Last week

There's nothing better than being able to have a soy mocha and a bagel with soy cream cheese and local jelly on the weekend. I feel a little bit pretentious. But there IS a street taco van outside my door. So it makes me feel more...grounded.

Anyway, life has been hectic. Last Sunday I cooked some African Peanut Stew for a friend and finished it for lunch for a few days. Definitely decadant....

African Pineapple Peanut Stew
I made this tonight and it was SO good. My kale was a little wilted, so I'm glad I could use it all up (I froze it, don't ever do that).

African Peanut Stew

1 large onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
1-2 bunches kale (4-8 cups sliced)
1 cup, about 5-6 small red potatoes, quartered
about 2-3 portobello mushrooms, sliced into small chunks.
1 can crushed pineapple in juice
1 can no-salt added diced tomatoes
1 cup crunchy, natural peanut butter
1 tablespoon Tabasco or other hot pepper sauce
I used dried parsley and oregano
salt to taste


Boil the potatoes in a pot, covered with water for about 10 minutes, to get them soft. Drain.

Prepare the kale by washing it and removing the large center stem from each leaf. Stack the leaves on a cutting board and slice them into one-inch thick slices.

In a large, wok sauté the onions for about 6 minutes, stirring frequently, until the onions are lightly browned. Add the garlic, and stir for another minute.

Add the pineapple and tomato and its juice to the onions and bring to a simmer. Add potatoes and mushrooms. Stir in the kale, cover, and simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring a couple of times, until just tender. Mix in the peanut butter, Tabasco, and spices and simmer for 5 minutes. Add salt to taste, (This makes about 4-6 servings).

I want a fun-guy

Okay, so maybe I shouldn't try to make up witty titles. I had 8 oz of chanterelle mushrooms to use up, so I googled what I could do with them. I ended up making:

Chanterelle and fire roasted tomatoes over whole wheat pasta.
Ingredients
8 oz chanterelle mushrooms
1 small onion
20 oz can fire roasted tomatoes
dried basil
dried oregano
dried rosemary
splash of red cooking wine

Cut chanterelles into bite sized pieces. Place in buttered baking dish. Dice one onion over top of mushrooms. Bake covered in 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes.

Add all other ingredients and bake for another 15 minutes.

Serve over whole wheat pasta.

Grilled Tempeh Tacos

I had a friend over on Sunday and we decided to cook and watch a film. We ended up with Vanilla Sky. It would have been cool to have a Vanilla theme, but we didn't. We played a little with Vegan Planet's "Soy Meets Grill" recipe and ended up with Tempeh Tacos with Tomatillo Salsa.

Tempeh:
Boil in enough water to cover tempeh for about 10 minutes.
Coat with spices and grill about 10 minutes.

Spices:
1 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp sweet paprika
1 tsp brown sugar
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cayenne or other red pepper

Grill for about 10 minutes. Also grill a mildly spicy pepper to add to the salsa.

Tomatillo Salsa
3 small tomatillos, broiled in the oven for about 10 minutes until they begin to pop.
3 small red tomatos
1 grilled mild/spicy pepper
cilantro
juice from lime

Cut the tempeh into strips and fold into a tortilla (corn or flour). Top with salsa and enjoy!

We also steamed some beets to have as a side dish! Delicious!

Asian inspired grilling and stir fry

So I decided to try my free George Foreman type grill for the first time (I got it probably 3 years ago). I marinated some tofu, sugar snap peas, mushrooms, and tomatoes in a mixture of soy sauce and mago chili sauce. I put them on the grill for about 20 minutes. I cooked up some spelt and had it all together. It was a real meal! Balanced and everything.

I put the leftovers (minus the tomatoes) in a wok and fried it all up. I added a small zucchini, diced, and a whole bunch of diced pistachios (finally!). I put some ginger and garlic and onion powder in and mixed it all up! I'll take that for lunch. Both incarnations are wonderful. Cherrio!