chili!

Yeah, my subject line is unimaginative. Talk to the beer I had with dinner, yeah? Yeah.

For whatever reason, the only time chili is appealing to me is during warm weather. Is it because since my outsides are so hot I will not notice the heat coming inside? I don't know, but when the weather gets warm I loves me a big bowl of chili with some oyster crackers. I used to like it with cheese, but that was back in my "pregan" days when eating chili meant opening up a little single-serve aseptic carton of Stagg that I'd get at the grocery store when it was on sale and then nuking it and covering it in cheese. Damn, I can't believe that used to sound appetizing. Since I got my crock pot and started making this recipe, no other chili method will do. It's not too spicy, it's nice and chunky and hearty, and since I only like it when the weather is warm, my crock pot doesn't put off a ton of heat meaning I do not slave over the hot stove sweating and being gross all over everything only to lose my appetite by the time the stuff is done. True, it does take much longer, but that just gave me time to work on a scarf I'm knitting and watch both Goonies and The Dark Crystal.

I got this recipe awhile ago from vegcooking.com, whom have since chosen to change the name of this recipe from "Crock-Pot Chili" to "Slow-Cooker Chili" which means it took me forever to find it and it pissed me off a little, but not too much to say you shouldn't make it because you totally should. It's nothing fancy, but it's damned tastygood. The only changed I made were I used only 2 tsp of chili powder instead of a whole Tbsp, and I used 15oz cans of beans, so it was 2 cans black beans, 1 can pinto, and 1 can kidney. Also, I took a picture, but did you know it's really superdamn hard to take a good picture of chili? It did not look appetizing, and my lack of photo skills and styling ability are not the culprit here, so no picture for you, my effusive apologies.

Slow Cooker Chili

Original recipe here

• 2 Tbsp. oil
• 6 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 cup chopped white onion
• 1 lb. veggie burger crumbles (optional)
• Red pepper flakes, to taste
• 1 Tbsp. chili powder
• 2 1/2 tsp. cumin
• 1 tsp. oregano
• 1 bay leaf
• 28-oz. can diced Mexican-style tomatoes
• 1 Tbsp. soy sauce
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable stock
• 6 oz. tomato paste*
• 1 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
• 28 oz. black beans, drained and rinsed
• 16 oz. pinto beans, drained and rinsed
• 16 oz. kidney beans, drained and rinsed

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook the garlic, onion, veggie burger crumbles if using, and red pepper flakes until the onion is soft. Add the chili powder and cumin and cook for an additional 2 minutes, or until fragrant.

Place in a slow cooker with the remaining ingredients, stirring to combine. Cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours.

Makes 6 to 8 servings

*Here is a nifty-ass thing to do with tomato paste that I learned from America's Test Kitchen (I *love* ATK!): If you have a recipe that calls for, say, 1 Tbsp of tomato paste, take the rest of the can and spoon it onto waxed paper in 1 Tbsp amounts. Then freeze it for a few hours or overnight. Once it's frozen pop it in a tupperware or a freezer bag and then in future recipes you can just pluck it right out, no measuring! I love it!

My cat and some cookbook review

My camera is having some sort of fit where it's, like, stuck between on and off and is being unresponsive. I think it may have turned into a teenager. So, I would like to give a (very) behind the times review of Joanna Vaught's Yellow Rose Recipes but since I can't post relevant pictures I will start with a picture of my cat and talk about her a little bit.

so fluffy, so spazzy

This is Potato. Last Monday (Cinco de Mayo) was her one year adoptiversary (I totally made that word up). I celebrated it as her birthday because I don't know when that was, or even how old she is. The shelter told me six months, she had a vaccination certificate from 2 years prior, she could be 6 years old, I don't know. She's full of mystery. Potato was partially declawed (the front paws) by her previous owners, that's all I know about them. Also that her teeth were in nasty shape and she was nervous and would cry long, desperate, meows for hours on end when I first brought her home. She didn't sleep, either. That was a joy. This is all probably a very normal cat experience, I don't know, she's my first cat. But I'm very happy to say her temperament has greatly improved. She doesn't cry anymore, she's still very chatty though, she sleeps a lot even when I'm up and about (she just woke up, what timing), and she doesn't run away from guests to hide under the bed. Yesterday she almost faced her nemesis: the vacuum. I'm crazy stupid over my cat.

Also, bazu reports that Potato looks just like her kitty Bijou which is awesome and means bazu found my blog which made me get all fan-girl excited!

