experimenting with cilantro and avocado

so, as i often do, i ended up with an avocado and nothing to do with it. and the other day, i ended up with a *huge* bag of cilantro in addition to that avocado, and even though i would happily eat guacamole for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, i decided to try something new. so i found a recipe for tofu fajitas, and made them without the fajitas (but this is the recipe that i basically copied: http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/vegetarian/tofu_fajitas.html). so it basically went like this:

chop some garlic
slice a whole red onion
get some frozen peppers (because that's what we had, not suggested, they were kinda lacking in taste)
cube a big chunk of tofu and marinate in the juice of an oldish lime (again, what was in the fridge) and cumin

those things all went in a pan with some olive oil, and then i added a *lot lot lot* of chopped cilantro at the last moment, and chopped avocado. and then i ate it and it was good. and then i went to babysit. the end.


note: this is a less than triumphant return to the food blog, but things i'm good at (breakfast sandwiches, and....well, that's kind of it) will follow...

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.

food thoughts with gina marie

who out there has been wondering where gina marie's posts have gone? (sarahs emily and elisabeth raise their hands.) I now present an interview on food with the missing blogger:

1: What is the best food anyone has ever made for you?
corn chowder out of a bag. does that count as "made"? otherwise, my grandma's escarole soup.
2: What is the one thing you cannot make but would most like to learn how?
sushi! and curry. and corn chowder!
3: If you were to be chased by an item of food in a dream, what is it most likely to be and would you defeat it?
probs. the stay puff marshmallow man, so marshmallow. and i would call the ghostbusters.
4: Is there a food that you hated as a child but love now? Or vice versa?
i loved ghostbuster cereal, now not so much.
5: What three items do you need for a successful spring picnic?
watermelon, brie and green apple and mustard sandwiches, and lemonade.

heed her wise advise in question 5, folks. go outside for a picnic and bring supplies!

a call for polenta recipes

my friends, I have a dilemma. I love polenta. I love all kinds of polenta. this is not the dilemma. the dilemma is that all the recipes I have for polenta involve making the polenta, not what to do with the polenta once it has already entered into existence. sometimes I cut rounds of polenta and grill tofu and basil and tomato on top of it. sometimes I cut rounds of polenta and saute it with salt and pepper. but that is it. that's all I've got. and that is what we call a dilemma.


please send polenta recipes. or suggestions. or encouragement. I just need to re-jump my imagination. I need a slap on the back of the head from the polenta fairy.

sylvia makes risotto!

someone reads our blog and makes the food! sylvia has posted some pictures of chard risotto on her flickr ... check it out!

lightly battered tofu (wwggwe)

to begin: W.W.G.G.W.E. stands for, "Which Will Go Great With Everything." I think wwggwe is an underlying philosophy of my cooking. garlic would fall into the wwggwe category, although it's not a recipe.

to continue: this recipe came to me via sean, who adopted it from his ex, who is - I hear - a formidable cook in her own right. if I were to judge based on this recipe, I would heartily agree.

you will need:
*one package of extra firm tofu, drained and pressed
*1/3 cup whole wheat flour
*1/3 cup cornmeal
*1/3 cup nutritional yeast
*salt to taste
*seasoned salt or garlic salt to taste
*plain soy milk
*olive oil
*a ziploc bag

combine the cornmeal, nutritional yeast, whole wheat flour, and salts in the ziploc bag. odds are that you'll want more salt than you'd think to put in, but that amount varies for everyone. if you're the sort of person that needs specifics, start with a tablespoon and go from there. seal the bag, shake so that everything is mixed, and set aside.

slice the tofu as you see fit. when dealing with a block, I like to slice it in half width-wise, creating two half-inch high rectangles. you can either make tofu "fingers" or cubes - whatever tickles your fancy. the important thing is to make sure your cut leaves the tofu with sides large enough to batter and brown. slivers won't work here, darlings.

pour the soymilk into a dish or tupperware container. you'll want enough in there so that you can coat the tofu. the exact amount will vary based on the size and shape of your dish. take about half of your tofu slices and coat all sides with soymilk. they don't need to be saturated, just wet enough so that the batter will stick. the tofu pieces go from the soymilk into the ziploc bag. pop the suckers in, seal the bag, and give it a good shake. you may want to do a little...massaging to make sure that every piece is getting coated on all sides.

heat a healthy amount of olive oil in a large, low saucepan. when the oil is hot, drop the tofu in. cubes can be done in two batches, tofu strips will need more than that. after a few minutes, flip one piece over. if it's golden brown on the bottom, flip the rest. cook for a few more minutes and then remove when the second side is a similarly wonderful golden brown color.

it make take a few tries to get the process down. I end up coating the second batch while the first one cooks, but if you have a partner in crime, you can have a continuous loop of coating and cooking. this recipe is so yummy. it is wwggwe for seri.

mac n cheese photo essay (recipe on the way)

vegetarian tacos

That is the one picture I remembered to take. I wanted to make the point that there were a *lot* of ingredients.
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I have been meaning to post about vegetarian tacos for ages - it's a signature dish of mine that, as usual, I got from my dad. Every time I would make them though, I forgot to take pictures.

I was all set when I made them last night (with some help from kristen and gina and margaritas from susan) before bluegrass at Cantab to take pictures so I could post. And I did take one picture. And then completely forgot about it (blame the margaritas).

