Fall Flavors: Acorn Squash, Tomatillo and Poblano Pepper Stew

Poblano Pepper, Tomatilla and Acorn Squash Stew
Originally uploaded by jomarb

The days are getting shorter. I need to wear a sweater at least in the morning and evening. My thoughts start turning to warm, soothing stews and warmer spices. I have said before that the nice thing about belonging to my coop is that it reminds me to eat seasonally. This past week's order with its peppers and squashes reminded me of how much I love this season and the foods it brings. Case in point this lovely and lively stew. The original recipe was part of my biweekly newsletter and credited no one with its creation. I will share it with you to enjoy while you carve your jack 'o lantern this All Hallow's Eve:

Acorn Squash, Tomatillo and Poblano Pepper Stew

What you need:
2 small acorn squash baked until just tender
2 cups cooked brown rice
1 tbs of olive oil
1 onion chopped
3 cloves of garlic chopped
2 tsps chili powder
2 poblano peppers, chopped
5 tomatillos husked, washed and cut in eighths
2 cups water
2 cups cooked kidney beans
1 cup fresh cilantro leaves
Salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
Vegan cheddar,vegan sour cream and or hot sauce to garnish
What you do
If you haven't yet baked your squash or cooked your rice, do so now.
In a soup pot or large sauce pan warm olive oil over medium heat.
Add onion , garlic and chile powder and saute until onions are transluscent.
Add water,beans,rice,tomatillos and peppers and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat and simmer about 10 minutes.
Seed squash and add by spoonfuls to the pot.
Cook an additional 15 minutes to allow the flavors to blend.
Remove from heat and add cilantro.
Add salt and pepper to taste
Serve topped with any, all or none of the above condiments.
Enjoy!
This was served with The Sweet Skillet Cornbread from Joni Newman's Cosy Inside.  That's my favorite cornbread by far!

Iron Chef Challenge: Apples and Peanutbutter

apple peanutbutter brownies
Originally uploaded by jomarb

This ones a little late but to be perfectly honest I nearly didn't participate in this week's challenge. First, my daughter is allergic to peanutbutter so I don't use it often because she couldn't eat the food. Also it was my 12th wedding anniversary yesterday so my husband was discouraging me from cooking. But then inspiration struck I thought..well these brownies are incredibly easy and will be nice to eat later on tonight. So here you have it Apple Peanutbutter Brownies. I basically souped up my go to Brownie Recipe and it goes something like this:

Apple Peanut Butter Brownies

What you need:
1/2 cup Earth Balance Margarine
3 1 oz squares unsweetened baking chocolate
1 cup of Brown Sugar
1/2 tsp of Vanilla extract
1/2 cup Silken Tofu
1/2 cup Smooth Peanut Butter
1/2 Cup Flour
1/2 cup peeled, finely chopped Apples

What you do:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and oil an 8 or 9 inch square pan
In a large sauce pan, melt Earth Balance and Chocolate
When melted remove from heat and add Brown Sugar and Vanilla mixing well.
Using an electric mixer, beat in Silken Tofu until completely combined and no white spots showing.
Beat in Peanut Butter until well blended
Add flour and mix in well.
Fold in apples.
Using a rubber spatula so you get everything out of the pan...scrape/pour batter into prepared baking pan.
Bake for 20 minutes or until edges pull from sides of pan.
These are very fudgey gooey brownies so..let them cool completely before cutting. 
Enjoy!

Comfort Foods: GG Bertha's Stuffed Cabbage

Stuffed Cabbage is a memory of my childhood and my Grandmother who was one of the best cooks I have ever known.  She never wrote down a recipe or used a cookbook and sure as heck would not have known what to make of a blog. I did manage to get her to give me some of her secrets before she died several years ago at the age of 101.  This is my attempt to veganize her stuffed cabbage recipe, she will hopefully forgive me for some of the ingredients switches and suggestions.  I should warn you that making stuffed cabbage is not for the faint of heart.  It is not a work day meal.  It is pretty labor intensive and while I take shortcuts like cooking it in a slow cooker rather than all day braising, it still takes some time.  But man if you were raised in a household of Hungarian or Eastern European descent, you know it's worth it!

