Sadly I did not get a picture of this. I made a green enchilada sauce of five Anaheim peppers and two poblano peppers, roasted, peeled and chopped, and a cup of chopped onion, all sauteed with a little oil and some garlic. The exact number and type of peppers are up to you; this makes about enough for eight enchiladas. Add to that 1/2 cup chopped tomato (canned okay), 1 1/2 cups water or broth, and simmer till little liquid is left. Salt to taste. Then thicken by adding a teaspoon oil mixed with a teaspoon flour (microwaved for 30 seconds to act like roux), and simmer a little longer. That's the sauce. For the filling I chopped chard into approx. 1" pieces and cut pre-sliced mushrooms slightly smaller; amount depends on how many enchiladas you want to make. I sauteed these veggies with a little salt till about half done. Taste your sauce to see how picante it is and decide how much you want to use. Mine seemed fairly hot by itself but worked great with the veggie filling. Put some sauce in the bottom of your baking dish. Roll warm corn tortillas around the mushroom-chard filling and lay on top of sauce. If you like, stir chopped cilantro into your sauce or sprinkle it on after you put the sauce on the enchiladas. Grate cheese on top of all and bake about 15 minutes at 350. This is just to heat it as the ingredients are cooked already. Enjoy with extra tortillas and rice, beans, salad, or whatever you prefer!

Bananas with Sal y Limon

Sal y Limon can be roughly translated to "Salt and Limon". 

Today I got a craving for my favorite Costa Rican snack, "Platanos Con Sal y Limon". I ate my weight in Platanos con sal y limon while I was in Costa Rica. Also cookies, I ate my weight in those. It's a long story, I was on a small budget and I spent it all on expensive lattes. Neither here nor there.

My first tip is to anticipate the craving of this snack BEFORE it occurs, that way you don't have to wait in sheer torture the entire 2 hours that the bananas are slow roasting at 200 degrees, teasing your taste buds with an ever so slight aroma of sweet platanos in the air while you are day dreaming of doing yoga overlooking the pacific eating massive amounts of sal y limon chips in a hammock con una cerveza. Pura Vida.  

Ingredients
1 Banana 
Salt 
Limon 

Directions
Spray pan with PAM (or whatever hippie ingredient you want) 
Slice banana
Drizzle Lemon Juice
Sprinkle Salt like a Chef
Bake @ 200 for the longest two hours of your life

Word to the wise: These are not crispy. But I find them even more delicious this way. 

XOXO,
Chef Emily

Dirt Candy Day 4

A beautiful day! Atticus and I walked over to in.gredients to fill our growler with Oatmeal Stout. Atticus bought 6 animal crackers (from the bulk bin. "How many do you want?" "Two! Three! More three?").

I made sweet potato fries, baked in the oven. I served them with ketchup and tomatillo aioli.

I also made the previously promised black bean burgers. They were delicious, and much more successful than past attempts. I held the beans together with an egg and bread crumbs. I also added onion, garlic, and broccoli.

Dirt Candy Day 3

I was going to make black bean burgers, but due to the Texas "light freeze" (40 degrees...maybe?), Hans requested soup and grilled cheese. As it is still vegetarian, I agreed. Not picture worthy, but I will plug the sources of our nourishment.

Wheatsville. Literally the best. They are so, so nice, especially to Atticus. All the food is healthy, ethical, and delicious. This is where we purchased tomato basil soup, Vermont aged cheddar, Sweetish Hill sunflower and flax seed bread, and Shiner Farmhouse Ale.

Shout outs:

http://wheatsville.coop/

http://www.sweetishhill.com/index.html

If you remember, we had to buy bread because the dog ate an entire loaf of homemade Amish bread. When someone requested that I make more, I used my best withering look.

Finally, we finished it up with blueberries and hand-whipped whipped cream. My forearm is embarrassingly sore this morning, and the whipped cream was more yogurt consistency. Isn't that a standard action item on Top Chef? Paul Qui, if you read this, I'm available for private lessons and tastings at all your restaurants (free...obviously)

Tomorrow: probably hummus sandwiches with sweet potato fries.

Dirt Candy Day Two

First course: kale chips. As promised.

Entree: poached egg over stone ground grits and mustard greens. 

I also made two loaves of delicious Amish bread. This picture is taken before someone left a whole loaf on the counter and the dog ate it. No names, but it wasn't me, and Atticus can't reach the counter.

The critics all gave the meal five stars. 

