Chipotle Chili, A Charm Bracelet Miracle, And The Long Awakening
Posted: November 10, 2013 Filed under: Beef, Book Reviews, Kids Cooking, Main Dishes, Mexican Dishes, Uncategorized, Vegan Options | Tags: Award winning chili, black beans, book review, brown sugar, chili, chili cook off, chipotle, fire roasted tomatoes, kidney beans, kids cooking, Lindsey O'Connor, Ranch style beans, The Long Awakening 1 Comment
About 11 years ago now, one of my dearest writing friends, Lindsey O’Connor, gave birth to her fifth child, a little girl named Caroline. That happy moment suddenly gave way to a trauma that would leave Lindsey’s life hanging in the balance for many long weeks and months. She writes poignantly of that episode in her life, of what it was like to be “someplace other” and to try to make sense of it all once she woke up, in her brilliant memoir, The Long Awakening. Warning: do not start the book until you have time to read it all. It is impossible to put down once you begin.
Here’s a story Lindsey shared in her book, a memory I still look back on, and marvel at. In fact, I went to Texas two weeks ago, drove past the little store mentioned here, smiled and gave thanks in remembrance.
Near my daughter Allison’s birthday, my friend Becky had emailed Kathy asking for our home address so she could mail a birthday present she’d brought for Allison. Becky and I had started our friendship as writing and speaing colleagues and had grown into sister-friends, who knew and loved each other’s children, and she had wanted to get something special for Alli’s tenth birthday. She dropped in at The Mineola Mercantile, an East Texas boutique not far from where she lived, and told the owner what had happened to me and that I was lying in a coma missing my little girl’s birthday.
The woman told Becky she thought she knew “what God wanted this little girl to have.”
She pulled out a silver charm bracelet and the three silver charms – one said “Big Sis,” another of a heart with “mother and daughter” written across the front of it, and finally a letter “A” with a guardian angel peeking through the “window” of the letter.
The store owner said, “Now tell little Alli that charm represents her guardian angel that is always watching over her all of the time.” Becky went home, wrapped the present, wrote Kathy for the address, and only when Kathy replied did Becky discover a fact she had not know when she’d bought the gift.
It had been my tradition on each day of my daughter’s tenth anniversaries, their double digit day, to give them a silver charm bracelet…
Such a thing. Comatose for months;tradition intact. Unthinkable …..Coincidence? Perhaps.But I don’t think so. Loved by her God? I believe so. His eye was on my sparrow. ” (Excerpt from The Long Awakening by Lindsey O’Connor, Revell, 2013, pg. 97-98)
Now, let’s fast forward time. Lindsey, of course, came out of the coma, and though the road was arduous, she is very much alive, amazing us all. Caroline has grown from baby girl to double digit young lady following her sister Allie, who is now in college. In addition to being the proud owner of a charm bracelet, she’s also of age to want to try her hand at cooking. I posted the picture of this Chipotle Chili, recently, on Facebook, and her mama, Lindsey, asked for the recipe. There was a Chili Cook-off at church, and Caroline wanted to make an award-winning batch of it, all by herself. I gave her my best “Auntie Becky” style directions, and Lindsey let her daughter loose in the kitchen. Later that night, Linds wrote in an email: “Carolyn was ecstatic when she won first prize! She probably said, at least ten times while were cooking that she wanted to win, and thought she would win. And she loved knowing it was your recipe. She really did the whole thing by herself. I taught her how to cut an onion, stood back while she used her knife and kept wanting to take it from her the whole time. Taught her how to use the food processor. She had such fun! Thank you for sharing the recipe.”
I hope this true story warms your heart, and the recipe warms your tummy. Please visit & “Like” Lindsey on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/LindseyOConnorAuthor and tell her I sent you. (I also write a story of Lindsey bringing me a wonderful Greek meal, including a favorite recipe, watermelon mint feta salad, in our book, We Laugh, We Cry, We Cook.)
Becky’s Quick n’ Easy (Award-Winning!) Chipotle Chili
1 ½ lb. ground beef or buffalo (if you have leftover roast or other beef, you can dice that up and throw it in too)
1 onion diced (if you like onions)
1 clove garlic, peeled
1 large (28 oz) can of fire roasted diced tomatoes
2 – 3 chipotle peppers in adobe sauce (a little can in the Mexican food aisle… — you can freeze the leftover ones in a Ziploc bag to use in another recipe or salsa)
1 can (15 oz) Ranch Style Beans, with liquid
1 can (15 oz) Kidney or Black Beans, with the liquid
1 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
1 t. chili powder
1 t. smoked paprika
1 T. cumin
1 T. brown sugar
Directions:
Brown the beef with onion in a big pot. Meanwhile,using a food processor or blender, blend the big can of tomatoes with the chipotle peppers and clove of garlic. (If you want some chunks of tomato in your chili, don’t blend the whole can. But my husband Greg thinks I’m trying to kill him if there’s any visible chunks of anything but meat and beans in his chilli.)
Add the blended tomato mixture to the pot, then add the 2 cans of beans, and the rest of the seasonings, tasting as you go to make it balanced as you like it. Adding more sweet, or heat, or salt until you just love it.
Heat on med high and then turn down and simmer on low, for about 15 minutes, stirring often. (You can simmer it longer, but typically my family is in a hurry to eat it, and it doesn’t take long to be edible and yummy.)
