Mexi-repa!

I'm currently addicted to arepas.  They are a corn cake like a thick tortilla pancake.  Many of them are gluten free and they contain almost no fat and low calories.  They are just corn, water, salt and lime.  I decided to make a veggie topping to put on the arepas.

I took a large pan, put on the medium-high burner and filled it with...

• 2 tbs of olive oil
• 2 tbs of chipotle sauce 
• 1 can of chopped fire roasted tomatoes (or normal tomatoes) with juice (do not drain)
• 1 can of corn
• 1/2 a yellow onion, diced
• 1 large red pepper, diced
• 4 medium tomatillos, diced
• cilantro to taste
• 1 container of extra firm tofu, diced
• 1 can of black beans
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup of water

Let all of the above hang out in the pan for 30-45 minutes until it the peppers are soft and everything is happily stewed.  Pre-heat the oven to 400degrees.  

Pull a cookie sheet that can fit 4-6 arepas on it.  I like using a crisper pan that has holes in it that helps keep the arepas, well, crisp.  

On each arepa, smear some refried beans, heap on some of the mixture from then, top with some cotijo cheese, pepper jack cheese, and then pop into the oven for about 10-15 minutes.   When they are a little toasted brown, take them out.  Sprinkle on some cilantro and some avocado slices.   If you want, maybe even some sour cream.  

It is a light and delicious meal that can be great with chicken or anything else you want to toss on the arepa!  Bueno!  

Yellow Stew

Okay...so it doesn't have the best name but I can't think of anything better.  It started out being a white meatless chili but then I did not have enough peppers and the slow cooker was too full for enough beans to be considered chili.  So it is Yellow Stew and despite its Sesame Street-esque name, it is delicous!

I opted for the slow cooker for this one on high the entire time.  From the moment I started tossing things in until I served it, it took a total of about 4 hours of stewing.

Step 1:  Turn on Slow Cooker on High and add 3 tbs of olive oil.
Step 2: Nuke 3 cups of Potato Leek Soup.  Why nuke it?  Because then it will be hot when it goes in the crock pot.  Getting the slow cooker hot is 1/2 the battle and if you are putting in a lot of ingredients from the fridge, it will take forever.
Step 3:  Add all of the following in whatever order your heart desires:

• 1 whole yellow onion, chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 3 russet potatoes, chopped small with the skin on
• 3 stalks of celery, chopped
• 1 cup of vegetable stock
• 2 yellow bell peppers, chopped
• 3 parsnips, chopped
• 1 bunch of scallion tops (I had them leftover from a salad that used the white parts)
• 1 head of cauliflower, chopped (no stalks)
• 1/2 pound of mushrooms, chopped small
• 2 tbs of salt 
• 2 tbs of peppers
• 1 tbs of garlic powder
• 2 tbs of each rosemary, thyme, sage
• 3 cups of boiling hot water
• 6 dashes of tabasco sauce for some heat
• 1/2 tbs of red pepper flakes

My New Favorite Chicken Technique

We have been trying to cut down on meat and are down to only 2 times a week.  When I do make meat, I try to do something lean and not too time consuming.  I'm tired of dry grilled chicken or baked chicken and I wanted a quicker technique.   Though I believe in buying the bigger chicken breasts and butchering them as you need to (and save money while you are at it), those packages of thinly sliced chicken or pork have always been tempting.

I have twice now bought the thin chicken and lightly coated it in seasoned flour mix.  It is delicious, cooks quickly, reasonably healthy and adaptable.   The mix I used most recently was (roughly):

• 1/4 cup of all purpose gluten-free flour
• 1/3 cup of chick pea flour
• salt
• paprika
• garlic powder
• sage
• black pepper
• turmeric

Impromptu Mexi-veggie Stew

I recently got a root canal in one of my front teeth due to a sporting accident when I was teen, long story.  Well, unfortunately, it means I can't eat anything that needs my front teeth to bite, rip or chomp. So soup, a lot of soup.  Today I brought a can of wonderful gluten free soup that I enjoy at home when I can add cheese and spices but in my office directly out of the can and heated in the microwave was less than uplifting.  Instead of moping, I took action and swung by the grocery store and concocted a fun filling easy to chew chunky stew on the spot...and it was delicious!   The photo to the right is really bland looking because I stewed it for extra long to make sure everything was nice and soft.  Chop off 15 minutes and the veg will be brighter and crisper.

I'm calling it Mexi-veggie Stew because I was in the mood for Mexican, although, I will admit, that there are several at least 2 items in the stew that are not very Mexi at all.

Sauteed Veggies, Fried Eggs and a Rice Tower

This last weekend I was a bit under the weather and wanted something hearty but not too heavy.  I originally thought to Tortilla Espanole but that was too much work and I am horrible at flipping it.  I then remembered an amazing dish I would eat while studying abroad in Madrid. It was essentially a tower of rice covered in tomato sauce with a soft boiled egg hiding in the center.  it was easy and delicious. I thought I would recreate it with my own twist.

I made 2 cups of plain white rice in the rice cooker and while that steamed away I sliced up  some kale and spinach, onions, garlic, a can of diced tomatoes, and some mushrooms and sauteed it all in a  cast iron pan with some extra virgin olive oil.  I put in the onions first so they would brown and then added everything else so the spinach would not get too soggy. I liked using the cast iron for this because it get nice and hot and it would also be great for the eggs.  While everything was sauteeing, I tossed in some sage, paprika and basil.

No-Noodle Vega-rific Lasagna

Who doesn't love lasagna?  cheese, tomato, more cheese.  Gluten-free lasagna noodles ain't so great.  So here is a recipe a gluten free version that is better for you than normal lasagna and super versatile.

First off, pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees and oil up a lasagna pan with some olive oil.  The trick to this lasagna is slicing the veggies super thin.  I used a kitchen mandolin on the thinnest setting.  Select a bunch of different veggies and slice them up thin, grab some ricotta, pasta sauce, cheese and start layering.

Here is the order of layers from bottom to top that I used:

• 2 red potatoes
• layer of ricotta (part skim)
• Swiss chard, leaves only (you can then press down on the leaves to even out the ricotta
• 1 turnip
• 1/2 a yellow onion
• Pasta sauce (I prefer something spicy or something filled with vegetables)
• 1 large yellow potato
• 1 large carrot 

Quinoa-Stuffed Peppers w/ Goat Cheese

yeah...I left them under the broiler too long,
but the were still amazing! 

I'm on a veggie kick lately...it happens from time to time. I always forget how filling a meal can be with out meat.  This recipe is one of those great filling (but not weighty) meals that I always forget about.  And it is easy to make and adaptable!

TIME:  1.5 hours

YOU WILL NEED:

• A Large baking dish with a lid that can go from stove top to oven easily.  I used our large Le Creuset French oven. But you can use a pan for the stuffing on the stove top and a different dish for the oven.  I just like having less to clean afterwards!  
• Rice maker or just a pot.  

First cook the 1 cup of quinoa (red or white) in 1 cup of veggie stock and 1/3 cup of water.  While that is cooking in the rice cooker, prepare the stuffing:  

Sautee in the large pot on the stove, until the onion is translucent and the carrots are soft: