Enchilada Love

For as much as I love enchiladas, I don't make them nearly enough.  And there aren't a ton of restaurants that will make enchiladas that are vegan or with local, organic cheese.  So I think it's been over a year since I've had any.  That's just wrong.

In my opinion, the key to good enchiladas is a good enchilada sauce.  I usually just wing it- blending up some chiles, tomatoes (or tomatillos), onions and garlic.  But today I wanted to go a bit more traditional and used this recipe.  I used dried New Mexican chiles, though, because that's what I had.  And I doubled the recipe.  And I added 1/2 an onion and 3 cloves of garlic.  And a smidge of maple.  Oh, hell.  I'll just type it out.

Enchilada Sauce
8 dried New Mexican chiles, seeds removed
Hot water
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2 onion, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/8 tsp. ground clove
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
Freshly ground black pepper
1 Tbsp. maple syrup (if needed)
Salt to taste

In a dry skillet, toast de-seeded chiles for just a bit - don't let them burn!  Then remove the chiles to a bowl or pan and cover in hot water.  Leave to soak for about 10 minutes.  Heat up the same skillet and add the olive oil.  Add the onions and saute until lightly browned.  Add the garlic and saute a minute more.

Drain the chiles, reserving the soaking liquid.

Combine onion/garlic mixture with the chiles, all the spices and 2 cups of the reserved chile soaking liquid in a blender.  Blend until smooth.  Taste the sauce.  If it's a bit bitter, add in the maple syrup.  Salt to taste.

Strain the sauce through a sieve, reserving the chile pulp.  [Note: I don't have a fancy blender, so I had a fair amount of pulp.  I'll write about how I used this in another recipe next!]

Heat the strained sauce and simmer about 10 minutes.  Then use your sauce to make enchiladas!

*************

I don't have a real recipe for the enchiladas.  Basically I just dipped my organic corn tortillas in the sauce and filled them with kidney beans, spinach, corn and local/organic cheese.

Then I covered the whole pan in the leftover sauce.  I could drink this enchilada sauce, it's so good.  But I restrained myself.

And I don't even have a photo of these all baked up and bubbly, because by the time I got home from work, three quarters of the pan was devoured!

But you can imagine it, right?

Tortilla Fiesta!

Last night we had an all-out taco fest!  

I had soaked some pinto beans overnight and used the pressure cooker to make some quick "refried" beans (really just cooked, seasoned and mashed).  Then I pulled down one of my jars of garden tomato salsa, mashed up some guacamole, washed some lettuce, opened a container of Tofutti sour cream and sliced some olives.

What's missing?

Tortillas!!! That's the most exciting part!

I treated myself to a nice double-burner cast iron griddle this holiday season (it is the season of giving...) and Mike got me a traditional corn tortilla press.  

I'm practically a tortilla factory now, I can make them so fast!  This dinner came together surprisingly quickly and the kids declared it the best thing they'd ever ate!  I can't wait to try pancakes on this giant griddle- I might actually finish making the pancakes in time to sit down and eat mine with the family now.

Here's the tortilla press in all its glory- The plastic wrap is a necessary evil to remove the tortillas and transfer them to the skillet. Someday I'll make a video.

And here are the tortillas cooking away!  The texture is SOOOO much better now that I can press the tortillas evenly and thin enough.  Before I was using my cast iron skillet to smash the dough into tortillas...but I also needed my cast iron skillet to cook the tortillas.  So it never really worked out very gracefully.

Now I'm thinking enchiladas, arepas and pupusas are in my future on this griddle!

Make Ahead Meals- Curry and Mexi-Bake

As my pantry items dwindle, it's becoming even more important that usual to make meals and ingredients ahead of time.  Mike ended up buying some rice last week because he had to make dinner quickly for the kids on Friday- I can't really blame him.  He didn't really sign up for this pantry challenge.  I pretty much just imposed it on him.  But we agreed that if there are pre-cooked grains and beans ready to use, he won't be tempted to shop.

This week's theme is boring pantry ingredients made interesting with spices and home-canned fun ingredients. I've planned a curry and a Mexican themed casserole.

