Enchilada pie and congratulations...

This post is for enchilada pie and a congratulations to my daughter! This recipe was originally a Veganomicon recipe. It was the potato and kale enchiladas. Dahlia didn't like the idea of potato and kale. I didn't like rolling enchiladas. So, they turned into black bean and corn enchilada pie. Dahlia is quite talented when it comes to food. I am hoping to get some of her bread recipes up here because, they are amazing! I made this enchilada pie the other day.
Dahlia is a really great cook. We have been cooking together since she was very young. She makes some really great and unusual breads. Like a brown sugar and beer bread, feather bread, I love it when Dahlia is around because, I get to eat all kinds of fresh bread!
Dahlia has really helped me out a lot when it comes to this blog and my shop on etsy because, she is really great at computers. She is very smart and creative, she also has a lot of common sense. She is great at 3 dimensional art from sculptures to building sets, knits, crochets, can make all kinds of things out of rope and string.I really feel like I lucked out in many ways. She can even use power tools and prevented me from cutting my own leg off with the hedge clippers. Dahlia did not skip school, she got pretty good grades. Didn't really get in too much trouble as far as I know. As you know if you have been reading this blog she is now in college hopefully having a great time. So, I just wanted to say to her. Congratulations and thank you! for all your help! Plus, share this recipe...

Sauce...
2 TBSP grape seed olive oil
1 onion, cut into small dice
3 large green chiles, chopped coarsely
2-3 tsp chile powder , preferably ancho
1 1/2 tsp chile powder, preferably ancho
1 tea spoon marjoram or Mexican oregano
1 (28-oz) can diced tomatoes with juice (roasted are preferred)
1 teaspoon sugar
1 1/2-2 teaspoons salt

Filling...
1 lb black beans
1/2 pound sweet corn
3 TBSP grape seed or olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tea spoon ground cumin
1/4 cup vegetable broth or water
3 TBSP lime juice
1 1/2 tea spoon salt or to taste
12-14 corn tortillas

More toppings you can use...
vegan motzorella
toffuti cream cheese
tofu crumbled
vegan sausage

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Get a shallow cassarole dish.
Enchilada sauce...
1. Saute onions in oil until softened. Add the rest  of the sauce ingredients and bring to a simmer.
2. Remove from heat.
3. Allow to cool and adjust seasonings.
Filling... 
1. Saute garlic in oil.
2. Add beans and mash them a little.
3. Add lime juice and veggie broth.
4. Add corn and seasonings.

Assemble...

1. Layer a little sauce on the bottom of a 9 by 11 and a 1/2 inch pan.
2. Layer some tortillas.
3. Add some filling then tofu cheese or whatever...
4. Then add more sauce and tortillas. Keep repeating this...

* I try to make sure my top layer is tortillas sauce and then cheese or tofu if you use it.

Best cream soup ever...

All decorated for spring! Hope you like it! Okay, this soup was basically an accident. I just made soup out of what was lying around my kitchen. A collection of strange ingredients. You would not think olives and ginger would go together but, some how they do/did!
Ingredients

1 red potato
1 can canalleni beans
4 green onions
5 stalk celery
5 clove garlic
Salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 inch fresh Ginger grated or minced
Maybe about a TBSP of dill
5 black olives or might have been calamata
2 TBSP of margarine
About 1/2 a gallon of almond milk

Directions
1 make roux with margarine, sauté celery, garlic, ginger, olives and potatoes.
2 salt and pepper.
3 Add almond milk and dill.
4 Simmer about 20-25 minutes, then add green onions and simmer a little longer, about 5 minutes.

Looks like candy, because it is candy!

Okay, I am about posted out and am going to watch Project Runway soon. This is a picture of candied blood oranges that my very talented daughter made over Christmas. I think it was Christmas, or Thanks giving. Basically, you cook them in simple syrup about 15 minutes. Then dry and coat with sugar. After that you cover them in chocolate. It takes a long time for them to dry and turn into candy. This recipe is kind of rough. I am going to have to look it up or consult my daughter. Looking it up didn't work. Can't find it!!! I really like the picture and the oranges so, I wanted to share them with people. Official recipe pending...

Brownie cake...

I don't know about you but, I have eaten some foods that I am a little embarrassed about. Some of these I ate before I was vegan and some after. You would be surprised by some of the things that are vegan. I try to be sort of healthier now in that I avoid preservatives and weird ingredients that I don't understand or don't sound like food. But, I will admit there are some things I miss.
One of the things I really miss from before I was vegan is the giant brownie, fudge and vanilla ice cream creation at Big Boy.
Well for any one else who might feel the same way I have really good news! Well, if you live in or near Royal Oak that is.
I went to eat at Inn Season the other might and they have a warm brownie and chocolate sauce creation of their own that can be ordered vegan or vegetarian and as far as I know contains no weird ingredients.Yay!
The opera cakes was great as well, unless you don't like a lot of frosting.

The first cook book I bought myself...

