Southwest Corn Cowder

Ingredients:

• 1 can of corn (drained)
  
• 1 can of creamed corn (or another can of corn + some cornstarch dissolved in cold water)
• 3 medium potatoes
• 1 onion
• 1 can of beans (pinto or black, drained)
• 1 can of green chilies
• 2 cups broth (or 2 cups hot water + one bouillon cube)

Awesome optional extras: sauteed garlic, red bell pepper, carrot, celery, pickled jalapeño, or nutritional yeast.

Utinsels: nothing fancy

Directions:

1. Cut potatoes into bite sized pieces and start cooking them with too little water.
2. Sautee onion (and any optional vegetables you're adding).
3. Add corns, broth, beans, and chilies.
4. Once potatoes are mostly cooked, drain half of the water and mash them up a bit.
5. Add potatoes to rest of soup, cook until chowdery.

Extra notes for keeners:
Do not ever, under any circumstances, add a flour, cornstarch, potato starch, whatever, directly to your soup to thicken it. The outside of the balls of flour will cook instantly and you'll have soup that looks like bubble tea (in a bad way).

Palak Chana Masala

Jackie and I hit up this little cafe called Remedy where they serve fabulous Indian food and the best damn Chai Tea on the planet. We get the Palak Chana Masala, which is to die for. Or actually it's the Palak Paneer Chana Masala, but we get it without the Paneer 'cause, you know, vegan and all. This ain't no Remedy, but it might be just the thing if you're poor, lazy, and need to feed a crowd. The smooth, rich sauce and earthy, mildly sweet flavours spell comfort on a cold day (and tasty on any other day.) I'd guess you'd have about 6-8 servings if you're plating this alongside rice and naan. And the ingredients cost less than $10 if you have the spices on hand (as you should!). Talk about bang for your buck.

Veggies:
oil for cooking
1 onion, chopped
6 cloves garlic, chopped
2 inch square piece ginger, chopped
1 carrot, chopped (two if they're flavourless and not very sweet)
1 bag spinach, finely chopped
(it sounds like a lot of chopping, but it should take about 5-7 minutes tops. You can even use a food processor if you have one--it doesn't have to look pretty, it'll all get smooshy when it's cooked anyway)

Cans:
2 cans chickpeas, drained
1 can coconut milk
1 small can tomato paste
2 cups veggie stock, or bouillon in water (I use the fake chicken kind, add more boullion for more saltiness)


Spices:
1 tbsp chana masala spice blend--if you can't find it, don't worry, add a teaspoon more of the following:
1 tbsp cumin seeds, crushed
1 tbsp coriander seeds, crushed (use powdered if you must)
1 tbsp generic, yellow curry powder
1 tbsp garam masala
1/2 cup toasted coconut (toast unsweetened coconut in the over at 350 degrees, stirring often, until toasty and fragrant)

In a large pot, cook the onions and all the spices except the garam masala and coconut in a spoonful of oil over medium heat for a few minutes until soft and fragrant. Add the remaining veggies except the spinach and cook for a few more minutes. Add all the canned things and bouillon. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, stir occasionally for about 20 minutes. Add water if necessary to make a velvety, saucy consistency (you don't want things all sticky, that's just gross.) Toss in the spinach and garam masala, serve when the spinach has wilted, topped with the coconut. This dish should be mostly chickpeas and spinach, with a velvety (not soupy) sauce and mild curry flavour. Adjust quantities to meet this goal, or come up with something different :) Goes great along basmati rice steamed with a few pinches of whole cumin seeds and warmed naan. Or you can wrap it in something. Also great cold for breakfast, as are most leftovers in my books.

Kale and Tofu with Sesame Soy Sauce

I eat some sort of kale and tofu dish every week. It's delicious, filling, good for you, and takes the time to boil a pot of water to make. The first couple times you do it will take a bit longer though, so don't be discouraged, chopping all those things quickly takes practice! This version is an old standby, cause I usually have the ingredients on hand. If you're feeling extra lazy, just toss the sauce ingredients into the skillet when you add the carrots, don't bother mixing them together beforehand. You can serve this alongside a whole grain of sorts; quinoa, brown rice or soba noodles would work well. In fact, if you haven't gotten around to grocery shopping yet this week, this sauce goes great on plain noodles or frozen asian veggies.The roasted sesame oil and miso are the only strange ingredients here. I use a brown rice and soy miso, but use the white stuff if you're wary (it's milder). When buying sesame oil, make sure it's roasted and that it doesn't have any filler oil added- this way you can use less.