You can top with sour cream or Greek yogurt, shredded cheese, jalapenos, diced avocado, green onions, chopped cilantro, crumbled tortilla chips… whatever you like.
Always a hit with hot buttered corn muffins.
Roasted Butternut Squash Mole Enchiladas
Posted: October 30, 2013 Filed under: Gluten Free, Main Dishes, Mexican Dishes, Toddler-Approved, Uncategorized, Vegan, Vegetarian, Veggies | Tags: Gluten-Fre, mole sauce, raisins, Roasted Butternut Squash Enchiladas, vegan, vegetarian 2 CommentsPeople often ask me how I cook with Jackson around. In We Laugh, We Cry, We Cook, I wrote about how cooking with him was kind of like cooking on an obstacle course. For a long time, that was what it felt like. But recently, I realized at this stage–the two’s–cooking with him is one of the easiest things on my to-do list to accomplish with him around. Not easy…but it’s something he’s come to feel at ease around. It’s kind of “our” thing.
I left him with a friend the other day for a few minutes and when I returned she shared this little conversation they had.
Sarah: Do you have a dog?
Jackson: No, I have a mommy.
Sarah: Oh, well that’s almost as good as a dog.
Jackson: Yeth, I cook with mommy.
Well, there you have it. Dogs don’t make very good cooking companions for kids, but mommies are very good for that.
My other to-dos don’t have the same smiley affect on him. Writing with him around. Yeah right. Phone calls. Let’s just say, the last conference call I was on with our editor, I had to muffle the phone while I hollered, “Jackson, don’t stick your head through the fence” and then again while he hollered, “Noooooo! Don’t wipe meeee!” as I was trying to discreetly potty train mid-call.
Cooking is mostly a piece of cake…because he can participate, he can be a helper. And even when he can’t help with something like chopping onions, he’s still content because we’re together and I’m talking to him, not somebody else on the phone or looking at a computer screen.
And with a little creativity, there’s almost always a way to get a child involved in the cooking if they want to be.
I don’t cook every day, but the days I do, the moments we are in the kitchen together, are often the moments we enjoy the most. The kitchen is a place where our lives intersect, where my almost 30-year old female joys and interests cross with my two-year old little boy’s interests. I don’t have to pretend that the lego tower we just built is the tallest most amazing piece of architecture I’ve ever seen. He doesn’t have to be patient with me as I make a quick call or pick up groceries. The smells of cloves and cinnamon, the colorful block puzzle from butternut squash, the sound of the blender engine purring excite us both. We don’t have to pretend. We just have to be. Together.
Roasted Butternut Squash Mole Enchiladas
Serves 4
5 cups diced butternut squash
1 tablespoon oil (canola, olive, grapeseed)
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
8-10 corn tortillas
1/2 cup raisins, soaked for 10 minutes in warm water and drained (optional)
2 cups Mole Sauce (I used this easy recipe from Vegetarian Times)*
Preheat oven to 400. Toss butternut sqaush with canola oil, brown sugar, chili powder, and cinnamon. Bake at 400 for 20 minutes or until tender and cooked through. Resist temptation to eat all the squash now.
Reduce oven temp to 350. Ladle 1/2 cup mole sauce into bottom of a 9×13 casserole dish. Wrap corn tortillas in a damp paper towel and heat in microwave for about 30 seconds, just enough to warm them up and make them pliable. Dip corn tortilla into mole sauce. Fill with about two tablespoons of butternut squash and a sprinkle of raisins. Roll up. Repeat. Ladle a generous amount of sauce on top. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.
I didn’t put the raisins in when I took pictures, but I should have! I added them to the top and it really made the dish, so I incorporated them into the final recipe.
Serve with black or wild rice. The nuttiness from the black rice went perfectly with this dish.
*I blended half of the sauce this time. I think I’d leave it unblended next time though, because it was a lot prettier unblended.
Same sauce unblended on spinach and mushroom enchiladas. Much much prettier, eh?
Quinoa Mango Black Bean Burrito
Posted: March 23, 2013 Filed under: Appetizers, Breakfast Foods, Fruit Dishes, Main Dishes, Mexican Dishes, Uncategorized, Vegan Options, Vegetarian | Tags: burrito, cilantro, mango, quinoa, salsa, tortilla, Tortilla Land 8 Comments
(Becky, the Mama.)
Okay. I have an honest confession. If there were a support group for it, I should have joined. Here it is: I’m afraid of quinoa. Not of eating it, mind you. I actually love it and I know it is a vegetarian’s friends, full of all good things. One cup of the nutty, fluffy tasty grain provides over 8 grams of protein, 5 grams of fiber, along with goodies like magnesium, zinc, iron, potassium and all for around 220 calories
My first encounter with quinoa was all positive: my daughter-in-law Julie took me to an adorable coffee shop called The Red Cup in Mukilteo, Washington, overlooking the water. The kind of cafe with bright funky colors alongside soothing bohemian baristas in Birkenstocks and granny skirts.
They serve an organic warm, tasty burrito stuffed with quinoa and cheese that comes with tangy fresh mango salsa. I’ve often thought how much I’d like to try recreating one of those burritos, but I found my mind braking at this thought: “Oh, no, I’ll have to learn how to make quinoa.”
