Enchilada Casserole

Enchilada Casserole
12 corn tortillas
1 can refried beans
1 recipe awesome nacho dip (without the rotel)
1 onion
1 zucchini
1 yellow squash
1 cup corn
3/4 TBSP season salt
1 14.5 oz can enchilada sauce

I made homemade corn tortillas using masa mix and water and my new tortilla press. They were small and thicker than store-bought tortillas. I think store-bought would work, especially with some overlapping, but the thickness of the home-made worked really well to hold up to all the layers.

Make the Awesome Nacho Dip and set aside.

Chop the onion, zucchini and squash into small dice. Saute the onion in a little oil until translucent. Add the zucchini, squash, corn (run under hot water first to thaw a bit if using frozen), and season salt. Saute for about 4-5 minutes.

Start layering:
(I used a small round casserole dish, an 8X8 square pan would work also)
4 corn tortillas on the bottom, 1/2 the can of refried beans, 1/2 of the Awesome Nacho dip, 1/2 of the veggies, 4 more tortillas, 1/2 can enchilada sauce, second half of beans, nacho dip, and veggies. 4 more tortillas and the rest of the enchilada sauce.

Bake in 350 degree oven for 20 minutes. Let cool and then top with shredded lettuce and tomatoes.

We took a little family vacation last week to San Antonio and had a good time. Luckily, the hotel/resort we stayed in had a full kitchen which helped us save money and allowed us to cook up some meals in our room. Nothing special, just some pancakes one morning, some chili dogs another day. I don't know why I'm so surprised that San Antonio doesn't have very many vegan choices in restaurants. I wanted to thank AtXvegan from Eat'n Veg'n Vegan Food and Recipes for her suggestion to go to Green in San Antonio. Even though I was not blown away by the food at Green, it was nice to go somewhere all vegetarian. We tried the Chicken Fried Wheat Meat, the Popcorn Tofu Po-Boy, and the Green Burger (home-made veggie burger). All were okay, but I would probably order something different if I went back. There were parts of each that I really liked--the gravy on the wheat meat was tasty and the buns of both sandwiches. I also really liked the vegan chipolte ranch dressing that came with my side salad. The good thing is there are lots of other choices on the menu, so if I go back again, maybe I will find something I really like!

Funny story (or maybe not so funny): We were walking down the Riverwalk and all the restaurants have their menus outside along the sidewalk so you can see if you want to eat there. So I was looking at one at a tex-mex place just to see what they had.
The host guy asked, "Are you looking for something in particular?"
I said, "Vegetarian options."
He said, "We don't have any."
I couldn't believe he wasn't even willing to try to find something vegetarian on the menu. I wasn't even asking for vegan--I didn't want to blow his mind. Oh well, I thought it was pretty funny.

Cranberry Nut Bread and Suggestions needed

This may possibly be the first thing I've made from The Joy of Vegan Baking. It is the Cranberry Nut Bread. It made a really big loaf and was great for breakfast or snack. Just good all around. I used candied orange in it and it has orange juice and orange and lemon zest, so it was very orange-y. And then the cranberries and Nuts of course--Yum!

On another note, we are going on a little trip this week to San Antonio. Does anyone have any suggestions for Vegan/Vegetarian places to eat while we are there? I actually lived in San Antonio for about 6 months in the late 90's, but I can only remember two places that I used to eat (A Mexican food place off Broadway and Twin Sister's Cafe). Hopefully there are more than that.

Lentil Soup that turned into Potato Soup

I do this a lot. I look through my many cookbooks, just trying to find something to make for dinner that does not require a trip to the grocery store. So the other night I just knew I had a bag of lentils around somewhere so I started making Tomato-Lentil Soup with Brown Rice from The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen. I started sauteing the carrots, leeks, and garlic and then realized after searching everywhere that I had no lentils. The good thing was, I hadn't gotten too far and what I had done was pretty much a good start to any soup. I did have some potatoes, so I found this recipe for Hearty Winter Potato Soup in How It All Vegan. It turned out great. Potato Soup is always a winner.

What was I thinking?