GG Bertha's Stuffed Cabbage

What you need:

1 head of cabbage

The equivalent of 1 lb of meat substitute  (I have used chopped steamed tempeh, TVP reconstituted as burger crumbles or even Boca Burger in a pinch)

2 1/2 cups of grain you wish to use for binding (I have used sushi rice, barley and kasha all to equally delicious effect)

1 small onion chopped

1 small carrot chopped finely or grated

2 tbs of Olive Oil

Salt, Black Pepper and Hungarian Paprika all to taste

28oz can of crushed tomatoes

1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar

1/3 cup of brown sugar (this is where GG will disown me...no sugar allowed in hers!)

1. To a large soup pot add about 2 inches of water and a steamer rack and place on stovetop to boil.

2.  Core your head of lettuce and remove the tough outer leaves.

3.  When water is boiling, place cabbage head core side down on steamer rack and cover pot.

4.  Allow the cabbage to steam for about 10 minutes or until leaves are tender.

5.  When cabbage is cool enough to handle, remove tender leaves from outer layer.  Should you run into leaves that are still tough before reaching the inner leaves that are too small for stuffing, you may need to resteam your cabbage for 5-10 more minutes.  When cabbage leaves are removed from head, place to the side until you have made the stuffing mixture.

6.  Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat.

7.  Saute onions and carrots until soft.

8.  Add your meat substitute of choice and saute until browned and well combined with veggies.

9.  Place "meat" mixture in a large bowl.

10.  Add the cooked grain of choice to the "meat" and mix well.

11. Season mixture to taste with spices.

12.  Take cabbage leaves and lay them in front of you so the curl upward and the rib of the leaf faces you.

13.  If the rib is large and prevents easy rolling, remove with a paring knife.

14.  Place about 1/2 cup of stuffing mixture in middle of cabbage leaf and roll "burrito style" tucking in ends as you go.

15.  Place the cabbage roll seam side down in your slow cooker which has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.

16.  Repeat with remaining cabbage leaves and stuffing.

17.  When all cabbage rolls are in slow cooker you can chop any remaining cabbage into small shreds and place on top of cabbage rolls in slow cooker.  If you have no left over cabbage you can also top the rolls with sauerkraut.

18.  In a small bowl, mix together tomatoes, vinegar and brown sugar.

19.  Pour tomato mixture over cabbage rolls in slow cooker and cover.

20.  Cook on high setting for 6 hours.

And that's it!  Enjoy my childhood memories!

Iron Chef Challenge Week Two: Lemon and Ginger

This week's Iron Chef Challenge hosted on MyZoestrope featured the ingredients Lemon and Ginger.  You would think this would make for a much easier challenge, only there were so many possiblities it was a little hard to narrow down.  But C is for cookie and that's good enough for me!  These Glazed Lemon Drop Cookies contain chunks of crystallized ginger and were pure vegan gold according to my kids.  The recipe is a twist on a VegWeb recipe and goes something like this:

Glazed Lemon Drop Cookies with Crystallized Ginger

What You Need:

1 cup sugar

1 stick Earth Balance, softened

1/2 cup vegan sour cream

1/2 cup vanilla soy yogurt

Juice and zest of 1 Lemon

2 1/2 cups of all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/3-1/2 cup of chopped crystallized ginger

Glaze Ingredients:

1 cup Powdered Sugar

1/2 tsp ground ginger

Juice and zest of 1 lemon

What You Do:

Preheat Oven to 350F.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Beat margarine and sugar until creamy.

Beat in sour cream, yogurt, lemon zest and lemon juice

Sift in flour, baking powder and salt.

Mix until well blended.

Fold in chopped Ginger pieces.

Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls on to prepared cookie sheets.

Bake 10-12 minutes until the edges are lightly browned.  Cool completey before glazing.

To Make Glaze: 

Mix together powdered sugar, ginger and lemon zest until thoroughly combined. 

Add lemon juice until desired consistency is reached. 

Drizzle over cooled cookies.

 Allow glaze to set before eating.

A couple of notes:  I don't emphasize it but use organic ingredients whenever possible.  I would never recommend eating the zest of a non-organic fruit.  Also I used 1/3 cup of ginger for my cookies because my kids prefer the more heavily lemon flavor.  If you are cooking for a more sophisticated palate, I would recommend using the full 1/2 cup.

 Happy Mofoing!