I found a 1/2 box of Alter Eco brand Fair Trade Ruby Rice in my pantry today.  I thought I was out of rice about a week ago, but found this, some arborio rice and some sushi rice in little bags.  Since I also had some more lacinato kale frozen out in the garden, some canned jackfruit and a couple potatoes, it seemed like I could throw those all together to make a curry.  Everest makes an amazing jackfruit curry that I've ordered the past 3 times I have gone there, so if mine is half as good as that one, I'll be happy!  The spices I used are: cumin seed, mustard seed, fennel seed, turmeric, garam masala, salt.  For the sauce I used some dehydrated coconut milk, a jar of home-canned tomatoes and a jar of home-canned harissa.  So far it smells good...

The casserole consists of a layer of polenta (the last of it!), a layer of mashed pinto beans and a layer of home-canned tomatillo salsa mixed with an extra can of tomatillos.  The beans are seasoned with garlic, chili powder, cumin, coriander, epazote and Mexican oregano.  And salt.  Can't forget the salt.

I'm starting to wish for some oil now.  I have a smidge of coconut oil and a bottle of sesame oil left.  No more canola oil, olive oil, local sunflower oil or grapeseed oil. Wonder what popcorn will be like popped in sesame oil???

We also just ran out of nutritional yeast and are almost out of regular sea salt.  I have plenty of Hawaiian pink salt and other fancy salts to use, though.  I might have to break down and buy salt and oil in order to use up the rest of my beans and grains, though!  Since I've made it 2 weeks, now I'm wondering if I can do 3 weeks.  But I might go crazy before then because I just used the last of the cumin.

I'll take some pictures of these dinners plated, because the photos of them packed away in their Pyrex containers are less than appealing.

Loaded

About 4 days ago I was watching something on TV and saw some commercial for nachos. The commercial was pretty effective because I've been craving nachos since then.

My goal was to make nachos loaded with everything I ever want on nachos- No wimpy little chips with cheese that leave me wishing for more.

These were loaded with:

Whole Grain Milling Company organic corn tortilla chips

Taco style TVP

Melted nacho Teese

Green onions

Guacamole

Tofutti sour cream

Homemade salsa

Pickled jalapenos

I never imagined that leftover nachos were possible...But I made WAY too many for 2 people. I'm actually eating the leftovers right now, at 9am, for breakfast. Yum!

Beer Battered Jackfruit Taccos

I don't fry food too often.  I might pan fry some tofu occasionally or make some fried okra in the summer, but I don't deep fry things unless I have a really good reason (Like Sarah's fried foods game night with fried cheeze and corndogs!)

This was a good reason, though.  For about 3 weeks I've been trying to figure out how I wanted to make something like a fish taco.  The Baja Tempeh tacos in Veganomicon sound really good, but I wanted a fishier filling and I wanted to involve beer batter and lime juice.  So I dug out the can of jackfruit from my cupboard, simmered it in lime juice, beer, kelp, and spices and then coated it in a wheat free beer batter and fried it up. This picture is bad, but you get the idea.  Lots of fried jackfruit.  

My whole house smells like beer and oil.  And I like it.

Next I toasted up some hard taco shells and topped the fried jackfruit "fish" with creamy coleslaw and served it with guacamole on the side ... because this meal needed a little more fat. 

I want to tweek the recipe just slightly before sharing, but I'll post it someday.

I'll make something else with beer soon because my one bottle of locally brewed beer didn't meet the minimum credit card requirement at the liquor store across from my yoga class.  So I was practically forced to buy 2 bottles.  

The recipe for my coleslaw dressing is here.  Mom- I think this will look pretty familiar except for a few veganizing substitutions.

More Post-Yoga Comfort Food

I hadn't really planned on writing again about the food I eat after yoga.  But as I stepped out of my yoga class tonight into the crisp Fall air and felt the chill on my bare legs, I was instantly brought back to a pretty common scenario back home in Texas.  I felt the same feeling I used to get when walking with my mom to On the Border (Tex Mex restaurant) to get tortilla soup.  

For a long time I ordered tortilla soup every time we went to this restaurant. {And that was sometimes a couple of times a week} But once I became vegetarian I couldn't order the tortilla soup anymore.  