Moving on, the weekend before last my friend Vanessa and I went to Portland for a Mike Doughty show and of course, went to the vegan mini-mall because right, like we couldn't. The brunch at Sweet Pea Bakery is fantastic, by the way, they have those hash browns in the rectangular shape and I LOVE THOSE THINGS. One of my main motivations was to finally pick up Yellow Rose Recipes because it was making me crazy hearing so many good things and not owning it but I hate paying for shipping, I'm totally cheap that way. I'd rather pay the costs of a weekend in another city, it makes total sense.

Finally, my review. I love this book! It's the first cookbook I've owned where I thought both that I would make and enjoy every single recipe and that I was completely capable of doing so. To date I have made four of the recipes. The Very Berry Muffins are great, so soft and light and yummy. I'm making them again tomorrow. I previously made a blackberry/raspberry version and next up is blueberry/raspberry. Next up I made the White Beans and Kale, which was sort of amazing because I have never really liked cooked greens much, if at all. But I looked at it, and it just looked so good I had to have it. Folks, this recipe is so easy I did it with a head cold, and during the cooking process I caused a flood in my kitchen and then nearly set it on fire and the food still tasted amazing, even as leftovers, so there you go. Earlier this week I made the Kasha Varnishkes which was good, but I forgot about how crappy my stove is, so when I put the burner on low I failed to remember that "low" is "super low" on my burner and the kasha took too long to cook and was therefore gluey, but I have plenty ingredients to try again, but this time I may try leek instead of onion. And I used regular pasta instead of whole wheat, whole wheat would definitely be better. Last night, I made the Couscous Chickpea Salad and YUM! The book is right, it is a lot better the next day. Made fresh, the dressing is much too balsamic-y, but mellowed out considerably after a night in the fridge to think about what it had done. I made a slight change in that since I did not have mushrooms I put edemame in the salad and it's quite good. Even more than the recipes, I love the index. Organized by ingredient, so thoughtful! Like an index should be! If I have some mushrooms, (not right now, though, sad) I love that I can look up "mushrooms" and see what there is to make with them, why can't all cookbooks be like that. It gets my food geek way up there.

Was this book worth a trip to Portland? To conclude this review, you bet your sweet bippy it was.

Spicy Tofu & Spelt Salad

extreme closeup means you can't see the ugly bowl it's in. tricky!

The season of the salad is upon us! I love cold grain and veggie salads in the spring and summer, they're quick (my primary requirement), they're refreshing, and they make a buttload so they're easy to take for multiple lunches throughout the week. Plus, it's really hard to go wrong with a salad. Grain Thing plus Tofu or Bean Thing plus whatever veggies are in the fridge or freezer and you're good to go. I'm still learning how to make dressings, but getting better, and from chopping up veggies my knife skills have been improving considerably, yet another great thing about salads, no perfection required.

This salad is one of my very favorites. It's made by the deli at PCC, but I've only actually seen it in their deli case one time. PCC makes a lot of wonderful vegan salads, including a kumut one similar to this. They also make a Perfect Protein salad with chickpeas and veggies and a veganaise dressing, that one I'm still trying to track down. PCC has a nasty (yet understandable? I guess?) habit of not sharing the recipes for their salads, though I'm wondering if they'd give it to me if I ask, must check that out. I originally found the recipe for this salad on the Seattle Times website but it's not there anymore (bitches), instead I found it on this blog. Make it, make a lot of it, and good luck making it last more than a day. I think my record is about 3 days? It's like crack. I always use approximately the same vegetables, though last time I forgot green onions and it was still good. But maybe corn would be good in it too? Yeah? It's also quite good over a bed of greens. It's just plain good, it what it is.

PCC's Spicy Tofu and Spelt Salad

Makes about 6 servings

Sauce:

- 3 Tbsp tamari or soy sauce

- 3 Tbsp Asian-style sesame oil (I used peanut oil, I'm out of sesame)

- 2 Tbsp vegetable oil or olive oil (I used grapeseed)

- 1-½ Tbsp rice wine vinegar

- 1/8 to 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

- 1 Tbsp finely minced fresh ginger

- 1 Tbsp finely minced fresh garlic (I use 3 cloves, I see no point in ever measuring out garlic like they say)

Salad:

- 1 tsp kosher salt

- ¾ cup spelt kernels (I use 1 whole cup because I'm a spelt freak)

- 14 to 16 ounces firm or extra-firm tofu

- Cooking spray

- ¾ cup sliced red bell pepper

- 2 green onions, thinly sliced

- 2 Tbsp coarsely chopped parsley

- ½ cup thinly bias-cut carrots

- ½ cup thinly sliced red cabbage

1. Whisk together tamari, sesame oil, vegetable oil, vinegar, cayenne, ginger and garlic; set aside. You will use this in three different parts of the recipe.

