Chili Mac

This ain't gourmet. This is "we need to go shopping, TOMORROW" food, but it's tasty and you can make it with a few ingredients from your spice cupboard and pantry. We eat this once or twice a month at my house. If you have an onion (I usually do), chop it up and saute it in the margarine before adding the other ingredients.

Chili Mac

1/2 lb dried pasta, cooked
1/4 cup margarine
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can chili beans in sauce (plain pinto beans work too)
1 T ground cumin
1 T chili powder (the blend, not straight-up red pepper)
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 cup nutritional yeast

Cook pasta according to package directions, drain and set aside. In a saucepan, mix margarine, tomatoes, beans and spices and bring to a boil; add nutritional yeast, cooked pasta and stir. Remove from heat and serve.

Banana Cake

Moist, sweet and dense, this cake is easy to make and so tasty... like little spiced banana brownies. It holds up really well and has a creamy, almost custard-like texture on top after a day or so. I want to try making this with cocoa powder sometime and see if it's as good as it sounds!

Banana Cake

2 1/4 cups flour
1 1/4 cup turbinado sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 T pumpkin pie spice
1 cup very ripe bananas, mashed (about 3)
3/4 cup soy milk with 1 T apple cider vinegar mixed in (let sit a minute or two before adding to batter)
2/3 cup vegetable shortening (can reduce to 1/2 cup)
1 tsp vanilla

Grease and lightly flour a 9x13" baking dish and preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large mixing bowl, cut sugar into shortening until fluffy. Add remaining wet ingredients and blend with a mixer or whisk until smooth.
Slowly stir in the dry ingredients and beat with an electric mixer, again, until the batter is smooth. Pour into the floured 9x13 pan and bake at 350 for 35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool thoroughly on a rack before serving.

Basil-Tofu Ricotta

Mom got me a copy of Vegan with a Vengeance for Christmas last year, and I've found some real gems in there. This seasoned tofu is so, so good... the author recommends putting it on pizza or stuffing it into pasta shells, but I also like it on crackers, in sandwiches and I've even sort of eaten it right out of the bowl. >_>

Basil-Tofu Ricotta

1 lb firm tofu, pressed
2 tsp lemon juice
1 clove garlic, minced (or 1/4 tsp garlic powder)
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp dried basil
dash of freshly-ground black pepper
2 tsp olive oil
1/4 c nutritional yeast

In a large bowl, mush the tofu, lemon juice, garlic, salt, pepper and basil thoroughly with your hands until it's about the consistency of ricotta cheese. This may take 2-5 minutes! Next, add the olive oil and nutritional yeast and stir well. Don't use your hands for this part, you'll get all sticky. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

(Note: I've had success using a fork to mash this, if I don't feel like getting my hands dirty. It's a bit more lumpy, which makes it a perfect substitute for egg salad. Do yourself a favor and make a sandwich out of this. I just ate one. It was friggin' good.)

Split Pea Soup

Sorry mom. I didn't like split pea soup, even though you made it with love. It was green, grainy mush with creepy ham bits in it. I'm sure it's not really as bad as I remember it being when I was a kid, but gawd I would have eaten grass off the front lawn instead, if I'd had a choice! Recently, I went to the Atlanta farmer's market and saw a bag of dry yellow split peas and decided that for under a buck, I could give 'em another shot. It was totally worth it! This soup is colorful, flavorful and delicious... even Ethan loved it.

Split Pea Soup

1 lb dry yellow split peas, sorted and rinsed
2 T olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 carrots, grated
2 stalks celery, sliced thin
1 1/2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 large vegetable bullion square
1 tsp salt
several dashes freshly-ground black pepper
8 cups water

Saute onion in olive oil over medium heat for 3 minutes, then add carrot and celery and cook another 5 minutes or so, until soft. Add remaining ingredients (or transfer to a large soup pot, if you're not using the same pan) and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat, simmering for 45 minutes to an hour, until peas are very tender and falling apart. (Some people recommend putting some or all of the soup through a blender, but I like the texture as is.) Serve hot with whole-grain toast or dinner rolls, yum.

Spicy Lemon Marinara

Is it dinnertime already? What's in the kitchen? Half a lemon, ruffly pasta, can of tomatoes. A couple nights ago I was too hungry to care if it would be weird... put enough sugar or salt in something and it'll turn out okay, right? Well, it was tangy, sweet and with just enough spice to warm me up. I bought a whole bag of lemons to keep experimenting. Enjoy!

Spicy Lemon Marinara

1 T olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 lb button mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 can petite-dice tomatoes
1 tsp sugar
2-3 tsp dried herbs (any combination of basil, thyme, rosemary, and/or oregano)
juice of 1/2 a lemon
a few shakes of red pepper flakes
salt to taste

Put oil in a large, shallow pan over medium-high heat, add onion and saute until fragrant and just starting to turn translucent (about 3 minutes), then add garlic and mushrooms. Cook another 3-5 minutes, stirring often, until the onion is soft and the mushrooms are cooked through. Stir in tomatoes, sugar, herbs, lemon juice, and pepper flakes. When it bubbles, add salt to taste (I used about 1/2 tsp), turn down the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes while you cook your pasta. Add water to thin the sauce, if needed. Serve over the hot, cooked pasta of your choice, with steamed asparagus or broccoli and garlic bread.