I'm not sure exactly what triggered this memory.  Perhaps it was the cold air on my legs, like I used to feel when I insisted on wearing shorts even though the Texas air had turned chilly (you know, like, in January).  Maybe those intense side extensions tapped into some memory stored in my solar plexus chakra.  Or maybe, just maybe, it was the tortilla factory that is across the street from the yoga class.

It was instantaneous:  I NEEDED tortilla soup.  Hot steaming tomatoey broth with tons of onions and spicy peppers.  Crispy fried tortilla strips.  Cool avocado chunks.  Oh. Yes.

Tortilla Soup

Serves 3

2 Tbsp. olive oil

1 medium yellow onion, sliced

2 large tomatoes, peeled

3 cups water

1 Tbsp. tomato paste

1 chile (I used a dried Aji Cereza chile without the seeds)

1 tsp. ground cumin

1 tsp. salt

1 Tbsp. lime juice

1 avocado

3 corn tortillas 

canola oil for frying 

Heat olive oil in a medium saucepan.  Add sliced onions and fry until onions are lightly browned.  Add tomatoes, chile, tomato paste, water, cumin, salt, and lime juice.  Reduce heat so soup is simmering.  

Meanwhile, heat 1/4 inch of canola oil in a skillet.  Cut torillas into thin strips.  When the oil sizzles around a tortilla strip, it is ready for frying.  Add the strips to the oil in batches and fry until lightly browned.  Rescue them from the oil and let them drain on a paper towel.  I like to sprinkle them with salt.  

Cut the avocado into slices or chunks.  Taste the soup- if it has been simmering about 10-15 minutes then the onions should be tender.  

Assemble bowls with soup, avocado, and tortilla strips.  Enjoy!

Green Tamales

Tonight's meal was brought to you by the sweltering summer heat and an oven turned up to 400F.

I'm currently trying to avoid buying anything at the store, as I've already surpassed our grocery budget for the month. So everything in this meal was already in our garden, pantry, or fridge. Feel free to substitute things that are in YOUR house when you make this.

I was going to just make some collards, some beans, and some polenta...but decided to put it all together inside the collard leaves for a tamale-like dish. I love how it turned out!


Green Tamales (serves 6)

12 collard leaves

Filling
4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 mild chile, finely chopped
2 cups polenta
4 cups water
1 tsp. salt

1 cup cooked kidney beans (I pressure cooked some)

Sauce
1 red pepper, seeds removed
2 medium tomatoes
1/2 sweet onion
1 tsp. smoked paprika
1/2 tsp. salt

Start by preheating the oven to 400F. To prepare the filling, heat 2 Tbsp. olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and mild chile, stirring as it cooks to prevent any burning. When the garlic is fragrant but not browned, add the polenta, water, and salt. Stir to completely combine. Continue stirring until you have a thick, pudding-like polenta- about 10 minutes should do it. Stir in the cooked kidney beans and remove from heat. Taste the mixture (careful- it's really hot!) and adjust salt to your liking.

Fill a wide, shallow skillet about 1/2 way up with water and heat until simmering. Then wash 12 collard leaves and remove the largest part of the stem- about 1/3-1/2 of the way up the leaf.

Then drop the leaves in the shallow pan of simmering water for, oh, maybe a minute. The leaves should still be bright green. Now it's time to assemble your rolls.

Place about 1/2 cup of filling closer to the stem end of the collard leaf.

Fold in the two lateral sides of the leaf.
The fold up the stem end and continue rolling up and over the filling. Roll them tightly for a nice looking finished dish.
Pack the rolls into a lightly greased 8x11 baking dish. Then prepare your sauce.
Puree red pepper, tomatoes, onion, smoked paprika, and salt in a food processor or blender until smooth. Spoon over the collard tamales and bake, uncovered, for about 20-25 minutes.
We had ours with some tasty sweet corn smothered in Miso-"Butter".
Here's an inside shot:
As you can see- the polenta firms up nicely to mimic a tamale. Except with these tamales you can eat the wrapper!

