Potato & Kale Enchiladas-I'm Impressed

I recently bought the cookbook Veganomicon after flipping through it and seeing some pretty tasty looking recipes. This is the first recipe I made from this book, and I have to say, they were flippin' delicious. I could eat them everyday. Filling and satisfying and pretty fun to make. They will go on the regulars list. I tweaked the recipe slightly and have provided a couple of short cuts. They were fabulous reheated as well.

Potato & Kale Enchiladas with Roasted Chile Sauce (serves 4-6)

Enchilada Chile Sauce:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, diced
3 large green chilis, roasted, peeled, seeded and chopped coarsely
2 – 3 teaspoons chili powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon marjoram or Mexican oregano
1 can diced tomatoes with juice
1 teaspoon sugar
1 1/2 – 2 teaspoons salt
*Shortcut: Rick Bayless to the rescue! Frontera makes a vegan enchilada sauce that is very tasty. Skip making the sauce and use that as a time saver.
Potato and Kale Filling:
1 pound waxy potatoes (I used red skinned potatoes and did not peel them)
1/2 pound kale washed, trimmed and chopped finely
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
3 tablespoons olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 cup vegetable broth or water
3 tablespoons lime juice
1/4 cup toasted pepitas
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 – 14 corn tortillas

Preheat the oven to 375F and have ready a shallow casserole dish. Prepare the enchilada sauce first: In a large, heavy bottomed saucepan over medium heat, saute the onions in oil for 4 to 7 minutes, until softened. Add the remaining sauce ingredients, bring to a simmer and remove from the heat. Puree with a blender until the mixture is smooth and even. Prepare the filling: Peel (I didn't) and dice the potatoes, then boil them until tender. Drain and set aside. Cook the oil and minced garlic over low-medium heat, stirring occasionally until the garlic is slightly browned. Add the kale, sprinkle with salt and raise the heat to medium stirring constantly to cover the kale with oil and garlic. Partially cover the pot to steam the kale until it has wilted – 4 to 6 minutes. Remove the lid and mix in the potatoes, beans, vegetable stock, lime juice, pumpkin seeds and salt. Use the back of a wooden spoon to mash some of the potatoes. Cook for another 3 – 4 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Ladle a small amount of the enchilada sauce into the bottom of the casserole dish. Heat the stack of corn tortillas, wrapped in a wet paper towel for 20 seconds in the microwave. Dip the tortilla in the enchilada sauce so that it is covered in the sauce.Place the soaked tortilla on a plate and place some potato mixture inside. Roll it up and put it in the casserole dish. Repeat with each of the enchiladas until you have lined them all up in the dish. Cover with enchilada sauce (saving some for topping) and cover with foil, place the casserole dish in the oven and bake for 25 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for a further 10 minutes. Top individual servings with the remainder of the enchilada sauce once cooked.
We also served with shredded lettuce, chopped tomato, and mashed avocado.

Not the prettiest thing to photograph...but you get the point.

Easy Peasy: Spaghetti Squash

I saw the first hints of Fall at the Farmers' Market this past weekend and my heart skipped a beat. I love this time of year. I love the cooler weather, the crunchy leaves, the smells, and the food. This is the time of year I feel lucky to live in North Carolina. I was so excited to see apples and winter squash especially. Winter squashes are wonderful to cook, but the size and hard exterior tend to turn some away. Knowing the basic principles of how to cook these puppies is key, so I plan on showing simple ways to cook winter squashes throughout the rest of the year. I'm starting with my favorite-spaghetti squash. I consider spaghetti squash to be a culinary wonder-a squash that tastes like a vegetable with a hint of sweetness with the texture of an angel hair pasta noodle. My husband had never had them before and he loved it! I roasted them and seasoned afterwards to use as a side, but turn it into the star attraction by treating it like it is a pasta! Top with your favorite sauce!

Simple Roasted Spaghetti Squash (serves 4)
2 medium sized spaghetti squash
1/4 cup olive oil
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped

A little size reference for you

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Using a large knife, cut the squash in half lengthwise.
 Tip: if you are having difficulty, get the knife at least in the squash and pick up the handle of the knife with the squash in it, and slam it down on your cutting board...barbaric, but effective.

Scoop out the seeds with a spoon and discard. Brush or rub the inside with olive oil and season with salt, pepper, and thyme. Lay cut side down on a baking sheet and cook for 45-50 minutes. Allow to cool slightly.

Using a fork, start on one of the outside edges and scrape to the other side. Do this gently to keep strands in tact instead of it turning to mush.

I prop the hot squash half in a bowl to scrape.

Now comes the fun part-be creative. My favorite is to toss in a little butter, a drizzle of honey, and a touch of a specialty oil. Truffle oil is amazing, but walnut oil is delicious as well. If I use it as a base for pasta, I will just add a little olive oil and top with the sauce. Spaghetti squash also lends itself nicely to warm spices like curry.

It's that easy!

Bacon Maple Herb Pork Loin

I made this as a special request from my little brother. I made a plain bacon wrapped pork tenderloin once before and you would have thought I invented sliced bread. This time I jazzed it up a little for when my mom and brother came over for dinner. Easy to make and looks impressive. This time I used a slightly cheaper cut-pork loin.

Bacon Maple Herb Pork Loin (serves 4)
2 lbs pork loin roast
4-6 slices of bacon
2 cloves garlic, minced
1T dried Italian herb blend
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/4c pure maple syrup

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees as well as a large skillet over medium high heat. Rub all sides of the pork loin with the herbs and garlic. Season with salt and pepper and allow to sit for one hour. Depending on the length of your pork loin, lay strips of bacon out on a cutting board to measure end to end.