Vegan with a Vengeance

This is the first cook book I bought myself. My daughter and I love to look at cook books and love to cook. In fact food has been a way for us to connect during some difficult times.We both love this one and are big fans of both Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. Dahlia is a addicted to vegan pizza. In fact before she moved out this summer we had vegan pizza for maybe more then a week straight. I think she was stocking up.The recipe we use for the crust is in this book. Also the macadamia nut blondies have turned into several different really good bars. Two of which are posted on this blog. My absolute favorite in this one is the chile con carne with mole.

Vegan vegetable soup with beets...

This soup is the result of another community farm share. I basically cut up the entire share put it in a pot with salt, pepper and cooked it with some noodles I made.. It came out pretty good so, I thought I might share it. I love beets the taste and the color. I put the noodles in thinking they would turn pink which they did but not as pink as I thought they would. Oh well. I would suggest making the noodle dough first and then making the rest of the soup while it is resting. Here is the soup...

4 small red beets and their greens
1/2 a head of cabbage
1 green pepper
A handful of green beans
1 entire white onion
1 large carrot
3 stalks celery
1 vegetable bullion cube
Salt and pepper to taste
Water to cover and then some

1. Bring water to boil with with bullion cube reduce to simmer.
2. Peel and wash beets cut into cubes and add to water.
3. Wash beet greens, cut into strips, add to soup. Don't use stems.
4. Dice white onion and green pepper, add to soup.
5. Slice celery very thin add to soup.
6. Cut carrot into small rounds add to soup.
7. Cut cabbage in half, cut out core, cut into quarters and cut quarters into strips, add to soup.
8. Throw in handful of frozen green beans.
9. Salt and pepper to taste.

The noodles...

1 cup semolina flour
1/4 cup flour
3/4 cup water

Okay, I didn't write this one down but, I think that is right. I suggest adding your water a little bit at a time though. 

1. Stir semolina flour and all purpose flour together,
2. Add water little by little until it comes together but is not sticky.
3. Knead about 10 minutes until smooth.
4. Rest about 15 minutes under damp towel.
5. Okay, I cheated I didn't roll these out, I sliced thin slices off of the whole ball and then slice them into little strips. Probably the result would have been better if they were rolled out. These are something between a dumpling and a noodle. If you slice them off like I did or roll them out which would be better they should be very thin. Also I did not use the whole dough I used about 3 quarters of it.
6. Bring the soup to a boil again and sprinkle noodles in it, reduce to simmer. Then simmer about 10 more minutes.

Vegan Caterpillar and Kitchen sink curry

This meal I am calling caterpillar and kitchen sink curry.  This one originated because my mom accidentally left her share from a community farm in my refrigerator. I found it thinking she had left it for me. When I asked her about it she was embarrassed and refused to take it back. Anyway, I decided to make curry out of it and share it with her. 
The caterpillar aspect of this meal comes from the fact that unfortunately Grandma's vegetables came with (as far as I could see) a single caterpillar. My daughter refused to eat any of it even though the caterpillar never made it into the curry but was actually found alone on a plate where some vegetables had been. Of course everything was washed and inspected.

The kitchen sink part comes from the idea that if you have a lot of vegetables lying around you can  make curry out of them very easily.  As in I put everything in except the kitchen sink...
  The spice measurements are rough estimates because my daughter was in charge of putting in the seasoning and did not use measuring spoons.  Also I had to use dry garlic and ginger because I was out of the fresh variety but it is definitely better to use fresh so that is how I wrote it. If I were to make it again I would definitely like to add some cauliflower and  maybe some red hot pepper flakes. As is this recipe is not very spicy. This recipe is really more of a jumping off point for using your own large quantities of vegetables.  You could use what ever vegetables you have lying around and adjust the seasonings accordingly.

Olive oil
4 tomatoes diced, peeled and with seeds removed
3 stalks celery diced very fine
1/2 head cabbage cut into strips
1 onion diced very fine
1 jalapeno diced very fine
1 green pepper diced
1 red pepper diced
1 diced and peeled potato
2 small zucchini diced
1-1/2 cup vegetable broth
2 TBSP flour
2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp cumin
tiny dash of all spice
1 tsp coriander
3 cloves garlic
3 tsp fresh ginger

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and drop the tomatoes in for just a few seconds. Allow to cool. When you can handle them peel the skins off, take the seeds out and dice them and set them aside.
2. Heat olive oil in large skillet add onion, garlic and ginger saute on low heat until it starts to brown.
    If you use dry ginger and garlic don't add it now add it with the rest of the spices later.
3. Add the rest of the vegetables except the tomatoes.  Saute until they start to get soft.
4. Add the seasonings and saute briefly.
5. Add the flour, stir, then add the vegetable broth and the tomatoes.
6. Simmer for about 20 minutes until vegetables have reached desired tenderness.
7. Adjust seasonings and serve over rice.