1 onion, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 1/2 inch square ginger root, chopped
1 bunch of kale, stems trimmed up to the leaves, sliced very thinly (about three tightly packed cups when chopped)
2 smallish carrots sliced thinly on the bias, or julienned
half a block of extra firm tofu, cut into whatever shape you like- I do triangles

Sesame Soy Sauce:
two tablespoons tamari (fancy soy sauce, use what you have)
two tablespoons of miso dissolved in a third cup or so of warm water
two tablespoons of roasted sesame oil
two tablespoons roasted sesame seeds
pinch red chili flakes, or about 1/2 tsp garlic chili paste (or more if you like the heat)

if desired: green onions sliced thinly on the bias, black sesame seeds to garnish

Bring a lidded pot of water to boil, big enough to accommodate the kale. Add the kale to the boiling water for one minute, then drain and run under cool water. Set aside. Cook the onion on medium heat in a large non-stick skillet. When translucent, add the tofu. Push the onions off to the side if the tofu isn't touching the bottom of the skillet, add a little oil if it's sticking. To make the sesame soy sauce, stir together the tamari, miso mixture, roasted sesame oil, roasted sesame seeds, and chili flakes. When the tofu is just starting to firm up and brown, add the carrots, garlic, ginger, and sesame soy sauce. Cook two minutes, then add the kale, stir it around and cook two more minutes. Plate and garnish. I serve it in cute little asian-inspired bowls with chopsticks, but it's also perfectly fine out of the pan. Serves two for dinner, plus a leftover serving for breakfast. Yum.

Chocolate Pie

This is a vegan classic--everybody has a recipe. But, since we're all special little snowflakes, here's mine.

Makes: one 8 inch pie

Crust:
1/3 c shortening OR vegan margarine OR oil (But not olive oil. Crazy.)
1 c flour
1/2 tsp. salt
3-4 tbsp. cold water
1 tsp. baking powder (optional; see notes)

Filling:
1 pkg. silken tofu (room temperature and thoroughly drained is best. You can also sub any similarly firm soy product, like sour "cream", "cream cheese", etc.)
10-12 oz. chocolate (depending on whether you used a 14 or 16 oz pkg of tofu)
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla (or any extract flavor you have)
1 tbsp. vegan margarine (optional and room temperature)

Tools:
two bowls (at least one must be glass/ceramic)
a rolling pin OR cylindrical alcohol bottle
a sauce pan

Set your oven to something pretty hot (450 F/230 C). Mix together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Mix in fat of choice. Mix in water until dough is sticky enough to hold together but not sticky enough to stick to you. DO NOT OVER MIX. Flour a (clean) surface, roll the dough into a circle bigger than your pan on all sides by 2 inches, roll the circle onto the pin/bottle, unroll the dough into your pan. Poke a bunch of holes in the bottom of the crust (to let air out). Bake until golden at edges.

While you're waiting for the crust to bake, melt chocolate chips in a double boiler (aka ceramic bowl on top of a sauce pan with a little water in it). Blend tofu, melted chocolate, margarine, and extract. Pour into pre-baked pie shell immediately.

Let this chill out in your fridge for a couple hours. It will firm up and be more like fudge than pudding.



Notes for keeners:
The baking powder in the crust is a cheat to sneaky make your crust fluffier without doing all that "cold shortening, cold water, don't touch your dough, don't mix it too much" crap. That stuff works, because it creates cold layers of fat and water within the dough that then evaporate during cooking, lifting the sheets of flour apart. I can't be bothered.

The margarine in the filling is to make it fattier and so tastier. If you don't have it, you can leave it out, but what makes cream pies like this so appealing usually is the fact that they have, well, cream and eggs, both of which are quite calorific.

You can try variations on this pie by adding different extracts, liqueurs, and additions. Some common favorites are raspberry, mint, and peanut-butter, which you can achieve by mixing a little of anything flavored those ways in. Keep in mind that the more you add the more it will change the final texture of the pie.