Dinner - March 1, 2010

I believe this is my own creation. It is Mushrooms, Seitan, and Brussels Sprouts with Pumpkin Seed Oil over brown rice. It was satisfying but nothing special. This is why I still cook from recipes.

Dinner - February 25, 2010

Balsamic Roasted Seitan with Cipolloni Onions and Crunchy Cabbage Salad and Mashed Potatoes with Parsnips
from Berley's Fresh Food Fast.

We had this before and thought it was great. This time I wondered what I had thought was so great.

The onions were very large and ended up a bit strong. The last time they were the size of pearl onions. The cabbage was still good but I was out of walnuts so it wasn't great. The parsnips were particularly strong and I didn't use the full amount noted in the recipe.

I am wondering if I used to like the "meat substitute" way of cooking better.

Lunch - February 4, 2010

This morning I made chili and cornbread for our lunches. The night before we had some prepared soup and bread along side a big green salad for dinner. All of those ingredients were delivered by our new grocery service, Farm Fresh Delivery. It was great to have an easy, healthy, and tasty meal. Next time I will have to order enough for leftovers.

I am working on developing my own chili recipe. Below is a quick rundown on the ingredients.

Kristen's Chili - Try 1
1 onion chopped
2 shallots chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
1 jalapeño chopped
3 mini peppers chopped
1/4 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp oregano
1 tbsp cumin
8 oz seitan ground in food processor
2 tbsp tomato paste
12 oz chopped fire roasted tomatoes
1 14 oz can black beans rinsed
1 14 oz can chickpeas rinsed
1 cup vegetable broth
1/2 cup frozen corn
1 tbsp lime juice
1/3 cup cilantro
Salt

Vegetable broth
Onion trimmings
Shallot trimmings
Carrot tops
Celery
Olive oil
Water

I made the broth as I was making the chili.

We both thought the chili was quite good. I had planned on developing a chili with pinto beans but I was pretty happy with the texture of the chickpeas today. I am not sure which way to go next.

Dinner - July 6, 2009

Sometimes even in the summer you need an easy meal from the pantry. This may be familiar and is from the recipe "Smokin' Drunken Chili" in Myra Kornfeld's The Healthy Hedonist. I posted about this back in June. You can find the previous post here.

I again made this without the beer and with the avocado chopped and stirred into the pot. I also make this in the dutch oven as a one pot meal. This time I served it with corn chips from the store.

I have in my notes that I can make a double recipe in just under an hour so I am going to give this a 3 for a preparation rating as a good week night meal. I feel kind of funny giving something as humble as chili a 5 rating on taste but I would serve this to any meat eaters so I guess it earned it.