Oh, yeah, I keep forgetting to post this: Yogurt 'Cream Cheese'

The taste is incredibly close. Take a container of plain yogurt and put in sieve lined w/ cheesecloth and let stand overnight or until the consistency you need is achieved.

You can put a cup beneath the sieve to collect the liquid (riboflavin, maybe?). It's good for you and goes in soups, etc. seamlessly.

This stuff doesn't have those preservatives that Kraft and others load theirs with.

Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Coconut Milk

This three-ingredient dish, known as piele in Hawaii, is fabulously simple. Light coconut milk contributes rich flavors. This dish is appropriate for diabetics, is low in calories, cholesterol and sodium, and is high in fiber.

Make ahead: Cover and refrigerate for up to 3 days. Reheat in the microwave or oven just before serving.

Makes 4 to 6 servings

1-1/2 pounds sweet potatoes, (about 3 medium)

3/4 cup light coconut milk

1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger

1/2 teaspoon salt

Prick sweet potatoes with a fork in several places. Microwave on High until tender all the way to the center, 10 to 15 minutes. (Alternatively, place in a baking dish and bake at 425 degrees until tender all the way to the center, about 1 hour.)

When cool enough to handle, peel off and discard skin. Transfer the sweet potatoes to a medium microwaveable bowl and mash thoroughly with a potato masher. Add coconut milk, ginger and salt; stir well. Reheat in the microwave for 1 to 2 minutes, or in the oven for 8 to 10 minutes. Serve warm.

Potato Curry

Ingredients:

6 medium russet potatoes
3 tablespoons oil
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cumin seed
½ teaspoon black mustard seeds
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon ground coriander
¼-½ teaspoon cayenne (or ground black peppercorn)
1 ½ cups water
2⁄3; cup frozen peas

Directions:

Peel and dice potatoes.

Heat oil and add spices.

Simmer for 2-3 minutes.

Add potatoes.

Immediately stir around until evenly coated.

Continue for 5-10 minutes until some cubes are a little crisped.

Add the water and lower the heat.

Simmer for 1/2 hour, stirring occasionally.

Add peas and simmer for an additional 5 minutes.

Sauce Hollandaise

Very in-depth with variations- not hard!

For about 1 cup

3 egg yolks
1 1/2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice,
plus more later as needed
4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter,
half at first and half later
5 ounces (1 1/4 sticks) melted unsalted butter
Salt and freshly ground white pepper

Place the egg yolks, lemon juice, and seasonings in the blender jar.
Cut the butter into pieces and heat it to foaming hot in a small saucepan.
Cover the jar and blend the egg yolk mixture at top speed for 2 seconds. Uncover, and still blending at top speed, immediately start pouring on the hot butter in a thin stream of droplets. (If you do not have a splatterproof blender jar, you may need to protect yourself with a towel during this operation.) By the time two thirds of the butter has gone in, the sauce will be a thick cream. Omit the milky residue at the bottom of the butter pan. Taste the sauce, and blend in more seasonings if necessary.
If not used immediately, set the jar in tepid, but not warm, water.

Refried Beans

Pinto beans, prepared Mexican style, are such a staple in our house a week rarely goes by without my mother making up a batch. Although beans have a relatively long shelf life, the older they are the longer you'll have to cook them to get them to soften. Find a source that supplies fresh beans. If you have some that have been sitting around for more than a year, they'll be tough and not as good, you'll need to cook them longer.

"Refried" is actually a misnomer. In this instance, refritos means "well fried", not "refried", though you can certainly reheat the beans as you go through a batch. Before frying them though you'll need to cook them, in water, to soften them. There are basically two ways to initially cook the beans - with a pressure cooker and without. Since we make beans so often, we use a pressure cooker. It greatly cuts down on the cooking time. Here are directions for both methods.

Cook time: 45 minutes

We use bacon fat in this recipe, though you can easily use olive oil or lard. Although the recipe only calls for 2 Tbsp, we find that the flavor is greatly enhanced with the addition of a couple more tablespoons of bacon fat, just for flavor. You can also get some smokey flavor in the beans by adding a bit of chipotle powder, sauce, or chipotle Tabasco.
Ingredients

2 1/2 cups of dry pinto beans (about 1 lb or 450gm)
3 quarts of water
1/2 cup chopped onion (optional)
2 Tbsp (or more to taste) pork lard, bacon fat, or olive oil (for vegetarian option)
1/4 cup water
Salt to taste
Cheddar cheese (optional)

Method

1 Rinse the beans in water and remove any small stones, pieces of dirt, or bad beans.

2 Cook the beans in water.
Regular method Put beans into a pot and cover beans with at least 3 inches of water - about 3 quarts for 2 1/2 cups of dry beans. Bring to a boil and then lower heat to simmer, covered, for about 2 1/2 hours. The cooking time will vary depending on the batch of beans you have. The beans are done when they are soft and the skin is just beginning to break open.

Pressure Cooker method Put beans into a 4 quart pressure cooker with a 15 lb weight. Fill up the pressure cooker with water, up to the line that indicates the capacity for the pot. Cook for 30-35 minutes - until the beans are soft and the skins are barely breaking open. Allow the pressure cooker to cool completely before opening. If there is resistance when attempting to open the cooker, do not open it, allow it to cool further. Follow the directions for your brand of pressure cooker. (See safety tips on using pressure cookers.)

Strain the beans from the cooking water.

3 Add the onions and lard/fat/oil to a wide, sturdy (not with a flimsy stick-free lining) frying pan on medium high heat. Cook onions until translucent. (Note the onions are optional, you can skip them if you want.) Add the strained beans and about a 1/4 cup of water to the pan. Using a potato masher, mash the beans in the pan, while you are cooking them, until they are a rough purée. Add more water if necessary to keep the fried beans from getting too dried out. Add salt to taste. Add a few slices of cheddar cheese, or some (1/2 cup) grated cheddar cheese if you want. When beans are heated through (and optional cheese melted) the beans are ready to serve.

Note that many recipes call for soaking the beans overnight and discarding the soaking liquid. We don't. We discard the cooking liquid and just add some water back into the frying pan when we are frying the beans.

Guh! Thanks for the tip, I just looked it up, and am posting in Carnivore!

Yea, those beans aren't necessarily hot, but can be by adjusting the chili powder or adding some serranos etc to the mix. I've only used adobo a bit here and there with mixed results. But in New Mexico and southern Colorado they have a thing called adobada. Red chili with pork. Amazing when done well. Yea, sorry this is the veggie thread isn't it?

dave said:

Wow Mike, that is too smokin'! It's got basically everything I love- beans, garlic, onion, heat, and a freakin' Portobello, can't wait to try it! I love the meatiness of Portobellos, the best burger I've had in Portland was flame-broiled w/ Portobellos. Sa-weet!

Have you ever used smoked chili paste, adobo, that's it!, to sweeten a batch of chili?

That looks friggin great, man I'm getting too many recipes to try here. Not enough time to make them.

dave said:

Roasted Red Beet Hummus

Nothing quite tops the rich red and burgundy of a red beet. Whether it be in raviolis or this hummus recipe, they just add so much to a dish, visually speaking. Enjoy this dish with a chilled glass of Pinot Blanc.

2 medium-sized red beets
1 cup of chickpeas
1 clove of garlic
2 tablespoons of sesame seeds
1 meyer lemon
Extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt

1. Wash and trim the red beets and then wrap them in tinfoil. Place them in baking dish with 1/8 inch of water and roast them for about an hour at 375 degrees.

2. In a small sauce pan, add two tablespoons of sesame seeds and just enough olive oil to coat. You don't want to dominate the sesame seed flavor with olive oil.

3. Cook them over a medium-high heat for about 5 minutes, or as needed. When the mixture looks like the photo below, remove them from the stove.

4. When the red beats are fully cooked (you can tell by poking them with a knife) then remove them from the oven and let cook. Once cooled, peel them and cube them.

5. Add the following ingredients to your food processor: the cup of chickpeas, the two tablespoons of toasted sesame seeds, the roasted beets and a pinch of salt.

6. Add 1/2 of the lemon juice to the mixture and puree it. Add more lemon as needed.

7. Salt to taste and serve. Enjoy!

Potato Gravy

I saw this on an Ethiopian foodcart here in PDX, but didn't get to ask the chef.

So here's something I just worked out on the fly, lemme know what you think...

1 cooked potato, put in a blender w/ a bit of warmed chicken broth (experiment to find the right amount for you), a few twists of fresh black pepper, and you've got something to put on veggies.

