Vegan Mofo: Trendy Chile w/ Chipotles, Sweet Potatoes and Chocolate

If you've browsed through recipe pages at all (and yes Mofoer, I know you have) you may have noticed that there are more Vegan Chile Recipes than there are vegans. Everyone has a slight variation with a wild weird ingredient that catches on like wildfire for a bit. For the last few years, you could say these were:

• Chipotles
• Chocolate
• Beer 
• Brussel Sprouts
• Tomatillos
• Sweet potatoes

 Well, I love trying new things and I'm not really married to any special recipe of my own, so whenever I make chile, I go for broke. This time was no different. This chile contained 3-4 chipotles, a handful of dark chocolate chunks, sweet potatoes, and a sip of beer, among other, standard chile ingredients. I served it over soft polenta with some chopped onions and cool yogurt. It was outstanding, if almost a little too trendy.

I would post the recipe, but I don't want to add to the clutter of the online vegan chile world. Just go experiment kids, its hard to mess something so essentially and innocently good!

Song of the Day: Basement Jaxx- Do your thing

Cowboy Corn Cakes w/ salsa, caramelized onions and avocado cream

I whipped up these corn-cakes the other night in a effort to use up some cobs of sweet corn and the rest of the avocado-lime-cream. All the recipes I've seen for them would have made Paula Deen blush by how packed with butter and eggs they were, so I was a little skeptical about coming up with a vegan version. I shouldn't have been, obviously! It never ceases to amaze how unnecessary eggs and butter often are. Not only were these awesomely yummy without being totally heart-attack inducing, but they brought to mind the kind of easy and hearty food cowboys might eat around the campfire, after a long day of... hmmm, what exactly do cowboys do, other than get in fights in saloons? Anybody know?

Well at any rate, they were super topped with spicy salsa and avocado cream and I highly recommend them for yourself and any badass vegan cowboys you may know. Thinly sliced scallions might be a good addition to the batter as well.



Corn Cakes
-1 C. flour
-2 tsp. baking powder
-1 tsp. salt

-1/8 tsp. onion powder/ season salt (optional)
-1 C. soymilk
-1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
-2 C. corn kernels (preferably fresh)
-2 Tbs. earth balance, melted
-1 tsp. agave nectar

1.) Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and onion powder and set aside. If using fresh corn, carefully cut corn off of cobb, cutting close enough to get some of the pulp. (If you're like me, the corn flies everywhere, so maybe do this into a bowl.)
2.) Whisk together soymilk and apple cider vinegar and set aside.

3.) Add 3/4 C. of the corn, the melted margarine, and agave nectar. Process until fairly smooth. (Some lumps= ok.)
4.) Grease and heat a griddle to medium heat. Combine the wet and dry ingredients along with the rest of the corn and whisk together until "just mixed." Ladle onto the griddle in small batches, heating about 2 minutes on each side.

Serve with salsa (as long as its not made in New York City, since cowboys hate that), caramelized onions, and avocado cream or guacamole. :)

Song of the Day: The Thrills- Big Sur

Vegan Mole Power

For the longest time I've been scared to try Mexican Mole sauce. I mean, isn't it obvious why? Chocolate in a savory sauce? Hot things in the food processor? And what to serve it on? But at the same time, I have always been intrigued and peeved when I see "Chicken in Mole sauce" on a menu. So often I find myself craving the sauce a meat is served but being at a lack of things to serve it on. After my recent trip so close to the border, I decided to stop being a pansy and give mole a try... even though it could mean wasting precious organic vegan chocolate *gasp*!

Luckily, after giving the sauce a try I can confidently assert that the V'Con ladies are right... its good on everything. I think I might even use it as dip for tortilla chips. Yum.

So this recipe is an amalgamation of the Joy of Cooking recipe and my own shortcuts and guess-timations, with Isa and Terry as inspiration. Although it was NOT picture perfect, it was SO yummy. I'm totally going to eat it on everything this week, people.

Vegan Mole Power Sauce
3 red chile peppers
8-9 cloves garlic
Chipotles in adobo sauce
Pinches of cloves, cumin, organo, and salt
3 C vegetable broth
1/4 C raw almonds
1/4 C pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
1 small onion, diced
1/2 C diced tomatoes
2 slices bread (I used wheat) toasted and torn into pieces
1/4 C good baking chocolate, chopped
Pinches cinnamon, black pepper

1. First you need to do some roasting. Rub the garlic cloves, unpeeled, with a little EVOO and stick them on a piece of tin foil in the oven on 400 degrees. When they're brownish-yellow, they're done. Meanwhile, roast your chile peppers over an open flame until blackened all over. Set them aside and wait to peel and remove seeds until they are cooled. Don't forget, those things are hot, so don't rub your eyes!*
2. Peel the garlic as well and add soft inside to peppers in food processor. Add pinches of first set of spices, being a little heavy handed on the oregano. Add 1-2 chipotle peppers and a few drops of the liquid they come in. (Reserve the rest of the can for rice and beans!) Now, spin away in your food processor until smooth, adding 1/2 c. of veggie broth as you go. Sieve the mixture and set aside.
3. In a good-sized pot or dutch oven that you can use later, heat a little oil over medium heat. Roast the almonds for about 3 minutes, then put in the food processor along with pre-roasted pepitas. In the same pot, cook onion until browned, then add to the food processor (using a slotted spoon.) Add in chocolate, tomatoes, and cinnamon. Also throw the toasted and torn bread in there. Process that stuff until smooth, adding more broth to smooth it out.

