Vegan Vacation Eats: Grand Canyon and beyond...

I was recently treated to a wonderful trip through the Southwest with my youngest Sprout, and my favorite, generous, adventurous vegan friend Shaun.

As many of you know, eating healthy and cruelty-free while on vacation is often one of the biggest challenges a vegan may face...

What to do, what to do.

While vegetarian/vegan restaurant guides like

"Happy Cow" can offer some help, they are usually limited to all-vegetarian/vegan restaurants, or at least those with a specific vegetarian focus. And in the case of our trip, there was only one listing out of all the towns we'd be going through.

With a little research (reading reviews on Yelp, Urban Spoon, Travelocity and just Googling "Vegetarian Restaurants" in whatever town) and some calling ahead, we managed to find vegan options for the duration of our week-long trip.

I'll list our "finds" in hopes that they help some other vegan vacationers who, like us, may be headed to Arizona and New Mexico destinations or passing through remote towns like Tuba City, Farmington, Los Alamos, Farmington, Tusayan. (As well as parts of historic Route 66, Four Corners Monument -->>, Los Alamos, Bandelier National Monument and the Grand Canyon).

Yes, like good little vegans, we packed some food along, but it's hard to pack an entire week's worth in the trunk of a Prius!! My travel partners chose hotels with breakfast buffets (usually had the option of potatoes, dry cereal and oatmeal), and packed our own almond milk and granola, thus, breakfasts were never a problem.

Vacation Vegan Options:

Holbrook, AZ: Mesa Restaurant Italiana

This restaurant offered a small selection of pasta dishes for lunch (more choices for dinner). Their pasta noodles, marinara, pomodoro, Arrabbiata, and aglio e olio (garlic and oil) sauces are all accidentally and happily vegan.

The bread is vegan (ask for olive oil to dip) and the salad is fresh and crisp, NOT from a bag (I was impressed). The only dressing that's vegan is oil and vinegar, but they get extra points for actually offering balsamic vinegar. The sauces we tried were really good; better yet, they actually taste very "homemade" and the staff followed our instructions carefully, appearing to know what the word "vegan" meant.

Tusayan, AZ (Entrance to The Grand Canyon): We Cook Pizza and Pasta

Keep in mind a couple things:

You're miles from civilization, you're at the Grand Canyon for the experience - NOT the food! AND you're in a "resort" or tourist town.

That said, "We Cook Pizza" was a nice little surprise. Their menu has a large selection, and vegans can choose a cheeseless pizza (they'll load on lots of fresh veggies!) , pasta with primavera sauce, or they'll make an all-veggie sub sandwich (the French rolls are vegan).

Plus there's a nice salad bar with loads of selection and truly fresh veggies (something I don't always find at home!).

Casual atmosphere and the expected "tourist" prices, but the food is good, and again, the staff know what the word "vegan" means, bonus points for that. **I called them later, and they confirmed that if I brought in my own vegan cheese, they'd make me a pizza with it. Good to know.

Tusayan, AZ: Sophie's Mexican Kitchen

Again, remember, you have few choices up here... This is basic, hearty Mexican food; Ask to be sure, as it seems ownership changes now and then, but when we visited, the whole beans are vegan, as is the rice. There are a good number of vegetarian selections on the menu, many of which can easily be made vegan by leaving off the cheese (veggie fajitas, Indian taco, burritos, etc.). The food is good and filling, but basic, the service is the slowest ever, and the salsa is dreadful, canned and tasteless. Your other choices in town are a steak house and a burger joint, and hey, the margaritas here are REALLY good, so that counts for something, right?

Grand Canyon National Park, South Rim: Arizona Room

They have seasonal menus and seasonal hours, so you may want to check ahead, but when we went, (along with my fabulous friend Sunny who is lucky enough to WORK at the park), we were very happy with the wide variety of choices that could be easily made vegan (leaving off the sour cream or cheese) - which the staff did willingly. Tofu tacos, portabello-avocado sandwich, sweet-potato fries, a southwest penne with ancho chiles... all of it delicious!!

Spendy, as the park tends to be, but memorable and SOOO worth it for the experience, the people watching, and the spectacular view. Cheaper and a shorter wait than other restaurants in the park too.

Grand Canyon National Park, South Rim: El Tovar Dining Room

We did not eat here, so I can't vouch for the knowledgability of the staff, but I peeked at the menu and there were clearly five or six options that, if the cheese was removed, went far, far beyond the standard "vegan salad" options we sometimes settle for, and several options were clearly marked vegan too! Nice! More "fancy" and expensive, but might be an awesome experience.

Farmington, NM: Boon's Family Thai BBQ

OK, no one is sure what the "BBQ" stands for in the restaurant's title, but this little gem was the surprise highlight of our trip!! They had a vegetarian section on the menu (always a surprise in a small town), plus options scattered throughout that aren't specifically marked, you'll have to read carefully - some things say they can be made with tofu (instead of beef, chicken or pork) and others can't.

Those that don't offer tofu as an option have other ingredients that make them non-vegetarian.

We had the vegetable-filled wontons, the spring rolls, the special Mango-Red-Curry and several vegetable based dishes (Ginger Vegetables, Phud Prik King, etc). All of it was AMAZING, made exactly as we requested, vegetables were fresh and tender-crisp, and again, major points because the waiter knew exactly what we needed as vegans. SO YUMMY! I'd drive all the way back, just to go here again!

Tuba City, AZ: Kate's Cafe

Tuba City is on the long, lonely highway to "Four Corners" and Monument Valley, and is one of the largest urban areas on the Navajo Indian Reservation.

Kate's Cafe is the only non-chain food establishment in town. There IS a Subway if you prefer, but we ventured here instead... Don't read the reviews, you may be a little alarmed at a couple reviewers complaints, but we had really good luck.Yes, it's classic 'greasy-spoon' diner food, but remember - you're in the middle of nowhere, options are few and far between!

Not a lot of options, but better than the veggie sandwich at Subway, in my opinion.

A couple pasta dishes with marinara, salads and sandwiches which can be made vegan with little or no re-arrangement. Also, very exciting, their Navajo Fry Bread is surprisingly vegan, made with vegetable shortening (hard to find and definitely worth trying).

The onion-rings are crisp, not greasy, and actually vegan too. Worth it for the local culture and lack of "fast-food" atmosphere. Staff were fairly helpful, knowledgeable about ingredients, and followed our requests accurately, but I wouldn't guarantee they'd ever heard the word vegan before.

Los Alamos, NM: El Parasol New Mexican

This small, local chain has some great Mexican/New Mexican items like burritos, tacos, enchiladas and a number of vegetarian/vegan options, but most important... CHEESE-FREE (vegan) tamales! Delicious ones filled with calabacitas (zucchini-type squash), and green chile! Vegan tamales. Yes, really, that's all I need to say.

