"Beef" Enchiladas

Here's a recipe utilizing Meatless Veggie Crumbles. These turned out rather well; my husband went back for seconds. I used Toffuti cream cheese instead of any of the vegan shredded varieties, because I hoped it would melt better. It didn't. But these were still very tasty.

You'll need:
1/2 of a small white onion - chopped
1 green bell pepper - chopped (I charred mine in a grill pan first, but that isn't a necessary step)
1 clove garlic - minced
1 tspn oregano (optional)
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 12 oz package of Boca Meatless Veggie Crumbles (or whatever brand is available)
1 package of Taco Seasoning mix
1/2 cup water
1 small (4.5 oz) can of chopped green chilis
1 large can of red enchilada sauce (1 lb 3oz)
Toffuti cream cheese
Corn tortillas (12 to 16)

Put olive oil in a fry pan; add the onion and bell. Sprinkle salt and pepper on it. When the onion starts to brown around the edges, add the garlic. Stir around a few times, now add the veggie crumbles, the taco seasoning mix, the oregano (if you are using it), 1/2 cup of water and the green chilis. Stir around a bit and take the pan off of the heat.

Here's what my finished filling looked like:

In a 13 x 9 pan, spread a little of the enchilada sauce (so your enchiladas don't stick). I used the sauce right out of the can - I didn't heat it up.
Make your tortillas pliable by heating them up in the microwave - smear some olive oil on both sides of a tortilla, stack up 4 or 5 on a plate and microwave for 30 seconds.
On a small salad plate, put a spoonful of the sauce, place the warmed tortilla on it, add more sauce (about a spoonful) to the tortilla, then put your cream cheese on it. I made a row of the cheese about 1/4 to 1/2 inch wide down the middle of the tortilla. Add your "meat" mixture down the middle, and roll it up. Place enchilada seam side down in the pan.
Continue until you've used up all the meat mixture, or if you only want one pan of enchiladas, you could save the remaining mixture to top off nachos later in the week.
Cover the enchiladas with the remaining sauce and then cover the pan VERY TIGHTLY with foil. Pinch the foil all around so no steam escapes.
Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Autumn Apple Cake

Well first of all, let me just say I make no apologies for my love of cake. It's my favorite dessert, I can pass up pie or cookies or other sugary things all day long. But set a piece of cake down in front of me and I am all over it, unless it's covered in some gluey substance made of shortening and sugar. I dislike most kinds of frostings, and if I use one I will usually melt it down to a glaze or sauce and use much less of it. So I'm always on the lookout for cakes that don't require a typical frosting.

It's autumn and I had a surplus of apples, so I went hunting for an apple cake recipe. This one caught my eye because I'm also a huge fan of cinnamon, and because it uses only 1/2 cup of oil. I won't make a cake that uses more than that. Honestly, this cake is so moist you might be able to get away with 1/3 cup.

I would like to credit the original poster of the recipe but unfortunately I can't. It was just a random recipe I found which was not credited to anyone or even a certain recipe site. But it's fabulous and I wanted to share it.

Autumn Apple Cake

3/4 cup light brown sugar firmly packed

1/2 vegetable oil

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 tablespoon vanilla

2 large eggs

1/4 cup milk

1 3/4 cup all purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 medium apples cored and finely chopped

caramel topping

In a mixing bowl with electric mixer, beat together sugar, oil, cinnamon, and vanilla. Add eggs one at a time beating well after each addition. Mix in the milk, flour, baking powder and salt, blending well. Stir in apples, reserving 1/4 cup of them for the topping. This makes a very thick batter which looks more like a quick bread. Spray a 8 inch square pan with cooking spray and spread in the batter. bake at 350 35-45 minutes. Check for doneness by inserting a knife into the center, if it comes out clean the cake is done. (Don't be afraid to bake longer if needed, this cake is so dense it may need more baking time).