4. Now, we combine. Add a tiny bit more oil to the pot and throw the pepper mixture in there over medium. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until it starts to thicken. Next, add the nut/chocolate mixture. Blend the two together for another 5 minutes until its getting really good and thick. Finally, add remaining broth. Bring to a boil and lower heat. Now is the time to adjust salt, sugar, or heat. You can also control how thick your sauce is by adjusting the amount of broth. I like mine thick. Simmer partly covered for 20-30 more minutes, or until whatever your serving it with is done cooking.

I really, really like this with polenta. Its like my new mashed potatoes and mushroom gravy. It would also be excellent on pumpkin and/or sweet potatoes I suspect... and I fully intend to prove it by the end of the week. ;)

*If you're not big on spicy stuff, maybe you should leave out one of the peppers and some of the chipotle.

**Update** I made an awesome quesadilla-esque thingie with onions, peppers, polenta, mole sauce, plus sour cream and guac to dip. SO divine.

I've been everywhere, man

I just got back from a last minute trip across the ENTIRE country. Literally, I drove from Washington, DC to Tuscon, Arizona in 4 days. Why, when law school is in full swing and I have two other big trips coming up? Well, it seems I have become a travel magnet, and cannot help but attract random far-fetched trips from every direction.

In this case, my little brother (well, he's not really little anymore) had signed up for this outdoor wilderness survival program in Arizona. It looks really rad! The students go spelunking and mountain climbing and learn first aid and all sorts of badass outdoorsy stuff. Plus they get college credit! So my bro had planned to drive across the country to get there by himself, and long story short, I got roped in to doing it at the last minute since its sort of a scary drive. And luckily, I'll take any excuse to get out of dodge. ;) Another lucky thing was that my brother is also vegetarian and doesn't eat cheese- so I knew he would be up for some vegan restaurant exploring.

So we set off from DC in a fully-stocked truck: my Mom had whipped up brownies, cookies, hummus sandwiches, and other treats that should have lasted days (but of course, disappeared pretty rapidly.) All in all we took a tried and true trek through US-40 (historic Route 66). Some food-related highlights:

*Homemade pasta and perfect spicy tomato sauce in Nashville, Tennesee. We somehow managed to avoid BBQ!

*Texas toast, jam and coffee in Memphis for breakfast. Fuel to vamp in front of the King's house and, quote, "get the fuck out of Memphis."
*Cheeseless pizza off 40 in Oklahoma... with Arnold Palmers! (1/2 sweet tea, 1/2 lemonade)



*An awesome vegan Indian feast at Gopurumi in Oklahoma city (corner of 23rd st. NW ad Meridian). Huge potato-filled dosas (pictured), Bhaigan Bharta and of course, a giant Taj Mahal beer to wash it all down.
-Vegetable fajitas with mountains of guacamole in Roswell, NM... and no extra-terrestrial contact (at least, that we can remember...)
*Fabulous selection of salads, mexican food, and sandwiches (no cheese, please!) at the Eclectic Cafe (off Tanque Verde drive) in Tuscon, our final destination.

All this, and the most amazing scenery in every direction. The West is wild, man! I had no idea! Check it out!

Cow country in Oklahoma

Gorgeous scenery outside Las Cruces, New Mexico

Wide open range near Amarillo, Texas


And now, for the sad part. While driving through Texas to NM, we started to smell something horrible. In the middle of nowhere, all of sudden, we could see about a mile of cows, all crowded within feet of eachother. They were so overcrowded and within sight of their final destination: a huge, dirty factory. UGH. We wanted to blow it up- and of course, we passed like 4 more before leaving Texas. I mentioned this to a classmate today who was from TX. She said, "You see? how could I not eat meat growing up in an environment like that?" EXCUSE ME? How could you possibly see that and not be utterly horrified at how cruel and disgusting it is? Its one thing when you are not aware of the origin of your food, or are completely disconnected from the absent referent, but when you see a factory farm like that you can't help but be intimately familiar with the whole horrible process.

It was especially sad in contrast to the cows we saw in Oklahoma- hanging out, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, just taking in the sunshine and wandering in huge beautiful fields. (Here's one!)


Now, I'm nowhere near backsliding from vegetarianism, but even for me this experience was an eye-opener and MORE than solidifed my already confident views: in the words of Herbivore, factory farms are MEAN and NASTY.

PS- We listened to Bright Eyes non-freaking-stop the entire trip, at my brother's insistence, and actually I do think that Cassadega and Wide Awake are excellent fits for Southwestern expeditions. :)

PSS- I have been meaning to post exhaustive travel diaries from my May travels... and I will when I can get the print photos to upload correctly. Better late than on time! Wait, that's not how that saying goes...