Albuquerque, NM: Thai Vegan

This place is an absolutely awesome Thai restaurant, the fact that it's ALL VEGAN is a bonus. It's also one of Shaun's favorite places, so there was no way we would pass it up! So yummy!
I admit I'm spoiled, living in shouting distance of many all-vegan places here in the "big city", but Thai Vegan is equally as good, if not better than many Seattle/Portland restaurants! We loved every single item (and we ordered a LOT!) but if you get a chance, ask for the Massaman Curry. It's not on the menu, but the gracious owner, Pat, will happily make what is undoubtedly the BEST curry you will ever have. Go here, even if it's out of your way!! The mock meats they use are quite good, better than many I've tried, and you can get dishes with tofu as well, if that's what you prefer. Non-Thai loving youngsters will probably like the veggie-burger and perfect French fries too. Of course, this was my favorite of the entire trip!

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Here's hoping something in this list helps some lost, wandering vegan out there. The Southwest is an AMAZING place, vegan options are out there if you just keep an eye open!

Super-Easy Mexican Bean and Corn, (Empty-The-Refrigerator) Bake

This is a lifesaver casserole on busy nights with starving kids.
Make it ahead of time and set in the fridge, then pop in the oven when you get home. Pretty much anything goes here, I LOVE how super-flexible this dish is!

Get creative (or desperate!) empty out the 'fridge, use up the leftovers, change the ingredients as you like; add vegetarian taco meat, use lentils or red beans or chili instead of black beans, leftover rice instead of corn, canned tomatoes instead of salsa, more or less or no peppers and onions and garlic. trust me, it all works.


Super-Easy Mexican Bean and Corn, (Empty-The-Refrigerator) Bake

* 1 Tablespoon oil
* 1 mild onion, chopped
* 1 clove garlic, minced (or garlic powder if you're lazy like I can be some nights)
* 1 red or green bell pepper, finely chopped
* OPTIONAL: 1 - 2 jalapeño peppers, seeded and minced
* 2 roma or other smallish tomatoes, chopped, (use their juice too!)
* 1 cup mild-to medium salsa (your choice)
* 2 15-ounce can black beans, or 3 cups home-cooked - drained
* 1 can or 1 1/2 cups fresh, corn kernels, well drained
* 8 soft corn tortillas (aprox)
* OPTIONAL: 1 cup grated vegan "cheese"

Garnish:
* 1 cup shredded lettuce
* 2 green onions, sliced
* 1 small can sliced black olives
* chopped fresh cilantro
* OPTIONAL: Vegan sour cream

Preheat oven to 350º. In a medium saucepan, sauté onion and garlic in the olive oil for 5 minutes. Add bell and jalapeno pepper and cook for 3 minutes more. Add tomatoes and juice, and salsa. Heat to bubbling then remove from heat and add beans and corn.

In an 8- by 12-inch baking dish, spread 1/3 of the bean mixture over the bottom. Top with 3 - 4 tortillas, overlapping and tearing tortillas to fit as necessary. Add another 1/3 of the bean mixture and top with remaining tortillas. Spread the last 1/3 of the bean mixture over the top. Cover the dish and refrigerate at this point, or bake for 40 minutes, or until heated through.

If it's been in the 'fridge, start the pan in a cold oven, heat to 350º and bake 1 Hr and 10 min or until hot and bubbly all the way through.

Remove from oven, uncover and top with cheese (if using - but it's very good without. Cover and let stand for 10 minutes until the cheese melts). OR top with crushed corn chips.

Top each serving with lettuce, green onions, cilantro, olives and/or sour cream to each person's preference.

My Newest Favorite Restaurant

While Shaun was here, I took him to breakfast at my new favorite Restaurant here in the Seattle area.

Squid and Ink.

This funky little place is not far off the freeway in Seattle's Georgetown neighborhood. If you're passing thru, check it OUT!

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Oh, man, I LOVE LOVE them for so many reasons; 1) it's got that whole indie/punk/DIY vibe, 2) it's open late, and 3) the food is delicious, VEGAN and hearty. Oh, and 4) it serves breakfast till 4 p.m.

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The menu is full of warm, cozy vegan yumminess; we certainly did our best to sample plenty of it...

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First up, to explain this scary picture; that Canadian (more specifically Quebec) favorite "Poutine"; which is basically a dish consisting of French fries, topped with fresh cheese curds, covered with brown gravy.

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We dug right into the vegan version (which may explain the messy photo) which was quite deelish.

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Admittedly, neither of us have ever had the"original" to compare, but who cares? Fries, gravy and creamy melting curds of vegan cheese... sounds pretty dang good to me. Rich and decadent too, we brought lots home!

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I probably shouldn't admit how much we ordered, but I'll say we also brought home leftovers of incredible vegan fish and chips, and perfect crispy, salty sweet potato fries.

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On previous visits I've had the seitan-fried steak and gravy, one of my all-time favorite meals EVER!

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More fun restaurant food to follow. (Just what I need!).

Happy weekend!

Happy New Years!

I'm doing things in typical backwards order and posting New Years first, then I'll wander back here some time (in February most likely, ha!) and add the pictures and recipes from Christmas.

So, New Years. In this house it means black-eyed peas. (No, not the band.)


And I know, I know, you're thinking "Why THOSE things?" Well, seriously, if you think you don't like them, or haven't tried them in a while, this is a good excuse. They may surprise you! We're having them this afternoon because I like them. And, my kids actually like them...

And they're traditional, especially in the South, as a New Years Day dish. Here's a little blurb from our local paper:

Blackeyed peas have long been a tradition for the New Year’s table. They supposedly bring good luck for the coming year, and eating them shows “humility”. Some Southerners have been rumored to eat one pea for each day of the year to insure good fortune! They are a humble food, therefore, eating them
represents humility.

Besides the tradition part, black eyed peas have a lot of other things going for them. If you like them, don't limit yourself to once a year! They are wonderfully smoky, "earthy" and sooo delicious (as well as being an excellent source of fiber, calcium and IRON, ladies).

Here's the recipe I usually use, called "Hoppin' John". It's a great pot of stewed black-eyed peas and veggies. Yum. I freely admit I stole the basic idea from Emeril and the fine folks at Food Network. (Hey, you'd be surprised how much fun it is to mentally "vegan-ize" everything he cooks! )Traditionally (since we're being traditional and all!) it has a big ol' HAM BONE sitting in the pot, but being that I'd rather not have animal bones staring at me while I eat and the pig would rather keep his bones INSIDE his fat self... well, I substitute that flavor with some "Liquid Smoke" which is basically an all-vegan smoke concentrate flavoring. If you need the meaty bits, add seitan or whatever suits your fancy.