Local Party Food

We hosted a game night at our house last night and I challenged myself to make the snacks as close to 100% local as possible- Here's how I did:

Our burritos were made with homemade flour tortillas (flour from MN and soymilk from IA), homemade refried black beans (beans from MN, peppers from the garden, green garlic from MN/WI), lettuce from the garden, and homemade pico de gallo (tomatoes from MN, green onions from WI, japaleno from garden, cilantro from MN/WI).

The chips were from Whole Grain Milling Co. in MN. The cookies are my Sunny Oat Maple
Cookies (local except for the oil, salt, and vanilla). Our beverage of choice for the night was Rhubarb-Ade. I think I posted before about the Rhubarb Lemonade recipe that my friend Sarah gave to me. I tweaked it just a bit-

Rhubarb-Ade

6-7 cups chopped rhubarb
7 cups water
1 cup maple sytup
a small handful of fresh lemon verbena leaves
additional 1-2 cups cold water

Boil the rhubarb, maple syrup, and water until the rhubarb is very mushy (maybe 10 minutes). Then strain the liquid in to a pitcher with a fine mesh strainer. In a smaller cup, smash the lemon verbena leaves with a cup water to release the flavor, then add to the rhubarb liquid. Taste the rhubarb ade and add more cold water if it need to be diluted or more maple syrup if it is too sour. {If it's too sweet, you can add some lemon juice, but my rhubarb was tart enough} Refrigerate pitcher for at least 4 hours, until thoroughly chilled.

Here's a great bagel sandwich I had a few nights ago- made with a St. Paul Bagelry "everything" bagel, MN tomatoes, MN made pickles, my homemade pickled radishes, and Wisconsin dill mustard. Yum!

Black Eyed Peas

This weekend was another busy weekend, so I wasn't cooking much at home. We subsisted on giant salads eaten out of mixing bowls and way too much ice cream.

I did have tons of fun cooking tortillas, salsa, and tamales at my Tex-Mex class, though! Everyone was really surprised how easy it can be to make tamales. Hopefully they'll give them a try on their own now...

Tonight I pressure cooked some black eyed peas and brown rice and made ED& BV's Blackened Tofu. Our salad was like coleslaw, but with broccoli added. It was a gorgeous day today, so we ate outside on the deck.

Here's the recipe for the Black-Eyed Peas and Brown Rice:
(This makes enough for about 8 servings)

3 cups brown rice
2 cups dry black eyed peas
3 smashed garlic cloves
1 onion, thickly sliced
2 vegetable bouillon cubes
3 Tbsp. tamari
about 16 drops of liquid smoke
1 tsp. paprika
1.5 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cumin
8 cups water

Combine everything in a pressure cooker over high heat. Bring up to pressure and cook for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool slowly. Serve with tons of hot sauce for the adults.

A Queso Haiku

{Disclaimer: the kids are working on Haiku this week. I have 5-7-5 rhythm stuck in my brain}

Chile con Queso
Five years I have yearned
What's a vegan girl to do?
Teese to the rescue!

I stumbled across Homesick Texan's blog today and felt like I found a kindred spirit. Sure, she eats meat and lives in New York, but she's a Texan far from home constantly searching for those taste memories from the South.

Her post on Chile con Queso really hit home. Maybe I shouldn't be ashamed of my fond memories of Velveeta and Rotelle tomatoes. In fact, if it wasn't for the cheese and trans-fats, I'd microwave myself a bowl of Chile con Queso right now.

But like Homesick Texan, I'm not up for eating Velveeta. I can, however, adapt a recipe to suit my snobby tastes.

The following is adapted Homesick Texan's recipe in order to be vegan and allow for me not having any cilantro. Besides, my mom hates cilantro so any Tex-Mex I remember doesn't have any cilantro in it!

