Daring Cooks Challenge – Stacked Enchiladas

Our hosts this month, Barbara of Barbara Bakes and Bunnee of Anna+Food have chosen a delicious Stacked Green Chile & Grilled Chicken Enchilada recipe in celebration of Cinco de Mayo! The recipe, featuring a homemade enchilada sauce was found on www.finecooking.com and written by Robb Walsh.

The required part of this challenge was to make a green sauce for enchiladas using tomatillos and roasted chiles. Fortunately for me, I had some Hatch chiles I had roasted, chopped, and frozen last summer.

AND I have tomatillos year round at my neighborhood market. Some cooks were stumped by tomatillos, so if you are not familiar, tomatillos look like green tomatoes with a sticky paper over the skin. It’s hard to describe their flavor, but they taste rather green and definitely enhance Mexican style dishes.

I just boiled my tomatillos to soften them, then pureed them in my food processor. The finished sauce was beautiful.

These enchiladas were not served Cinco de Mayo, but were a gift to my mom on Mother’s Day; hence, the to-go container. This was also more of casserole than a stack. Here’s the first layer.

Since this dish was for my mom, I used real chicken and real cheese. I bought prepared chicken breasts because I don’t remember how to cook chicken, which I shredded. (I would have used mushrooms if I had made a vegan version.) Here’s the completed casserole.

I baked it for about 25 minutes.

Sorry I don’t have a picture of the enchiladas plated. My mom said the sauce was fantastic and enjoyed her casserole very much. Here’s the recipe for the wonderful sauce. It’s naturally vegan, using veggie broth instead of chicken broth.

Green Chile Sauce for Enchiladas

1½ pounds Fresh Anaheim chiles (about eight 6 to 8 inch chiles) 24 ounces 678 grams - roast, peel, remove seeds, chop coarsely. I used Hatch chiles, but poblanos would work well too.

7-8 ounces Tomatillos (about 4-5 medium) 212 grams - peel, remove stems

4 cups broth (32 ounces/920 grams)

1 clove Garlic, minced

½ tsp Kosher salt (add more to taste)

¼ tsp Black Pepper (add more to taste)

2 tablespoons Cornstarch (dissolve in 2 tablespoons water, for thickening)

Hot sauce, your favorite, optional

Directions:
Roasting Fresh Chiles
1. Coat each chile with a little vegetable oil. If you are doing only a couple chiles, using the gas stove works. For larger batches (as in this recipe), grilling or broiling is faster.

2. Lay the oiled chiles on the grill or baking sheet (line pan with foil for simpler clean-up). Place the grill or broil close to the element, turning the chiles so they char evenly. They should be black and blistered.

3. As they are completely charred (they will probably not all be done at once), remove them to a bowl and cover with plastic, or close up in a paper bag. Let them rest until they are cool.

4. Pull on the stem and the seed core MAY pop out (it rarely does for me). Open the chile and remove the seeds. Turn the chile skin side up and with a paring knife, scrape away the skin. Sometimes it just pulls right off, sometimes you really have to scrape it.

5. DO NOT RINSE!

Green Chile Sauce
1. Put a medium saucepan of water on to boil and remove the papery outer skin from the tomatillos. Boil the tomatillos until soft, 5 to 10 minutes. You can also grill the tomatillos until soft.

2. Drain and puree in a blender or food processor.

3. Return the tomatillos to the saucepan along with the chicken broth, chopped green chiles, minced onion, oregano, garlic, salt and pepper.

4. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

5. Add the cornstarch/water mixture and stir well. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is thickened and reduced to 4-5 cups, another 10-15 minutes.

6. Adjust seasonings and add hot sauce if you want a little more heat.

The April 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Esther of The Lilac Kitchen. She challenged everyone to make a traditional British pudding using, if possible, a very traditional British ingredient: suet.

First things first - what is suet? It is the hard but flaky fat found on the inside of a cow or sheep around the kidneys and that area of the body.

Okay, suet is an ingredient that is just tooooo daring for me! I’m sorry, but how a person could seek out this ingredient, bake with it, and knowingly eat it is more than I can comprehend. Needless to say, Smart Balance was my healthy vegan substitute.

Another thing I don’t understand is why one would boil or steam a cake for hours when one could bake it in the oven in 20 minutes. But such was the challenge and I made a version of Spotted Dick, a boiled pudding, using chocolate chips instead of currants.