Do plan ahead though. Black-eyed peas from a can are not nearly as good as those you soak and cook yourself.

New Year's Hoppin' John

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup onion chopped
1/2 cup celery, chopped
1/2 cup carrots, chopped small
1/2 cup red pepper, chopped
4-5 cloves garlic, pressed or chopped garlic
1 pound dry black-eyed peas, soaked overnight and rinsed
1 quart vegetable stock
1 Bay leaf
1 teaspoon dry thyme leaves
1/4 tsp. liquid smoke
Salt, black pepper, and cayenne
3 tablespoons each: finely chopped green onion and chopped fresh parsley
3 cups steamed white rice

Heat oil in a large soup pot. Add the onion, celery, carrot, red pepper, and garlic, cook for 4 minutes. Add the black-eyed peas, stock, bay leaves, thyme, liquid smoke and seasonings.
Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 40 - 60 minutes, or until the peas are creamy and tender, stir occasionally.
If the liquid evaporates, add more water or stock. Adjust seasonings, and garnish with green onions and chopped fresh parsley. Serve over rice.

Happy Ham-Free New Years everyone!

Chocolate Lava Cupcakes

My daughter wanted to try making chocolate lava cupcakes after seeing our favorite chef, Curtis Stone (from TLC's 'Take HomeChef' - yum!) make some absolutely decadent ones... but we didn't have much luck finding a vegan recipe. (And while I LOVE 'Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World' we came up short finding what we wanted there too).

So we experimented with a basic vegan chocolate cake recipe and (after a couple disasters) came up with these!














Chocolate Lava Cupcakes
2 1/2 cups flour
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2ups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons applesauce
2 Tb. En-R-Gee egg replacer and 1 Tb. ground flax, mixed WELL with 1/4 c. soymilk
2 cups water
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons vinegar
2 teaspoons baking soda

Filling:
1/2 cup Hershey's syrup
1 cup vegan chocolate chips

Topping:
2 Tb. cocoa powder mixed with 1 Tb. granulated sugar

Heat oven to 375.

Make Filling:
Mix Hershey's syrup and cocolate chips together and melt in microwave or over double boiler. Mix well, remove from heat and allow to cool in fridge, stirring once or twice.

Make Cupcakes:
Mix dry ingredients.
Mix wet ingredients and pour into dry ingredients.
Mix well, but don't over-mix.

Line cupcake tins with paper liners - or grease VERY well. (We did this because we had run out of papers. It can be done, but is SO tricky getting the cakes out unbroken).

Put batter in cupcake pan, filling cups 2/3 full. Bake for 15 min.

Remove from oven.
Spoon a teaspoon size 'blob' of chilled filling onto each cupcake and poke down into batter a bit so the batter oozes up over it a bit. Sprinkle with cocoa powder.

Return to oven and bake another 10+ min. or so, until set up and edges are firm and dry.
Serve warm with vanilla vegan ice cream of your choice.

I know altitude can affect cakes and such... I'm curious to know if these turn out as yummy for you as they did for my Sprout - it took us a few trials to get it right (though, not to worry - all the "imperfect" versions still tasted good...).

Mashed Sweet 'Taters

More produce from the winter farmer's market: ---> --->

I had several of these beautiful "Southern Ruby" sweet potatoes from a local farm that specializes in wonderful heirloom vegetables.
They really look pretty orange to me, OK, maybe slightly 'redder' than other sweet potatoes. (And what is UP with my pictures on Blogger lately? Either they post weird, don't post at all, or are blurry! ACK!)


At any rate - I needed to use the potatoes up, and wasn't feeling in the least bit creative, so I simply boiled them, slipped the skins off and mashed them with a little maple syrup, Earth Balance and vegetable broth.

Served 'em with a H-U-G-E green salad and that's pretty much all.
Sooooo yummy.

In case you needed convincing that these things are good for you - from the Texas Sweet Potato Growers website:

"As a main dish or prepared as a dessert, the sweet potato is a nutritious and economical food. One baked sweet potato (3 1/2 ounce serving) provides over 8,800 IU of vitamin A or about twice the recommended daily allowance, yet it
contains only 141 calories making it valuable for the weight watcher. This nutritious vegetable provides 42 percent of the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for vitamin C, 16 percent of the RDA for calcium, 10 percent of the RDA for
iron, and 8 percent of the RDA for thiamine for healthy adults. It is low in sodium and is a good source of fiber and other important vitamins and minerals.
A complex carbohydrate food source, it provides beta carotene which may be a factor in reducing the risk of certain cancers.
For the most food value, choose sweet potatoes of a deep orange color. "

Tempeh Adovada

Another New Mexico favorite, "Carne Adovada" gets remade today... woo!

First, a disclaimer: If you're a green-and-red-blooded native New Mexican food purist who cannot stand the idea of your region's precious and traditional recipe being vegan-ized, read no further... (and I do understand and apologise - heh).

However, if you're vegan, yet still want to enjoy the rich, colorful, spicy flavors of the Southwest - or you're just curious what the heck I'm yammering about, read on.

Carne Adovada is traditionally made from chunks of pork, marinated and cooked in a sauce of ground New Mexican red chiles and other flavors... it's either cooked in the oven or slow cooker until the flavors absorb and the pork literally falls apart and the sauce is very thick.

Well, since my darling Albuquerque friend, Shaun, sent me home from my last visit with every imaginable New Mexican goody, I've been cooking up a storm of yummy, spicy, mouth (and eye)-watering VEGAN hotness. One of the items I wanted to experiment with was this envelope of Carne Adovada Seasoning. I'd heard so many people sing the praises of this dish, I just had to try a vegan version, regardless if it was "authentic" or not...

At first I thought this dry mix was a commercial short-cut "tourist" version of the seasonings, but then I saw (Food Network) Bobby Flay do an episode about carne adovada and he said the best and most 'authentic' thing to use was a mix very similar to what I had. So I was inspired...

For those who feel obligated to point out discrepancies in my methods or results, yes, I know, I KNOW it's "not even close" to real dead-animal Carne Adovada, so, call it 'Red Chile Tempeh' or something less offensive to you. I had fun experimenting and the end result, whatever you choose to call it, is amazing and delicious...

Tempeh Adovada

1 1-or-2 oz. package dry Carne Adovada spice mix
a mixture of 1/2 water and 1/2 red wine, (as much liquid as is called for on the spice package)
2 packages Tempeh (I used flax-seed tempeh because I love the texture)
2 Tb. oil

1.) Put spice mix into a plastic or non-reactive metal bowl. Add amount of liquid per package instructions. (As noted above, I use 1/2 water and 1/2 red wine but all water is good too).
Stir.
2.) Slice the tempeh into strips (a little less than 1/2 inch thick).
3.) Put strips into sauce and carefully stir.
4.) Marinate in fridge a couple hours. If it absorbs all the liquid, add more water. It shouldn't be "soupy" though.
5.) Heat oven to 300°. Put tempeh and sauce into glass baking dish. Drizzle with oil and stir.
6.) Bake tempeh until sauce is sticky and mostly evaporated or absorbed, stirring carefully every 1/2 hour or as needed to prevent it from totally sticking - It'll take at least an hour, probably longer; time will vary according to amount of liquid, how much tempeh absorbs, and type of tempeh.