Note: Feel free to put in a pat of butter, some soymilk or milk, cheese, cooked garlic...

30-Minute Seasoned Sweet Potato / Yam Fries (Baked Not Fried)

Ingredients:

2 large sweet potatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
1 dash white pepper

Directions:

1 Scrub the sweet potatoes and leave the skin on (best part.).

2 I like using a french fry cutter (it works sort of like those apple corer/slicer things) for this but if you don't have one, just use a knife to cut the potatoes into shoestrings.

3 Put the raw fries into a mixing bowl, and pour in the olive oil. Toss well to coat.

4 Add the seasonings and toss well again.

5 Arrange the fries on a baking sheet and bake at 400F for 10 minutes.

6 Turn the fries with a spatula and bake for another 10 minutes.

7 Blot any excess oil with paper towels, serve, and enjoy!

Tomatillo and Avocado Salsa (It's not hot)

One of my favorite things about a taqueria is the salsa bar. It can be overwhelming with so many different flavors and colors to pick from. But today were are going green here at the Green Wine Guide with this salsa verde. Enjoy this salsa on your favorite tacos, or with some blue corn tortillas, and nicely chilled Pinot Grigio. 16 tomatillos
1 large avocado
1 red onion
2 limes
1 serrano chile, minced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
4 tablespoons of chopped cilantro
Salt to taste

1. Peel and dice the red onion. Really, any onion will do for this recipe. I just chose red for the color. It really pops against the green of the tomatillos and avocados, right?

2. Clean and dry the tomatillos. If you haven't cleaned a tomatillo before, they are kinda gross and sticky (yet, so tasty!). Peel away the outer leaf and let them soak in warm water for 10 minutes. It helps if you add some vegetable cleaner. It makes washing off the sticky layer a lot easier. Puree them in a food processor until salsa-like.

3. Half and pit your avocado. See our instructions on how to do that here. Then cut the avocado into large cubes.

4. Combine the onion, tomatillo puree, avocado, serrano chiles, cilantro and garlic into a large mixing bowl. Stir just enough to mix.

5. Juice the limes and mix. For some extra tang, you can add lime zest to the dish too.

Roasted Red Beet Hummus

Nothing quite tops the rich red and burgundy of a red beet. Whether it be in raviolis or this hummus recipe, they just add so much to a dish, visually speaking. Enjoy this dish with a chilled glass of Pinot Blanc.

2 medium-sized red beets
1 cup of chickpeas
1 clove of garlic
2 tablespoons of sesame seeds
1 meyer lemon
Extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt

1. Wash and trim the red beets and then wrap them in tinfoil. Place them in baking dish with 1/8 inch of water and roast them for about an hour at 375 degrees.

2. In a small sauce pan, add two tablespoons of sesame seeds and just enough olive oil to coat. You don't want to dominate the sesame seed flavor with olive oil.

3. Cook them over a medium-high heat for about 5 minutes, or as needed. When the mixture looks like the photo below, remove them from the stove.

4. When the red beats are fully cooked (you can tell by poking them with a knife) then remove them from the oven and let cook. Once cooled, peel them and cube them.

5. Add the following ingredients to your food processor: the cup of chickpeas, the two tablespoons of toasted sesame seeds, the roasted beets and a pinch of salt.

6. Add 1/2 of the lemon juice to the mixture and puree it. Add more lemon as needed.

7. Salt to taste and serve. Enjoy!

Wow Mike, that is too smokin'! It's got basically everything I love- beans, garlic, onion, heat, and a freakin' Portobello, can't wait to try it! I love the meatiness of Portobellos, the best burger I've had in Portland was flame-broiled w/ Portobellos. Sa-weet!

Have you ever used smoked chili paste, adobo, that's it!, to sweeten a batch of chili?

Crap, that Soy Chorizo that I claim to swear by, it's Reynaldos, NOT El Rey brand.

Here is a quick and easy recipe for chili beans I came up with that happens to be vegan too. The wife & kid seems to like them, though they often humor me out of pity. I usually just eyeball everything, but I wrote it down as I made it last time. So feel free to play with the amount of garlic, mushrooms, etc etc. There's no hard fast rule to this one.

