I set my alarm for noon today. I still hit snooze several times before convincing myself to get up.
I sat around in my bathrobe for hours, drinking cup after cup of amazing coffee.
That's right - Dark Chocolate Ecstasy. You can't tell me that's not a killer name for a coffee. It made the kitchen smell amazing, so Mister and I made and drank two pots.
I've been peeing almost all day, but it was totally worth it.
All day, or more likely between each new cup o' joe, I asked myself with a touch of anxiety, "Isn't there something I should be doing?" Each time, the answer was the same - NO. I did all the food shopping yesterday and we can wait a few more days for laundry, so no, there was nothing that needed doing. It was great to just relax and enjoy my day off.
I'll admit, though, I'm still a little jittery from all that coffee - it's a bit more than I usually drink in a day and it was nearly as consistently administered (via hand to mouth) as it would have been if I had that sought-after IV drip of caffeine. Mister just brewed a pot of decaf, but I am definitely done with coffee... until tomorrow.
Between being overly lazy and overly caffeinated, I definitely had the energy to cook dinner. I made Mexican Rice and Bean Bake from Vegan on the Cheap, although I really ought to put "bake" in quotation marks (like I just did) because I haven't baked this since the first unnecessarily time-consuming time I made this. I find it comes together much more quickly and with less gnashing of teeth when I cook the rice separately from the rest, adding it in once it's fully cooked.
While the rice was cooking, I minced a dark green poblano chili because I think it's wasteful to get those expensive little cans of flavorless and mushy diced chilies. To soften the pieces up a little, I sauteed them with olive oil and garlic for at least 5 minutes, probably longer, before adding in everything else.
That smelled so good and only got better with the gradual addition of salsa, beans, sweet white corn, and then finally, the cooked rice.
I haven't made this in a long time and now I'm kicking myself because I did not remember it tasting as incredible as it did tonight. I'm not in the habit of buying/using white corn, but it added a neat "surprise" to the dish. It was crunch and sweet when you were not quite expecting something like that to be part of the dish, providing a nice contrast against the otherwise savory nature of this recipe.
Last night we had Pasta Florentine from The 30 Minute Vegan.
It was tasty and I always enjoy the nooch-heavy "cream" sauce, but aside from that, it was nothing special and I couldn't think of a single clever thing to say about it. So you just get a half-decent picture. Lucky you!
Showing posts with label salsa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label salsa. Show all posts
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Fiesta-dillas!
Subtitle: I love smoked tofu. Seriously, it is one of the best things ever.
Tonight, I knew exactly what my tastebuds were craving when I got home from work. Well, besides all the amazing cookies I was looking at on flickr for Isa's upcoming book, Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar, but that's another story. There was no second-guessing or mulling over the menu I have posted to my refrigerator door - tonight we were having Fiesta Quesadillas! I grabbed my little gold book and went to work dicing my peppers and tofu and prepping the garlic to be pressed. Everything was coming together very nicely...then it came time to assemble and heat the quesadillas...and I saw something kind of darkish through the bag of shredded cheddar I was intending to sprinkle on my quesadillas. I opened the bag and jiggled it around a little, peered inside, and surely enough - it was mold. Blech. So I tossed the cheese (and therefore the "quesa-") and decided to make the recipe completely vegan-friendly and renamed it Fiesta-dillas.
I didn't take any pictures because they weren't much to look at. I mean really, 'dillas more or less all look the same. If you've seen one, you've seen mine, okay? Anyway, this is another of my originals, premiered to my faithful readers (mom? lissa? rachel? maybe derek?) so I hope you enjoy:
Fiesta-dillas
Ingredients:
cooking spray
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp cumin
3 large cloves of garlic, pressed or minced
1 large orange/yellow bell pepper, diced
1 cup corn
15 oz can of black beans, rinsed
16 oz jar of chunky salsa, whatever heat you prefer
8 oz smoked tofu, diced
1/2 cup shredded cheddar (optional)
Heat oil in a saute pan on medium heat. Saute garlic and diced peppers until tender, about 5 minutes. Add black beans, corn, salsa, and cumin; stir well. Cook 2-3 more minutes, until corn is heated through. Remove from heat and stir in diced tofu.
Spray a square skillet/griddle with cooking spray and heat on medium-high. Lay out a tortilla on your work surface and spoon the tofu mixture onto one half of the tortilla. Fold the other half over and place on the skillet. If it's hot enough, there should be a quiet sizzling sound. Repeat with remaining tortillas, flipping each one after it's cooked on one side for about 1 minute. When the 'dillas are finished cooking, they will be browned on both sides and the tortilla will have become crisp. You may have to respray as you cook, and if you have a sensitive smoke alarm, let me recommend opening a window near your cooking area or employing the exhaust hood. Stack on a serving platter and serve with tortilla chips and hot sauce.
Tonight, I knew exactly what my tastebuds were craving when I got home from work. Well, besides all the amazing cookies I was looking at on flickr for Isa's upcoming book, Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar, but that's another story. There was no second-guessing or mulling over the menu I have posted to my refrigerator door - tonight we were having Fiesta Quesadillas! I grabbed my little gold book and went to work dicing my peppers and tofu and prepping the garlic to be pressed. Everything was coming together very nicely...then it came time to assemble and heat the quesadillas...and I saw something kind of darkish through the bag of shredded cheddar I was intending to sprinkle on my quesadillas. I opened the bag and jiggled it around a little, peered inside, and surely enough - it was mold. Blech. So I tossed the cheese (and therefore the "quesa-") and decided to make the recipe completely vegan-friendly and renamed it Fiesta-dillas.
I didn't take any pictures because they weren't much to look at. I mean really, 'dillas more or less all look the same. If you've seen one, you've seen mine, okay? Anyway, this is another of my originals, premiered to my faithful readers (mom? lissa? rachel? maybe derek?) so I hope you enjoy:
Fiesta-dillas
Ingredients:
cooking spray
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp cumin
3 large cloves of garlic, pressed or minced
1 large orange/yellow bell pepper, diced
1 cup corn
15 oz can of black beans, rinsed
16 oz jar of chunky salsa, whatever heat you prefer
8 oz smoked tofu, diced
1/2 cup shredded cheddar (optional)
Heat oil in a saute pan on medium heat. Saute garlic and diced peppers until tender, about 5 minutes. Add black beans, corn, salsa, and cumin; stir well. Cook 2-3 more minutes, until corn is heated through. Remove from heat and stir in diced tofu.
Spray a square skillet/griddle with cooking spray and heat on medium-high. Lay out a tortilla on your work surface and spoon the tofu mixture onto one half of the tortilla. Fold the other half over and place on the skillet. If it's hot enough, there should be a quiet sizzling sound. Repeat with remaining tortillas, flipping each one after it's cooked on one side for about 1 minute. When the 'dillas are finished cooking, they will be browned on both sides and the tortilla will have become crisp. You may have to respray as you cook, and if you have a sensitive smoke alarm, let me recommend opening a window near your cooking area or employing the exhaust hood. Stack on a serving platter and serve with tortilla chips and hot sauce.
Labels:
black beans,
cheese,
cookies,
cooking,
corn,
cumin,
food,
Isa Chandra Moskowitz,
peppers,
quesadillas,
recipes,
salsa,
smoked,
tofu,
tortilla,
vegan,
vegetarian
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