Chile Con Vegan Queso Blanco
Ingredients:
1/4 onion diced (about 1/4 cup)
2 cloves of garlic minced
2 Tbsp minced jalapeño (I like pickled jalapeños)
2 tablespoons of Earth Balance
2 tablespoons of flour
1/2 cup of non-dairy milk
1 cup of shredded Teese or other meltable vegan cheese (Yeah, I know, it's expensive and you don't want to part with a whole cup. JUST DO IT!)
2 plum tomatoes, peeled and diced (about 1/2 cup, can use canned if tomatoes aren’t in season)
Salt to taste (I used about 1/2 tsp)

Method:
1. Melt the Earth Balance in a saucepan on medium-low heat, and then cook the onions and peppers for about five minutes or until onions are translucent.
2. Add the garlic and cook for another minute.
3. Whisk the flour into the Earth Balance & vegetable mix and cook for about 30 seconds.
4. Add the non-dairy milk to the pot, and cook on medium, whisking constantly until sauce is thick, about five minutes. Stir in the tomatoes.
5. Add the Teese and stir well until completely melted
6. Add salt to taste.
Notes: You can vary which chiles you use to control how hot you want the queso to be. Also, if the sauce is too thick, feel free to add a bit more milk a tablespoon at a time.
Be sure to serve this warm. The Teese tends to solidify when cool.


This "queso" is everything I could ever ask for. Creamy, gooey, spicy, and it sticks to a homemade flour tortilla like you wouldn't believe.

Now I really didn't plan on eating a cup of Teese AND an ice cream sundae today... But I had a long hard day at work and still needed to test out a sundae recipe for a Tex-Mex class I'm doing at the Co-op this weekend. So here we go into ultimate indulgence:

This is a Spicy Mexican Chocolate Sundae. It has So Decadent vanilla ice cream, chopped mangos, Mexican chocolate sauce, and a little Soyatoo whipped topping. Oh, and some extra cayenne pepper on top for good measure.

Here's the Mexican Chocolate Sauce recipe:

1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup non dairy milk (coconut would be awesome)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Warm the chocolate chips and milk in a small saucepan over low heat, whisking frequently. When chocolate chips are melted and sauce is smooth, stir in the spices. Serve hot over ice cream. And feel free to add extra cayenne or experiment with other chile powders!

And the award for Best Stepmom goes to...

me, for serving pound cake with bananas and vanilla soyogurt for breakfast. Until they're old enough to need a ride to the tattoo parlor, I'll win their hearts with kick-ass breakfasts.


Tonight we enjoyed the warm temperature with quesadillas (with Teese cheeze on blue corn tortillas) and taco salad. The salad had pressure-cooked black beans, taco-style TVP, carrots, onions, spinach, lettuce, and ranch/salsa dressing. There were pickled jalapeños for the adults.
Overall, it was a big hit. I love watching 8 year-olds devour a huge plate of greens.
What's that? You're wondering why I'm typing funny? Well, that's because I fell backward on my wrists while practicing my clogging tonight. Our floors are pretty slippery with tap shoes on. I'm smeared with arnica oil and hoping nothing bruises.

At least now anytime my wrist hurts I can claim an "old clogging accident". That sounds totally hardcore.

Monday and Tuesday meals

I blatantly stole this meal idea from Mary Frances at Gluten Free Cooking School and Susan at Fat Free Vegan. Susan originally posted the recipe and Mary Frances paired it with coleslaw.

These beautiful stuffed corn bread/tortilla rounds could be filled with anything- the possibilities are endless! These were super quick because I filled them with Amy's Organic Refried Beans and Vegan Gourmet Monterey Jack (Both on sale this month at the co-op! Yes!). The surprise hit of the meal was the coleslaw- which was just shredded cabbage and carrots with a dressing of veganaise, soy yogurt, vinegar, celery seed, and salt. I think this is basically the same as my mom's recipe, except using vegan mayo and some soy yogurt.

I planned ahead for this next meal. Tuesdays are always so busy, so I pre-marinated my tempeh in lemon juice, olive oil, dill, garlic, and kelp powder to make "Sea Sticks" which are my version of fish sticks. I even got my potatoes rubbed with kosher salt and olive oil and wrapped them in foil the night before.

But then Tuesday night wasn't nearly as hectic as normal. The kids had a cold so we didn't go to basketball. Their teacher only gave one worksheet for homework, so that was over quickly.

