Moroccan Chickpeas & Zucchini

Moroccan Chickpeas & Zucchini (page 249)
served with quinoa and green salad

Another winner from Appetite for Reduction! I enjoyed this a lot. It had a nice flavor, with a comforting blend of spices. I always love chickpeas, so I'm already biased there. As a bonus, this recipe makes a huge pot-ful, and I was able to freeze several portions for El Hombre to have on hand when the girls and I will be traveling for a couple of weeks.

I wasn't sure the girls would like this recipe, since the spices are on the exotic side, and it has cooked zucchini, which is usually not a favorite. So, I tried to bill this as a cultural experience for them: we got out the globe to find Morocco, we played some Moroccan music during dinner, we looked at pictures of traditional Moroccan dress, etc. Did it work? Well, they both said they liked it, but neither ate a whole lot, so I'm not sure.

Instead of the suggested couscous, I served this with quinoa, which I thought made a nice alternative.

Classic Black Bean & Veggie Chili

Classic Black Bean & Veggie Chili, page 236

Another guest post from El Hombre, since he was in charge of getting food on the table tonight!

Tonight's dinner was very much true to the recipe. The Classic Black Bean & Veggie Chili is delicious and easy to fix. Thirty minutes is all you need to from start to finish. Basically, you chop up your onions, garlic and veggies add the broth and seasonings and you are set.

After things were nicely simmering, I reduced the heat and focused on fixing some yummy cornbread to go with dinner. I used the cornbread recipe from The Joy of Vegan Baking and baked the batter in a funky little cast iron corn stick pan that la Mujer (Julie) fancies as an awesome thrift store find.

As expected, the girls were less than enthusiastic, with SweetPotato saying it was a bit "spicy." I think it was my liberal use of chili powder that got to her.

I stuck with the recipe since it was my first time fixing it, but I feel really confident about adjusting seasonings and adding a variety of different veggies. Next time, I think I'll use eggplant along with the zucchini that was called for, and I would also enjoy adding mushrooms!

Overall, a great easy to fix dinner, and you can't beat that!

Chili Verde con Papas

Chili Verde con Papas, page 240
with fresh homemade corn tortillas

This was really, really delicious. I adore those cute little tomatillos, and chile verde is such a comfort food. The stew had an amazing aroma as it simmered away in the kitchen this afternoon.

It really did not seem spicy to my taste buds, at all. Once you remove the seeds, jalapenos are actually a pretty mild pepper. This time, El Hombre and I both spiced up our bowls with some extra dried red chile flakes. Next time, I would probably leave the seeds in at least one of the jalapenos, or swap them out for a hotter variety, such as serrano. Poblano peppers would be good here, too, instead of the green bell pepper.

I was surprised at the amount of kale in the finished dish. I guess I was expecting a lower ratio of greens to stew, but I loved the way it turned out. It was chock full of kale, which paired beautifully with the chile verde base.

(Anyone notice the spelling variations in this post? I had to go back and correct my post title... the AFR recipe is titled "Chili Verde," even though my instinct is to spell it "Chile Verde." I think "chile" is the correct spelling for "chile verde," while "chili" would be used for "green chili." Anyway, it's good food.)

Caesar Chavez Wrap

The Caesar Chavez Wrap, page 271
(romaine lettuce, sauteed seitan, black olives, and Caesar Chavez dressing in a whole-grain wrap)

SweetPea has had her eye on the Caesar Chavez Wrap for a while, now. She adores seitan, and she loves the Caesar Chavez Dressing just as much as I do, and who doesn't love good things wrapped up in a neat whole-grain package?

I made the Surefire Seitan (page 262) earlier in the day. The flavor was excellent, but I've had better texture results from other recipes. I want to say it came out a bit "spongy," but not like it does when the broth boils too rapidly... it was different than that. It seemed like the dough was just a bit too wet before simmering in the broth. Next time, I might try reducing the liquid a little and see if that works better.

The Caesar Chavez Dressing is probably my favorite salad dressing from this book, so far. Again, I found myself practically licking the blender clean - it's that good. I made a double batch this time, so I can have some extra on hand for my lunch salads during the remainder of the week. There is just something magical about this combination of shallots, miso, tahini, cashews, lemon, and capers. It's magic, I tell you.

Thumbs-up of approval all around the dinner table tonight. These wraps will show up again, I predict. I'm thinking they would make perfect pack-ahead picnic food.

Have you tried any of the sandwich or wrap suggestions from AFR? How about the Surefire Seitan?

Lettuce, seitan, olives, and dressing - ready to roll

Potato-Spinach Curry

Potato-Spinach Curry, page 232
with brown basmati rice and Masala Baked Tofu, page 146

Tonight's dinner was a lovely affair of saag aloo, masala tofu, and basmati rice, enjoyed outside in the fresh air of the evening.