Day One of Dirt Candy week

What is Dirt Candy? VEGETABLES! I wish I made that up, but it has to be attributed to the vegetarian restaurant in New York...Dirt Candy! http://www.dirtcandynyc.com/

For my birthday, Hans got me the Dirt Candy cookbook. Better yet, it's a graphic memoir cookbook. With vegetarian recipes. http://www.amazon.com/Dirt-Candy-Flavor-Forward-Vegetarian-Restaurant/dp/0307952177/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1360818581&sr=8-1&keywords=dirt+candy

So I persuaded Hans to get on board with a week of only vegetarian recipes. Mostly from the Dirt Candy cookbook, but with a few standards, like kale chips.

Day One!

We got our veggie box today, complete with the coveted carrots. So I made Carrot Risotto! Did I also make the carrot dumplings and carrot ribbons? Be serious, obviously not.

I'm just going to be honest here. While I took all the time and love to make a risotto, I did not follow every step. Turns out, to be a respected vegetarian chef, every dish you make must include 667 steps. I did not make carrot broth, I did not use carrot juice, did I mention not making carrot dumplings? However, I did make my own vegetable stock in a beautiful pot inherited from Emily.

Next, I drank a glass of Pinot Noir. Highly recommend.

Finally, lots of stirring, homemade veggie stock, and NPR later...carrot risotto! Rich, filling, and delicious!

Tomorrow, I think I'm going to make a Valentines spread: frozen grapefruit candy, beet chips (cut into hearts?), hummus, kale chips, and some fresh bread. It could be a sight to behold, or it could be a hot mess.

PS - Hans gets to choose the menu for next week. Expect pizza...and pizza...and meat on pizza.

Leftovers for breakfast

So last night I took some of my garden fresh jalepanoes (I know that isn't spelled right, sorry) stuffed them with cream cheese and wrapped them in bacon.

Well I couldn't finish them off last night so they were waiting for me this morning. So I decided to turn them into breakfast tacos; scrambled farm fresh eggs, garden tomatoes, add the jalepanoes on top and good to go. Didn't even reheat the jalepanoes.

Jessica's Vietnamese Pork Vermicelli

Jessica has a favorite Vietnamese Pork & Vermicelli dish that she likes to make, I got to help her last night so I took some pictures.

The sauce was soy sauce, fish sauce, sugar, water, and lime juice.

 Jessica cut up green onion, shallots, garlic, cashews and radishes.

She mixed all of those lovely veggies with a marinade that had honey, soy sauce, brown sugar, and a few other things I can't remember. Then she put the pork in the marinade.

After 30-45 minutes, took the pork out and I cooked it.

Serve over vermicelli noodles and you're all set! Pour some of the sauce over the food for extra deliciousness.

Japanese Beef Stir Fry

Since this month has unofficially been dubbed "Japanese food month" for El Jefe's Kitchen, I did a Japanese stir fry. The basic elements of stir frying were the same, but the flavor was very different from Thai. The sauce soaked into the beef and it was quite good.

Ingredients (this served 6 people with a little leftover) (recipe from allrecipes.com, slightly modified)

• 2.5 pounds of beef
• 1 head of Bok Choy
• 2 red bell peppers
• 4 medium green onions
• 3 celery stalks
• 1 can (10.5 oz) of Beef Broth
• 3 tablespoons of corn starch
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons of sugar
• 3 cups of rice

Directions

• Slice your veggies.
• Slice your beef.
• Stir fry beef in 2 batches until it is browned. Set aside.
• Stir fry veggies in 2 batches. Set aside.
• Mix broth, corn starch, soy sauce, and sugar until smooth.
• Cook sauce in saucepan (I used my wok) until bubbly and thick, stirring constantly.
• Join the beef and veggies into the sauce and cook until heated through.
• Serve over rice.

Garden fresh stir fry

All the veggies came straight from the garden, including green beans, squash, and two kinds of peppers. A sauce of honey, soy sauce, apple cider vinegar, and garlic. It is served over rice.

Pad Kra Tiem (C-Burr's version)

Pad Kra Tiem (C-Burr's version)

First, make your garlic base. For two servings, use 4-5 cloves. Dice the garlic finely, drizzle with 1-2 teaspoons of vegetable or olive oil. Simmer in wok until lightly brown, mix in a tiny dash of sugar to take some of the edge off the garlic, add a splash of soy sauce.
This is what your garlic base should look like.

Slice 1 chicken breast (good for 2 servings) into thin slices

Dice 1/2 red onion (white onion just as good)

Dice 1 bell pepper

Combine everything into the wok. Don't forget your chili paste.

Stir-fry!

I like to add in some herbs and spices at this point in the process. Salt, pepper, herb mixes, etc. Try your chicken, if it tastes a little bland, spice it up! If you use enough garlic, you shouldn't have too much of an issue there.

Final product! Usually this would be served with rice, but, it is good without rice too.

Homemade fries

Gravy and baked fries with bacon.