2. Cook and drain spelt kernels: Bring 10 cups of water to a boil in a large saucepan; add salt and stir in spelt kernels. Return to a boil and boil gently until tender, about 1 hour, adding more water if needed.

3. Drain the spelt well, and then toss cooked spelt with 4 tablespoons of the sauce. Set aside to cool.

4. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees. Drain the tofu and cut into 20 to 24 cubes, depending on package size. In a medium to large bowl, gently fold tofu and 2 tablespoons sauce together to evenly coat tofu. Lightly spray a rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray. Spread tofu cubes on the baking sheet; do not crowd. Bake for about 20 minutes. Cool.

5. Toss cooled spelt and tofu with bell pepper, green onions, parsley, carrots, cabbage and remaining sauce.

aren't the veggies just so pretty on their own?

My own notes for this particular batch:
A. I have stopped bothering to measure, so mine has a lot more veggies. I hate measuring veggies. I pretty much only use my measuring cups for baking anymore.

B. Because I have stopped bothering to measure this recipe, my dressing came out with a bit too much peanut oil and tasted less spicy and more peanut-oily. This situation was nicely resolved when I attacked talked nice to it with my hand blender.

C. I had another note, but I am getting over a cold and it's kind of late and I want to get back to watching Ugly Betty on DVD so I forget.

D. I remember! I added a bit (maybe 1/2 tsp?) of miso paste to the dressing. I don't know, I saw it in the fridge and thought it might give a bit of a healthy boost and nice flavor. While I don't know if either statement is true, it certainly didn't hurt.

E. I made a separate marinade for the tofu out of ginger paste, soy sauce, peanut, and grapeseed oil and then left it to soak in the fridge for a couple of hours while I went out shopping and eating cupcakes.

F. This batch turned out considerably spicy (too much cayenne?) but it mellows out considerably in the refrigerator. Not entirely, it's still got some kick, but I don't feel like my mouth is going to dissolve off my face once it's cold.

Enjoy!

Canadians!

My friend Tillie the Canadian (guess where she's from!) came to visit for the weekend. She has Celiac, and I am vegan, but we found a bounty of yummy food to share and enjoy. For breakfasts we enjoyed rice cakes with peanut butter, banana, and cashews. It was messy and yummy.

Tillie (technically only half Canadian)

Saturday we went to the farmer's market in the university district. I often find other FM's in Seattle to be mostly full of cheese (seriously), but the U-dist one was full of wonderful delights. I tried my first Brussels sprout, grown by a very impassioned man (they must be grown with frost!!! he says), and also my first taste of sorrel (which is divine). We bought salad mix, Brussels sprouts greens (which are purple!), and some sorrel. Pictured below, amongst my Regular Crap, is two bottles of locally made hard cider (the regular was for me, but after serving it to Tillie's friends she gave me her berry one. Score!), 1 package Southwestern flavored hazelnuts, the aforementioned greens and salad, some lovely sunflower seed bread, walnut oil, 1 jar tequila caramel (Tillie's, not vegan), and 1 jar peach chipotle pepper jelly which I described to the vendor as "it kicked me in the mouth, but it didn't knock me down, I like that." My camera skills are off, I just thought I should admit it. It's a Known Issue.

Farmer's Market Yummy Goods

Since we were nearby, we made a trip to Sidecar for Pig's Peace, a volunteer-run all vegan store benefitting Pig's Peace animal sanctuary. Picked up some aseptic tofu for the pantry, herb Tofutti, spicy Sunrice tofu (it's an amazing local company, the tofu is like crack), Merry Hempster tattoo balm, Tings (Tillie's), and Jerquee (Tillie's), best of all because I didn't think they were carried at Sidecar are SOY CURLS! I've been wanting to try them out and thought I might have to wait until I make it to Portland again (which is the end of this month).