All I had to do was dip the tempeh in a mixture of crushed brown rice crispy cereal, nutritional yeast, and salt and bake at 350 for about 30 minutes with the potatoes. Then I steamed some broccoli and stirred together a Cheeze sauce with nutritional yeast, salt, lemon juice, cornstarch, garlic powder, and almond milk.
So dinner was a breeze and we had plenty of time to enjoy Battleship and couch-snuggling with the whole family. Awwww....

A Sunday Afternoon Couch Fiesta

I've been wanting to make tamales for a few months now, but somehow it just hasn't happened until today. I had leftover black beans and leftover tempeh & mushrooms that needed to be used up, so that became the filling. To get some veggies in, I used up some leftover agave mustard dressing with shredded cabbage, carrots, and cilantro to make a side of slaw. Of course, it wouldn't be a fiesta without chips and guacamole. This time I threw some pickled jalapenos in the guac and it gave a really nice flavor and plenty of heat.
Here's all the tamales waiting to be steamed:

A close-up:
And the whole (first) plate:
For dessert we had vanilla-maple lattes. Mine had whipped cream!

Soup and Salad, Tex-Mex style

You never know when inspiration will strike.
We had to feed our dog a "mild" diet for a few days because of a digestive issue, so we bought some cottage cheese for her. It's been years since I've had cottage cheese and I hadn't really missed it at all until then. After smelling it, I immediately craved a thick, creamy cheese-type thing. So I started straining soy yogurt to make some yogurt cheese.

The next day I was driving and vaguely thinking what I would do with this yogurt cheese. Then, out of the blue I had it- I needed to make a soup combo. Two Tex-Mex soups in the same bowl with the yogurt cheese mimicking a creme frache/sour cream type dollop.

I was ready to make the soups today- the yogurt had strained for 2 days and was thick enough to hold its shape. Then when I woke up this morning I remembered a salad that I ate about 13 years ago with my friend Rubann and her mom. We were at Eastern Hills Country Club after work (Rubann and I worked at a Ford dealership with her mom). I had the most fabulous salad ever. (Obviously- I still remember it). It was a huge bowl of spinach with shredded cheddar cheese, green onions, and fried jalapenos, topped with honey mustard dressing.

So tonight it all came together. I made a corn chowder and black bean soup and served them in the same bowl, topped with a dollop of yogurt cheese. The salad was spinach, avocado, green onions, cilantro, and fried pickled jalapenos, topped with agave mustard dressing.
First the yogurt cheese:
This was not a 100% success, but I have more to work with.
I strained 32 oz of Wildwood plain soy yogurt through a coffee/tea filter and a strainer for two days. Then I mixed 1/4 cup of the thickened yogurt with a pinch of salt and about 1 Tbsp. of flax oil. It tastes pretty darn good like this, I think, but Mike thought it was too yogurty still. I added some nutritional yeast to up the cheesy factor, but that didn't do much for him. I thought it tasted like when you're eating nachos and the nacho cheese sauce mixes with the sour cream. Yum! I thought it tasted like a good sour cream before the nutritional yeast, too, though. This needs more work.

Now the soups:

The black bean soup I made in advance, thanks to my handy pressure cooker.

4 cups soaked black beans
16 oz diced, canned tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 yellow onion, diced
the juice of 3 small key limes
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
Enough water to cover
I cooked them for 10 minutes under pressure, cooled slowly, and then seasoned with salt to taste. This makes a ton of beans, so we used about 1/2 on past meals (like the taco salad I posted previously). Tonight I just added a bit of water to the beans, pureed them, and heated them up. Then they were "soup".

The corn chowder was really easy, too.
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped
1 ancho chili, finely chopped
1 jalapeno, seeded and finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 small russet potatoes, peeled and diced (about 1 1/2 cups)
2 cups frozen corn (or fresh if it happens to be warm where you live)
3 cups almond milk (or other milk that you like)
1 tsp. salt

Saute the onion, chilies, and garlic in the olive oil until beginning to brown. Then add everything else and simmer until potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes. Then puree half with an immersion blender. You can keep simmering it if you want it thicker.

