white vegan chili (with cheese)

today I decided to peruse simply recipes, a blog that we've featured here before. I was collecting recipes for a work project right now, but all the recipes have to appeal to folks who a) eat meat, and b) don't really want to change their eating habits but know that they should be eating healthier food. so I do a lot of retyping and formatting recipes for "quick beef casserole," and "baked southern fried chicken." a few hours of that and I just want to think about what I'm going to cook for myself, not what would lower a person's high cholesterol (which I don't have).


this here is a white bean chili that was intended for turkey but I went in the other direction. I upped the garlic and the onions and used some red chili flakes. it's yummy. not too spicy, but a lot of flavor and I froze heaps of it for the winter.

you will need:

• 2 cans of cannelloni beans
• 3 cups vegetarian chicken broth
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 medium onions, chopped - keep each onion separate!
• olive oil
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon oregano (recipe called for dried, but I used fresh and it was fine)
• pinch of ground cloves
• pinch of red chili flakes
• 2 4-oz cans chopped green chilies - mild or hot...or both!
  
• 1 package tempeh
• salt to taste

you will do:

• add the beans, the no-chicken stock, garlic, and 1 chopped onion (because you separated them) in a large soup pot. bring it to a boil, my friends.
• while the stock is boiling, heat the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. saute the onions until it's tender.
• add the green chilies, tempeh, and the spices and mix the whole thing up. cook for 5-10 minutes.
• add the chili-tempeh stuff to the soup pot. stir it in and let it simmer for a while with the top off.
  
• the chili will thicken during the simmering process. keep an eye on it so that you can achieve your ideal consistency. for more of a soup, simmer for 5-10 minutes. for more of a chili/stew, simmer for 10-15.
  
• then, if you're a lapsed lactose-intolerant like myself, you put some into a bowl and sprinkle sharp cheddar on it. oops.
  

things to do with polenta

way simple, way yummy:

slice some basil and garlic polenta into rounds about 1/2" thick. place on a baking sheet. wash and slice a beet or two into rounds about the same thickness. maybe it's a big beet, in which case you can halve your beet rounds. put one beet piece on top of each polenta round. take some fresh basil and place a few leaves on top of your polenta-beet cakes. you can also use fresh oregano. (I did half and half.) drizzle olive oil on top of the whole mess.

bake in the oven for 40 minutes at 320 degrees. serve. also tastes great the next day.

easy, breezy, beautiful snow peas!

I really like the Minimalist, a New York Times column on making good, simple food. sometimes the dishes are not what I would personally cook for myself, but I appreciate the sentiment behind them. this week's featured dish is Chinese snow peas. it's crazy easy, but looks so tasty. I've linked to the recipe, not the column, so be sure to check out the article that accompanies the 2 steps that make up the instructions.

another great Minimalist column: how to cook with your microwave. it includes a recipe for a steamed chocolate pudding that is, according to the experts, quite good.