I made a single serving recipe, which may be the reason my batter was rather wet. But I was able to dust it with a little flour and roll it easily in parchment paper.

I didn’t have a traditional pudding cloth (why would I?) to wrap and boil the pudding in, so I wrapped it loosely in a double layer of foil.

I placed it in a pot of gently boiling water and let it cook for about an hour.

I unrolled it, let it cool, then cut it in two. The cake was firm with a moist crumb.

Yum, fresh strawberries to enjoy with my pudding.

Other than a slightly boiled flavor, it was a good dessert - 3 out of 5 stars.

Potluck in the Park

Last weekend the Austin Food Bloggers got together for a potluck picnic. The food was all very veg-friendly, and perhaps these photos will give you some spring food inspiration.

I usually take salads to these events, but this time I made my favorite savory muffins. Everyone seemed to enjoy them.


Oatmeal Walnut Muffins from Vegan Soups for All Seasons.

Always a favorite of mine, plain ol’ raw fresh fruits and veggies.

Bruschetta

Shredded raw Brussels sprouts with fennel. My first raw Brussels and they were fantastic!

Mango, Grapefruit, and Mint Salad – a delicious flavor combo.

Artichoke Pesto Tartlets. Put a jar of artichoke hearts in the food pro, add your favorite pesto, and spoon into filo tarts. So simple and so fabulous.

Blueberry Cheesecake Bars. I wish I had taken a picture of a plated single bar because it was the most amazing shade of purple.

Quinoa and Black Bean Salad – yay!

Avocado and raw tuna?

Multicolored beet slices stacked with goat cheese and topped with nuts and microgreens. Stunning presentation.

Bread

Chocolate Chip Cookies – the big flat chewy kind.

Swiss Chard with onions and garlic. This was my favorite dish. Chard fresh from the farmers market and perfectly sautéed.

Austin Food Bloggers always rock!

Daring Bakers Challenge - Tiramisu

The February 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen and Deeba of Passionate About Baking. They chose Tiramisu as the challenge for the month. Their challenge recipe is based on recipes from The Washington Post, Cordon Bleu at Home and Baking Obsession.

I have never eaten tiramisu. It must be because I’m not a fan of cheese, and tiramisu is all about the cream cheese. It’s also not the least bit healthy nor vegan friendly, and if you avoid soy as I do, it’s even more unfriendly. Nonetheless, I love these challenges and every month they are indeed a challenge!

Another major component of tiramisu is the ladyfinger cookies. Even though I didn’t use the vegan friendly recipe provided in my version of tiramisu, I did make these cookies. I used applesauce instead of margarine to keep them low fat, and although they were not the melt-in-your-mouth ladyfingers of my memory, they did make a tasty cookie.

My healthy tiramisu was quick and easy – half a banana cut in half, layered with almond cream, and topped with cacao nibs.

This is a delicious dessert I can enjoy and never feel guilty eating!

Here’s the recipe for ladyfingers if you’d like to try a vegan or dairyfree version.

EGGLESS LADYFINGERS

(Source: Adapted from Recipezaar.

This recipe makes about 4 long biscuits (3" long and 3/4" wide).

(I made a half batch and got 3 cookies.)

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons/ 55gms sugar

1 teaspoon/ 5ml vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups/ 340gms unsalted butter (I used unsweetened applesauce)

2 cups/ 250gms all purpose flour

1/2 cup/ 40gms coarsely ground almonds

powdered sugar

Method:
Blend all the ingredients well and adding the coarsely ground nuts last. Scrape the batter into a piping bag with a ¾-inch plain tip and pipe into fingers about 3 inches long at 1-inch intervals onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake them in a 300 degree F (150 C) oven for 30 to 45 minutes till they start turning slightly brown at the edges.

Take them out of the oven and cool on tray for about 5 minutes and then move the biscuits to a cooling rack. When slightly cool, roll them in powdered sugar. Store in an airtight container till required.

Daring Cooks Challenge – Handmade Pita and Hummus

The 2010 February Daring COOKs challenge was hosted by Michele of Veggie Num Nums. Michele chose to challenge everyone to make mezze based on various recipes from Claudia Roden, Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Dugid.

