Soft Tacos!

I get home from a two hour drive and a full day of movin' and shootin' in the sun only to realize. . .I have not eaten all day!  I mean sure I had a hand full of granola here and a few almonds there but really not nearly the calorie count I need to be as active as I am!  Solution, Soft Tacos from heaven!  These bad boys are made with rice and beans, peach salsa and wilted chard.  The extra body comes from braised bell peppers and zucchini.  Lets break it down a little bit more.

The beans were a quick job.  After cooking two cups of beans in a pressure cooker for almost an hour, I took a few spoon fulls (probably a cup cooked beans) and simmered them with garlic powder, cumin, salt, pepper, and coconut oil (though olive or safflower would have been fine).  After they simmered enough that they began to mush I tossed in a hand full of corn kernels (cut off the cob by a lovely housemate) and turned off the heat.  

The rice was brown and delicious! 2.5 cups of rice with 5 cups of water, a healthy pinch of salt and a few tomatoes diced up small.  I salted the rice but left it relatively plain so I could use it as a flavor gradient [that is if the beans are on one side and the salsa is on the other the rice takes on the flavor at each end and provides a balance in the way they mix]  

For the wilted chard we will have to ask Emily but she 'over slated' them and I thought they were perfect

the zucchini was a seat of my pants braising!  Get your cast iron SUPER hot with just a bit of oil, toss in your zucchini so it sizzles then add a dash of balsamic, a squeeze of braggs and a hint of vegan Worcestershire suace.  All that wet cooks away fast so turn down the heat and let it 'burn' onto the zucchini to give a quick-grill-feel.  

Peach salsa was a bit of a sham since I forgot the lime AND the Cilantro (which davey will be happy about).  Diced tomatoes, sliced onions, minced garlic, minced jalapeno, a dash of apple cider vinegar (in an attempt to make up for missing lime) and one average peach diced up.  Mix and let it sit long enough that the flavors really mix together (10 minutes minimum).  

Putting all this in a little tortilla is hard but that is why I have six tacos!  And look at that, I got to top it with a lovely slice of avocado!  

Late Night Tacos

You have a long day, and accidentally fall asleep right when you get home.  When you wake up at 1am and still need dinner what do you do?  well if you have a quart of chili left over in the fridge like I luckily did tacos make a quick and delicious choice.  The corn tortillas are gently warmed on a cast iron before they are topped with heated chili (learn more about how to make chili here: http://cooperativevegan.blogspot.com/2012/07/chilli-con-yum.html ).  The green is a mix of shredded cabbage and carrots with some snap peas.  I really like to use cabbage in a soft taco because it adds a nice texture without overshadowing the chili.  I'll admit, four tacos at 2am might be a lot to sleep on but it is also so delicious!  It would have been killer to have a dash of lime juice, a slice of avocado and a glass of horchata but it is 2 am and I am going to try and sleep.

Two Weeks in the Appalachia Hills of NC

So I really do mean to do this on a more regular basis but life does not always slow down enough for me to show off my meals the way I want to.  So after two weeks of INCREDIBLE meals all you get is a quick report on the foods and only the scantest of clues on how to make it.  If I were not leaving tomorrow for another trip I would honestly try to be more detailed in my meal preparation and thought process.  

Two Weeks of Tasty Food

Kale Salad

Kale salad with an avocado lemon vinaigrette with fresh corn, grated beets and carrots.  The body is hefted up with a bit of shredded cabbage and topped with crushed walnuts and a few more slices of avocado

Buffalo Fries

It seemed abnormal to go to the south without having buffalo wings but the next best thing is buffalo fires with home made 'wing' sauce.  I used a lot of extra pepper and pinch of salt and so much garlic that I ahrdly tasted the spicy delicious wing sauce

 Buckwheat Pancakes
I was visiting a wheat free friend but that did not deter us from pancakes with maple syrup.  The amazing thing about the east coast is blueberries grow wild!  the bananas are still imported but a morning walk to harvest blueberries made these things so much more worth it!

Shredded salad and mushroom risotto 

One of the many amazing dinners consisted of carrot/beet/cabbage salad with almonds, raisins and, sesame seeds.  The salad was dressed in balsamic vinegar and olive oil.  The risotto was rich and delicious and could have used more mushrooms but was a nice compliment to the salad.

