wheat gluten.  From our friends at Wikipedia:

Wheat gluten, also called seitan (pronounced /ˈseɪtæn/), wheat meat, Mock Duck, gluten meat, or simply gluten, is a food made from the gluten of wheat. It is made by washing wheat flour dough with water until all the starch dissolves, leaving insoluble gluten as an elastic mass which is then cooked before being eaten.  Wheat gluten is an alternative to soybean-based meat substitutes such as tofu. Some types of wheat gluten have a chewy and/or stringy texture more like that of meat than most other substitutes. Wheat gluten is often used instead of meat in Asian, vegetarian, Buddhist, and macrobiotic cuisines. Simulated duck is a common use for wheat gluten.

I will note that Seitan is more challenging to find in a traditional grocery store than tofu and "fake meat."  In all the grocery stores I frequent in the DC area (and man, do I hit them all - I love the grocery store!), the only place I can ever find it is Whole Foods.  That said, it does have a decent shelf life, so I will often stock up on several packages at a time when we go there.

The brand I buy is WestSoy.  I prefer the strips to the cubed version.  You can sub it anywhere you'd use strips of meat - stir-frys, etc.  But, my #1 favorite way to use Seitan is in my Vegetarian Cheesesteak.

The Vegetarian Cheesesteak came to be last Fall.  At that point, I had been "off meat" since May.  And then football season started.  As a native Philadelphian and a die-hard Eagles fan, I ate my share of Whiz Wit in my day.  And, lo, when I was looking for something to eat during MNF (that's Monday Night Football for those of you not as football obsessed as me) I missed my cheesesteaks, but not enough to go back to actually eating beef.

Enter Seitan!  When you run a knife through it roughly, it resembles cheesesteak meat.  To make the sandwich above, I saute onions in olive oil until they are golden, then add the seitan.

Once the seitan is nicely browned, I season it with red pepper flakes and add sliced peppers (I used the leftover roasted yellow peppers from Sunday's enchiladas), spinach and cheese.  I use Daiya when I want a vegan version, but since we're out of both Daiya (need to make another run to Whole Foods, as I've also cleared out all my seitan), I used what we had in the house, which was some rennet free Cabot Monterey Jack cheese (Provolone is also great on this, and more traditional, but the other eater in my house may have eaten all my provolone . . .).   I serve the whole thing on a whole wheat sub roll carried by my local market.

The result is a satisfaction of my craving for a cheesesteak without that feeling of having swallowed a bag of lead.

Good sides for this bad boy are oven roasted potato fries (425 or 450, yukon golds cut into wedges, seasoned with salt and pepper, bake until browned) or sweet potato fries (I'm particularly fond of using Hannahs.)  Tonight, since I got home on the late side from yoga and it takes our oven about 37 years to heat up, I had a side of fresh fruit - blueberries and golden raspberries.

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!