Caramel topping

1/2 cup light brown sugar packed

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup heavy cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup finely chopped reserved apples

put all ingredients except vanilla into small sauce pan and heat until a low simmer is reached. Continue cooking for about 5 minutes on a very low simmer, stirring often. Remove from heat and add the vanilla stirring in quickly. Spoon the apples over the cake and drizzle with about half the sauce. (You could poke some holes with a fork into the cake if you wanted). For best results serve warm with a spoonful of the still warm sauce.

This cake is awesome with some cinnamon coffee. It was a big hit at my house, even with the chocolate fanatic I live with.

(How do you like my beat up old tin pan)

Creamy Spinach Enchiladas

First up, in my development of "Tofutti Mad Skillz" are Spinach Enchiladas. I think they turned out very yummy; the Tofutti acted just like sour cream throughout the mixing and cooking process. I have to say I was surprised. These are a bit of work, but well worth it if you are craving Tex-Mex. I would even serve these to company.

For the Spinach Stuffing: (sauce ingredient list below)

2 Tbls. Olive Oil

1/2 cup onion - finely chopped

1 tsp. dried oregano

1 tsp. salt

2 cups fresh mushrooms - small chop

16 oz of spinach (vat o'spinach, seriously)

2 garlic cloves - minced

2 Tbls. fresh cilantro - rather finely chopped

Here's what that cast of characters looks like:

Here are the steps:

1). In a large pot (perhaps a soup pot) heat up oil till shimmering

2). Add onions, salt and oregano

3).Cover and let sizzle for a few minutes.

4). Add mushrooms

Here's what it will look like:

5). Cover and let simmer for about 5 minutes.

6). Add the spinach - I put in about 7 handfuls to start.

7). Cover and let wilt.

8). Add a few handfuls every 2 to 3 minutes and let it wilt down. Continue until you've added all the spinach (yes, yes....it will all fit. And you'll be amazed at how tiny all that spinach became).

Here's a final pic of the filling mixture: (well, not quite....I let it wilt a bit more after this)

9). Throw in the garlic and the cilantro. Give it a good stir, take pot off the heat and set aside.

Now for the sauce - you will need:

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup flour

2 cups of Green Enchilada sauce (I used Old El Paso Mild Green Chili sauce)

*if you can't find the Green Chili Sauce, just buy plain Green Enchilada sauce and a 4 ounce can of chopped green chilis. In a 2 cup measuring cup, pour the green chilis first, then make up the difference with your canned enchilada sauce).

1 12 ounce tub of Toffuti

Here's the steps:

1). Heat the olive oil till shimmering, add the flour and whip with a wisk until all the lumps are gone. I take it off the heat if it's bubbling too much.

2). Add the 2 cups of Enchilada Sauce and the Tofutti.

3). Whip It!! Whip It Good!!

Here's a pic:

Once it is a smooth consistency, take it off the heat and set aside.

Time to assemble your enchiladas! You will need 12 corn tortillas and a 13 x 9 pan.

Here's the steps:

1). You need to heat up the tortillas so they are pliable. You can microwave them, but I didn't have much luck with that. They cracked when rolled up. So I did mine the old fashioned way - dipped them in hot oil for a few minutes. Just heat the oil in a small pan, with tongs dip them in for about 10 seconds on each side, stack them up on a plate.

2) If you have any leftover enchilada sauce in the can, pour it into the bottom of your 13 x 9 pan so the enchiladas don't stick.

3). Lay your tortillas on your "work" plate, and put a heaping forkful of your spinach filling in it, roll it up and place in the pan.

I just can't stop with the pics:

4). Once you have them all assembled and in the pan (I got 13 total), then cover them with the cream sauce mixture.

5). Bake at 375 for 20 minutes.

Delicious, bubbling goodness:

The one thing I might do differently: halve the sauce recipe. But if you like it saucy, then use the full recipe....you could also scoop up any leftover sauce on your plate with tortilla chips.