Finally, I told my daughter-the-vegan that I have a quinoa-making phobia. Her response? “Mom, you are going to laugh at yourself when you find out how ridiculously easy it is. Just use your $10.00 cheap-o rice maker and pretend it is rice.”
So today I faced down my fears. I marched to my rice maker, poured a cup of quinoa and 1 ¼ cups of water into the bowl, turned it on, then walked away slowly. When I returned, hesitantly, 15 minutes later… a miracle had occurred. The tiny little beads had burst and turned nutty and fluffy and … awesome.
The rest was easy and familiar: I grilled a tortilla, sprinkled a little cheese around, then layered quinoa, black beans, salsa, mango,cilantro and chopped green onions. Rolled that baby up, cut it in half at a diagonal. and dipped it in a bit more salsa mixed with diced mango.
I was immediately transported to that café in Seattle.
Just give me some Birkenstocks and a granny skirt and call me the “Quinoa Queen.”
Quinoa Mango Black Bean Burrito
Serves 1
1 medium to large Tortilla (white or wheat, I prefer Tortilla Land brand)
1/4 -1/3 cup grated cheese, depending on preference
1/3 cup cooked quinoa, warmed (click for Rachel’s simple directions)
2 T. black beans, warmed
1/4 c. diced mango, divided
Sprig cilantro, rough chopped (optional)
1 green onion chopped
1/4 cup salsa
Grill tortilla on both sides until brown in spots, hot and pliable. (Use a bit of olive oil if needed to keep from sticking.)
Layer cheese, quinoa, black beans, 2 T. magno, cilantro and onion.
Tuck in two sides and then roll up into a burrito. Cut on the diagonal, in half. Mix salsa with remaining mango and serve alongside the burrito.
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Potatoes Rancheros (Vegan Huevos Rancheros)
Posted: March 19, 2013 Filed under: Breakfast Foods, Gluten Free, Main Dishes, Mexican Dishes, Toddler-Approved, Uncategorized, Vegan, Vegetarian | Tags: avocados, breakfast for dinner, green eggs, Mexican Food, potatoes rancheros, ranchero sauce, savory vegan breakfast, vegan fried egg, vegan huevos rancheros Leave a comment
About a month before I switched to a plant-based diet, I perfected the fried egg. I wasn’t much of a cook back then, so this was a big accomplishment and it quickly became my go-to breakfast. When we gave up eggs, I must admit, I was a little bummed that I only had a month to enjoy my perfected egg-frying skills. I’m over it now and I’ve learned some great ways to substitute eggs in my cooking: tofu scramble breakfast tacos and flax eggs and chia eggs for baking, but the fried egg seemed impossible to duplicate, until I got this idea to use a fried potato as the fluffy egg white and avocado as the creamy yolk. A “green egg” if you will.
For those transitioning to a vegan diet and facing those early egg cravings or for those just looking for something different than the traditional egg breakfast, this potato and avocado “fried egg” is delicious. It’s really hard to go wrong with fried anything, right? I could see using this green egg for a vegan eggs Benedict too, stacked on an English muffin with a creamy vegan hollandaise.
Try them! Try them! You will see. These green eggs are so easy. You can eat them in a box. You can eat them with a fox. You can make them for a friend, maybe during a relaxing weekend. You will like green eggs. You’ll see. Especially with tortillas, beans and ranchero sauce. Spicy!
The creamy avocado “yolk” and soft fluffy potato round “whites” give the texture of a fried egg.
Potatoes Rancheros
(A Vegan Version of Huevos Rancheros)
Makes 4 servings
Ingredients
Ranchero Sauce
1/2 medium-sized onion,diced
1 garlic clove, diced or minced
3 small sweet peppers, red, yellow, or orange (or 1/2 red, orange, or yellow bell pepper), diced
~ 1 tablespoon Olive oil
1 15-ounce can fire roasted diced tomatoes
1/2 cup green chili peppers (or 4-ounce can)
~1/2 teaspoon salt, to taste
~1/2 teaspoon chipotle powder, to taste (can also blend in 1/4 of a chipotle pepper in adobo sauce)
1 russet potato sliced thin (about a 1/4 inch thick–you want about 12 rounds or 3 per serving)
Oil to coat pan
Salt & pepper
4 Tortillas (smaller taco sized ones, not the big burrito ones)
1 Avocado, cut into 1/4 inch thick rounds
Refried pinto beans (I actually used leftover cajun red beans, cooked down and smashed)
Cilantro or chopped green onions (optional garnish)
Directions
In a deep-sided skillet or medium sauce pan, saute onion, peppers, and garlic with a drizzle of olive oil and a pinch of salt on medium heat until soft. Add the tomatoes and green chilis and simmer for about 10 minutes. Transfer to blender (or use immersion blender) and blend until combined into a thick sauce, blend in salt and chipotle powder to taste. Transfer back to skillet and keep warm.
Before blending the ranchero sauce. Look at all that flavor and color!
In a separate skillet (iron skillet works well for this), heat a thin layer of olive oil on medium heat (about a 1/8 inch thick).* Add a single layer of potato rounds and pan fry for 2-3 minutes per side until golden on the outside and soft in the middle (think texture of a french fry.) Transfer potatoes to a paper towel-lined plate and sprinkle with salt & pepper. Repeat, adding oil to pan as needed, until all the rounds are fried.
