World's Greatest Chili

Ingredients:

1/2 medium red onion, chopped
Two 4.25 oz cans of green chiles (I used Hatch brand)
1 packet of Goya Sazon
black pepper to taste
2 packages of Smart Ground Mexican Style (or regular Smart Ground, with a Chili Seasoning packet)
Two 15oz cans of diced tomatoes
one 28 oz can of kidney beans, rinsed & strained
one 28 oz can of tomato puree

Directions:

Using a large stock pot, sautee onion in 2T of canola oil over medium heat, until soft. Season with pepper, Sazon, and add the chiles.
Add Smart Ground and mix well. Sautee for a few minutes, until warm, then add 2 cans of diced tomatoes. Add beans, and then gradually stir in tomato puree. Add a little water if necessary so that everything is covered in liquid. Stir it up, crank up the heat until it boils, then reduce the heat and simmer for 1 hour at least. Keep stirring while it simmers. Beam with delight when a room full of meat eaters raves about how it's the best chili.

Crepes, Sweet & Savory

Sweet Crepe with Nutella and Blueberries

1 cup - unbleached white whole wheat flour

1 1/3 cup - organic whole milk

2 - organic cage-free eggs

1/4 cup H20

1 tbsp - organic sugar

2 tsp - melted organic butter

organic blueberries

Nutella

veggie oil

Mix flour, eggs, milk, water, melted butter, and sugar until mixture has the consistency of heavy cream. On medium-high heat, heat an 8-10 inch pan with veggie oil enough to coat sides and bottom. Slowly pour 1/4 cup of mixture into pan. Tilt and swirl to coat entire pan. After a few minutes add and spread about a teaspoon of Nutella onto the crepe in pan. Slice about 10 blueberries and add to the melted Nutella. Fold. Add more Nutella and blueberries if desired. Fold again and serve.

serves 4ish

Savory Crepe with Spinach, Comté & Petite Buche

1 cup - unbleached white whole wheat flour

1 1/3 cup - organic whole milk

2 - organic cage-free eggs

1/4 cup - H20

1/4 tsp - salt

dash of pepper

2 tsp - melted organic butter (lightly salted)

veggie oil for frying

3-4 cups spinach (2 large handfuls)

1 garlic clove, minced

Comté cheese (similar to Gruyere)

Petite Buche (goat cheese)

1 tsp - fresh thyme

Mix flour, eggs, milk, water, melted butter, salt, pepper, thyme until mixture has consistency of heavy cream. Heat 8-10 inch frying pan with enough veggie oil to coat sides and bottom (Med-High heat). In separate pan blanche spinach with garlic and melt Comté cheese over top. Add 1/4 cup of crepe mixture to hot veggie oil. Cook on one side for a few minutes. Crepe should lift nicely from pan. Turn and add the spinach and Comté mix. Finally, add the goat cheese (1 tbsp). Fold crepe and serve.

serves 4ish

Lentil, Kale, etc. Soup

This is delicious. I combined a few recipes so please feel free to add or subtract what you want.

1 cup lentils

3 cups of kale, chopped

1/2 white onion, chopped

1 carrot, chopped

1 medium zucchini, chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped

5 cloves garlic, chopped

1 lemon

3 bay leaves

5 cups of veggie stock

olive oil

salt

pepper

curry powder

chili powder

white wine vinegar

In a large pot begin heating the veggie stock to a simmer. At the same time, on medium-high heat, sauté in olive oil the onion, carrot, pepper, zucchini and garlic until the onion looks transparent. Add spices to the sautéd veggies. Next, add the lentils to the stock and continue to simmer for 10 minutes. Add the veggies to the large pot after lentils are nearly cooked. Reduce heat and partially cover. In the same pan used to sauté the veggies add the chopped, rinsed kale at medium-high heat. Squeeze some lemon over the kale and add a dash of white wine vinegar. I also added about a tablespoon of vinegar to the soup at this time. After steaming the kale for a few minutes add it to the soup and continue to cook for at least 30 minutes on low heat, partially covered.