Indian Dinner
One lovely night we threw a dinner party with Red Dhal soup, turmeric rice (didnt have any saffron so did our best), pumpkin curry and a green salad.

more salad

massaged kale with romaine lettuce.  The tomatoes and peppers came from the small garden on site and the diced almonds came with me from Cali!

 Simple Dinner
Steamed carrots and purple cabbage topped with sauteed potatoes and bell peppers.

Hash brown Breakfast
shred potatoes, shred yams, garlic and onions!  I am always a fan of hash browns but for some reason these were extra good.  Top potatoes with avocado and Chihuly hot sauce and you are always on the right track.

potato stew

I was not thrilled with my first go at buckwheat biscuits but they added a nice body to the stew as they melted in.  The stew was a slow roast with potato carrot cabbage in a tomato base with a lot of garlic and some onion.  

Mexican Dinner
Turns out North Carolina does not offer a lot of Mexican food.  This was the last night as a going away treat to remind my friend what is waiting for her in California.  Salsa fresca Mexican spiced black beans with a side of Spanish rice. Fresh corn and guacamole to make tacos with corn tortillas was like heaven!

Salad once more

On the night I met Debra Frasier, Liz and I shared kale salads.  Shredded carrots, shredded beats, tomatoes from the garden, fresh corn, bell peppers and a lemon vinaigrette.  I ate it and wanted more and more and more!  I dont thing there is anything I like as much as a well made salad!  

I have no idea what I am going to eat for the next two weeks but once I am back we will all know! 

Boxed Lunch

Between TA second summer session, taking photos for as many events as I can, some recurring emotional turmoil, recovering from my sprained ankle, an internship and trying to find a stable job I am going to be boxing up my lunch more often.  Unfortunately for me that means having to think a lot harder about what I make, not only do I need to think tasty but I also need to think about what travels well, stores for 3-5 hours and is tasty edible at close to room temperature.  That makes a quick Mexican meal an easy choice.  

I made re-fried beans with sauteed onion garlic, jalapeno and corn and a hearty amount of salt and oil (key to making it creamy smooth and yummmmm).  The tortillas are home made from white masa flour with garlic added in.  In place of Spanish rice I had a large couscous salad made with grilled summer squash and okra.  To top it off salsa fresca smothers the re-fried beans to increase the vegetable content.  

Honestly it is better hot with tortillas fresh off the grill but a life on the go has particular demands.  Keep watching for more quick meals (though I am likely to be eating a lot of left overs from dinner for lunch)

Speedy Lunch

I know I know. . .I need to do a full meal and get back to explaining how to make plant based living seem simple and fun! Time keeps getting away but at least I keep lunch coming :)  

This one is a bit of a cheat.  I used the re-fried beans Johnny made earlier in the week with the Barley I made tuesday night (easier than making rice and damn barley is good! ) to make somethign like an open faced taco . . .no not a tostada, the tortilla is not fried and there is not tomato or lettuce for it to be a tostada.  I did dress the tortilla with a bit of oil, garlic powder and nutritional yeast.  I also topped the barley/bean mix with fresh avocado and cilantro.  It was really yummy so I had seconds (and thirds .. .i eat a lot)

Taquitos and Tacos!

I went shopping!  the goal was to make four different types of taquitos to explore different tastes and textures.  Knowing I would not make enough taquitos to feed the house I also made extra filling of each to serve as the base for tacos that would be topped with salsa fresca, shredded lettuce, carrot and radish. 

The potato taquitos were made with this turkish spice that I really like which is predominantly paprika but I have yet to ask Justin what it is. I supplemented with salt pepper tumeric curry spice and cumin to round out the flavor.  Season to taste! always season ti to the way you want ti to taste so you can enjoy it, this includes compensating for how the flavor changes as it cooks, in particular spicyness will decrease a bit  and herbyness will increase.  If you are cooking for other people (say someone who hates spice) you can either laugh at them as they bite into your taquito or you can take the time to set aside some potatoes and spice it with hem in mind.  Toss them in olive oil and bake at 400 for about an hour. 

