Sweet Potatoes with Cranberries and Cilantro

As I said in my recent Brussels Sprouts post, I've been working my way through many of the delicious looking recipes in the November Everyday Magazine issue. There are many foods that Violet has loved one day and hated the next, but sweet potatoes have always been a trusty fall-back food for me. I was worried she might not like the cilantro mixed in with the potatoes, but she gobbled it right up. The lime zest and juice adds a great brightness and the cranberries are plump and sweet from the cooking method. I think next time I make this I might actually use fresh cranberries, but if they're out of season, dry are fine. We all loved this dish, and it might end up making it back to our Thanksgiving table! 

Thanks to all who entered the give-away, our winner is Carrie. Please email me at veggiebyseason@gmail.com. 

Sweet Potatoes with Cilantro and Cranberries

from Everyday Nov 13

2/3 c. dried cranberries

3 tbsp. olive oil

3 tbsp. fresh lime juice

2 tbsp. sugar (omitted with dried cranberries, would use with fresh)

1 tsp. lime zest

3 1/2 lbs. sweet potatoes cut in 3/4" cubes

1 1/2 tsp. ground coriander

1 1/2 tsp. ground  cumin

Salt and pepper

1/4 c. chopped cilantro

Preheat oven to 450*

In a small saucepan, bring cranberries, lime juice, sugar and 1/4 c. water to a boil, add zest and cover, remove from heat.

In a large bowl, combine sweet potatoes, coriander, cumin and 3 tbsp. olive oil, toss to coat potatoes. 

Spread on a large sheet pan and roast for 15 minutes.

Pour cranberry mixture on potatoes, toss to coat.

Roast for another 15 minutes, until potatoes are tender.

Remove from heat and toss with cilantro, serve. 

Hominy and White Bean Chili

'Tis the season for chicken and white bean chili recipes to float around, am I right? I was searching for a vegetarian version of the popular dish, and found this recipe on the Cooking Light website. There are a few differences though, namely it's not a while chili, there is a broth base, not a creamy one. This recipe also calls for hominy, an interesting, different addition to chili, and finally, it has a bright, lighter flavor profile from the cilantro and fresh lime.

The only change I made to this recipe was omitting the field roast faux sausage/soy-chorizo it called for. I felt like the beans provided enough protein, and I'm doing my best to avoid most processed meat substitutes. Not only is it cheaper, but I feel better about the least processed ingredients as possible in our diet. Lastly, I also added some chopped yellow bell peppers, just because I had two one hand that needed to be used up asap. I think the only change I might make in the future, would be to add some chunks of avocado to the top, and a nice dollop of light sour cream (and un-veganize it).

Hominy and White Bean Chili

adapted from Cooking Light

4 c. cooked cannelini beans (or 2 15 oz. cans)

1 tbsp. olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 poblanos, seeded and diced

2 yellow bell peppers, seeded and diced

2 tsp. chili powder

2 tsp. ground cumin

1 1/2 c. vegetable stock

1 tsp. dried oregano

2 tsp. hot sauce (we love Cholula)

1 15 oz. can hominy, drained

Garnishes:

sliced green onion

chopped cilantro

lime wedges

avocado chunks

sour cream

shredded Monterrey Jack cheese

Heat a large Dutch oven over medium heat, add oil, bring to temperature.

Add onions, saute' for 3-4 minutes, until edges begin to brown, add garlic, poblanos and yellow bell peppers, saute' for another 5 minutes. 

Add chili powder and cumin, stir to toast spices, add vegetable stock, oregano, hot sauce and hominy. 

Add half of the beans to the pot, mash the remaining half with a fork, then add to the pot.

Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat and cook for 20 minutes. 

If desired, add onion and cilantro to the pot, or reserve for topping.

Ladle chili into bowls, top with garnishes and serve immediately.

Bangin' Tempeh Quesadilla

So I had added Quesadillas to the "how in the world do I get a good photo?!" list... but then a certain good blogger friend posted a quesadilla recipe with a beautiful photo, so I guess it's just me. I think it's time I look into good photography classes, or you know, don't take them on the floor while my husband holds the dogs and kid back. PLEASE don't let the bad photo make you question the deliciousness of this 'dilla... it's amazing!

When Taco Lu first opened, I was pregnant. Tacos sounded amazing, and the fact that they had tempeh on their menu made me love the place before even stepping foot into the restaurant. We made the trek over to the beach one night, fought off everyone and their mom for a parking spot, and got a table after a 30 minute wait. As I excitedly ordered my tempeh tacos, the waiter told me they didn't have tempeh, they were out. Talk about a hormonal melt-down over something that wasn't THAT big of a deal (but come on, tempeh has a long shelf life and you can keep it on hand!) So I didn't even order dinner. I watched JJ eat, and then we left. And I swore off the place for 2 years.