If you stir the tempeh too hard, it'll crumble into mush. I use a wide, flat spatula and sorta lift it and move it around...

Serve with tortillas (or, sacrilege - my kids like it over rice!). Good stuff! Leftovers reheat wonderfully and make an awesome burrito filling!!

I think next time, I'd like to try it with TVP chunks in the crock pot though, to better imitate the "meat" texture. And of course, I need to let Shaun try it, since he's far more an "authority" on things New Mexican. Stay tuned.

Sweet and Sour "Chicken"

OK, this is one of those embarassing 'recipes' that people rave over, and yet I really don't do anything but throw a few things together...

Another of those "almost fools the omni's" sort of thing...

Quick and Easy, Sweet and Sour 'Chicken' and Veggies


1 Package "Health is Wealth" chicken-free "nuggets" (or vegan nugget type thing of your choice)
1 red bell pepper- cut in chunks
1 green bell pepper - cut in chunks
2 plum tomatoes- cut in chunks
1/2 sweet onion - cut in chunks
1 12 oz. can pineapple tidbits, drained
1 cup Wing Yip Sweet and Sour Sauce (or your favorite bottled sweet-and-sour sauce)
Thaw the nuggets (leave package at room temperature a 1/2 hour or so. Cut the "nuggets" into quarters.

Brown the nugget pieces in oil until crispy. Set aside.

Stir fry peppers and onion until tender-crisp.
Add tomatoes, pineapple and Sweet and Sour sauce.
Simmer for 5 - 10 min until sauce is hot.
If there doesn't seem to be enough sauce, add a little of the pineapple juice you drained from the can.
Add "chicken" chunks, simmer another 2- 3 minutes.
Serve over hot rice.

This also works great with cubes of browned tofu or tempeh but they usually take a bit longer to brown.

Tacos with Pan-Fried Corn Tortilla 'Shells'.

Friday night dinner has always been "Mexican Night" in our house. And these tacos are probably our all-time favorite. OK, so maybe they're not authentically "Mexican" and if the title is confusing, we don't actually make our corn tortillas from scratch, but we take the soft corn tortillas (sometimes called "raw" or "uncooked" soft corn tortillas - like you'd use for enchiladas) and we fry them briefly until they're lightly golden, tender and slightly crispy. They are insanely good!
None of those cold, hard, brittle, stale store-bought taco shells for us!

The Sprouts have me make these every time they have guests over, and no matter how many we make, they're always INHALED... I think they manage to fool most omnivore types pretty well, as I've never had one of their little non-vegetarian friends (or anyone!) turn their nose up at them or ask questions about the "weird vegetarian meat"...

Home-Made Tacos

-- 24 soft corn tortillas

(being that I'm rather partial to all things New Mexican, I happen to like the ones from Mi Ranchito Foods in Silver City, NM, but obviously any soft corn tortilla will work)
-- Oil for frying.

(I like refined coconut oil, it leaves them the most tender, yet crispy, but not greasy at all! Soybean oil works pretty well too.)

*****
-- 1 package Boca Crumbles, crumbled Gimme Lean or 2 cups reconstituted TVP granules
-- 1 8 - 10 oz. can chopped tomatoes (I like RoTel brand but they may be too spicy for some...)
-- 1 cup frozen corn
-- 1/2 cup salsa

-- 1/2 cup water (may need more, some burger tends to dry out)
-- 1 can black beans, rinsed and well drained
-- 1 Tb. dry taco seasoning (use a commercial blend or make your own with cumin, chili powder, cayenne, oregano, etc...)

******
taco "fixins" according to preference:
- shredded lettuce (or cabbage is awesome!!)
- tomatoes
- onions
- chopped fresh cilantro
- olives
- Tofutti Sour Supreme (vegan sour cream)
- shredded vegan "cheese
- guacamole or cubes of avocado
- leftover 'Spanish Rice'

- chopped fresh jalapenos

- fire roasted green chile sauce

- salsa

To fry the tortillas:
(Yes, I said "FRY". No-one claimed these were low calorie!)
Heat 1/4 inch oil in cast iron skillet.
When very hot (but NOT smoking!) lay corn tortilla in. It will puff up in 15 - 30 seconds.
Fry for another 10 seconds or so, until just starting to get golden spots.
Flip carefully with tongs.
Fry another 20 seconds or until starting to brown. Using tongs, remove to paper towel.
Here's the the tricky part!
Quickly blot excess oil with a folded paper towel. (Careful, they're HOT!!)
Fold in half quickly before they start to cool.
Keep warm in covered dish in low oven.

Continue process until all tortillas are fried.

As you get the hang of it it gets easier. You can do several at a time, they'll overlap a bit but they still cook up just fine. (It's much easier than it sounds).

Taco "Meat" Filling:

Crumble burger in frying pan with a small bit of oil.

Add corn and beans and start to warm.

Puree salsa, tomatoes, water and seasoning in blender or food processor.

Add to burger mixture. Simmer on low while cooking taco shells. You may need to add water, depending on how much the burger absorbs and how long it simmers. It shouldn't be dry and it shouldn't be overly juicy...

Add the fixin's!

Shred, slice, chop, grate... Prepare whatever condiments you prefer.

Serve taco "meat" filling and other goodies in bowls and let everyone dig in and make their own tacos just how they like them!

Rich, Garlicky Scalloped Potatoes Alfredo

We needed some "comfort food" tonight after all this snow and ice and winter nastiness. By request, I made one of our latest favorites - Garlicky Scalloped Potatoes Alfredo, and added your basic shredded-carrot and raisin salad and brocolli for supper. Seemed to make everyone happy!

Here's the potato recipe. It's a huge hit every time I make it, and perfect for those not-vegan-friendly potlucks where all the omnis peers at your food looking for chunks of tofu...

This is a variation on a Scalloped Potato dish made by a friend over at VeggieBoards, though I modified it somewhat for my very garlic-obsessed family. I thought since I'd changed it a bit, it was OK to post it here, but my apologies if not. Just know I'm in no way claiming it's an original creation of mine...

Anyway, so if you're not quite so garlic-crazy you can cut down on the amount, though it does mellow a great deal during cooking...

Garlic Scalloped Potatoes

8 medium Yukon Gold potatoes (the only kind to use here!)

1 large, sweet onion (Walla Walla Sweet - I live in Washington, what can I say...)

