Improv Vegan Chili

While driving home this afternoon I got a craving for a chili dinner. I am pretty good at cooking, but not too great at cooking chili. I think I tried it only once, and the effort did not inspire a repeat. But today I was inspired, today would be different, and today, if I wanted chili for dinner, it would have to be a vegetarian version for my dinner guest. Instantly the items in my pantry sprang into my mind, and I knew I could do it. I followed my instincts and ended up with a chili that was great tasting, satisfying, and good enough to have a second bowl! I can't offer an exact recipe because I really just winged it, but you can follow the instructions and supplement with your own intuition.

In a large skillet/frying pan Add:

One roughly chopped medium onion
One cup lentils (I used petite french green lentils)

16 oz chopped tomatoes (canned or carton)

3/4 cup shredded carrot

Two small ribs celery in small pieces

One small red bell pepper largely diced

1/2-ish tsp pinches chipotle powder (its spicy!)

1/2-ish tbsp chili powder

Pinch coriander

Pinch oregano

Liberal sprinkling onion powder, black pepper, salt, garlic powder

Add lots of water to fill the pan so that you can boil without overflow. 

Boil then simmer until reduced. 

Taste. 

If the lentils are still too hard, fill with water again and reduce again.
Salt to taste. 

Enjoy! (I did!)

*Tie Back - I previously wrote a post about how useful a resource the salad bar can be when you need an ingredient and don't want to purchase as large a quantity as the smallest size offered for sale (http://whatiseeanddo.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-salad-bar-wealth-of-money-saving.html). This morning I spied a carrot in my veggie drawer, but when I was asked to stop at the supermarket on my way home, I decided rather than do the prep work and shred that carrot myself, I would take advantage of the shredded carrot available on the salad bar. 

Newfangled Fish Fry

Tonight I made a faux battered fish recipe, a-la fish n' chips. I'm not from an area where fish n' chips is on every menu, but I usually order it when it is. So I was intrigued when I came across a recipe for a faux battered fish (no flour, no egg, no grains, gluten free), especially since it called for cooking the filets in coconut oil. Instead of 'deep frying' as the recipe directs, I 'shallow fried' these Weed 'em and Reap: Crispy Fish n' Chips. 

(I only made the fish...no chips).

I purchased 1.3 pounds of wild caught pollock for under $10 which fed two adults. I followed Weed 'em and Reap's recipe for the batter but I halved it: 1/2 cup arrowroot flour, 1/4 tsp salt and paprika, 1/8 tsp tumeric. For me, the seasonings/spices could have been kicked up a knotch. If you are planning to half this recipe, I'd keep the salt paprika and tumeric at full strength and just reduce the arrowrooot. Coating the fish in the arrowroot mixture was as easy as could be, it stuck to the fish immediately.

A TIP: when coating your first piece of fish in the 'flour' mixture, do not flop the filet down onto the plate causing flour to shower your counter, appliances and cell phone.

For the cooking, I put roughly 2 tbsp of coconut oil in a non-stick frying pan. I did not use a thermometer as indicated in the recipe because I was not deep frying. When tiny dots of sprinkled flour started sizzling in the oil, I decided it was time to place the filets in. I let them cook on one side until golden brown, and then flipped.

A TIP: when flipping fish filets in very hot oil, do not flop the filet down into the pan causing the oil to splash onto your hand and clothing.

When the fish was golden colored and cooked through I removed the pieces and placed them on a paper towel on a plate. The final product looked and tasted very good.

Mexican Breakfast

On the weekends I usually have some creative breakfast ideas brewing, and today was no exception. This creation turned out to be really delicious and I'm extra proud because it is made from all "whole food" ingredients, nothing processed and everything home made (except for the cholula hot sauce). Another great thing about today's breakfast was that I was able to use some things I already had in the fridge. 

And I present to you:

Griddled Brown Rice Patty with Mixed Beans and Fried Egg

I used cooked brown rice from the fridge to make the patties. I put two handfulls of cold rice into my Blendtec blender on the "grind grains" setting until it was fluffy and uniform. I seasoned the rice meal with salt and pepper.

Then I formed the mixture into flat patties and put them on the griddle with a little butter.

Using the brown rice was more nutritious than an average slice of bread, and beans on bread is just too fluffy/starchy for me. The rice patties came out crisp and sturdy, a nice contrast to the soft beans.

I fried some farm fresh eggs hatched only days ago that I picked up with my first CSA share from my local organic farm.

Finally assembly:
I topped the brown rice patty with a spoonful of mixed beans (previously cooked with chicken stock), a generous dousing of Cholula hot sauce and a beautifully orange yolked egg.


Yum. And it was a hit with my testy tester as well.

         

Kids Today

I have always been envious of the young people growing up in the Woodstock generation. Young people who left home for San Francisco with a flower in their hair, feeling free to get weird and be whoever they thought they were. To me, these young people represent the birth of individualism. They were first generation to disregard the mold created by their parents' generation. (I understand that this may not be an accurate discription of youth in the 1960's and 1970's, it's only my (an 80's kid's) impression of it).

Now, as it turns out, its all happening again.

Thanks to Glee, Youtube, American Idol, Etsy, and other resources available today, what used to be labeled nerdy and shun-worthy is no more. Chorus is now cool? You are actually uploading that video of your mediocre singing and strumming of a guitar? Middle School and High Schoolers can now come out as gay? A small business start-up is your after school activity? All of these things were unheard of when I was in school.  

While I am happy for the young people growing up now, I am also desperately sad that I was too shy to pursue my own interests. Now, decades later, I am finally working up the courage.

The Salad Bar - A Wealth of Money Saving Opportunity

Until recently, when I thought of the salad bar, I thought of the chance to exercise my "eyes bigger than my stomach" muscle, and to pay way more for my meal than I had anticipated. While that aspect of the salad bar remains true, I have rediscovered the salad bar as a wealth of ingredient opportunity for relatively little cost.

 

Sundried Tomatoes: In an attempt to copy the paralyzingly delicious namesake sandwich from the Red Onion in Burlington, Vermont, I was preparing "Red Onion" sandwiches for some lunch guests. The sandwich requires sundried tomato mayonaise. I have never been a big fan of sundried tomatoes and I knew that if i bought a container of them, they would go to waste, along with the money I used to buy them. Then I had a lightbulb moment: I could just grab a few off the salad bar! So for a few cents, I purchased all the sundried tomatoes I needed.

 

Pepperoni:  Next was just last week when I needed pepperoni to make pizza paninis for a quick dinner. I knew I didn't want to purchase an entire package of pepperoni, so I headed to the salad bar and plucked out ten sices. Then I spyed grilled sliced chicken in one of the cubbies, and after confirming that it didn't taste gross, I added that to my container. I rounded out the shopping trip with ten small fresh mozzerella balls. I checked out with one container costing around $4. Along with pizza sauce, mushrooms and spices, the paninis were great. And I wasn't stuck with a whole package of pepperoni.

Shredded Carrots: I grabbed these to save time and effort, when I made my Improv Vegan Chili. 

Check it out:

(http://whatiseeanddo.blogspot.com/2013/09/improv-vegan-chili.html)

 

So, next time you need a small amount of an ingredient that you probably will not use again, go grab it from the salad bar. You'll save money and valueable space in your fridge.