If you want to reduce the oil, you could make an enchilada casserole, just layer the tortillas, filling, sauce......do this 2 times and end up with sauce on top.

Spackle

That was my first thought after peeling back the clear plastic overlay. But it's not spackle, it's vegan sour cream. Hmmm...........riiiiiight.

I stuck a spoon in it........kinda bland......really, not much taste at all.

My feeling is that Tofutti can be used as sour cream is many times - as the base of a creamy sauce.

The challenge at hand is to create some delicious dishes which incorporate Tofutti.

I'll let y'all know how that turns out.

Ironman Soup

I grew up in the desert southwest where the food has a lot of Mexican influence. I remember my father buying huge burlap bags of green chilies and roasting them outside over mesquite. Us kids would peel them and bag them for the freezer and we would have delicious green chilies all winter.

My hispanic friends seemed to all have large extended families and as I grew old enough to notice such things I realized that they all drank, smoked, and ate constantly yet the granparents were all spry. Rare was a heart attack, and cancer was unheard of.

More recent nutritional information suggests that the large amounts of onion, garlic and green chilies in their diets (and mine) probably have a lot to do with that. So I use a lot of these ingredients, and much of my food has Mexican influence.

So this soup is not for the faint of heart, but it is good for your heart. And, if you don't mind a bit of heat, it is delicious. (If you do, use canned green chilies instead.) I call it Ironman Soup because its all you need to ward off a cold.

Ironman Soup

1TBSP olive oil
1 small to medium onion diced
5 mushrooms sliced
2 roasted green chilies, peeled and seeded and chopped.(or a can of them if fresh are unavailable. )
4 roasted garlic cloves chopped
1/4 cup of dry navy beans
2 diced carrots
2 diced potatoes
1/2 cup frozen corn
1 32 oz box vegetable broth
1 small can of hominy with juice
pinch of parsley, italian seasoning, thyme, and a bay leaf.

In a large saucepan saute' the onions and mushrooms in the olive oil until the onions are soft and translucent. Don't let them caramelize. Add the broth, and all the rest of the ingredients. Make sure the broth covers all the ingredients, if not add some water. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to low or medium low to simmer. Cook 3-4 hours checking periodically to make sure there is enough liquid. Add water if needed. Soup is done when navy beans are soft. Remove the bay leaf and salt and pepper to taste.

This soup is very flavorful and has a lot of texture. It goes great with most breads, but my favorite is cornbread.

A staple of my cooking: Roasted Garlic

Since learning how to roast my own garlic I have become something of a fanatic. It tastes so much better. Milder and more flavorful at the same time. So I rarely use regular chopped garlic anymore, I almost always use roasted. It's very simple to do, and you can do a lot at once and keep it in the pantry.

Roasted Garlic

One large head of good quality white garlic.
Olive oil.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Break the head of garlic to separate all of the cloves. Slice the bottom off of each clove and then peel, and put into a small bowl. Once you have them all done, get a square of aluminum foil. Place all of the garlic in the center and drizzle with olive oil. Wrap it envelope style and place into a pan and into the oven. Roast for about 30 minutes.
Take it out to check for doneness, it should be translucent, just barely getting brown. If there is no brownness yet put back in for 10 more minutes.
When its done, cool for 15 minutes and then place into a small jar and cover with more olive oil. Put on a tight lid. This stores well in the pantry in cool weather, in warm weather I refridgerate it.

Vague Vegetarianism

Full Disclosure: I am not now, nor have I ever been, a strict vegetarian.
Are you still here? Did I lose anyone?
Ahem........
But I'm easing into it slowly. It really does seem the healthiest way to eat......after all, has a doctor ever cautioned you or anyone you know to "cut back on your vegetables"? Probably not. But we've all heard folks being told to cut back on red meat, sugar, and carbs.
I hope you don't find my Vague Vegetarianism off-putting.
I hope you will join Wren and I on our journey to healthier eating, and livelier living.
And please feel free to offer up any tips or tricks you have.