To assemble:
Fold a piece of aluminum foil to make a little dam that fits across the diameter of your soup bowls. Hold it in the center as you ladle one soup on one side. Keep the bowl slightly tilted to the filled side, then ladle the other soup in the other side. Place the bowl on a level surface and carefully and slowly remove the foil dam. Then play in the soups with the tip of your knife to make designs. Top with some yogurt cheese, sour cream, or just cilantro and green onions.



The salad:

To make the fried jalapenos, I recommend using homemade escabeche (pickled jalapenos with onions and carrots). If you don't have any handy, you can buy cans of pickled jalapenos at most supermarkets. Find some nice thick slices to use - I fried about 15 slices for 2 salads.

Mix together:
1/4 cup cornmeal
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp garlic powder

Toss the jalapeno slices around in the cornmeal mixture until coated.
Heat 1/4 cups (or so) of canola oil in a heavy skillet over high heat. When you drop a bit of cornmeal in the oil and it bubbles up around it, it's time to throw in the jalapenos. But don't throw them in, really. Carefully place them in the oil and don't burn yourself. Flip the slices when they are browned on one side. When the other side looks golden brown, rescue them from the oil onto a landing pad of paper towels, newspaper, or an ugly kitchen towel you don't like that much. Let cool.

The Dressing:

2 Tbsp. stoneground mustard
2 Tbsp. agave nectar
2 Tbsp. flax oil
1 Tbsp. white wine vinegar (I used some infused with thyme and it was great)
1/4 tsp salt
a few grinds of black pepper

Other salad stuff:
a big bunch of spinach, washed and torn
1 avocado, peeled and diced
1 couple of green onions, sliced
a small handful of cilantro, chopped

Put it all in a bowl, drizzle with dressing, and pretend you're in country club in Garland, Texas.

What I've been eating

I haven't blogged in a few days, so here's the update on some things I've eaten:

Tonight- Taco Salad. Local hydroponic lettuce with Spanish rice, black beans (from the pressure cooker!), avocado/lime/cilantro, and salsa ranch dressing.
A few days ago I made these lima beans with lemon juice, carrots, tomato paste, and fresh marjoram. I've never had fresh marjoram before I got some slightly too old stuff from work. I love it! I've always dismissed marjoram as inferior or secondary to herbs like oregano and basil. WRONG!
Last weekend I made the Southwestern Corn Pudding from VCon. I love this stuff- and it's a great way to use up a 1/2 can of coconut milk left over from making ice cream.
I made some greens that I really enjoyed, too. I sauteed garlic and onions in some olive oil, then threw in cumin seeds, fennel seeds, and coriander. Then I added 16 oz of canned diced tomatoes and about 1/2 of a gallon baggie worth of chopped, raw frozen collard greens. I simmered them longer than I usually cook greens, about 20 minutes. But even the stems were so tender! On the side is some barbecue tofu cubes.
New kitten, Trouble, seems to be getting along swimmingly with Hannah and Billie. They even snuggle together! (This may be due to necessity since our house never gets above 62 and I think that is a gross over-measurement of the temperature. Yet somehow the heating bill is nearly $300...). At least all the animals have taken to snuggling with us through the night.

Leftover Enchiladas

Well, the kids seem to be over their illness...But now I have it!
Luckily I didn't post about my dinner last night yet, so here it is:
This is certainly not much to look at, but it was really tasty. I wasn't going to take a picture, but after Mike tasted it he said, "This is the best meal ever and you're not even going to take a picture?!" So I figured I should document it.

I shredded my easy seitan "chicken" from last night and mixed it with onions, green pepper, kale, and a nooch cheeze sauce that was leftover. I rolled that inside of expired corn tortillas, topped with a quick tomatillo salsa, and baked it for really easy leftover enchiladas.

I'm trying to do a better job of using up leftovers and taking the free produce from work. I spent over $500 on groceries last month, and that's not counting the food that Mike bought. It's time to reel in the spending! It's hard, though, when I work at a grocery store (co-op). Everytime I leave work I'm tempted to check out the sales or get a quick snack or go on a huge grocery shopping spree. And we eat like fiends, so at any given time I have about 5 things that we absolutely NEED. Like today when I woke up to find we were out of toilet paper and bread...