Tofu Chimichurri

Tofu Chimichurri (page 150)
served with sauteed zucchini and yellow squash and brown rice

I've had my eye on this recipe for a while. I remember the first time I ever heard of chimichurri: in our pre-child and pre-vegan days, El Hombre and I attended a potluck barbecue at the home of some Argentinian friends, and I saw this guy slathering his cooked steak with a thick green sludge like it was salsa. Curious, we gave it a try, too, and it was amazing! Bright, tangy, and flavorful. Perfect on grilled foods.

Isa says that chimichurri is a marinade, but in my experience, it is also a thick condiment, like salsa. This recipe calls for marinating the tofu in a thin chimichurri sauce. I prepared the tofu and marinade early in the day, and left in the refrigerator for El Hombre to cook up later in the evening.

The girls and I arrived home after ballet folklorico class to find El Hombre standing over the stove, flipping the tofu around in a pan. It was a little messy, and some of the tofu broke apart, but the end result was quite delicious. I liked it, and I think it's safe to say El Hombre loved it, as he devoured quite a lot.

This recipe was good, but I would do it differently next time. Cooking the chimichurri sauce results in a loss of the bright green color and taste, which is what makes chimichurri so beautiful and fresh tasting. I think grilled tofu served with a more traditional chimichurri sauce as the condiment would be great. I'm inspired and will probably do it soon!

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!

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.

Pad Thai Salad with Peanut-Lime Dragon Dressing

Pad Thai Salad with Peanut-Lime Dragon Dressing, page 33

Really, you just can't beat the salads in Appetite for Reduction. I have loved (almost) every single salad in this chapter, so far. I knew I would also love the Pad Thai Salad as soon as I had my first taste of that glorious Peanut-Lime Dragon Dressing. El Hombre commented that he could probably just drink it.

I added a thinly sliced red bell pepper to the salad, and I topped it with some broiled tofu cubes, lightly glazed with a bottled Thai sweet chili sauce. Perfect.

Some very dear friends of ours are moving into a new house in our neighborhood (lucky us!), so I brought them some salad tonight while El Hombre was over there helping them unload the moving truck. There were positive reviews for this recipe, and according to his lovely wife, our friend Bill even remarked that he might consider moving to "Planet Vega" one day. I think that means he has enjoyed my Vegan food, right?

Chipotle Lentil Burgers

Chipotle Lentil Burgers, page 123
with oven baked potato wedges

I've been meaning to make these for a while now, and I figured this was a good chance to try them, while my Dad is here visiting. We were out all day, and I was tired and not really in the mood to cook by the time we got home, but the burgers actually came together pretty quickly. Dinner was on the table in less than an hour. That is one of the things I've come to really appreciate about this cookbook: most recipes are simple, straightforward, and ready to eat with loads of flavor but not much fuss.

Isa takes an unusually stern tone with this recipe, warning the cook that you must follow the recipe to the letter - otherwise, the texture might not come out right. I used store-bought bread crumbs and canned lentils as she said to, even though it seemed like it probably wasn't that necessary, but I did deviate slightly with the chipotles. I knew these burgers would be too spicy for my kids with the chipotle peppers, so I mixed all the ingredients together, per the recipe instructions, except for the chipotles. I made two patties chipotle-less, and then I mixed some finely minced chipotles into the rest of the mixture and made four more patties.

The end result was pleasing to everyone except SweetPotato - she is not a fan of bean-based burgers, and this proved to be no exception. Everyone else loved it! El Hombre's reaction upon taking his first bite was, "Ooooooh, mmmmmmmm." My Dad nodded his head in approval and said, "It's good, Julie." Later, he admitted being pleasantly surprised at how good it was, and he went back and ate the sixth burger. SweetPea devoured her burger, and part of her sister's. I thought they were really good, too. The texture was nice - crusty on the outside with a softer interior, and the flavor was just right. They reminded me of one of my favorite recipes from Rick Bayless, his Crusty Lentil Cakes from his cookbook, Mexican Kitchen.