When we found out we were moving, I felt like I should give the place one more chance because all of my friends and coworkers love it, and they even moved into a bigger restaurant location since their popularity soared. So we went, I got this quesadilla, it was amazing, and now I cry knowing it's 2k miles away. Our servers kind of seated us and forgot about it, so I was like oh geez, here we go again, but then they brought out a free bowl of queso (that Violet bathed herself in.) So while Taco Lu hasn't been the most dependable place service wise, the food is so good that I'd be willing to overlook it.

This quesadilla was spicy, fresh from the slaw, earthy from the tempeh, and bound together with tons of melty cheese. It wasn't exceptionally complex, but it was amazing. I tried re-creating it here, and it was almost as delicious as the Lu's!

Bangin' Tempeh Quesadilla

inspired by Taco Lu, makes 4 large quesadillas

4 large flour tortillas

1 8 oz, pack of tempeh, sliced into 16 thin strips

1/4 c. sweet thai chile sauce

2 tbsp. sriracha

4 oz. shredded monterey jack cheese

1/2 lb. green cabbage, shredded

1/4 red onion, finely sliced

1 lime

1/2 c. reduced fat sour cream

2 chipotles in adobo

In a shallow dish, whisk together chile sauce and sriracha, gently coat tempeh strips and set aside to marinate.

Toss green cabbage with onions and juiced lime in a small dish.

Blend sour cream and chipotles, or finely minced chipotles and mix with sour cream.

Heat skillet over medium-high, spray with nonstick spray, place tempeh slicess in pan, cook for 2-3 minutes, then flip, be careful they don't burn! 

Remove tempeh and place on a plate.

Clean out skillet, and heat over medium.

Preheat oven to 300*

One at a time, lay tortillas out, slather with chipotle sour cream, then place in pan, sprinkle cheese around the whole tortilla, then arrange 4 slices of tempeh in one half, and a sprinkle of the cabbage slaw on top of the tempeh. 

Cook for 2 minutes open, then fold the tortilla over and press.

Cook for another 2 minutes, then gently flip and cook another 2 minutes until golden brown.

If desired, place on a cookie sheet and into the oven to stay warm while you cook the remaining quesadillas.

Slice into fourths and serve.

Baked Chile Rellenos with Hatch Green Chile Enchilada Sauce

We are chile rellenos lovers in this house. What's not to like, spicy peppers filled with cheese, deep fried with a crisp shell and delicious sauce on top. In college, JJ and I would go to a Mexican restaurant almost every Sunday and get them. We also both gained the freshman 15 each year, it seemed! 

A few weeks ago we went to dinner at The Green Chile in Boise (which was delicious, and highly recommended) and JJ ordered a combo that included chile rellenos. As I read the description on the menu, I was intrigued. They filled their poblano with cheese, but then wrapped it in a tortilla and fried it. Genius! It takes out the messy step of breading the chile rellenos. 

I took that idea, and decided it would be a great way to make chile rellenos healthy! There's still the labor intensive task of roasting, peeling and de-seeding the chiles, but it's so worth it when you bite into these beauties! I topped the chile rellos with my Hatch Green Chile Enchilada Sauce, but you can use a red sauce, green sauce, sour cream based sauce, just about anything you'd like! 

I served these chile rellenos with slow cooked pinto beans and a small salad of romaine, tomatoes and avocado. 

Baked Chile Rellenos with Hatch Green Chile Sauce

inspired by The Green Chile

4 large poblanos, roasted, peeled, with seeds and stems removed

6 oz. Monterey Jack cheese, shredded

10-12 corn tortillas - taco size

1.5 cups enchilada sauce of choice

Preheat oven to 425*

Spread 1/2 c. enchilada sauce on the bottom of a casserole dish.

Slice or tear peppers into thirds, place pepper in the center of a tortilla, top with a sprinkle of cheese, roll up and place in baking dish. 

Spread with remaining enchilada sauce, sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until bubbly and edges begin to brown and crisp.

Hatch Green Chile Pizza with Soyrizo and Goat Cheese

Over the past few years, I've read countless entries by Bridget and Shawnda about Hatch Green Chiles. Being from the Midwest and South, I didn't realize the seemily cult following they have. When I got to Boise a month ago and went to our amazing Whole Foods, I saw a man in the parking lot turning a giant drum, fresh fire roasting the chiles. I couldn't not buy some! I took home a few pounds, peeled them and then was stumped on what to do with them. 

