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!

Pasta de los Angeles

Pasta de los Angeles, page 177

Right off the bat, I was slightly suspicious of this dish. "Pasta goes Mexican!"? Hmmmm.

I have to say, it wasn't bad. It really wasn't great, either, but it wasn't bad. Most interesting, however, were the reactions from the rest of the family. El Hombre, who I thought for sure would be the most critical, actually seemed to like it. He said it was reminiscent of a seafood-y pasta dish (?!?), like it had those little canned cocktail shrimp in it somewhere. Huh?!? SweetPea, my nine-year old, said it reminded her of the Pasta con Broccoli, and then proceeded to douse her portion with Caesar Chavez salad dressing. Okay. SweetPotato, the seven-year old, thought it was okay, but a bit on the sour (lime) side, and the black beans were the best part. She ate the beans and left the pasta.

As for me, my reaction was "Meh." It was okay. I'm not really convinced that this is what the angels are having up there in heaven. I'd rather eat my black beans, tomatoes, and cilantro in a tortilla, or a salad, or over rice, but this was interesting to try once. I probably won't make this again.

Black Bean, Zucchini, and Olive Tacos

Black Bean, Zucchini, and Olive Tacos, page 131

The addition of kalamata olives to tacos is something I never would have thought of, but the idea is genius. The olives give this taco filling a sharp, salty kick that totally works.

These tacos almost didn't get made: after a day of redecorating and furniture rearranging with the help of my good friend, Anne, we were just about out of oomph and seriously contemplating ordering some take-out. But we sat and rested for a spell, viewing the results of our hard work while sipping a well-earned glass of wine, and then we rallied in the kitchen and made these tacos happen. And I'm so glad we did - the tacos were completely satisfying.

Instead of serving with the suggested Garlic-Lemon Yogurt, I whipped up my usual garlic sauce: silken tofu, garlic, lemon juice, and salt whirred together in the food processor. So, similar, but not the same. I'm not really a fan of soy yogurt. And, we included chopped cilantro to top off our tacos. You can't have tacos without cilantro in this house.

I thought the girls wouldn't like this at all, but they surprised me! They even enjoyed them again the next day as leftovers for lunch. I'm pretty sure the olives were the magic ingredient.

Quinoa Salad with Black Beans & Toasted Cumin Seeds

Quinoa Salad with Black Beans & Toasted Cumin Seeds, page 31

I love quinoa. I love black beans. And I love cumin. So, I thought, what's not to love about this recipe?

I made the salad early in the day and then let the bowl sit in the refrigerator until our late dinner, so the flavors would have a chance to develop. And it was good, and satisfying, and refreshing. But still, it was missing some kind of oomph for me. Maybe a little more lime juice? I think that would be good. Maybe even some more cumin. I don't think the agave was necessary at all, and I'd probably leave that out next time.

There were mixed reviews from the family; El Hombre said it was good. As for the girls, it was the opposite from last night's dinner: SweetPea just kind of pushed things around on her plate, while SweetPotato gobbled her portion right up. I made little baby corncakes to go along with the salad, and everyone seemed to enjoy those.

My dad is coming to visit for a few days - anyone have suggestions on which recipes to try out on him? He's certainly no vegetarian, but he's not necessarily averse to meatless meals, either. I was thinking the Chipotle Lentil Burgers sound good... any other ideas?

Big Fat Taco Salad

Big Fat Taco Salad, page 22

Feliz Cinco de Mayo! I hope yours was much more exciting than mine; I spent the day on the go around town yet again, getting home just in time to make dinner. Is this week over yet?

I started with making my own oven-baked tortilla chips, like these, because I needed to use up some corn tortillas getting stale in the refrigerator. Easy enough.

Then I made the Fresh Tomato Salsa Dressing. Since I was going to need the food processor for the Guacamame, I went ahead and used it with plenty of pulse action to make the salsa dressing as well. Also easy. As this recipe uses red wine vinegar for the sour and cayenne hot sauce for the spicy, it is a pretty good recipe to keep around for an easy salsa when my kitchen is lacking fresh limes and fresh serranos.

After washing and chopping the romaine lettuce, I started on the Guacamame. This is the part I was particularly curious about; I adore guacamole, especially El Hombre's, so I wasn't sure how we were going to feel about a version made with basically about half avocado and half pureed edamame. We were pleasantly surprised! There was enough avocado to keep the flavor and consistency about right, while the edamame cut down on the fat while boosting the protein. And it was also easy. A win! The only thing I would do differently next time is in the technique: instead of using the pulse mode on the food processor to get the onion and tomatoes chopped up, I think I'd rather chop those ingredients finely by hand and just fold them into the avocado-edamame mixture. Pulsing with the food processor seemed to make the otherwise lovely green color get a bit muddy.

Mexicana Kale Bowl

Mexicana Kale Bowl, page 266
Brown rice, steamed kale, steamed sweet potato, Red Velvet Mole (page 134), and cilantro
Wijic the cat wonders if he'd like it, too.

Greens and sweet potatoes are a favorite combination of mine; adding some black beans and a smoky mole sauce makes it a tasty and nutritious full meal that I would happily eat again and again.

This is not my first mole sauce, but this is a good one to add to the repertoire. It's easy to make with mostly common ingredients, and it has nice smoky undertones from the smoked paprika. I deviated only slightly from the ingredient list, using a broken up tortilla in place of the tortilla chips while simmering the sauce, since that was what I had available.

El Hombre suggested it would be better to chop the greens more finely, and I agree. The greens tonight were a little unwieldy, and it would have been nice to be able to mix them in more with the rice, beans, and mole sauce.