Chickpea salad

I saw this recipe for chickpea salad on g+ about three weeks ago and since then I have made this salad three times. We like it that much. It is a similar to chicken salad and/or tuna salad but so much tastier and healthier. 

I have modified it a bit to suit our tastes. I don't ever use canned beans, I soak my own. I doubled the amount of celery as I love the crunch celery adds in these types of salads. I minced my carrots (I loathe shredded carrots), and I added capers and vegetarian fish sauce for color and flavor. The first time I made it, I followed the smashing instructions in the original recipe, that took a long time, now I just pulse it in a food processor which keeps it chunky and only takes about 5 seconds to do.

I sneak a spoonful of this salad every time I open the refrigerator if it is there, otherwise we eat it in a sandwich, on crackers, on lettuce, and I even put some in a veggie dog. 

carrots, celery, green onions, tofu, chickpeas, mayo, lemon, pickles, salt, and pepper

soak beans overnight if not longer

cook for an hour or so with salt until done

add beans, tofu, pickles, and mayo to food processor (you can add capers here instead)

blended, but still chunky

mince celery, carrots, and green onion

add mix and vegetables to a bowl and stir in lemon juice and veggie fish sauce

season to taste - more salt and some spicy

decide it needs some capers

enjoy on crackers, sandwiches

I already need to make more!

Pumpkin carrot soup

I made this soup because I had a rather large pumpkin to cook (the last from our garden) and I accidentally froze a whole bag of carrots in our garage. It came out much better than I expected, so much better that it will be made again, soon.

cooked pumpkin, carrots, onions, garlic, oil, salt, pepper, and spices

de-flesh your cooked pumpkin

cut your carrots and onions and saute in oil till onions are softened

add garlic, and spices (here cumin and garam masala) and cook till fragrant

then add pumpkin and salt

for a liquid I used a can of coconut cream

and a can of water, let simmer for a long while

then grate in some ginger

blend well and season more to taste (here pepper)

serve with some fresh cilantro and some crunchy toppings

It is really yummy!

Black bean soup

I have a love hate relationship with black beans. Mostly I don't like them. They tend to be bland and boring, so unless they are hiding in a burrito under a boatload of salsa I won't order them. However, I do like them when I make them. My secret is to cook the beans with a whole chipotle en adobo from start to finish, this makes them super yummy. I also rinse them before and after cooking to keep the recipe from becoming too murky from the color coming off the beans.

As with all my beans I pre-soak them overnight to 'activate' the nutrients. I tried soaking beans to almost sprouting before, but they ended up tasting too vegetal, overnight works just fine.  For the soup I wanted it to simmer in the crock pot all day since we were going to be out. If you want to cook it on the stovetop you don't have to worry as much about cooking the beans through as they can cook in the soup, but if you are using a crockpot your beans need to be fully cooked, they won't cook through in a crockpot.
 

beans, onion, carrots, garlic, salt, pepper, cumin, oil, jalapeno, and the chipotle

soak the beans overnight in salted water w/the chipotle pepper

drain and rinse

simmer beans and chipotle until cooked through

drain and rinse again

chop onion and carrots, and mince garlic and jalapeno

add to crock pot with oil

add beans w/chipotle, cumin, and water to cover, (I decided to add two of my tomato yum cubes)

let cook all day

before serving blend to desired consistency removing the chipotle first, I like mine chunky

now taste, I needed more salt and a little acid so I used vinegar

fry up some tortilla strips

and serve with hot sauce and sour cream/supreme

Tummy warming goodness!

Mapo tofu

My kids love tofu, I mean love, love, love tofu. I hadn't ever made mapo tofu as it is traditionally prepared with ground beef and yet somehow it is always hiding on the vegetarian menu in chinese restaurants for those not aware of the preparation. Then one day after reading my favorite serious eats writer J. Kenji Alt-Lopez's recipe for mapo tofu, I realized, I make tacos, spaghetti, sloaf, sloppy joes, S.O.S., all with yves meatless ground, why not mapo tofu. I haven't looked back since. This is now a family favorite.

This time I did not have my usual two packages of meatless ground, so I subbed a package of tempeh. It was still good, but it is best with just meatless ground, so I will try to remember to always have two packages. One day I will actually make my own mapo sauce, but for now the House Foods packages are yum, yum, yummy.

tofu, fake meat, onions, celery, carrots, oil, and mapo tofu sauce (tempeh if desired)

drain your tofu (firm organic)

julienne your carrots, mince your celery, chop your onions

saute onions and celery in oil until softened

if you need to use tempeh fry it separately first

stir smeat into onions and celery and cook until browned adding more oil if needed

add carrots

then add sauce and simmer (with the kids we use two mild, one hot, feel free to go all hot)

cube your drained tofu

slowly fold it into simmering sauce (add tempeh also if using)

let simmer until tofu is just warmed through, it should act as a cool balance to the spicy sauce

serve with rice and chili paste

Go tofu!

Green chile

We love making green chile in our crockpot. It is a great recipe for a potluck or for a cold winters night when bellies need warming. It is easy to prep in the morning and have ready after a busy day of fun. The ingredients are all easy to find in the winter if you like me, buy a half bushel of roasted peppers late summer and freeze them in bags for use all year. The rest should be in any larder.

This is based on a dish I used to order when I lived in NYC from a place near my work called Lupe's East L.A. Kitchen. Like most Mexican restaurants in NYC there were just a few things that were good and the rest was typical bad NY Mexican. Their best things were cheese/onion enchiladas with mole and their vegetarian green chile. Here is my rendition of their chile. For this version I decided to add celery on a whim, while good, it made it more vegetable stew-like than the previous times I have made this. Omit the celery unless you really love vegetable stew.

potatoes, carrots, onions, roasted chiles, garlic, cumin, oil, salt, pepper, veggie stock, and maybe celery

chop your onions and carrots

start them in the crockpot on high with oil and cumin
let them cook about 10 minutes

meanwhile peel and seed your chiles

dice the chiles and defrost your veggie stock

peel and chop your potatoes

soak potatoes briefly to remove a layer of starch otherwise the chile is too starchy

once onions start to crisp stir in your garlic and chiles

then add potatoes, salt, pepper, and stock or water to cover

cover and let cook at least five hours

an hour before serving remove some veggies and mash and return to pot - I do two mortars

serve with warm tortillas, sour cream or supreme, onions, cilantro, avocado, more hot sauce

Enjoy!