So I decided to just make my first batch of chiles into an enchilada sauce and use it in a few dishes (another will be posted this week). Sunday has become our new pizza night, since I don't have my kitchen aid, I just buy Whole Foods' amazing prepared dough. I had half a package of soy-chorizo in the freezer, and decided to google pizza with chorizo, and came across this recipe from Rick Bayless. The pizza calls for a salsa verde sauce as the base, but I knew my Hatch Green Chile enchilada sauce would be perfect, and it was! 

As I said, I have no appliances out here, no blender, food processor, magic bullet, kitchen aid, you name it, I don't have it! So I have to utilize my knife skills and box grater as much as possible. To make the sauce, rather than puree most of it and leave some small bits of chile, I finely minced it all and cooked it down for a while to hopefully mash the chiles even more. 

The remainder of the pizza was topped with even more deliciousness: goat cheese, thinly sliced red onion and bell peppers, and soy-chorizo. This pizza was full of flavor and definitely will be a new regular for us. The Hatch Green Chiles definitely were spicy, smokey, and live up to the hype!

Hatch Green Chile Pizza with Soyrizo and Goat Cheese

adapted from Rick Bayless

1 lb. pizza dough, homemade or purchased

1 c. Hatch Green Chile enchilada sauce (recipe follows)

6 oz. crumbled chorizo or soy-chorizo, cooked, crumbled and drained on paper towels

1/4 red onion, sliced thinly

1/2 red bell pepper, sliced thinly

6 oz. goat cheese, crumbled

Hatch Green Chile Enchilada Sauce:

2 tbsp. olive oil

1 large red onion (half minced, half grated directly into pan)

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 tbsp. flour

2 c. vegetable stock

2 c. roasted, peeled and seeded Hatch Green Chiles

2 tbsp. ground cumin

1 tsp. ground coriander

kosher salt and black pepper

To make enchilada sauce:

Heat a large skillet over medium heat, add olive oil, bring to temperature.

Add onions and garlic, season with salt, and saute for 5 minutes, until softened.

Sprinkle flour over onions and garlic, whisk to coat, once flour is absorbed, add stock.

Whisk well, then add chiles, cumin and coriander.

Bring to a simmer, then turn to low, taste and adjust salt and pepper.

Cook for 20-30 minutes, then transfer some or all to a blender and puree, if desired.

Store in an air tight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or in the freezer.

To make pizza:

Preheat oven to 425*

Stretch dough over a pan dusted with cornmeal or semolina flour.

Top with Hatch Green Chile enchilada sauce, goat cheese, crumbled coy-chorizo, sliced onion and peppers.

Bake for 18-24 minutes, until crust is crisp, golden and puffed.

Slice and serve immediately, garnish with fresh chopped cilantro, if desired.

Layered Mexican Cornbread

This recipe should probably be called "The Cornbread that's Lucky to be Blogged"

It all started a year ago... I made a pot of chili for a friend who was ill, and wanted to include a dipper. Corncakes are our usual (layer it on the bottom, chili on top, so good!), but I didn't think they'd hold up as well. I searched and found this Layered Mexican Cornbread, and it sounded great! 

I baked a loaf of it, cooled it, then stored it in a plastic bag on the kitchen table. Well, this was around the time Violet earned her nickname "Hurricane Violet" because she loved (and sometimes still does) to run through the house, pulling things off of tables, counters, chairs, etc. The cornbread never stood a chance. However, in a way I'm glad she did it because JJ and I ate the crumbled cornbread mess, and it was amazing! 

Like so many dishes do, it fell off my radar and wasn't made again. Last week, I decided to try to make a new chili recipe (coming soon!) and remembered this cornbread. This time, what made me second guess blogging it was it's a Paula Deen recipe. I'm sure everyone knows the Paula scandal, and after reading some of the court documents myself, I'm grossed out by her, her family, and their "well, it's how we were raised" BS. So while I won't be supporting her at all in the future by purchasing anything of hers (if there's even anything left to purchase?), I don't think this recipe supports her in any way. I really hope like so many Food Network Star recipes it was really made by the test kitchens because WOW, is it good!

The first time I made it, I did exactly as written, but the second time, I subbed Greek yogurt for the butter and used green chiles rather than jalapenos because Violet would be eating it, too. The substitutions made it just as good as the original, though I did like the heavy spice from the jalapenos.  I am quite sure this recipe won't be forgotten, and will be our new chili pairing in the future!

Mexican Layered Cornbread

slightly adapted from Food Network

1 c. all purpose flour

1/2 c. cornmeal

2 tbsp. baking powder

2/3 c. milk

2 eggs

1/2 tsp. salt

1/3 c. nonfat greek yogurt

1 tbsp. honey

2 scallions, sliced thinly

1 14 oz. can creamed corn

1/2 c. corn kernels (defrosted, if frozen)

1 c. grated cheddar

1 4 oz. can diced green chiles or diced jalapenos

Preheat oven to 350*

Grease a 8"x8" square or 10" round pan, set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together milk, eggs, salt, yogurt and honey.