3 cups boiling non-dairy (I like soy here, plain, NOT vanilla obviously!) milk

1/3 cup flour

1/3 cup vegan Tofutti "sour cream"
1 tbsp paprika

2 tsp black pepper

3 tsp each onion powder & garlic powder
1 tsp sea salt

4 - 8 cloves fresh garlic, run thru garlic press or food processor
seasoned bread crumbs for the topping.

Preheat oven to 400 F.
If you're using a thick-skinned baking potato, you may want to peel them. I use "Yukon Gold" which have very thin, tender skins, so I just scrub them really well and leave the skins on.
Slice the potatoes and onion as thin as you can - I use a mandolin slicer. Place an even layer of them into a 9"x13" baking pan. sprinkle with some of the flour, salt and paprika

Heat your milk to boiling and add the vegan "sour cream" plus all the spices and seasonings (except flour, salt and paprika). Add pressed (or food-processed) garlic cloves. Whisk until the sour cream has melted into the hot milk and then pour a layer over the potatoes.

Add another layer of potato slices, and repeat the flour, spices sprinkling and more hot 'milk' sauce. Do this until all potato slices are used up and top with final layer of sauce.
Cover the pan tightly with a lid or foil and bake for 45 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender when you poke them with a knife. Add the topping (seasoned bread crumbs), and place under the broiler for 2 - 3 minutes or until it's browned. Serve hot. Often I don't add bread crumbs and it's just fine too...

Makes enough for 4 - 6 people. (Well, that's the theory, though I always have to make double for the 4 of us!!)

Christmas Dinner with Family

Christmas Dinner was at my parents', as usual. Plenty of siblings, spouses, sisters and yummy food (don't know how much shows in the picture, but you sorta get the idea). My family is mostly vegetarian anyway, so we all contribute vegetarian food for large get-togethers such as this. And lucky for me, most everyone brings at least one vegan dish as well, so I'm always well-fed. (Yeah, like that's a problem!!).

This year's spread included stuffed mushrooms, a centerpiece dish of vegan "meatballs" with gravy, a beautiful salad with shredded carrots, jicama and beets as garnish, ranch dressing (made vegan just for me thankyou!) several types of rolls, mashed 'taters, fresh cranberry-tangerine relish, sweet potato gratin, green beans, orange-sauce beets, holiday wild rice pilaf, and a "relish tray" with veggies, assorted pickles and olives and stuff...

Whew! I gained 10 pounds just re-reading that paragraph!

OK, so this Christmas, I collected a couple recipes to share: My Holiday Rice, my Mom's Non-Meat Balls and Mushroom-Wine Gravy, and my sister's Stuffed Mushrooms. All of it yum-a-licious and wonderfully vegan, here you go....

Holiday Rice

1/2 cup uncooked wild rice
3 cups vegetarian un-chicken broth, divided
1 cup apple juice
3/4 cup uncooked jasmine rice (white or brown)
1/2 cup chopped dried apricots
1/2 cup dried cranberries
2 Tablespoons Earth Balance
3/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup coarsely chopped pistachios or hazelnuts
2 Tb. minced fresh sage
1 tsp. onion powder
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 Tb. brown sugar

Rinse wild rice in fine strainer under cold running water. Drain. Combine wild rice, 1-1/2 cups veg-chicken broth and apple juice in 2-quart saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low; simmer, covered, about 45 minutes or until rice is tender. Drain.
Meanwhile, combine jasmine rice and remaining 1-1/2 cups broth in separate 2-quart saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low; simmer, covered, 12 to 15 minutes. (I just cook the white rice in my rice-cooker with broth)
Stir apricots and cranberries into white rice; simmer 5 minutes or until rice is tender and fluffy and liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat. Let stand covered 5 minutes or until fruit is tender; set aside.
Melt Earth Balance in large skillet over medium heat. Add onion; cook and stir 5 to 6 minutes until tender. Stir in nuts and sage. Cook and stir 2 minutes.
Add rice mixtures to skillet. Add remaining ingredients; cook and stir over medium heat about 2 minutes or until heated through, taste and adjust seasonings if needed.

Non-Meatballs with Mushroom Gravy

1 cup firm tofu, mashed (not the silken variety found in vacuum-packed cartons)
½ cup wheat germ
¼ cup parsley, chopped
2 Tbsp. water
2 Tbsp. nutritional yeast
½ Tbsp. onion powder
½ tbsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. salt
¼ tsp. black pepper
¼ tsp. each - oregano, garlic powder and sage
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. soy sauce

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Mix all ingredients together in a medium bowl and roll into small balls. Place on a greased cookie sheet. Spray oil over the top of the balls for a more crispy texture. Bake for 30 minutes until browned. Serve warm.

Gravy

2/3 cup vegetable oil
3 cloves garlic, crushed
¼ cup onions, chopped
2/3 cup flour
½ tsp. ground sage
2 Tbsp. nutritional yeast
4 Tbsp. soy sauce
2 ½ cups water
¼ cup dry red wine
1/3 cup sliced mushrooms, sauteed in margarine until soft
salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in a medium saucepan and sauté onions and garlic. When onions are tender and translucent, stir in the flour, nutritional yeast and sage to form a paste. Slowly add water, soy sauce and wine, stirring constantly. When gravy starts to thicken, stir in the mushrooms, salt and pepper.
Add more water if necessary to thin the gravy. Pour over "meatballs" and heat in a casserole dish and serve.

Stuffed Mushrooms

16 large button mushrooms (or other mushrooms of choice), washed well
3 T. olive oil, divided
8 oz. firm tofu, frozen, and thawed
1/4 cup onion, finely diced
1/4 cup celery, finely diced
1/4 cup green onion, thinly sliced
1 T. garlic, minced
1/2 t. dried thyme
1/3 cup breadcrumbs
2 T. nutritional yeast flakes
2 T. freshly chopped parsley
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Lightly oil (or spray with vegetable oil) a large baking dish and set aside. Remove the stems from the mushrooms, roughly dice the stems, and set aside.
In a non-stick skillet, place 1 T. olive oil and the mushroom caps, and saute for 2 minutes per side. Remove the mushroom caps from the skillet, transfer to a large plate, and set aside.
Using your fingers, crumble the thawed tofu into a small bowl and set aside. In the same non-stick skillet, saute the reserved mushroom stems, onion, celery, and green onion in the remaining olive oil, for 5 minutes to soften.
Add the crumbled tofu, garlic, and thyme, and saute an additional 2-3 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Remove the skillet from the heat, add the remaining ingredients, stir well to combine, and season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Fill the mushroom caps with warm filling, slightly mounding the tops, and place them in the prepared baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until the mushroom caps are heated through and slightly browned on top. Transfer to a decorative platter for service and serve immediately. Yum!

