Pages

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Cashew Queso Tacos with Refried Adzuki Beans and Kale Slaw

All of these recipes come together into one perfect taco. And a colorful, photogenic one at that, which is why it's so sad that I didn't capture a photo. As usual, I was too hungry to wait another moment and the food was hot!

Cashew Queso: I love this recipe and Isa even more than I already did for creating it. It's perfect, even when I used water instead of veg broth and left out the jalapeno and red bell pepper.
Refried Adzuki Beans: Saute diced onion and minced garlic in olive oil. Add 1.5 cups cooked adzuki beans. Roughly puree mixture using a hand blender (or a potato masher), adding water until desired consistency is reached. Add salt, cumin, ground chipotle and lime juice to taste.
Kale Slaw: Cut 1/2 bunch kale chiffonade-style (long thin strips). Toss with lemon juice, olive oil and a sprinkle of salt and pepper.
Homemade Tortillas: The key here is to roll them out as thinly as possible.

Tortilla, queso, beans, kale. Eat!

Yield: about 6 tacos

Saturday, March 2, 2013

Easiest Tomato Soup & Soft Polenta

This meal will seriously take you 20 minutes tops to make and only requires a handful of ingredients. I wish I'd gotten a picture, the polenta looks so purty* spooned onto the red soup. Serve with a protein to round out the meal. Some ideas:

  • stir in cashew cream into the soup (1:1 ratio of cashews and water).
  • marinated and baked tofu
  • marinated and baked tempeh
  • add a 15 oz. can of beans (drained and rinsed) or about 1 1/2 cups cooked beans to the soup.
  • simmer 3/4 cup red lentils in the soup until they are tender and start to fall apart -- they'll pretty much blend in with the soup while adding great texture (this should take about 30 minutes).
  • sprinkle walnut gremolata on top of the soup.

tomato soup:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, finely diced (optional; I didn't add this and it still tasted great)
1-2 garlic cloves, minced
28 oz. crushed tomatoes (fire-roasted is my favorite)
salt and pepper, to taste
1 1/2 cups stock or water

Saute garlic in olive oil for just until fragrant. Add tomatoes, salt, pepper and stock or water. Simmer for 15-20 minutes, or until polenta is done.

soft polenta: (recipe from here)

3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 1/4 cups water
large pinch sea salt
1/2 cup polenta (also called coarse cornmeal)

Bring 2 tablespoons olive oil, water and sea salt to a boil. Reduce heat to low and add polenta. Stir frequently with a rubber spatula (or whisk) for 15-20 minutes, until it reaches a thick porridge-like consistency. Stir in final tablespoon of olive oil. Serve over soup.

Yield: 2 servings

*Purty is an example of metathesis, a linguistic process in which two adjacent sounds are reversed in order. Metathesis of r and a vowel is common, since the phonetic properties of r are so vowel-like. Apparently third and bird used to be thrid and brid. I know I'm a nerd, but this is really interesting to me.