Add flour, cornmeal and baking powder.

Fold in scallions, creamed corn and corn kernels.

Pour 2/3 of the mixture into the pan, spread in an even layer.

Top with the cheddar and chiles, then add remaining batter, spread evenly over top.

Bake for 35 minutes, or until golden on top and a toothpick stuck into the center comes out clean.

Cool for 10 minutes, then slice and serve wamred.

Blue Cheese, Garlic and Green Chilie Guacamole

As soon as I found out my sister was expecting a baby in February, we decided to spend a week of vacation in Cleveland to meet my nephew. We chose Memorial Day to take advantage of the three day weekend,and figured it would hopefully be warm in Cleveland by then! My sister was an incredibly gracious hostess and tried to pack in as much fun and relaxation as possible. We had an amazing week, and I almost forgot at times that we had one week to pack our house and move when we got back to Jacksonville! And let me just say I do not recommend going on vacation a week before you have to move... stressed was an understatement!

One of the highlights of our vacation was our parents night out. A few months prior, JJ and I saw an episode of Diners, Drive Ins and Dives where Guy went to Momocho, a restaurant specializing in guacamole and other upscale Mexican dishes. We had an amazing meal at Momocho, my favorites being the specialty Margarita sampler (especially blood orange) and the amazing guacamole combinations. We actually played rocks, paper, scissors to see who got to lick out the bowls!

The four main guacamoles we tried were blue cheese, goat cheese, pineapple and crab (each with a few other supporting ingredients!) My absolute favorite was the blue cheese, with the pineapple as a close second. I knew I had to recreate this guacamole since we're now a far, far drive from Cleveland!

While it may seem strange, the blue cheese adds a huge punch of flavor, the avocado is a subtle base flavor, and the garlic and green chiles keep it bright and each bite is different, some with a large chunk of blue cheese, some with a piece of garlic.

After dinner, we headed to Progressive Field to watch the Indians game. Coincidentally, they were playing the Reds. Too many Summer Shandys were shared by my sister and me, I don't even remember who won the game! But we had so much fun.

The rest of the week was much more family friendly, we had a great time with the kids at the Memphis Kiddie Park and the Children's Museum of Cleveland. While people joke about Cleveland, it really is a great city and we had so much fun there. And Baby Eli is truly the best baby ever, it was such a joy to get to finally meet him in person!

Blue Cheese, Garlic and Green Child Guacamole

adapted from Momocho

2 ripe avocados

1/2 lime, juiced

Kosher salt

1/2 tsp. ground cumin

3 oz. chunk of blue cheese, crumbled

2 tbsp. diced green chilies (canned)

1 head of roasted garlic (or roasted garlic cloves in olive oil from salad bar)

Halve avocados, remove pit and spoon flesh into a mixing bowl.

Add lime juice, a sprinkle of salt and cumin, mash avocado with a fork.

Crumble blue cheese into avocado mixture, add green chilies and garlic, gently mix with a fork until just incorporated.

Taste and add more salt and lime juice, if desired.

Serve immediately with a lime wedge and tortilla chips.

Zesty White Bean Burgers

In my never ending search for the perfect veggie burger I came across this one from The Sweets Life, and immediately put it on the menu. It can be hard to get a good texture when making a bean-only burger, but this one was crisp on the outside and full of flavor on the inside. The thick layer of cheese made it decadent, and the cool avocado toned down the heat. I topped it with a little chipotle ranch and served sweet potato wedges on the side. I will definitely be making a big batch to form and freeze for quick, weeknight dinners!

Zesty White Bean Burgers

slightly adapted from The Sweets Life

2 c. cooked great northern beans

1 4.5 oz. can chopped green chilies, undrained

1/4 large red onion, minced

1 garlic clove, minced

1 c. old fashioned oats

1 egg, beaten

Salt and pepper

1 tsp. ground cumin

1/2 c. cornmeal

2 tbsp. canola oil

Sliced pepper jack cheese

1 avocado, sliced

Toasted buns, if desired (we omitted)

Place beans in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until chunky and slightly mashed.

Transfer to a large bowl, add chilies, onion, oats, egg, salt, pepper and cumin.

Shape into 4 patties, then place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to firm up.

Heat a large skillet over medium-high, and preheat oven to 400*

Add oil, bring to temperatre, then add patties. 

Cook until golden brown on the first side, about 4-5 minutes, then flip.

Transfer to the oven and allow patties to cook for 15 minutes, or until cooked through.

Top with cheese, turn the oven off and allow cheese to melt.

Remove from the oven, top with avocado and place in buns, serve.