Mushroom Potstickers

I made potstickers tonight, (well defrosted some I'd made earlier) for our Christmas Eve supper.
My kids wanted an Asian theme and had grand ideas about all sorts of stuff, but they were out babysitting until late and I was busy until after 5 as well, so I got Hot and Sour Soup as take-out, and then defrosted and fried up these babies (made and frozen a few weeks back) after rushing around with the last of the Christmas Shopping. Everyone was thrilled and declared it our "official" Christmas Eve Supper from now on.
...We'll see about that...

Allow me to go off on a tangent here, but, how is it that every year, I SWEAR I'm finished around the 20th of December, or so, and about 2:PM Christmas Eve I suddenly remember 25364728 little details I forgot?

Grrrr... batteries for the Ipod, and digital camera, and GameBoy; Starbucks Giftcards for the paperboy, the babysitter and anyone else I neglected (sorry if that was you.)

Anyway...these Potstickers are super easy and the recipe is tasty even if you have to play around with ingredients... definitely use fresh ginger and garlic thogh, not those dried imposters!

I'm off to wrap the last of the gifts. Happy Holidays to all of you. Enjoy.

Mushroom Potstickers

3 cups finely shredded green and purple cabbage - sometimes I shred kale as part of the mixture too.

4-5 good sized dried shiiake mushrooms (reconstituted = 1/2 cup diced) -

If you can't get these, just use 1/2 cup more

of the button mushrooms, but the shiitakes

add a depth of flavor that's hard to match.

1 cup minced fresh button mushrooms

1 teaspoon garlic, minced

2 teaspoons finely shredded fresh ginger

4 Tablespoons green onion, diced

1-2 teaspoons rice wine vinegar, to taste

salt and pepper, to taste

24 egg free gyoza (pot sticker/dumpling) wrappers

Saute everything except the ginger, green onion and rice wine vinegar until soft. Remove from heat and mix in the remaining ingredients.

Adjust seasoning to taste.

Set aside to cool.

To fill wrappers:Lay out a gyoza wrapper and place one scant teaspoon-full mounded in the center. run a wet finger around half the outer edge of the wrapper and fold over, pinching the seams together as snugly around the filling as possible. You can crimp the edges like a fluted pie crust if you like.

Set aside and continue with the rest of the dumplings.

When they are all constructed, steam in a rice-cooker, vegetable steamer or bring a pot of water to a boil and place a steamer basket inside.

Grease or pan spray the insert to prevent sticking and lay the dumplings in one at a time so that they do not overlap. Cover and steam for 10 - 15 minutes per batch.

You can store in the fridge or freeze at this point.

To serve: Boil in a clear broth soup or fry in a skillet with a bit of oil to brown on one side IF you want - or just eat them steamed.

Serve with ponzu or the dipping sauce of your choice.

(I usually throw together a sauce made of equal parts rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, a few drops of sesame oil and a squirt of Sriracha, or else use Sweet Chili Sauce - our household standard condiment)

Today we were all in the mood for something very chocolate-y, and since it's the first week of Winter Break, the perfect time to bake some decadence and chocolate. So, I rummaged through some recipes and found this one for Christmas CandyCane Brownies. I'd been in search of a decent vegan brownie recipe for a long time, and no matter what, they all kept coming out soggy or greasy. Gack!
But I'd been playing with this recipe for quite a while, and finally managed to perfect (well, "perfect" being a relative term of course) it last summer (without the candy-cane topping because candy-canes are hard to find in mid-July ) so decided to let the Sprouts try their hand at baking them. The end result was great of course!!

Christmas Candy Cane Brownies

1 1/4 cup white flour

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1 Tb. egg replacer powder powder

1 cup water

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup unsweetened baking cocoa powder

1/2 cup oil

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips

Mix dry ingredients (flour, sugar, salt, cocoa, baking powder, egg replacer powder) You can sift if you want but not necessary.

Then mix the wet ingredients (water, oil, vanilla).

Mix wet into dry together, 50 strokes, or until well blended.

Fold in chocolate chips.

Spread mixture into a greased 13x9" pan.

Bake at 350 for 25- 30 minutes, or until a knife comes out clean.

When cool, we frosted with the white frosting from 'Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World' (to which we added some Peppermint Extract) then topped the brownies liberally with crushed candy canes. As you can see, SOMEONE (not mentioning any names here*cough*starts-with-an-O*cough*) couldn't wait to try them, even before I'd gotten a picture!

Oliva-Tofu-Pecan Dip

First Christmas Party of the season tonight:

Didn't have a whole lot of time last night and wanted something that I could mix up ahead of time, so I brought this super-mega-easy-yummy dip, and some rather generic crackers. My mom actually gave me the recipe a few years back - Good stuff!!

No one asked or cared if it was vegan and the bowl was cleaned out when I left so I guess that's a good sign. Seriously, this is my stand-by when I need a 'spread' sort of thing and have to impress omnis. It's good with celery and carrots or in a sourdough bread bowl too.

Olive-Tofu-Pecan Spread

1 cup firm tofu, mashed fine with a fork

1/3 cup pecans, ground fine but not totally into powder, in food processor or blender

2/3 cup black olives, chopped (you can use a couple Tbsp. kalamata olives if you want extra tang and saltiness, but it's good with standard old black olives too).

1/2 cup finely chopped celery

1/4 finely chopped onion (or chop celery and onion in food processor)

1 1/4 tsp onion powder

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 tsp. seasoning salt

1/2 cup Vegannaise (or equal parts Tofutti Sour 'Cream' and vegan mayo)

Mix ingredients well. Enjoy! That's it!

Sprout in Peru!

Yes, Peru.
No, not me! My oldest Sprout, "J.", recently got the opportunity of a lifetime, when my parents offered to take her with them on a Mission trip to Peru!

My parents go on volunteer trips all over the world, with Maranatha Volunteers International every year, and this year they decided to invite my J-Sprout along.

So March 30, a couple weeks ago - they took off for Peru.
Yes, I was slightly teary-eyed, because even though my NOT-so-little Sprout has been away from home many times, to camp and such, she's never been out of the COUNTRY - and so far away, for so long... I'm just glad she was with her Grandma and Grandpa!

They went to a small village near Peru's capitol city, Cuzco. I guess I shouldn't say "near", because after landing in Cuzco, they had a 5 hour bus ride over narrow mountain roads to get to their work location. Once there, they stayed for a week, building a medical clinic and a small church/meeting hall and piping in fresh water for the local people. My Sprout worked right alongside the adults; lifting bricks, mixing cement and hauling sand. Her grandparents (AND I!) were very proud of her!
After their week of volunteer work, J-Sprout and grandparents headed off for more 'tourist-y' activities like visiting Machu Picchu and Lake Titicaca.