Golden on the outside, soft on the inside.
In the same pan used to fry potatoes, drain off excess oil and warm tortillas.
Working quickly to keep food from getting cold, put each tortilla on a plate, smear tortillas with refried beans, down the middle stagger stacks of a potato round topped with an avocado round. Top with warm ranchero sauce and optional garnish of cilantro and/or green onions. Serve immediately. Eat with a fork or pick up and eat it like a taco.
*For a lighter version, toss potatoes in a light coating of olive oil and salt & pepper, line them on a baking sheet sprayed with non-stick spray and cook under the broiler for about five minutes on each side or until cooked through (like these Blistery Balsamic Potato Chips).
* Make it kid-friendly: (leave off the sauce or make a milder version without the chili peppers or chipotle powder)
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The Title: Potatoes Rancheros (Vegan Huevos Rancheros)
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Green Chili Huevos Rancheros (with Perfect Poached Eggs)
Posted: February 22, 2013 Filed under: Breakfast Foods, Gluten Free, Main Dishes, Mexican Dishes, Pork, Uncategorized, Vegetarian | Tags: corn tortillas, eggs, green chili, huevos rancheros, Julie and Julia, perfect poached eggs, poached eggs, pork, refried beans, salsa Leave a comment
“I thought eggs were going to be greasy and slimy, but it tastes like cheese sauce. Yum.” Julie Powell, “Julie and Julia”
(Becky, the Mama.)
The short list of foods my husband Greg can cook are: hamburger patties, grilled cheese sandwiches and pancakes. So it may come as a surprise to you, as it did to me, that Greg is the one who taught me to poach a perfect egg. His mother taught him as boy, and he taught me as a newlywed, and I have to say that when I cooked one correctly: whites firm, yolk thick but still with plenty of liquid gold, it was something of a revelation.
I’ve never been a fan of eggs. And I have no clue why poaching an egg in boiling water, rather than scrambling, boiling or frying (without benefit of bacon fat or butter!) transforms the lowly egg into something exquisite, but it does. To Julie Powell it tasted like cheese sauce; to me, with a tiny sprinkle of sea salt, a poached egg tastes like melted butter.
Last week I had a little left-over homemade green pork chili, along with some left-over homemade refried beans, and decided to make Huevos Rancheros. It was so good, hitting all the right flavor notes, I proceeded to have it every day for breakfast and lunch for the next three days. There was just something comforting and delicious about the combination of the flavors of warm corn, earthy beans and tangy green chilis topped with one perfect, buttery poached egg. Where had this dish been all my life? And why had I not made it before?
Green Chili Huevos Rancheros
Serves 1 or 2, depending on how hungry you are!
Ingredients:
2 large eggs
2 t. vinegar
Sea salt & pepper
Water – to fill about 2 inches depth in a small skillet
2 corn tortillas
½ cup refried beans, warmed
½ cup *pork green chili, warmed. Or if you prefer, any kind of salsa you like
Optional: garnish with slice of fresh jalepano
Directions:
Fill a small skillet 2/3 full with hot water. Add 2 t. white vinegar. Bring to boil. Carefully crack at egg into a small heat-proof bowl. Slip it carefully into the boiling water. Repeat with other egg.
Some of the white will float away, like foamy clouds. That’s okay. You can capture them later with a slotted spoon and eat them or ignore then and toss them away with the “bath water.” Cook about a minute, but this is not an exact time. (I like to cover the pan with a lid for a few seconds to insure a film forms over the yolks.)
When you see the whites are firm and yolk is still soft and gooey, remove carefully with a slotted spoon and let drain on a couple of folded paper towels. Sprinkle them with a little sea salt and pepper while still hot.
Wrap corn tortillas in a damp paper towel and microwave about 15 seconds until they are hot and soft. Immediately put them on a plate and put ¼ cup warm refried beans on each tortilla and spread just to edges. Next, carefully set a poached egg on top. Finally ladle all with ½ cup of warm green pork chili or salsa. Garnish with slice of fresh jalepano if desired.
*You can find green chili of all varieties in the Hispanic food aisle of most grocery stores. I made my own quick green pork chili by blending 1 cup chicken broth with ¼ cup mild canned green chilis and 1 clove garlic in a blender. Then I mixed 1 1/2 T. flour with 1 T. olive oil and 2 t. butter until it made a smooth paste in a hot skillet. Then I slowly added the contents of the blender plus another cup chicken broth and ¼ cup more green chilis – whisking all the while until it was a desired thickness. (You can add more broth if needed. It should be the consistency of a good stew broth.) Finally I added about 2/3 cup of cubed leftover pork loin, a pinch of sugar (to balance tang of green chilis), then seasoned with salt and pepper to taste. You can use veggie or miso broth and omit the pork and make this a filling and delicious vegetarian meal.
Honey Chipotle Mexican Salad
Posted: December 20, 2012 Filed under: Main Dishes, Mexican Dishes, Salads, Sides, Uncategorized, Vegan, Vegetarian, Veggies | Tags: chipotle honey dressing, fried tortilla chips, kale mexican salad, mexican salad, vegan entree salad Leave a comment
A childhood favorite, Mexican Salad, gets a facelift.