Cooking My Coop Order Day 3: Concord Grapes

Concord grapes are indigenous to NJ where I live and therefore appear in my coop order at least annually.  They are one of the few fruits I still find a challenge as my family is not big on eating them out of hand.  No one minds the flavor..in fact they like the flavor.  The tough skins and interestingly textured centers (they're like snot mom!) leave them sitting around.  I have scoured the internet for recipes and found pies, sauces etc and then proceeded to not make them.  I have always been home-canning-a-phobic due to my mother's irrational fear of botulism which was passed on to me--so imagine my excitement when I found out there was such a thing as Freezer Jam!  So this past Tuesday Night I proceeded to make my first ever Grape Jelly.  This is the recipe from the back of the Ball Freezer Pectin Packet so you can play along at home:

Concord Grape Freezer Jam

What You Need:

2 Bunches Concord Grapes (enough to yield 4 cups of grape juice)

1 Envelope Balls Freezer Pectin

1 1/2 cups of Sugar

5 (8 oz) freezer safe containers or canning jars

What You Do:

Wash and destem grapes

Place grapes in saucepan large enough to hold them and smash with potato masher to get as much juice as possible

Heat over medium heat to a low simmer and let cook for about 3 minutes

While the grapes are simmering, mix contents of pectin packet and 1 1/2 cups sugar in a large bowl.

After the grapes have cooked, strain them through a sieve collecting only the juice in a second, large bowl. (you may need to press down on the skins and flesh in the sieve to get the maximum amount of juice.

Pour the juice into the bowl with the pectin and sugar mixture and stir for 3 minutes straight!

Ladle the mixture into 5 (8 oz) freezer safe containers or canning jars. 

Place lids on containers and allow to stand until thickened, about 30 minutes.

There's your jelly!  The jelly will last 3 weeks stored in your refrigerator or 1 year stored in your freezer.

This was fun and made me feel all country cooking queen for being able to finally make jelly.  If I ever get sunlight in my kitchen again (it's been raining for 2 days and is due to rain for 3 more) I will post a picture of the finished product on a PBJ sandwich!

Using the Produce from my COOP Order: Day 1

Every two weeks I receive a CSA type produce order from my Organic Produce Coop, Purple Dragon http://www.purpledragon.com/ . It's similarity to a CSA is twofold. First, the emphasis is on locally grown and seasonally available vegetables and fruits. Second, the coop's director uses our pooled resources to purchase those organic or sustainably grown products that are available at the best price...so I don't order specific fruits or vegetables in my bi-weekly shares. I receive the best that is available. The value in this as a new member was that I was trained to eat seasonally and also to try produce I might never have purchased like celeriac or hatsoi greens. As a long term member, it is a rare order indeed that would contain something with which I was unfamiliar. There is however, still a challenge to be sure I use everything included in the order in the two weeks before a next order and to make meals that my kids will eat with those produce items that are not a favorite. The next two weeks' posts will focus on the family friendly recipes that go along with the various items from the most recent delivery. First up is Kale.

Now if I did not have any children under 15, simply sauteeing the Kale in oil and garlic or marinating raw Kale in a spicy dressing would get this eaten in no time. But with an 11 year old and an 8 year old, I find the need to be a little more sneaky. This week we went with an old family stand by: Pasta with Beans and Greens or Pasta Fagioli if you want to get fancy. I have used multiple recipes over the years from family recipes to cookbooks and quite frankly I am not sure I ever make it exactly the same way twice! But here is the recipe for this week's version:

Pasta With Beans and Greens

serves about 8

What you need:

1 Medium Onion, Chopped

3 Celery Hearts, Chopped

3 Cloves Garlic, pressed

1 tbs Olive Oil

1 tsp Basil

1 tsp Thyme

1/2 tsp Crushed Red Pepper, optional

1/2 cup of Red Wine

1 36 oz can of Whole Tomatoes with Juice

2 Cups water or Veg Broth

1/2 cup Chopped Parsley

1/2 lb short fat pasta of choice

1 Bunch of Kale, Chopped

1 15oz Can of Chickpeas

1 tsp Sugar, optional

Salt and Black Pepper to taste

What you do:

Heat oil in a soup pot over medium heat.

Add onion, celery and garlic to oil. Saute until veggies are soft and onions are translucent

Add dried spices and saute 1 minute more

Add red wine to deglaze pan

Add Whole tomatoes to pan crushing them by hand. Add juice from can as well.

Bring to a low boil

Reduce heat and add veggie broth or water and parsley. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes.

Add chopped Kale and cooked pasta to pot. (If you like a firmer pasta you can add uncooked macaroni or ditalini to pot instead, pasta will be al dente at the end but there will be a little less liquid).

Cover and cook another 15 minutes, stirring periodically.

Add chickpeas, sugar, salt and pepper.

Cook 5 more minutes to let flavors blend.

Serve sprinkled with vegan parm if desired.

And that's it!