Pick up one end of the bacon and hold it to the pork loin. Roll the pork loin and the bacon will wrap around it. 

Season the outside with additional pepper and dried herbs. Laying the bacon seam side down, sear the pork loin in the large skillet. Cook for 4 minutes and roll to the side and cook for another 3 minutes. Continue to roll the poin loin until all sides are browned. Place on a rack on a baking sheet (just a baking sheet is fine), brush with maple syrup and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until the internal temperature reaches 145 degrees. (165 for those of you who freak out over slightly pink pork), lightly brushing with the maple syrup every 10 minutes. Allow to rest for 5 minutes and slice to serve.

Haitian Red Beans and Rice

Such a bad blogger...I have learned acceptance over the past couple of months (not an easy lesson to learn) while dealing with way too much bullshit in our life, but I am feeling better now, so here we go!

I have had the fortune of visiting the wonderful country of Haiti twice in my life. Words cannot begin to describe the experience I had, the things I learned, and still carry with me until this day. Learning about another culture, true poverty, but also finding joy in what you have and celebrate at sixteen is something I am eternally grateful for. I also was a somewhat picky eater before going to Haiti, but with access to only what you are given and realizing that was a lot more than what others had, changed my tune, and I found to like a lot more flavors than I thought I did. For breakfast we would typically have fresh pineapple (the best pineapple you could ever imagine) and pastries donning back to the French occupation of the island. Amazing pastries. Lunch is not typically eaten, so we fended for ourselves-mainly snacking on meat pies from street vendors (very Bourdain), or baguettes with cheese. Dinner was a different animal entirely (literally). Spicy goat stew, soups, chicken (that I swore I saw that morning pecking around outside), and a staple item- red beans and rice. Flavors, flavors, flavors, out of simple ingredients, a cooking philosophy that I adopted when I began culinary school. Lavender Scented Blueberry Biscuits with Lemon Chantilly Creme, no thanks.

Haitian Red Beans and Rice (serves 4-6)
1/4c butter
1 onion, finely chopped
1 bell pepper, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2c tomato sauce
2c kidney beans, cooked*
1t dried thyme
2t dried oregano
1 bay leaf
1c white rice
1 3/4c water
1 scotch bonnet pepper**

*You can used can, I recommend no salt added. If you use dried, soak 3/4c dried beans overnight (they will expand!), drain, add to a pot and cover with water. Simmer for 1-1/2 hours, drain and add to your recipe.
**Scotch Bonnets are spicy. You can use a habanero as a substitution. Depending on how spicy you want it, remove the seeds and ribs. If you want something milder, use a chipotle or jalapeno. You can mince the pepper for a spicier rice, or leave it whole and remove during the cooking process when you have reached your spice level.

Heat butter in a large pot over medium high heat. Add the onion and bell pepper. Saute until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Add tomato sauce, beans, dried herbs, and scotch bonnet. Simmer 5-10 minutes. Stir in the rice and water. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low. Cover and cook for 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit for 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork and serve.

Eight Ball Zucchini with Chickpea Quinoa Stuffing

As if I needed an excuse to make chickpeas (in case you can't tell by now, I am obsessed) I came up with a chickpea quinoa dish for me to have for lunches and as a side for dinner. I love quinoa as well-gluten free and a complete protein, meaning it has all nine essential amino acids. For example, if you are eating beans for protein, you are not getting a complete protein, which is why beans and brown rice together is a classic combo-the two combined add up to be a complete protein. With quinoa, you get the complete protein with out having anything else. And it being a plant based protein is better for you than an animal based protein. Yes, it is a plant...not a grain

While checking out the produce, I came across these little guys again and remembered how much fun I had with them last year stuffing them with a tomato sauce, ground meat, spices, and rice. I stuffed these cuties with my chickpea/quinoa concoction and it turned out delicious and filling.

Eight Ball Zucchini-cute huh?

If you cannot find these at your grocery store or farmer's market, regular zucchini will do the trick-you will just have leftover stuffing (I'll show you what to do with that as well)

Eight Ball Zucchini with Chickpea Quinoa Stuffing (serves 3)

3 eight ball (round) zucchini
1/2c quinoa
1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 onion, small dice
2T olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2t ground cumin
1/2t curry powder
pinch of red pepper flakes
1/2c almonds or cashews, chopped
Salt and Pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cook quinoa as directed. (Tip: 2 parts water or stock to 1 part grain) Cut the tops of the zucchini and scoop out the flesh. Chop into a small dice and set to the side. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium high heat. Add the onion and cook for 3 minutes, or until soft. Add the garlic, zucchini, and garbanzo beans. Cook for 2 minutes. Add the cooked quinoa, cumin, curry, and red pepper flake. Stir to combine. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add chopped nuts. At this point I can stand over the stove with a spoon and eat the stuffing.

Spoon the stuffing into the zucchini and put on a baking pan. Drizzle the top lightly with olive oil and bake for 30 minutes.

I served this as a side at dinner with a grilled pork chop. Would also go nicely with grilled chicken or eaten on it's own.

Leftover Stuffing and Quick Lunch

In your Tupperware container, add 2-3 handfuls of fresh, uncooked baby spinach. Top with your leftover stuffing and refrigerate. The next day, microwave your lunch for 1-2 minutes or until hot. You now have the hot stuffing over perfectly cooked fresh spinach....and it is amazing (and very healthy!)

Pre-microwaved goodness