I really missed blogging! I've been making some yummy food that I just felt the need to share with others. So it was either this or make ALL of my Facebook updates about food.
So let's jump right into it....
I made this delicious quiche for a potluck this weekend. It is a polenta base and a vegetable-tofu quiche on top. It is from the Millenium Cookbook. My husband always hates it when I make something I've never tried before for a potluck. I know, it is risky. But when I told him it was a Millenium recipe he was okay with it. And it turned out well. I took it to the potluck about an hour after it was done baking. So it had plenty of time to cool. But really, this dish was even better the next day after it had been in the fridge all night. I need to make Polenta more often and do more with it.This noodle dish is a favorite of mine. Many years ago my friend gave out little cookbooks she put together of her favorite recipes for Christmas. This is a variation of one of them. The official recipe is Sesame Asparagus Noodles (not sure where she got the recipe). Here I just used the sauce and put it over soba noodles and some frozen mixed veggies (you could use whatever fresh veggies you have also). Very quick and easy to put together.

Sesame Noodles

1 package Soba Noodles
1 to 1 1/2 cups frozen mixed veggies
2 Tablespoons sesame oil
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 Tablespoons vegetable stock (or water)
2 Tablespoons dry sherry
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon chile oil*
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tablespoons toasted sesame seeds.

Boil the Soba noodles and veggies together for 5 minutes. Drain and run under cold water to cool it off. Place into serving bowl.
Mix the sauce together: sesame oil to garlic. Pour sauce over noodles and veggies. Toss together adding the toasted sesame seeds.

*I used 1/4 teaspoon of the chile oil and it wasn't too spicy for my 3 year old.

For Memorial Day we couldn't resist cooking out on the grill. We weren't feeling overly inspired so we just did Boca Burgers and corn. My husband was in charge and did a fine job with the burgers. He forgot about the corn though and it burned. I made a little side dish with the veggies I gathered from our garden yesterday. Green Beans, Tomatoes (cherry and yellow pear) and a little Ichiban Eggplant. This dish I actually did in the oven, not on the grill. I roasted them all together with a mixture of vegetable broth, lemon juice, and olive oil. Well, it was supposed to be vegetable broth, but it ended up just being water since I forgot to add the veggie broth paste. I don't think it mattered too much. Almonds and salt and pepper were added about half way through the roasting time, actually the tomatoes too. I'm excited to get even more veggies from our small garden.

short and sweet

I just wanted to jump in to say that I am taking a break from my blog for a while. That is probably obvious since I haven't posted in so long. I'm trying to get my pet sitting business going strong after a break. And my husband is starting his own business. So hopefully, once I get into a groove with all that I can start posting again. I'm definitely still cooking!

Easy Comfort Food

I made this simple Carrot, Spinach and Rice Stew last night for dinner. It is from the New York Times food blog, Bitten. There is a lot of great inspiration over there. I made it to the Farmer's Market yesterday and got a bag of assorted greens: beet greens, arugala, etc. So I used that instead of the spinach. I also used a suggestion from one of the comments which was to add chickpeas. So good. Cooked to the point that the rice was kind of mushy, which I think is what made it such a comfort food for me.

Happy Earth Day!

So far I'm having a really nice Earth Day! I took my boys to Whole Foods where they were having some booths and activities out in front of the store. Olen was shy and didn't feel like participating in the activities, but we shopped a little, got some snacks and played on the playground. I hadn't been to Whole Foods in forever--it just isn't on my way anywhere and is too expensive to do my regular grocery shopping at. But it certainly is a nice treat every once in a while.
Some of the treats we got were freeze dried fruits (Just Fruit Salad), Plantain Chips, cranberries (I'm thinking of making some granola bars with these), and dried green beans(which got a yuck from Olen). Also got some hummus and pita chips, smart dogs, and Earth Balance.

Later this afternoon we have plans to go to the farmers market which sounds like a perfect Earth Day activity to me. Can't wait to get some veggies!

Earlier in the week we did some grilling. Seitan Ribz, potatoes and swiss chard. The swiss chard I cooked inside and the potatoes were similar to the Crash Hot Potatoes. I boiled them until fork tender and then cut them into big chunks and put them onto the grill in a grill pan to get crispy. Very nice sides to go with the Ribz which are a favorite around here.

Also baked some tofu the other day. It is a recipe from the Vegetarian Times Vegetarian Entertaining cookbook. The recipe is Tofu Teriyaki Bites. I made these last week to go in a cold Sesame Noodle dish. This week they never even made them onto a plate. I just kept walking by the stovetop where they were sitting on the baking sheet and eating them off. I had specifically made them to pack in my son's lunch because he liked them the week before with the noodles. Of course he didn't eat them this time.