Nothing like vegan junk food after the Farmer's Market

Best of all, Tillie came to America equipped with a gift, vegan pate! It's consistency is more like a loaf than a spread. It's kind of crumbly and meaty-ish. This is the herb flavor and I think it'll be quite good on all sorts of things. In salads, sandwiches, toast with Tofutti, maybe on pasta? Best of all she abused her mother's connections to get it, that's what I like in my gifts.

Plus the box is pretty

Vegan Pate in the package. Enjoy the three sunflower seeds as decoration.

It was really wonderful having Tillie in town and getting to share all of this wonderful food with her, we did things besides eating, but I believe good food is what links other memories together. Food is the strongest links in the memory chain and gives the sum memory of a life structure. So this weekend will be treasured for years to come, of that I'm sure.

PLUS! Tillie has promised to send her vegan and gluten-free recipe for "Butter Chicken" along, so that will be posted soon.

Everything Is Better As A Burrito

All the crap in the background makes you feel like you're right in my kitchen, am I right?

Sweet potatoes and me, what can I say? We've long found each other attractive, flirted at parties, talked for long hours but always holding back, never taking that leap. We'd been...hurt before. That old story, girl meets potato (my cat is also named Potato, but I am not speaking of her, I am speaking of potatoes), girl enjoys potato's distinctive and inviting orangey hue. Girl says "Hey, come back to my place, have a beer." Followed by disaster. Burned. Underdone. Sometimes both. And then the next time they meet, there's that uncomfortable silence, where saying "Hey, don't worry about it, it happens sometimes," only serves to make thing infinitely worse than before. Awkward.

But this time, this time the stars aligned and we gripped each other's sweaty palms as we ran to the altar of love and declared, "Okay love! I am your bitch! Do as you will!"

I'm told sometimes that maybe I should get out more. Mostly I'm told it by myself.

Anywhoozle, I'd been meaning to make this Vegetarian Times recipe that LindyLoo posted ages and ages ago, but never got around to it, I was too fearful of the sweet potato. This is all long gone now, I'm happy to say.

I agree with her sentiments about the peanut sauce. I'm personally a huge fan of peanut sauce, I like it a little bit on the spicy side. One of my favorite things to eat is cold leftover Pad Thai, heavy on the peanut sauce. Actually, Things That Were Hot But Aren't Anymore is a favorite genre of food, if you will. It's not the same as cold food, it's completely different. Right, so this peanut sauce I felt could have used more oomph, but I agree it was better when considered as part of the whole composition of the dish. It found it's peanutty niche but I would still have added some cayenne or more garlic or something. Something to make the sauce stand up and say "Listen here! I am about to rock you! Prepare to be rocked!" I have fonder memories of the dessert peanut sauce I put over some banana the other night, and that was just peanut butter, hot water, agave nectar, and a pinch of salt.

Two more things. 1) I am pretty sure I used enormous sweet potatoes instead of medium, because they took forever to cook, and if I have 2 servings then this recipe was created by a giant. Hagrid? 2) I couldn't find roasted, salted peanuts in the bulk bins, so I went with cashews which I like better anyway.

The recipe is here. I always feel weird copying and pasting other people's recipes, or recipes they took the time to copy from somewhere else. I'll get over it maybe around post...umm...15? But this is only 13 so we ain't there yet.

So about the title. I firmly believe it. Anything and everything is better as some kind of burrito. And in my book, lettuce wraps count as burritos. Wraps count as burrito, they're just called wraps to sound healthier I think. This morning, since I have so much of it left, I stirred some of the leftover sweet potato mixture into my tofu scramble and it was delish! It was wrapped up into a breakfast burrito. Here it is cooling off a bit on it's magic tortilla carpet. In there you will also spy some green bell pepper.

For lunch, I put the leftover portion I couldn't finish from Friday into another tortilla and it was super great! I have trouble chewing cooked greens, I don't know why, but I think next time I make this I'll take the leftover spinach/garbanzo mixture and blend it. So it'll be like a burrito with two sauces, spinach and peanut. Yum Yum!

I have no picture of the burrito because I feel it is self-explanatory, but here is a picture of my cat, Potato. She is guarding my snack box full of origami papers.

And just to be completely random, here's a picture of my refrigerator from a couple of weeks ago (I think). There's beer AND wine, some stuff I don't recognize, I think that container full of orange/red stuff is hummus, and the big green thing in the middle is full of baked beans I did not like so good but were okay with the addition of soy hot dog. The big shiny thing behind it is a bag of lettuce.