When I was a kid, a staple quick dinner in our house was Mexican Salad. You know, chopped ice berg or romaine lettuce, Ranch Style Beans, tomatoes, shredded cheese, catalina dressing, all topped off with a bag of fritos. Adding fritos to lettuce is a sure fire way to get kids to eat their greens.
This week I got invited to a Craft Night at a friend’s house. Let me just pause to say, wow. This working mom of two young kids hosts craft nights at her house every few months for 20-30 women. She gathers all the supplies, plans games and doorprizes, and even cooks dinner for everyone. People who handle this type of entertaining with ease simply amaze me. When I grow up, I want to be more like my friend Autumn.
Festive decorations, silly games (I drew that picture on my head), and adorable crafty ornaments.
The menu was a taco bar with requests for guests to bring a side or dessert. When I’m not sure there will be much for a vegan to eat, I like to bring a hearty side that will work as a main dish for me, but compliment the host’s meal and be a yummy side for others. That childhood Mexican Salad popped into mind as a perfect compliment to a taco bar. I decided to give it a facelift though. The thought of bottled dressing, packaged fritos, and flavorless iceberg lettuce made me cringe a little. Instead, I made a homemade sweet and spicy catalina dresssing using honey and a chipotle pepper. Because I needed the dish to travel easily, I decided to use kale instead of romaine or ice berg. Kale can be dressed ahead of time without wilting, making it the perfect green for make-ahead salads. Plus it’s a beautiful deep green, adding color to the table and it packs a ton of nutrition, not my first priority for party food, but certainly a bonus. Instead of fritos, I fried tortilla strips and sprinkled them with chipotle powder, salt, and lime juice. Covered in crispy fried chips, kale never looked so good!
I loved loved this. A few guests found it to be a little on the spicy side, so if you don’t like spice, you can seed the chipotle and use paprika instead of chipotle powder on the chips. You’ll still get all the flavor without the heat.
Delicious, filling, entree or side salad.
Honey Chipotle Mexican Salad
Serves 2-3 entree servings, 6-8 side servings
Ingredients
Dressing:
1 chipotle in adobo sauce (freeze remaining chipotles for future recipes) (remove seeds for mild version)
1/3 c. sweet onion chopped
1/3 c. organic ketchup
1/3 c. vinegar
1/3 c. canola oil
1/4 c. honey (or agave)
Salad:
1 large bunch of kale or 2 small bunches, washed and torn off spine
2 cans vegetarian chili beans (I used Bush’s brand), drained and lightly rinsed
2 avocados, peeled, pitted, and diced
2 roma tomatoes, diced
Tortilla Strips:
8 corn tortillas, cut into small strips
canola oil
salt
chipotle chili pepper powder (if you can’t find this, paprika or smoked paprika will work too)
1/2 a lime
Directions
In a blender, combine all the dressing ingredients. Blend until smooth.
Sweet, tangy, spicy. You’ll never want a bottle of boring Catalina dressing again!
Put the kale in a large bowl and make sure the pieces are bite size. Pour in the dressing and use your hands to massage it into the kale. Get in there and really rub it in. You want to break the fibers of the kale down so it’s easier to chew.
The secret to good kale salads is to massage the greens.
Gently stir in beans, tomatoes and avocados. (If you aren’t serving soon, hold off on chopping and adding avocados until you are about to serve.)
In a heavy duty skillet, heat about 1/2 inch of canola oil on medium heat. When oil is ready it will sizzle when you drop a tortilla strip in. Drop in a handful of tortilla strips at a time, fry for 1-2 minutes until they are crispy. Set aside on a paper towel lined plate and sprinkle with just a little chipotle powder, salt, and lime juice. Repeat until all are cooked.
Just before serving, add the fried tortilla strips.
Easy to transport. Just bring the tortilla strips on the side and add them when you arrive at your destination.
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The Title: Honey Chipotle Mexican Salad
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Honey & Lime Tortilla-Sopapillas
Posted: November 1, 2012 Filed under: Desserts, Fruit Dishes, Mexican Dishes, Snacks, Uncategorized, Vegan, Vegetarian | Tags: bananas, brown sugar, dessert burrito, dessert tortillas, honey, lemon, lime, raw sugar, sopapillas, sugar, tortillas Leave a comment
(Becky, the Mama.)
Sometimes the simplest things really are the best. I call this recipe Vacation Sopapillas because I usually have the ingredients lying around the condo or timeshare. If I were a person of the camping persuasion (which I am not), I would definitely be cooking these babies up around the campfire, using an iron skillet. Hopefully, however, I’ll never be forced to do that. My husband bought me this greeting card, and truer words have never been spoken.
I also call these my Vacation Sopapillas because they are so ridiculously addicting that I don’t allow myself this treat on a regular basis. So I try to only make them on vacation. Seriously, if you cook these… try to eat just one and let me know if it is humanly possible.
This is a recipe you can throw together with minimum mess in a couple of minutes, just for little ol’ marvelous you. Since they are best eaten fast and warm, I don’t even try to serve these to a crowd. This a gift you give to yourself, and maybe, just maybe, one other person who you love very, very much.
The trick is to use uncooked tortillas. If you’ve never tried them, boy, are you in for a treat. You’ll never go back the pre-cooked varieties again. The brand I like best is called Tortilla Land (click link for $1.00 off coupon) and typically you find them in the refrigerator section of Costco and sometimes Sam’s or Wal-mart. If I can’t find this brand of tortillas, however, it seems I can almost always find Guerrero brand (click on link for $1.00 coupon) which are soft semi-cooked tortillas, and they are not refrigerated. They just hang out on the shelves with the other regular tortillas in almost any major grocery store. Be sure to look for the yellow packaging (as pictured below); they should look very thin, not quite cooked all the way.