Makes about 4-6 servings.

Quinoa tabbouleh (vegan/gluten-free)

Thanks Brando!

Prepare 1/2 cup quinoa as directed on packaging

Crack a beer, the next part will take awhile:

Achieve inner peace

Combine:
1/2 cup de-stemmed, finely chopped, fresh parsley
2 medium (or 3 small or one huge) tomatoes, seeded, chopped
1/4 cup green onion, chopped (red if you're feeling frisky)
2 tablespoons dried mint (if you don't like mint, and you've made it this far, plan on giving as a gift or taking to a potluck)
1/4 cup EVOO
1/4 lime juice
Dash of salt
Dash of pepper

Add the cooked quinoa

Dump the whole thing in some gladware and shake it up

Chill (you and the food) for at least an hour, so the flavors combine (food) and hunger builds (you). Now is a good time to finish that now room temp beer.

Eat w/ pita & green olives, or really salta pita chips

Try to save some as leftovers

Feel good about what you just ate

Simple Uruguayan Omelet

This recipe is from Becky in Uruguay.  It's not specific - but I'm sure any variation/portion size will remain simple to prepare.  Disfruta!

2 small zucchini

1 onion

2 eggs

grated cheese

salt

pepper

whole wheat flour

Cut the zucchini and onion.  Put them in a skillet with a little oil and cook until they are a little tender.  Add the salt, pepper, grated cheese, and two eggs, beaten.  Lightly cover with whole wheat flour.  Put the mixture in a small oven dish and bake.

En Español 

2 zapallitos

1 cebolla

2 huevos

queso rallado

sal

pimienta

harina integral 

Cortar los zapallitos y la cebolla y ponerlos en una sartén con un poco de aceito y cocinar hasta que esten un poco tiernos.  Agregar sal, pimienta, queso rallado, y 2 huevos batidos.

Cubrir con harina integral por encima.  En un pequeño plato de horno poner la preparación y honear.

 

 

 

Kale Recipe (served with beans and rice)

From taco:birthdaycake

ingredients:

a bunch of kale
lemon juice
white wine vinegar
olive oil
garlic
onion
salt & pepper

prep:

put a pot of water on the stove. salt it & boil.
while waiting for the water to boil, chop garlic & onion.
thoroughly wash kale, one leaf at a time, then pat dry. pile the kale on top of each other like sheets of paper & fold in half. finely slice kale a la shredded cabbage.
heat oil, and start sauteeing the garlic & onion over medium heat until the onions are clear.
toss the kale in the boiling water for, like, one minute. just until it's super bright green.
strain kale, and toss into the frying pan. add a splash of lemon juice & a splash of vinegar and cook for maybe one or two minutes, until the kale is coated in the tasty goodness of the other ingredients. add salt & pepper to taste.

best served as a side dish with beans and rice. sweet plantains also preferred.

BBQ Seitan, Red Beans & Rice, Cornbread

Here's a good one from the other night. Yeah, yeah - it's gluten. I know.

BBQ SEITAN, RED BEANS & RICE, CORNBREAD

1 pkg of seitan

BBQ sauce (I really like Jack Daniel's Hickory Brown Sugar)

red beans

rice

cornbread

garlic cloves (# to taste)

Mix cornbread and bake. I used "Jiffy" for the cornbread. If anyone has a better version - awesome. While I did use 1 egg for the cornbread I used almond "milk".

Roast garlic in a pan or in the oven until soft.

I don't feel the need to explain how to cook the beans and rice but I like adding southwest-type seasoning (cumin, crushed coriander seeds, cilantro). Add some garlic when finished.

Slice the seitan and brown it in a pan with olive oil. Add BBQ sauce after seitan is brown, simmer.

Serve together. Enjoy.