While I loved the feature AFR recipe, I must say that the most exciting part of making tonight's dinner was digging up my own potatoes from my own garden. They were so beautiful! Look:

Freshly dug and scrubbed potatoes from my backyard garden

And, they were delicious, too!

But anyway, back to the recipe. SweetPea helped me make the potato-spinach curry; she helped chop up those beautiful potatoes, as well as stir and taste along the way. We added more salt because of the low sodium veggie broth that I've been using (more on that below). We also left out the red pepper flakes to make it kid-friendly, and instead had some available on the table to sprinkle on as desired for the adults.

Also, I decided to revisit the Masala Baked Tofu, because I think I've figured out what went wrong last time. Not that it was bad last time. It's just that I've heard so many people rave about it, and yet it didn't get me all excited like it seems to do for others. The missing factor for my first attempt seems to be salt. Yes, salt. So simple, right? I've been using a no-salt-added vegetable broth in an attempt to be more sodium conscious, and I think the masala marinade suffered as a result. So this time, I added a bit more soy sauce, and it made a big difference. I will also confess that I was feeling lazy and used granulated garlic and powdered ginger in the marinade, instead of the fresh versions, and both seemed to work great here. El Hombre confirmed that this attempt was much better than the first, so whether that was due to the extra soy sauce, or the dried spices, or a combination.... who knows?

Again, everyone enjoyed tonight's dinner. Both kids liked the potato-spinach curry, and my Dad went back for second helpings of everything. As El Hombre and I were cleaning up the kitchen, I saw a lime left on the counter and realized I forgot to add the freshly squeezed juice as the final step in the making of the curry. But oh well - it was still delicious! Nothing seemed amiss. Getting the kids to eat their cooked spinach and my Dad to enjoy tofu so much that he goes for another serving... a win!

Eggplant-Chickpea Curry

Eggplant-Chickpea Curry, page 230

Because I'm in the midst of such a hectic, busy week and pressed for time, I decided to try something crazy and toss this recipe in the crockpot and see what would would happen. This curry seemed like a good candidate for the slow cooker, with the descriptions of "well-cooked" and "broken down" eggplant. Turns out, it was a great idea; I think it worked perfectly.

I first sauteed the onions, garlic, and ginger in a dry pan, and then I put everything but the chickpeas in the crockpot and let the ingredients simmer on low for about eight hours. (I also think it would probably work fine to just toss everything in the slow cooker, without pre-cooking the onion mixture first.) When I got home tonight, I bumped up the heat to high, added the chickpeas, stirred everything around to further break down the eggplant, and then let it bubble away for another ten or fifteen minutes.

I really liked this curry. It was warm and cozy after a busy run-around kind of day. I especially enjoyed how the garam masala spices really shone through in the flavor profile. This recipe is definitely one to keep around.

Curried Chickpeas & Greens

Curried Chickpeas & Greens, page 228
with brown basmati rice

Last night, El Hombre worked late, so the girls and I grabbed a bite to eat while we were out at the farmer's market. We joyfully noshed on some garlic sourdough bread, babaganoush, tabouleh, and strawberries while listening to local artist Karen Chisholm, in glorious spring weather. Ah, I love this time of year.

But tonight, it was back to the kitchen. I love it that most of the recipes in Appetite for Reduction are so easy, yet the results are so flavorful. As long as the pantry is kept stocked with a variety of spices (which doesn't have to cost a fortune - shop the bulk section!), it's simple to toss together these exotic tasting dishes.

I love, love, love Indian food, so it's nice to be able to make some of these delicious dishes at home, like this Curried Chickpeas and Greens, or Chana Saag. The first thing you do in this recipe is pop whole mustard seeds in a hot pot, which was a new experience for me. Hey! That was fun! I was a little worried they might burn, but it all turned out fine.

This is a good staple dish to keep in the rotation. Easy, yummy, and a powerhouse of nutrition. I'd like to try it Saag Paneer-style sometime, with cubed tofu in place of the garbanzo beans.

2nd Avenue Vegetable Korma

2nd Avenue Vegetable Korma, with chickpeas
and brown basmati rice

Another delicious dish from AFR - and this one was so easy, too! Quick and simple to make at the end of a busy day, with flavorful and satisfying results. The most difficult part of the entire recipe was chopping up the vegetables, and that wasn't hard at all. I swapped out half of the cauliflower for some broccoli, and added some chickpeas to bulk this up for a main dish.

Vegetable korma is a type of Indian stew of vegetables in a mild, creamy curry sauce. This sauce had just the right balance of creaminess, spice, and sweetness. For me, there was just enough heat to warm things up without overpowering all the fab flavor. El Hombre went ahead and christened his plate with some extra red chili flakes and cumin, but he has asbestos mouth and likes to sweat when he eats.

There are leftovers in the refrigerator - I look forward to having more of this with lunch tomorrow!