The beautiful thing that happens when these uncooked or semi-cooked tortillas hit a very hot skillet with a little olive oil/butter is that they puff up, very much like a big sopapilla. Only without all the work and the frying. My favorite version of these tortilla sopapillas is simple. After cooking I quickly slather it with a little butter, honey, a squeeze of lemon or lime, and light sprinkle of raw sugar. To eat it – you can tear it up in little pieces; roll it up enchilada style; or cut it in fourths, bending it in half, and eating it the way Italians eat flexible pizza.
For variety, I also like filling the puffy tortillas with sliced bananas that have been gently cooked in a skillet with a little butter and brown sugar. Then I roll it up like a burrito and drizzle with a bit of honey. Cooked apples with cinnamon and sugar make a fabulous filling as well. The only limits to this simple recipe is your imagination.
Lime & Honey Tortilla-Sopapillas
Ingredients:
1 raw or semi-cooked tortilla (Tortilla Land brand or Guererra preferred)
1 t. olive oil
2 t. soft butter (vegan butter for Vegans)
2 t. honey
small squeeze fresh lemon or lime
1 t. raw sugar
Instructions:
Put 1 t. olive oil and 1 t. soft butter in a hot skillet, and stir until blended. Put one uncooked tortilla in the pan. When it puffs up and browns on one side, flip it and brown the other side.
Immediately put tortilla-sopapilla on a plate, spread with butter, then honey, a quick squeeze of fresh lime and a sprinkle of raw sugar.
For banana sopapillas: slice one small banana and put in a skillet with a teaspoon of butter and a teaspoon of brown sugar. Stir just until bananas are warm and absorb butter and sugar. Proceed as above, only fill the tortilla with warm banana slices, roll like a burrito and serve with a little more honey. Eat with knife and fork. A dollop of ice cream and sprinkle of cinnamon couldn’t hurt either.
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The Title: Honey & Lime Tortilla-Sopapillas
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Chipotle Pumpkin Salsa
Posted: October 30, 2012 Filed under: Cooking with Love, Gluten Free, Mexican Dishes, Sauces and Dressings, Snacks, Uncategorized, Vegan, Vegetarian | Tags: chipotle pumpkin salsa, recipes with chipotles in adobo sauce, spicy pumpkin hot sauce, unique food gifts 11 Comments
(Rachel, the daughter)
I’m heading out to drop Jackson off with his Mimi (Jared’s mom) for a couple of hours this afternoon. This is the third day in a row that she has offered to help out with Jackson so I can work on the book. Although she insists it is all her pleasure, I’d like to let her know how much I appreciate her help.
In my husband’s family, steak is probably the most revered food item… followed closely by chips and salsa. They aren’t into chocolates or sweets. I know, GASP! Their idea of dessert is a bowl of salty popcorn. But they love their meat and potatoes and their chips and salsa. Since steak is an awkward gift for a vegan to give, I often jar up my love and appreciation for them in the form of salsa. Occasionally, Rhonda will show up at my door with an empty jar, “In case you or Jared plan on making salsa anytime soon,” she’ll wink.
Last weekend I stumbled upon an amazing salsa recipe by chance. I was out of a few of my staple salsa ingredients and just started throwing things in the food processor to try and whip up a make-do salsa for our Mexican-themed dinner. I was bummed when the food processor stopped spinning and I opened it up to see a thin almost watery salsa. I grabbed a can of pumpkin and added it to the salsa, then found some chipotles in Adobo sauce in my freezer. I gave it another spin and voila, I had a thick, creamy, smoky salsa with a touch of sweetness, a hint of pumpkin, and a nice kick of spice. I was smitten.
I liked it so much I made another batch today (some for us and some to share with Jared’s parents). It conveniently makes enough to fill two 32 oz spaghetti sauce or mason jars–one for you and one to share with a friend. Don’t be surprised when they show up at your door step with the empty jar and a little wink and a nudge, though.
Chipotle Pumpkin Salsa
Makes 4 cups
Ingredients
3 tomatoes
2 cups of frozen corn (or 1 can drained and patted dry)
2 small jalapenos
4 cloves of garlic, unpeeled
a drizzle of olive oil and sprinkle of sea salt
1 14.5 oz can of fire-roasted diced tomatoes
4 chipotles in Adobo Sauce (slice open and remove seeds from two of them)
1 can of pumpkin
1/2 c. cilantro (use it if you like it, but it’s optional)
1/2 t. sugar
1 t. onion powder
1/4 t. salt
Directions
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Line a large baking pan with parchment paper. Pour corn kernels on one half of pan. On the other side, put the jalapenos, garlic (wrap unpeeled garlic in foil to prevent them from burning–not like shown below), and tomatoes sliced in half with cut side up. Use a pastry brush to put a small amount of olive oil on the tomatoes and corn. Sprinkle tomatoes with a touch of sea salt. Roast for 20 minutes.