VEGAN CHILI BEANS

4          Garlic Cloves (Large – diced fine or pressed)

1 Cup    Diced Portobello Mushroom (finely diced to a ground meat consistency)

1 Tbsp.  Olive Oil

6 oz.      El Rey brand Soy Chorizo (1/2 of a link/packet)

( I insist on El Rey, it's the only Soy Chorizo that tastes "right" in my opinion.)

40 oz.     Pinto Beans – canned (or cook 1 pound of dry beans from scratch)

½ Cup     Yellow Onion (diced medium)

1 Tbsp.    New Mexico Chili powder (HOT)

              Salt to taste

1. Heat up oil in large pot or wok type pan.
2. Add garlic and mushroom. Sauté for 2 minutes to release garlic flavor.
3. Add ½ of Soy Chorizo (3 oz.) to pan and mix well with garlic and mushroom. Sauté for an additional 2-3 minutes making sure not to brown the mixture.
4. Add the beans and all of the liquid in the can to the mixture and mix well bringing to a boil.
5. Turn down heat to a very low simmer and add the rest of the Soy Chorizo.
6. After 15 minutes add the diced onions
7. Continue cooking down until desired consistency is achieved (approximately another 15 minutes) add vegetable broth or water if it gets to thick/dry.
8. Add Chili Powder 10 minutes before beans are finished and mix well into beans.
9. Salt to taste after Chili Powder is added. Additional salt should not be needed if using canned beans, but is necessary if making beans from scratch.

Oh, and of course, garnish as you like with more onions, cheese, etc. Eat by themselves, or in an omelet, over fried corn tortillas, etc etc.

Looks interesting. I've done red cabbage with some peanut & sesame oil and fish sauce. Also had some celery & other stuff in there too. Wasn't half bad as my usual disasters.  This recipe looks pretty interesting as does that squash & tofu one.

Could this be it?

1 head red cabbage
1 tbsp butter
1/2 red onion (julienned)
1/2 cup red wine vinegar (cider)
1/3 cup brown sugar (packed)

3/4 tsp cumin seed (toasted and ground)
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp black pepper (fresh ground)

1  Cut cabbage in half lengthwise and cut out core. Cut each half lengthwise again, then cut each quarter crosswise into 1/2 inch cubes.

2  Melt butter in large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, 10-15 minutes, or until soft. Add cabbage and saute, stirring occasionally, for 25 minutes, or until tender. Add the vinegar, sugar, and cumin and mix well. Lower heat to medium low and simmer 20 minutes more, until juices are syrupy. Cabbage should be tender but not mushy. Remove from heat and season with salt and pepper.

3  This can be made ahead and reheated when needed.

More Recipes

Can anyone help me out? A few years ago someone served me stir-fried red cabbage (and I think that was all it had in it, 'cept mebbe some salt or sugar, but I can't find any recipes this simple. Could it be Mexican? Any ideas?

Stir-Fried Tofu, Red Cabbage and Winter Squash

2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce

1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar

2 teaspoons sugar or honey

2 teaspoons dark sesame oil

2 teaspoons cornstarch

2 tablespoons canola oil or peanut oil

1/2 pound firm tofu, cut in 1- x 2-inch dominoes

2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger

2 garlic cloves, minced

3/4 pound butternut squash, cut in 1/2-inch dice

Salt to taste

1 1/2 pounds red cabbage, cored and coarsely chopped

Rice, bulgur or buckwheat noodles for serving

1. In a small bowl, whisk together 1 tablespoon of the soy sauce, the rice wine vinegar, sugar or honey, sesame oil and cornstarch. Set aside.

2. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil over medium-high heat until a drop of water sizzles and evaporates upon contact. Add the tofu, and stir-fry until lightly colored, about three minutes. Remove from the pan, and season to taste with soy sauce.

3. Add the remaining oil to the pan. When it is hot, add the butternut squash. Stir-fry until it begins to color, five to eight minutes. Add salt to taste, the ginger and garlic. Stir-fry for about 30 seconds, and add the cabbage. Stir-fry until the squash is tender and the cabbage is crisp-tender, about six minutes, adding about 1/4 cup water to the pan from time to time if the vegetables begin to stick. Return the tofu to the pan.

4. Stir the sweet and sour mixture, and add to the vegetables. Stir just for a few seconds until they are glazed. Remove from the heat and serve with grains or noodles.

Yield: Serves four.

This is famous, but just in case you haven't heard of it: VeganBlackMetalChef's Channel