Chiplotle tofu seemed like a must.  . .well chipotle something at least.  I crumbled the tofu and tossed it with chipotle, paprika garlic powder, spike(my favorite powdered vegetable bullion) , pepper and olive oil.  Before baking I let it sit for about 30 minutes so the flavor could soak in.  I just threw it in the oven with the potatoes and took it out 25 minutes later. it was brown and crispy and spicy!  I could have done a bit more to make it saucy but it worked.  I think next time I will make a chipotle sauce to mix it with after baking.  This would also help in the taquito rolling phase since the sauce (I am imagining a pretty thick sauce) would hold things in place better.  

Sweet potatoes get cubed and steamed.  Just 15 minutes in steam is enough to make these sweet tubers mashable.  I mixed in a bit of salt and olive oil but wanted to let the sweetness really shine so I stayed away from my typical arsenal of savory spices. 

not pictures here is the garlic black beans which I made. . . not sure where those pictures ended up but I did have some problem with my camera earlier in the week.  We will just have to do black beans another time and shift our focus to the tortillas which are made form scratch. 

Buy a masa mix.  It is a medium ground corn meal with lime.  the acidity helps bring out the starchyness of corn so it makes for good tortillas (at least that is what I was told once and it sound good enough to propagate whether it is totally factual or not).  Knead together 2 cups of masa with 1 cup water and a pinch of salt and you are already half way to making tortillas.

I am lucky enough to have a tortilla press in my house so I dont need to roll out the dough and then get something round to cut out the shape I want.  I take a small lime sized piece of dough (golf ball sized for sporty people) and press it, using an old plastic bag as my make-shift wax paper to assist removal from the tortilla press.   

 Cook those lovely tortillas for about 2 minutes on each side on a hot griddle/ in a cast iron pan and you are ready to start into taquito land proper!

We have our 4 fillings to work with (with a close up of the beans since there are not enough gratuitous black bean pictures yet) and each tortilla gets about 1.5 Tbs of filling and rolled into the approximate shape of a taquito. (yes the tortillas below are store bought, the home made were saved for the tacos) 

The biggest problem I had was that the beans and tofu were not held together enough.  Both potatoes did quite well and I think if I mashed the black beans a bit more it would have made the rolling a bit easier, still came out delicious! I brushed the tortillas with canola oil and then put them in the oven at 400 for around 45 minutes (the last 10 minutes were actually at 450 because I wanted my taquitos extra crispy)

To go with the taquitos, Guacamole of course. Avocado cut in half, pit removed and SMASHED into bowl.

mix in salt pepper some lime juice 5-60 cloves of garlic ( i used 5 cloves finely grated for 4 avocados worth) and you are done!  I put in a spoon full of salsa fresca for color and flavor but you are getting dangerous with the purity of what is guacamole if you push that too far! 

salsa fresca?  diced tomatoes green onions and garlic. Toss ti with a healthy squeeze of lime juice an a hearty pinch of salt and pepper . . .done and done! 

out of the oven I was so excited that I burned my mouth as I tried to eat one of the sweet potato taquitos right away ( did I mention this was the first time I made taquitos?).  So let them cool but dont let them get cold, these baddies are best eaten hot and often!  I am happy to say that none of the 30 taquitos I made were left at the end of dinner.  

Taco Bar!

Taquito Bliss! served with a cabbage salad that Ashley made that has an amazing creamy tahini grapefruit vinaigrette to go with it.  

Re-fried Beans and Spanish Rice

     When you have had a week like I just had you hardly want to get out of bed let alone cook a meal for your house.  It is times like these it is really handy to have a few 'boil' recipes, things where the main step is just boiling, not a lot of chopping or sauteing or mixing . . .just boil.  Of course it should still be tasty and well balanced but hey sometimes the best I can do is not as balanced as I would like.

    My 'go-to' boil recipe is re-fried beans and cheater Spanish rice.

Re-fried Beans

5 C dry pinto beans

2 Tbs garlic powder

2 Tbs spike (powdered vegetable stock)

1 Tbs salt

1 Tbs cumin

5 Tbs oil

You dont have to soak the beans before hand but it helps, a lot.  These beans soaked for close to 5 hrs before I started cooking them in a pressure cooker.  I know a lot of people are frightened of pressure cookers or were not at one point but then had one 'explode'.  I was worried the first time I used a pressure cooker because I heard the 'explode' stories and was like 'woah what do you mean?'  turns out you have to be pretty careless to have a pressure cooker get out of control and even when ti does it mostly sprays hot water around and is not dangerous unless you are in the way.  The point is a well monitored pressure cooker will never get out of hand.  The science behind a pressure cooker can be understood from the phase diagram of water. Arc AC is the boil line for water and the normal boiling point (nbp) occurs at 100 C.  By increasing the pressure above one atmosphere (using a tight lid) the water temperature follows along the curve and the water temperature increases above what is normally considered the  maximum temperature of water.  This decreases cooking time for beans and grains and all kinds of vegetables . .. really you can cook anything in a pressure cooker. . .but I like to poke at things so I typically only do beans.  