In a food processor, add all the remaining ingredients except the corn, plus the tomatoes and jalapenos (you may want to seed the jalapenos if you don’t like a lot of spice–you can always add the seeds back in if it’s not spicy enough). Squeeze the garlic from its peel into the food processor bowl. Process until everything is chopped and blended to the desired texture. I went for a smooth texture on mine. Stir in corn. Serve with chips.
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The Title: Chipotle Pumpkin Salsa
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© Copyright 2012 – All Rights Reserved
Tofu Scramble Tacos
Posted: October 23, 2012 Filed under: Breakfast Foods, Gluten Free, Main Dishes, Mexican Dishes, Uncategorized, Vegan, Vegetarian, Veggies | Tags: gluten-free, savory breakfast, scrambled egg substitutes, scrambled tofu taco, vegan, vegan breakfast taco, vegetarian mexican food 7 Comments
(Rachel, the daughter)
Jared, Jackson and I went to the Texas State Veggie Fair this weekend. I’m a terrible blogger and didn’t take any pictures of my food. I blame my hungry toddler. We scoped out all the food trucks and booths and contemplated fresh squeezed juice or mac-n-cheese and a barbeque sandwich, but our eyes kept venturing to the long line behind the Corn Dogs and Fried Cinnamon Rolls. When in Rome, right? What’s a fair without fried food? I stood in the 20 minute line while Jared took Jackson to play on the playground.
Finally, I returned to my boys juggling two corn dogs, a fried cinnamon roll and a handcrafted root beer. We sat on the lawn and indulged. If you’re having trouble imagining how good it was, here’s Jackson’s face after his first bite of fried fair food.
“Fried food, where have you been all my life!?!”
I think this picture says it all. Yum.
That deep fried cinnamon roll was worth every glorious calorie, but as soon as I got home, I whipped up a big kale salad for dinner. My body felt like it was shutting down from all the grease, sugar, and processed fake-meat products I had consumed. Sometimes you just have to give your body what it wants and then deal with the consequences.
For months after going vegan, I continued to crave eggs. I couldn’t get them off my mind. One night, after a wedding with nothing vegan on the menu, we went with some friends to a bar with a midnight breakfast burrito buffet. I was so hungry and finally caved and ate an egg and potato breakfast burrito. My stomach was in knots for two days, proving wrong the myth that if we are craving something our body must need it.
Lucky for me, I finally discovered a breakfast burrito that satisfied my craving for eggs without sacrificing my vegan diet or my stomach lining. Tofu scramble looks and feels just like pale scrambled eggs and with a little seasoning tastes eerily similar. Jared has been nagging me to make this all week. It’s truly crave-worthy. If you’re curious about tofu or have had bad experiences with it before, try out tofu scramble.
Tofu Scramble Tacos make a hearty savory vegan breakfast or an easy weeknight dinner.
Tofu Scramble Tacos
Serves 4
Ingredients
2-4 T. Olive Oil
2 small red potatoes, diced (or any veggies of your your choice — onions, bell peppers, broccoli, zucchini…)
1 clove of garlic, minced or chopped
1/2 c. frozen corn
1/2 block of tofu
1 t. salt (divided)
1/2 t. pepper
1 t. smoked paprika
1/2 t. onion powder
2 c. baby spinach
8 tortillas (I really like the new Artisan Corn & Whole Wheat Blend by Mission)
16 oz Black Beans
1 avocado, sliced or diced (optional garnish)
salsa (optional garnish)
cilantro (optional garnish)
I used potatoes, spinach, corn, and garlic, but you can easily modify this to whatever veggies or greens you have on hand — bell peppers, poblano peppers, onions, broccoli, carrots, summer squash, zucchini, kale, swiss chard, and collard greens would all be delicious.
Directions
Heat oil in a non-stick skillet, use enough to generously coat the bottom of the pan. Pan-fry potatoes (or any other veggies) with 1/2 t of salt on medium heat until they are tender, stirring often. I covered the potatoes to help them cook quicker, other veggies may not need to be covered though. Bring heat down and add the garlic. Stir continuously to keep garlic from burning.
As soon as the garlic is translucent, crumble the tofu into the pan (just squish it up in your hands and break into little crumbles). Add smoked paprika, onion powder, pepper, and remaining salt. Return heat to medium and stir and cook for about five minutes. Add corn and cook until corn is heated through ( a few more minutes). Stir in the spinach and cook until just wilted.
Tofu scramble has a texture really similar to scrambled eggs. With the right seasoning, you can hardly tell the difference.
Serve in tortillas with black beans, avocados, cilantro, and salsa.
This was printed from: We Laugh, We Cry, We Cook
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The Title: Tofu Scramble Tacos
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© Copyright 2012 – All Rights Reserved
Fiesta Tortilla “Flower” Pie
Posted: August 8, 2012 Filed under: Beef, Mexican Dishes, Uncategorized, Vegan, Vegan Options, Vegetarian | Tags: avocados, beans, cheese, Fiesta, mexican casserole, Mexican Food, Mexican Pie, Mexican Tortilla Pie, Sour cream, tomatoes, tortilla, Tortilla Pie 6 Comments
Becky’s Fiesta Flower Pie
(Becky, the Mama.)
Yesterday I heard a loud thump followed by a yell outside my kitchen window. I rushed out to see my husband Greg lying on the patio, telling me he twisted his ankle. “Don’t move!” I said, “I’m coming down there to help you.”