Should I not tell people this caterpillar story?  I am pretty sure there were none in our curry but my daughter ate a hot dog instead. For anyone who has been keeping track the photos for lentil sloppy Joe's and east meets west baked potato fusion can not get from my camera to my computer without special software. I took them while the camera was in demonstration mode and the memory card was not in it. Those recipes are on the way as soon as I make them again. Sorry!

Vegan waffle pizza

Okay, I got my daughter a waffle maker for Christmas and she loves it.  In fact I probably shouldn't tell people this but, we went on a waffle eating binge that may have lasted about a month.  We have discovered that waffles are a great way to use left overs.  We have even eaten waffles with mushroom stroganoff on them.  One of our many waffle creations was pizza waffles.  That is what we had for dinner tonight.  This pizza waffle has left over pizza sauce, left over ricotta and vegan mozzorella cheese on it.  The recipe is as follows...

Vegan Waffles

2cups flour
1 TBSP baking powder
1 TBSP egg replacer
2 TBSP sugar
1 tsp salt
2 cups water
6 TBSP oil

1. Combine dry ingredients.
2. Make a well and add water and oil.
3. Whisk together, then let it sit for 5 minutes.
4. Cook in waffle iron on low setting.

Pizza Sauce

1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 can tomato paste
2-3 cloves garlic
basil, oregano, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes
 1 TBSP olive oil

1. Saute garlic in olive oil.
2. Add tomatoes and tomato paste
3. Add other seasonings and simmer about 20 minutes, I like everything spicy so I add red pepper flakes to my sauce.

The ricotta is the same ricotta as was in the megarolis recipe previously.
To assemble coat waffle with sauce and the toppings of your choice and bake at 400 for about 6-7 minutes.  Okay, not the classiest of meals but it's good really!  When making pizza on pizza crust instead of waffles I use the pizza crust in Vegan with a Vengeance.

Vegan Megaroli, Over sized ravioli made from scratch...

 Vegan megarolis are over-sized raviolis we made from scratch filled with tofu ricotta cheese, toasted walnuts, and spinach topped with a cream sauce of almond milk, fresh tomatoes, and white wine.  We sprinkled them with parmesan and had asparagus sauteed in olive oil and orange juice on the side.  We made this a few days ago and I did not write it all down so these are kind of ball park figures. The ricotta recipe is based on the tofu ricotta recipe in the Veganomicon.  The recipe is as follows...

The Pasta

1 cup Semolina flour
1 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp salt
2 TBSP olive oil
3/4 cup water

1. Combine dry ingredients in bowl, then empty on to clean surface and make a well.
2. Pour water and olive oil into well.
3. Combine and knead dry and wet ingredients until smooth and a little elastic.  You may have to add a little more flour or water so that it is not to dry or to wet.
4. Let rest beneath damp cloth for at least a 1/2 an hour.

The Filling

1 package of tofu
3 TBSP olive oil
1 TBSP Basil
1-2 tsp sugar
2 TBSP brewers yeast
Squeeze of lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste
1 bunch wilted spinach
1/4 cup toasted walnuts chopped

1. Toast walnuts, then pulse in food processor a few times.
2. Wilt spinach in hot water, cool and ring it out.

3. Drain tofu, then mash it in a bowl.
4. Combine tofu, oil, basil, sugar, yeast, and lemon well, but also still a little chunky.
5. Fold in walnuts and spinach gently.  Adjust seasonings add salt and pepper.

Making raviolis is easiest with a pasta maker but my daughter actually rolled these out by hand because we thought most people don't have a pasta maker and we wanted to see how they would come out.  Cut the dough into about 6 pieces and shape each piece into a rectangle.  Roll them out as thin as you can aiming for a little thinner then 1 16th of inch.  Place several  piles of filling on one 1/2 of the rectangle.  Make a slurry with flour and water and coat the area between fillings. Fold your rectangle over.  Press seams together.  Cut them with a knife or pizza cutter.


The Sauce

3 TBSP olive oil
3 TBSP flour
1 cup of almond milk
2 fresh tomatoes diced
2-3 cloves garlic
1/4 cup white wine
salt and pepper to taste

*  It is best to have all the ingredients ready for this so that you can throw them all in really fast.

1. Saute  mashed garlic in olive oil briefly
2. Add flour and stir until smooth.
3. Pour in almond milk while stirring constantly.
4. Add white wine and salt and pepper.
5. Add tomatoes and reduce briefly until thick enough to cling to pasta.

For Asparagus

1. Slice asparagus into 3 inch long pieces at an angle.
2. Get olive oil hot in pan.
3. Add asparagus salt and pepper.
4. Saute briefly until just getting bright green.
5. Splash with orange juice and saute until it is not juice but more a coating on  the asparagus.


For the parmesan I just pulsed some left over baguette with a handful of toasted walnuts and brewers yeast.

To assemble boil raviolis for 10 to 12 minutes, drain, cover with sauce and parmesan and serve with asparagus on the side.  You can freeze any left over ravioli and I had the sauce on bow ties the next day.