I will try to post the one picture tonight, but in the meantime, I will post the recipe, since I don't make it that often. The thing about tacos is that they have a very dynamic cost/benefit analysis. They are waaay not worth making for one person, but the amount of work to make it for 6 or 8 people is almost the same as to make it for one person. So I like to do it for parties. Plus good leftovers.

Most of the taco process is just chopping. Everyone likes their own stuff for tacos. This is my basic list of cold accoutrement...

chopped fresh tomatoes
chopped scallions and cilantro mixed in a bowl
lettuce sliced into strips
grated extra sharp Cabot cheddar
home-made guacamole (kristen made it. it was excellent)
sometimes sour cream, but I don't think it's necessary

For the hot stuff:

one can of vegetarian refried beans (or refried black beans, of you're not doing whole black beans) - spread into a dish and put into the oven for a good long time at about 400 degrees.

once can of black beans, rinsed and drained. I heat this over the stove with 1/3 of a diced red pepper, and sprinkle some chopped cilantro over it at the end, because it's pretty.

tofu. This is the "meat" of the dish. I actually generally don't like tofu, but I think this is pretty good. To do it:

Grate half of a large, peeled carrot.
Dice one medium yellow onion.
Press one block of extra firm tofu. (To press tofu, I wrap it in paper towels and gently but firmly apply pressure, putting on more paper towels as they become soaked. Some people use cloth towels and lay a big book on top of it. whatever floats your boat!).

Start by saute-ing the diced onion in a liberal drizzle of olive oil. I use a stainless still skillet.
when the onions are about halfway to translucent, I add the tofu. You want to "scramble" the tofu - so you want the pieces to be rough, not diced, and not to little so that they get mushy. I usually cut the block in half with a knife, and then tear each half into three or four pieces with my hands and then drop it into the skillet. Then I use a spatula to roughly chop it up some more while mixing it with the onions. Let that cook until the onions get closer to translucent. Then combine the grated carrot into the skillet with the spatula. about three minutes later, you can add 2/3 a packet of taco seasoning (I usually use Old El Paso) and 2/3 cup of water. stir and let simmer on low heat until the water is absorbed, stirring occasionally.

In the meantime, you want to heat an 1/8 inch of corn oil in another skillet over very low heat. You will know the oil is hot enough if flicking a little water into it the water "jumps" back out. When the oil is nice and hot (turn on the hood vent - hot oil smokes and will set off your fire alarm!) use tongues to drop a corn tortilla in the oil. wait two seconds, flip the tortilla, and after about 3 more seconds, pull it out. when the tortilla is in the oil it should bubble and hiss a bit. If it doesn't it's not hot enough. Lay the tortilla on a stack of folded paper towels, and press down on the top of it with another stack of paper towels. This absorbs the oil so the tortillas aren't too greasy. when the towels are saturated you will need new ones, or else the oil won't get absorbed and the tortillas will stick to the paper towels and break. now fold the tortilla gently in half and set it on a platter.

Once you have your tortillas fried and your tofu has absorbed all the water, you are ready! put everything in pretty containers on the table and let people take what they want.

I am about to go eat my leftovers for lunch now!

(it's vegan without the cheese!!!)

leisurely breakfast: the perm edition

sometimes, you just need to look a little different. you want something newer, nicer, more hip. something the kids at school will love/hate-because-they're-jealous. like getting a perm in the 1980s. it instantly made you cooler and fluffier and just like everybody else.

...which is why we've added a links section to the blog. we know lots of folks who have great blogs and we also spend a lot of time putzing around on the web, looking for recipes that will solve our dining dilemmas. the interweb is kind of an integral part of our cooking experience and it only makes sense that we bring that to the blog as well.


blog of the month: Damn Good Food to Go. this is my sister's blog about owning a restaurant. you're more likely to find anecdotes about people's inability to read menus than recipes, but I highly recommend it. (I also highly recommend you check out the restaurant if you're ever in key west.) unfortunately, she can't post too often because she works so frickin' much, but when she does it's worth it.

p.s. when reviewing the perm imagery that serves as the intro for this post, please picture something along the lines of what you might find on the cover of a sweet valley high book. that was the driving force behind this very special post.

take no prisoners soup

my goal this week is to use only items that I have in my house and not purchase any new groceries. oh, and cook with them; eating toast each night would be falling far short of my goal. tonight's project: soup.

• 8 cups of water
• 3 tsp veggie bouillon sauce or cubes
• 1 cup or so red lentils
• 1 bag of spinach
• 1 yellow pepper
• 1 can of corn
• 3 shallots
• 1 clove of garlic
• 2 veggie burgers
• paprika
• curry powder
• garlic powder
• olive oil

put water and bouillon on the stove in a large pot at high heat. chop the shallots and garlic well. defrost the veggie burgers. chop half the bag of spinach and add to the broth. dice the pepper and add to the broth. add generous dashes of curry powder and paprika. in a separate pan, saute the onions and garlic in olive oil. crumble the veggie burgers into the pan and add generous dashes of garlic powder. add the corn to the broth. when the veggie burger starts to brown, turn the heat off and add the mixture to the broth. put the lid on, set the timer for 40 minutes, and then post to your food blog while waiting to see if what you made is any good.

you know what? it's totally not bad. like lentil vegetable soup, which, I guess, it is.