I really did mean to scoot down and cradle his head in my lap. I really did not mean to kick him hard in the temple with my knee in the process. Thankfully, Greg wasn’t so wounded that he lost his sense of humor: he pretended I knocked him unconscious. He was able to walk on the ankle in just a few minutes, but I still wonder if it was just a heroic attempt to save himself from my further attempts to help him.
My record for doing good, and no harm, in a medical emergency is a little bit uneven. When my son Zeke was about thirteen, he cut his leg badly while we were in a shopping center parking lot. I started throwing everything I could find in the car on his leg to stop the bleeding and then drove him to the emergency room. As the nurse took off layer after layer: a towel, napkins from fast food restaurants, a clean diaper, and some grass clippings… she looked up at me quizzically and asked, “Becky, were you trying to smother the wound?”
On the other hand, I once expertly performed the Heimlich maneuver on a woman who was choking in the women’s restroom. Just as calm as you please, I walked into her stall where she had been coughing and banging on the door, and was now turning blue.I told her not to worry, that I was going to do the Heimlich (that I’d heretofore only seen done on TV). Somehow I did, and out popped a piece of pineapple from her mouth. As soon as she could breathe normally again,she announced to everyone around that I had saved her life.
Maybe I’m better in life-threatening situations than I am in more minor emergencies. A nurturing person at heart, I wonder sometimes if I could have made a good nurse. My husband says, “You would have been a wonderful nurse, Becky. Your patients would have loved you and you would have kept them laughing and smiling…. right before you accidentally killed them.” It is true. I can’t keep up with my own cell phone or purse on a daily basis, so keeping track of med dosing schedules for patients would have certainly been a crap shoot.
I’ve probably made better and safer use of my nurturing nature by caring for ailing folks through gifts of home cooking. I woke up from a nap the other day with the idea for this dish dancing in my head. It was even better than I imagined it would be. It uses simple ingredients that most of us have on hand, but arranges them in a way that looks like big, colorful Mexican flower in a pie pan. It would be a wonderful dish to take to a friend who has twisted their ankle, cut their leg or been kneed in the head by a clumsy do-gooder.
Fiesta Tortilla Flower Pie
Fiesta Tortilla Flower Pie
Serves 6
Preheat Oven to 350 degrees
Ingredients
Shell:
1 t. olive oil
4 medium sized flour tortillas, cut 3 of them in half, leaving one whole
Beef-Bean Filling:
1 lb lean ground beef or buffalo meat
3 cloves garlic, minced
16 oz. can pinto beans drained (I had leftover home-cooked one) but not rinsed
½ cup thick salsa (I used “On the Border” brand)
¼ cup thick bbq sauce (I used “Sweet Baby Ray’s”)
1 t. grill or steak seasoning (or ½ t. salt and ½ t pepper)
½ t.Cajun seasoning (I like Tony’s brand. Or use red pepper flakes or chili powder instead.)
3 quick dashes Tabasco or Frank’s Red Hot Sauce
1 t. brown sugar
Additional Layers (Before Cooking)
¾ c. Greek yogurt (I prefer 2%) or sour cream (light is fine)
¾ c. bottled salsa
¾ c. grated cheese, any kind you like
½ c crushed corn chips (we like Fritos) or tortilla chips
Jalapeno slices – as many as you like for garnish
Fresh Salsa Topping for After Cooking
1/2 c. chopped tomato
½ c. diced avocado
½ c. drained corn or corn cut off a cob
Squeeze of fresh lime, dash salt, dash sugar
Directions:
Lightly oil a skillet or griddle and brown a whole one round tortilla and five halved tortillas in batches, until they are light golden brown in spots on both sides. Line a deep dish pie pan with as shown in the photo below, slightly overlapping the “petals” of the tortilla flower.
In a large skillet brown the beef with the garlic. Then add the next seven ingredients, stir and heat through until simmered and thickened.Pour meat and bean mixture into “tortilla flower.”
Gently spread the sour cream or Greek Yogurt over the beef mixture. Next spread on the salsa.
Then sprinkle the grated cheese over all, followed by an even sprinkling of crushed corn chips. Finally decorate with a few jalapeno slices.Bake for 20 minutes.
Remove from oven and let sit for 5 minutes while you make a quick fresh salsa topping. In a bowl, combine tomato, avocado and corn. Give this mixture a quick squeeze of fresh lime, a dash of salt and a pinch of sugar. Toss. Pile in the middle of the tortilla pie.
Use a very sharp serrated knife to cut pie shaped wedges. It may be a little messy if the pie is still hot, so feel free to serve in a bowls if you prefer.
Vegetarian Version: Replace beef with 1 cup lentils or other beans (in addition to the ones in the recipe), 1/2 cup grain such as quinoa or rice, 1/4 cup chopped nuts such as walnuts, and 1 cup chopped mushrooms.
Vegan Version: Follow Vegetarian Version above for meat replacement. Skip sour cream and cheese layers and cover the pie with fresh guacamole once comes out of the oven and has cooled for 5 minutes. Use just the tomatoes and corn for salsa topping.
This was printed from: We Laugh, We Cry, We Cook
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The Title: Fiesta Tortilla Pie
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© Copyright 2012 – All Rights Reserved
Becky Johnson
Rachel Randolph
We Laugh, We Cry, We Cook 