So, if you've read this far, this blog does have a 'food' point to it - and here it is: When returning from Lake Titicaca the tour group stopped in the town of Puno at a local restaurant.

My Mom, a L/O vegetarian, was fluent enough in Spanish to order a soup that they made up special just for her and my J-Sprout. (this place was pretty "tourist" oriented, so they catered to a lot of picky people and special needs). Better yet, when my Mom complimented the chef on the wonderful soup, he came out to their table and actually wrote down the recipe (in Spanish)!

Of course this recipe was one of my Sprout's favorite souviners from the trip and she had me make it her first week back. She said it was better at the restaurant (of course! ha!) but she did ask me to make it again just a couple days later, so she must like it. I know I sure did!

The soup uses already-cooked quinoa (a staple in Peru), and the vegetables are chopped very small, so it cooks very fast. Great way to use up leftovers, though when I make quinoa (I use my rice-cooker), there's rarely much in the way of leftovers.

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Puno Soup

2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup onion, chopped very small
1 large potato, peeled and cut into matchsticks
2 ribs celery, cut very small
1 med. carrot or sweet potato, cut into very small cubes (or shredded, though it makes the soup look more "messy".) (The recipe said carrot, but my Mom, who dislikes carrots, swore it was more pale and starchy, like a sweet potato)
1-2 jalapeno peppers, to taste, seeded and minced
1 Tb. olive oil (original recipe uses butter - this is the only change I made to make it "vegan")
3 cups vegetable broth
3 cups water
1/4 cup tomato sauce
1 cup cooked quinoa
2 cups fresh spinach, thinly sliced
Salt, freshly ground pepper and hot sauce to taste

Place garlic, onion, potato, celery, carrot and jalapeno in a skillet with olive oil. Saute until vegetables start to get slightly tender.
While vegetables are sauteeing, bring water, tomato sauce and broth to a boil in a med. saucepan.
Add vegetables and cooked quinoa. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and cook for 10 minutes or until potatoes are very soft. Add spinach and cook an additional 2 - 3 minutes.

Taste and adjust seasonings; add salt, pepper, hot sauce or whatever works for you.

And for those who have read this far and are still interested in the unique foods of South America, this is a GREAT blog: Vegan Findings in South America . They have some great photos too! Look at them since I haven't got mine uploaded yet.

Shortbread Cookies

<-- My littlest Sprout takes cookies in to school tomorrow for a Valentine's party.

Instead of something more traditional (well, OK, I'm not exactly sure what would be considered "traditional" treats for Valentine's anyway - pink cupcakes? blechh...yeah...) she wanted to make shortbread cookies.


So naturally I hadn't tried "veganizing" my shortbread recipe yet, and didn't have time to experiment, but we tweaked it only slightly and it turned out GREAT. Here ya go...

VEGAN SHORTBREAD CUT-OUT COOKIES

-- 3/4 cup of margarine (the kind in cubes, like Earth Balance Buttery Sticks - NOT the softer tub-style)
-- 2 TB (or a bit less) coconut oil
-- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
-- 2 cups flour (sometimes I use whole wheat pastry flour)
-- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla (oh please use real vanilla!)

1. Preheat oven to 350F and lightly grease a baking sheet.
2. Cream margarine and sugar very, very well.
3. Add vanilla.
4. Add flour slowly.
5. When well incorporated and forming a dough, roll into a ball and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes, to overnight. (We couldn't wait much longer than 20 min!)
6. Flour surface and rolling pin, and roll out a 1/4 of the dough out a time to between 1/4 and 1/2 in. thick. (Thicker will be more dense and shortbread-like, thinner will be more crisp, we made ours pretty thick!) Cut out using cookie cutters of choice.
7. Bake until the edges begin to brown, 6-10 minutes. Keep an eye on it, depending on how thick you roll the dough.

Confetti Couscous

Did a major cupboard clean-out last week and discovered a package of couscous I had meant to use at Thanksgiving. Well, tofurky day is long past, but I got inspired anyway and made my favorite couscous salad. It's actually more of a summer-time thing. Maybe?

I don't always use all the veggies, sometimes more of one than another, it depends on my mood and what I have in the fridge.

At any rate, I could eat this stuff 3 meals a day, the girls like it for the most part and it's pretty and colorful, ...yeah, I should be inspired more often!

Confetti Couscous

1 cup uncooked couscous

2 cups (or one can) cooked black beans, well drained and rinsed

1 stalk celery, chopped

1 small red pepper, chopped

1 cup cooked corn (or mini-corn is cool too!)

2 medium tomatoes, diced (sometimes I use little yellow pear tomatoes)

1/2 cup chopped green or Kalamata olives

1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

2 green onions, finely sliced or 1/4 cup minced purple onion

3 Tb. olivie oil

1 Tbsp lemon juice

salt and pepper to taste

Pour couscous in medium heat-proof bowl. Bring 2 cups water to a boil and pour over couscous. Cover and let stand 15 minutes, then fluff with a fork and allow to cool to room temperature.Transfer coucous to large boil. Add remaining ingredients and toss to mix. Serve at room temperature, or chilled.

BEST EVER, FOOLPROOF, VEGAN CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIIES!

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie recipes are tough to find, even if you're using butter, eggs and whatever else. My 12-year-old adjusted this recipe from an old family favorite one day when she was home alone and wanted to surprise me with some vegan cookies. We didn't exactly have "enough" of several crucial ingredients so she substituted - played around with the recipe and the end result was the most wonderful cookies EVER!!

It is honestly AMAZING (hence the name). Now her recipe is famous among family, friends and her classmates, most of whom had never heard the word "vegan" before - at least now they associate the word with yummy cookie goodness.

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Amazing Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup Smart Balance Light (or regular Earth Balance will work fine too, though for some reason SB Light works the best)
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 heaping Tbsp. flax meal
1 heaping Tbsp. Ener-G egg replacer powder
1/4 cup soy milk
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups vegan chocolate chips (Good quality vegan chocolate chips are absolutely essential here. Guittard Semi-Sweet is my favorite - available in regular grocery stores and VEGAN!)

1.) Preheat oven to 375 F.
2.) In a small bowl, mix soy milk VERY WELL (until creamy) with Ener-G egg replacer and flax meal using an electric mixer or hand (immersion) blender. Set aside.
3.) In another bowl, mix together flour, baking soda and salt. Set Aside.
4.) In a large bowl, cream together coconut oil, Smart Balance and sugars. Add soy/flax mixture and vanilla. Beat with electric mixer until smooth.
5.) Gradually add flour mixture to liquids. Stir in chocolate chips.
6.) Drop by well rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8 - 10 min. until lightly golden. (Can also be made into bar cookies in 9 X 12 pan)

You can add nuts, raisins, coconut, whatever... but we like them just as they are!