For re-fried beans we want to over cook them.  The soaked beans go into the pressure cooker with enough water to cover the beans (if you did not soak the beans make sure it is nearly double the water because beans soak up a lot of water).  clamp down the lid and put the heat on high!  When the pressure builds up the pressure cooker will start to whistle, that is a good thing.  We want the pressure cooker to be right at that pressure where it can barely push the valve open (not the safety valve the regulator valve which is usually just a weight on top).   Turn down the heat and just let the thing simmer along for an hour plus . . . remember we want the beans over cooked so dont watch the clock too closely, but do pay attention if your pot stops hissing turn the temp up just a bit.  

While the beans cook the rice gets started and gives about 45 minutes of down time in meal prep.  Usually this is where I would make something else but today I just hid under the blankets until it was time to check on the rice and beans.

More than half the time I open the pressure cooker early and have to heat things back up. . . since this is a problem I have I dont like to wait for the thing to cool down so I can open it (safety mechanism) so I put the whole pot in the sink and run cool water over it until I hear that hiss click of the drop in pressure releasing the lock.  This time I was lazy enough and the beans were all tender and mushy PERFECT! I dump off about half the water that is still in the pot (you could do all but then you need more oil).

When I first learned about making re-fried beans I was told 'use a lot of salt and a lot of oil . . .dont be scared of it just use it'  and it is true!  A high fat content in your re-fried beans will help create a smooth and creamy texture that is awesome but I dont enjoy an excess of oil so I use some water to get the consistency I like.  These days instead of going with salt only  I use powdered vegetable bouillon which adds a salty sensation and a nice flavor.  Toss in all the spices (I am sure you can use fresh garlic but again for the right texture I go with powders) the oil and with the water you saved just mash them!  You can use a mixer or any other device but my favorite is the hand masher.   I dont know maybe I am old fashioned or maybe I like to feel like I have to labor for my food but it is what I like.

Taste them, add more spices as you like (cayenne is a good one but feel free to get creative and play with flavors like cinnamon and chipotle).  Serve hot and with a tortilla and rice.  

Spanish Rice

3 C short grain brown rice

6 C water

1 Tbs garlic powder

2 Tbs paprika

2 tsp spike

1 tsp salt

2 Tbs hot sauce (tapatio) 

This is my lazy version of Spanish rice, normally i would use tomatoes and fresh peppers and sauteed onions  . ..nah not today.  We got the paprika for color the garlic and vegetable stock powder for flavor and the Tapatilo for a little kick.  

Toss everything in bring it to a boil.  Cover with a well fitting lid and reduce the heat to a simmer for 45 minutes.

Yeah that is it. . .though there is one catch.  I always find that tossing in the extra spices and hot sauce before the rice is cooked rather than using ti like a dressing after or treating the process more like a risotto leaves my cook time a little off.  We want to make sure all of the water naturally boils off leaving a red sauce behind without burning the dish or leaving the rice under cooked.  At the 45 min mark I check the rice and since it is tasty and soft on top I leave the lid off while the rest of the water steams off.

Using a wooden spoon I will carefully move rice at one edge aside to make sure all of the liquid is gone. . . you dont want to go just mixing the rice all around or you will get more starch into the water and your whole dish will come out more mushy and kinda soggy instead of light and almost fluffy with a sauce.    Once the water is gone then you can toss the rice and let the excess steam out, just remember be patient, dont go fluffing your rice before it is time or it will not fluff.  As long as you dont smell burning it can sit at a low temp slowly cooking out the water . . .but once it gets close to done keep an eye on it because even a little bit of burn will toss off the taste.  

To round out the meal we made a cabbage salad and served it all with a warm tortilla.  Considering I spent 45 minutes of my 2 hrs cooking under a blanket in the corner I am pretty pleased with the meal!