Tortilla Soup

Tortilla soup (page 208)
garnished with crumbled blue corn tortilla chips, and chopped cilantro and jalapeno

Alright, so I made a few modifications to this recipe. I know my way around tortilla soup; I've made plenty a pot-ful in my lifetime. Admittedly, I have never before made Isa's recipe exactly as it is written, but I believe my modified version is probably, dare I say it... better than the original.

First of all, instead of using two jalapenos and one poblano or bell pepper, I used two poblanos in the soup, and saved the jalapenos for garnishing at the table. I wanted to keep the soup relatively mild for the kids, and let the adults add spice as desired to individual bowls.

Probably the most important modification I made, in terms of flavor, was to roast the peppers. I just set them on the burner grate over my gas flame, giving them a turn every now and then with tongs, until they got nice and blackened all over. Then, I scraped off the blackened skin (mostly - I left little bits here and there for flavor), chopped them up, and proceeded as usual. I added the peppers to the pot after the onion had cooked, since they were already somewhat cooked by the roasting process.

Finally, I used a few crumbled up stale corn tortillas to thicken up the soup, instead of crumbled tortilla chips.

I left the rest of the recipe pretty much intact with no other changes. The result: delicious and satisfying!

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.)

Red Thai Tofu

Red Thai Tofu, page 149

I've been enjoying the texture of broiled tofu lately, so instead of sauteeing these cubes of tofu as the recipe instructed, I went the broiling route instead. I like broiled tofu because the texture kind of reminds me of fried tofu, without all the grease - crispy corners, chewy on the inside.

The original recipe directions are to saute the tofu, then remove it from the pan while you saute the veggies, then add the tofu back to the pan when you add the sauce, and cook for a few more minutes. So while my tofu was in the oven, I sauteed up the rest of the vegetables for this dish, as well as a big pan of broccoli to go with our dinner. Then it was a snap to mix up the sauce and add it to the veggies, along with the broiled tofu.

This dish came together quickly, and it was tasty. However, I thought the sauce was too thin and wished it had clung more to the tofu and vegetables. From the recipe description in the book, I was expecting more of a glaze, but it was more broth-y instead. Otherwise, this was an acceptable dish that is nice and easy enough to keep in a regular rotation.

I've heard others rave about this recipe, so I'm wondering what I'm missing to make me rave, too. It was good, but not necessarily one of my favorite AFR recipes. Have you tried this tofu? What do you love, or not, about it?

Ceci-Roasted Red Pepper Soup

Ceci-Roasted Red Pepper Soup, page 200

It wasn't exactly soup weather today (98F? Really??), but this soup still managed to hit the spot tonight. This recipe received favorable reviews from the entire family; in fact, the girls both went back for second helpings. I love super (souper?) simple recipes that pack a powerful flavor punch, and this one certainly did just that.

I made a few modifications to the recipe, which actually made this recipe even easier and faster to put together. First, I totally cheated and used a jar of roasted red peppers, instead of roasting my own. Also, I didn't have any fresh tomatoes to chop up and toss into the pot, so I used a can of crushed tomatoes instead. I figured this would be fine, since the tomatoes are expected to break down anyway while simmering in the pot. Finally, we have a ginormous rosemary bush, so I used fresh rosemary instead of dried (two tablespoons of chopped fresh in place of the two teaspoons of dried herb). Fresh herbs are always superior in taste to dried, anyway.

The soup turned out quite tasty. I never would have thought to combine coriander and rosemary in the same dish, so that was interesting and I was pleased that it worked so well. I will certainly make this again, especially since the kids enjoyed it so much.

Fusilli Roasted Veggie Primavera

Fusilli (actually, Gemelli) Roasted Veggie Primavera, pg. 167
and mixed romaine salad with oranges and red onions

We all enjoyed this very much.

I couldn't fine whole wheat fusilli at my grocery store, so I substituted whole wheat gemelli. "Gemelli" is just as fun to say as "fusilli," anyway, right?

The roasted veggies were sweet and super delicious. I did bump up the oven temperature about 25 degrees during the last half of the roasting, because I wasn't sure they would get done otherwise. It probably would have been fine.

El Hombre commented that mushrooms would have been a nice addition here. Of course he did, the silly mushroom-lover that he is. I think the "optional" fresh basil garnish was just the right thing to finish it off, in term of taste. You can't beat fresh basil.

Overall, a very nice dish. It was a very easy and forgiving recipe (For example, I didn't a have pound each of zucchini and yellow squash - it was more zucchini and less yellow squash. Who cares, right?). I've never been very enthusiastic about pasta primavera dishes in the past - usually, they seem a little boring and bland to me. But this was definitely not boring, and I'd definitely make it again.