Herb crusted steak

Last night We had an fresh herb crusted steak on a bed of rice (I use rice a lot) topped with fresh tomatoes and turnips.
This was my first time using turnips so I cooked them in olive oil and salt and pepper. They were good but a little bitter so I add just a bit of honey and they were great.
The steak was crusted in thyme,oregano, and sage salt and pepper. Cooked in olive oil and onions.
The pan was deglazed with balsamic vinegar and a little honey.

Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes!

The title is pretty self-explanatory.

1 1/4 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups shredded zucchini
semi-sweet chocolate chips

Bake for 25 minutes at 400 degrees.

I'll post a picture of Att eating one when he wakes up...be prepared for cuteness!

Easiest blueberry muffins ever

I used to make these all the time in New York, and recently purchased a muffin tin, and now make them all the time in Austin! http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=11738.0

They are technically "vegan," but that just means you can make them even if you're out of milk, eggs, etc. Today I used real milk, and they turned out just the same. I recommend baking for the full 30 minutes, to get a nice toasted top.

Also, the recipe is easy to modify. For example, today I put in chopped apples instead of blueberries, and added a dash of cinnamon. Next time I'll put in shredded zucchini so Att is tricked into loving vegetables. Voila!

Ps - am I single handedly keeping this blog alive?

Cashew Pineapple Quinoa Stirfry

As per the suggestion of Adrian Ogletree, I tried the Cashew Pineapple Quinoa Stirfry, found in the Veganomicon cookbook (http://www.theppk.com/books/veganomicon-the-ultimate-vegan-cookbook/), lent to me by Adrian Ogletree.

Result? Delicious. I was missing the red bell peppers, but I put in corn to add some more veggies.

I recommend this!

Birthday cake check mix

This is a great 10 minute dessert.
And seriously delicious.

Ingredients:
5 squares of vanilla almond bark
2.5 cups of rice chex mix
3/4 cup of vanilla cake mix
1/3 cup of powdered sugar
Sprinkles

Melt 5 squares of Vanilla Almond Bark on very low heat.

Once melted, pour it over chex mix in a large bowl and stir gently coat evenly. Shake sprinkles over the mix. They will stick better before you add the dry ingredients.

Combine cake mix and powdered sugar in a ziplock. Add chex and shake to cover.

Eat.
Enjoy sugar high.
Crash from the best sugar high ever.

THE ROASTED CHICK PEA CHALLENGE

I hereby propose a new challenge!!! A COMPETITION OF SORTS!!! THERE WILL BE PRIZES! MONEY! FAME! GLORY!!!!

Anyway, now that I have your attention. I'm starting a challenge based off of a recent experience.

About 5 minutes ago I pulled some roasted chick peas out of the oven.

I was sorely disappointed. I frowned. And kept eating them. Trying to convince myself they were getting better.

They weren't crunchy. I wanted crunchy chickpeas. And the flavor was just okay, mediocre at best.

Here's what I did:

Drained a can of chick peas.

Roasted chick peas for 10 minutes at 425.

Read online to drain AND DRY really well before roasting.

Cussed.

Made mixture to coat the chick peas in.

(Paprika, olive oil, salt, cumin, chili powder.)

Took chick peas out of oven after 10 minutes.

Coated chick peas in mixture.

Returned to over for 6-7 minutes.

Pulled out of oven.

Started eating.

Disappointed.

HOW DO YOU MAKE CRUNCHY CHICK PEAS?? Chefs, prepare your knives, your time starts NOW!

Where in the world are the McClenagans?

I know I know!!! Well this Saturday we are running a 5K. So we are putting the past two weeks of wisdom teeth diet aside, and eating healthy this week. Look for recipes such as honey-soy broiled salmon! And chipotle orange chicken!

Day Three

Breakfast - Bon Appetit's "softest" scrambled eggs. Basically entailed constantly whisking eggs while cooking. They were fluffy, but not mind-blowing. I'll try again tomorrow. Here's the article: http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2012/04/the-softest-scramble. Bon Appetit recommends serving with whipped cream and caviar. Clearly I did not do that. I don't want Atticus to get accustomed to caviar for breakfast.

Lunch - A fabulous steak and arugula salad by mom. The arugula was from her garden: fresh, crisp, spicy. I had a healthy amount of Nutella for dessert.

Dinner - Atticus was pretty cranky after a long day, so we went to Sprouts for shopping/grazing. While shopping Atticus ate: half an apple, a wheat raspberry bar, a golden rye cracker, and a vanilla green tea cookie.

He also charmed the pants off everyone there. Young male hipsters and eccentric old ladies alike.

Sorry no pictures. Mom's salad would have been the best to document, but we were too excited to eat.