Hot Cocoa and a Snow Day

We had an unexpected snow day today which, in Western Washington usually means, oh, about two inches of snow. It also means no work for me and kids home from school.

So, I cleaned out kitchen cuboards suffering from post-holiday chaos (found all sorts of things I need to try cooking with...)and the kids spent most of the day back and forth between the snow and making forty-bazillion cups of peppermint hot cocoa - great way to mess up the kitchen AND use up all those Christmas candy canes I wasn't sure what to do with.

Candy Cane Cocoa

For each cup (multiply this recipe as much as you need)

1 cup soymilk, or other non-dairy milk (we actually used 1/2 almond milk and 1/2 Silk Soy Creamer because that's all we had, it came out DEEE-LISH!)

1/2 T. unsweetened Dutch Process cocoa powder

1 T. sugar

1 T. isolated soy protein powder (optional - if you have it, it makes it extra creamy!!)

1/4 tsp. vanilla or 1/8 tsp. peppermint extract (or the adults can use a shot of Peppermint Schnapps - woo!)

garnish with:

Soy Whip or Hip Whip or whatever

crushed candy-canes left over from Christmas

Blend all ingredients in the blender or with a stick-blender. Heat on stove or in microwave being careful to watch for boil-overs. Garnish with whip "cream" and crushed candy canes or stir with whole candy canes for an even more glorious mess.

Red and Green for Christmas

Happy New Year!

After spending a couple vacations last year, with friends and relatives in New Mexico, I've been wanting to write down a few of the ideas and recipes I've come away with. The food there is amazing; colorful, flavorful, creative and full of ingredients or combinations I'd never tried. I fell absolutely in love with (among other things) the green chiles that New Mexico is so famous for.

There are as many definitions for "chile"as there are people in New Mexico, but most simply it's either "red or green". Either its the famous green New Mexico-grown chile peppers (especially the Hatch chiles, grown in southern New Mexico) that are roasted over a fire until their skins blacken and char. The skins get peeled off and the soft chiles are chopped and cooked in whatever recipe.
Its counterpart, the red chile, which is the same pepper, but picked later in the season so it is red (ripe) and then dried, ground into powder and blended with liquid to make a red sauce. You also see the dried red pods made into beautiful chile ristras (strings or wreaths of chiles) for sale all over Santa Fe and Albuquerque's Old Town. (Well, everywhere actually, I just happened to see them a lot in the "tourist-y" places because that's where I went mostly, this trip).

Spanish settlers brought the chile pepper into what is now New Mexico in the 1600s, and it is now the state's largest agricultural crop; it's consumed at every meal, celebrated in songs and at festivals, and is the subject of the Official New Mexico State Question, "Red or green". The question refers to the color of chile you want on your food and you'll get asked at every Mexican (or New Mexican, sorry!!) restaurant.

I think the reason the rest of us know so little about New Mexico's green chiles is because they don't transport so well. They're a fresh and seasonal vegetable, (well, yes, technically a fruit) and the only way to really appreciate them is freshly fire- roasted, though the fire-roasted and frozen variety are pretty close if that's your second choice. Canned slimy green chiles are not even an option.

OK then. So this past Christmas break, I spent some time in New Mexico, and returned with my tummy full of green chile and my brain full of recipes, ideas and happy memories.

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(I know, the picture doesn't look
all that great, but it IS yummy
stuff!)

OK, so, first of all, one of my new favorites, Green Chile Stew. This stuff is addictive, it doesn't have to be SUPER spicy but I tend to like it that way. With all those Vitimin-C-filled chile peppers, it's great for a cold and (I discovered), it's sorta like meatloaf or apple pie, there are hundreds of slightly different versions of the "official" recipe! Normally it has pork or something dead and disgusting in it, but here's the vegan version that I learned from one of my wonderful veggie freinds.

New Mexico Green Chile Stew

1 pkg. Boca crumbles or 1 pkg. Morningstar Farms Beef Meal Starter Strips or if you prefer something else, go for it...
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups roasted, peeled and chopped New Mexico green chiles
1 large potato, peeled and diced
2 tomatoes, peeled and chopped
3 to 4 cups water
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano, Mexican preferred

Place the Crumbles or Meal Starter strips in a skillet and brown a bit in the oil, remove and place it in a kettle or stock pot.
Put the onions in the skillet, adding more oil if necessary, and sauté until they are browned. Add the garlic and cook for an additional couple of minutes. Remove them from the skillet and add to the 'meat'.

Pour a little of the water into the skillet, bring to a boil, and deglaze. Pour the liquid over the 'meat'. Add all the remaining ingredients, and simmer for an hour or so, 'till the potato is soft.
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Another new favorite for me is Posole. (Also spelled 'Pozole'). Posole is a New Mexican soup traditionally served on Christmas Eve. It is made with a type of corn, hominy really, that's been treated with lime (I know, sounds weird). You buy it dry, soak it forever, and when the kernals start to burst, it's time to cook the rest of the soup. Posole is also 'traditionally' made with pigs feet. Obviously I left those out (UGH!). I love creating my own traditions with veganized versions of regional and cultural favorites and this is a great example, though in all honesty, I got the recipe - or general idea - from a friend who's lived in NM basically all his life.

My 6-year-old goes NUTS over this stuff, she'll eat three bowlfulls in a row, with really HOT green chile sauce (though I think it's 'traditionally' served with red, once again, there we go, breaking tradition).

I have to buy the dried posole corn or hominy (or cacahuazintle is technically what it says on the package) in New Mexico, or at a tiny little specialty market in Seattle, or bribe a friend to mail some to me, so we don't make this as often as my kids would like. Canned hominy is JUST not the same. I tried it, it was AWFUL!

POSOLE SOUP

2 c. posole or dried hominy (or cacahuazintle as my package says), picked over for dirt or stones
1/4 c. vegetable oil
2 c. chopped onion
2 T. minced garlic
1 oz. New Mexico dried red chile pods, (4 or 5 pods, stems and seeds removed)
5 c. vegetarian UNchicken broth
pinch of cumin and Mexican oregano
1/2 c. coarsely chopped cilantro
2 t. salt, or to taste

Soak posole/hominy corn in a large amount of water overnight (it will swell quite a bit!!). The next morning, cook posole in water in crockpot on low for about another 12 hours until the kernels have softened and begin to burst. Drain the posole and rinse well.
Heat the oil in a 6-quart pot and sauté the onions until golden. Add the garlic and sauté for 1 minute. Add the posole, dried chiles, broth, cumin and oregano. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Add the salt, to taste, and continue cooking for 30 minutes. Stir in the cilantro. Taste and adjust seasonings.
Serve with warm red chile sauce on the side. Yum!
**In the picture I took above, I had added some red and green bell peppers for a little extra interest though they're not necessary.