I finally made pita bread, something I had wanted to try for a long time. I mixed the dough by hand and also kneaded for 10 minutes by hand. After the dough had risen, I rolled out eight flatbreads. I think I should have baked them a minute or two longer, but since this was my first attempt I stuck to the recipe instructions of three minutes.

I cut one in half to see if I had a pocket, and I did!

As I am so pressed for time these days, I made this recipe in two parts, making only the required elements of pita bread and hummus. I made the pita bread before I started another diet. (I have my eye on a tiny little dress for Chase and Cat’s wedding!) Since I’ve made hummus at least 20 times already, I decided to make a diet friendly, almost raw zucchini hummus. I followed the given recipe, but subbed in three zucchinis for the can of chickpeas and reduced the tahini to one tablespoon.

It’s not creamy like traditional hummus, but the flavor is good and it makes a fantastic salad topper.

Thanks for all of your congratulations on my son’s wedding. It’s such a fun and busy and happy time. And Happy Valentine’s Day!

Vegan Dinner Party!

Hi, everyone! I’m back from my wonderful week of vacation at my sister’s home in Alabama. The highlight of the trip was hosting a vegan dinner party. We spent the whole day cooking and had a blast. Thanks to all of you who offered recipe suggestions. We decided on a Mexican theme because we love it, and frankly, good Mexican food is hard to come by in Alabama. Your hosts/chefs:

For our entrée, we chose the oh-so delicious Bean & Corn Tortilla Lasagna with Avocado from Eat Drink & Be Vegan.

For our sides we made Messy Rice from Vcon and added in fresh cilantro for a Mexican flair, and a tossed green salad. We plated for our guests and the plates were beautiful.

Here’s our table. You can tell which is my seat by the bowl of broccoli.

Yes, those are margaritas next to some of the plates. The meal was fabulous and our guests loved their dinners.

They also loved the TWO desserts we made. I selected recipes from Vcon which I had made before and knew would be a hit. One was my favorite, Apple Peanut Caramel Bars.

The other was my sister’s favorite, Banana Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding.

Needless to say, the desserts received rave reviews. After dinner the ladies asked for recipes, looked through the cookbooks I had brought with me, and asked me lots of questions about my diet. They said I inspired them to eat healthier, so I’m hopeful I truly did.

My sister had recently bought a Blendtec blender and received a set of All Clad cookware for Christmas. We cooked and ate a LOT and had so much fun together in the kitchen. And my little nephews are enjoying green smoothies every day! During the week I also made Hide the Lentils Spaghetti Sauce from ED&BV (forgot to take a picture) which everyone liked. And we made two soups. Boy, that Blendtec really makes some creamy soup. One was a butternut squash (not vegan because it was made with chicken broth).

The other was Potato Leek Soup from Urban Vegan. (Sorry for the steamy picture.)

Now I need to get off the sweets and back on my diet… again!

Happy New Year! Time to Detox

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope you all enjoyed the holidays as much as I did. After finally finding some time to sit at my computer, I need to catch you up on my holiday eats, so here goes.

Christmas Eve Chili with beans, butternut squash, carrots, corn, peppers. So good we even served leftovers for Christmas dinner.



Christmas dinner contributions – mashed potatoes

Shredded Brussels sprouts with cranberries and pecans (Alton Brown recipe)

Tuscan Braised Beans from Urban Vegan (completely awesome)

And treats – gingerbread men (from leftover house dough)

Cherry and Pecan loaf

Mint chip cookies (obviously not vegan)

Banana Oat Bundles (from Vive), half with dried cranberries, half with mini chocolate chips

And my New Year’s Day dinner – blackeyed peas with brown rice, bok choy for greens, and broccoli because I always eat broccoli for dinner.

I enjoyed way too many treats during the holidays and found myself in serious need of a sugar detox. So I signed on for a Seven Day Detox with The Raw Divas. I began Saturday and feel so much better – yay! I’m eating only raw fruits and veggies. It’s not difficult, but I do miss cooking. I moved my mixer off the counter and replaced it with the blender to make green smoothies. Oh, and salt. I do miss a sprinkling of flavored sea salt on my veggies. I mentioned on my last post that I got a new camera for Christmas. Now even my boring salads can look yummy.

Or a handful of almonds.

See you next time with lots of salads….