Breakfast Burritos

Breakfast burritos. Yes. It was actually lunchtime, but that is just fine with me! To make them, I started with spanish rice. Then I scrambled some eggs (3 for BB and me, beaten with 2 Tbs water, and cooked half omelet and half scrambled style). I layered the following on a whole wheat tortilla heated over the gas flame: spanish rice, scrambled eggs, shredded monterey jack cheese, diced bell pepper, sliced scallions, cilantro, sliced avocado, sour cream and salsa (I like salsa autentica from Trader Joes).








Of course, I always make burritos too big for the tortilla:

I have included the my recipe for spanish rice, which is pretty awesome if I do say so myself! Even BB, who normally things rice is bland and boring, thought it was amazing!

Spanish Rice

1 small to medium onion, diced
1/2 green bell pepper, diced
1 carrot, diced
3 Tbs oil (I use a mix of canola and olive)
1 c. brown basmati rice
1 c. vegetable stock (I use homemade)
1 can diced tomatoes (this time, I used fire roasted)
salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil over medium heat. Add onions, and saute for a few minutes. Don't stir too much, let them start to color a bit. Add the bell pepper and carrots and saute a few minutes more, stirring occasionally. Add the rice, and stir to evenly coat with the oil. Let the rice brown. Stir often so that the rice doesn't burn - the rice should be light brown all over. This may take up to 10 minutes. Meanwhile, blend most of the diced tomatoes and the broth together. Save approximately 1/4 cup of diced tomatoes. When the rice is sufficiently brown, add salt and pepper to taste, the blended tomato/broth mixture, and the reserved diced tomatoes. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer until done, approximately 40 minutes.

Dining Al Fresco

Today, BB and I ate dinner outside! It was so nice. We ate garlicky greens and beans (mustard and collard greens from the garden cooked in olive oil and lots of garlic):
Home made foccacia (a recipe from The Greens cookbook). I used part whole wheat. The 0lives are for BB - I only put it on part, because I don't like green olives. This is the most successful foccacia I have ever made! I made a dipping oil to go with it (lemon pepper, oregano, dried basil, garlic powder, chile flakes topped with good olive oil):
All of this was eaten with pickled vegetables that BB made a week or so ago (carrots, cauliflower, celery, and broccoli) in the backyard, which looked beautiful after all the yard work that I did today!And, of course, I did not forget the dessert - chocolate banana cream pie! Well, we had some milk that was going bad, and what better way to use a lot of milk than to make pudding? I made a graham cracker crumb crust, sliced two bananas, and topped with chocolate pudding (flavored with a splash of rum):

Bread Pudding

We had some baguette that was as hard as a brick. Perfect because then I could make bread pudding. Bread pudding, much to my surprise, is one of BB's favorites. And he is not really a dessert person. I just made up the recipe. Next time, I might add a bit more sugar and a bit less milk. Also, fruit would be a good addition. This is a very adaptable recipe.

Bread Pudding

4 cups cubed old bread
3 c. milk (I used whole milk - use a bit less if bread is not super hard)
1/2 c. brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. cinnamon
1-2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. raisins soaked in 1/3 c. rum
2 Tbs. sugar in the raw

Preheat oven to 350. Spray or butter a cassarole (or 9x9 square baking dish). Whisk together milk, brown sugar, eggs, nutmeg, cinnamon, and vanilla. put cubed bread in a large bowl, and pour milk mixture over. Stir and let soak for ~20 min. Mix is raisins and rum. Put in cassarole and sprinkle with sugar in the raw. Bake for 1 hour. The custard should be set and the top should be browned. Let sit 10 min, then ready to eat!

Soup!

We have been soup making fiends lately! In the past week, we made Boston Black Bean Soup, Cabbage Soup with Blue Cheese Toasts, and Broccoli-Cheese Soup. All were from "Vegetarian Soups" by Deborah Madison, and all were yummy.

The cabbage soup was very simple, with only a few ingredients (cabbage, onion, potato) but serving with blue cheese and baguette toasts really made it a meal.

The broccoli cheese soup was hearty. A good soup for a cold day!

The black bean soup is flavored with lemon, cloves, and ground mustard. Sounds like a weird combination, but it is very good. The cloves are spicy and warming without being overwhelming. On the side, sliced tomatoes with lemon pepper and fresh baguette.

Lots of Cooking!

I have been trying to cook dinner more since Big Button is big writing. So ... the crock pot has been my friend. Today (actually, made last night to cook today) I made a Marrakesh Tagine, adapted from World Food Cafe for the crock pot. There were a lot of vegetables, including eggplant, potatos, sweet potatos, peppers (red and green), green beans, tomatoes. It was seasoned with black pepper, cinnamon, saffron, and cumin. We ate it with fresh baguette with butter (bought the baguette today from Toscana just down the street), lots of parsely and cilantro, and a nice salad. This is a meal I am definitely going to make again!

Yesterday, I made a steaming bowl of Pho (vegetarian, of course) from Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table. It was made with black mushrooms, rice noodles, tofu, and we had lots of garnishes like cilantro, vietnamese coriander, basil, scallions, peppers, bean sprouts. BB really liked it. I thought it was good, but I felt like it was missing something. I have determined that something to be fat, a richness that is missing with no meat. I am trying to think of what would be good; maybe roasted peanut oil? BB suggested coconut oil (just a bit, so as not to detract from the flavors). I have a hard time with meals that have almost no fat. Funny, I don't seem to have a problem with meals that are lacking other beneficial qualities, but that is just the way things go.

On Monday, I made whole grain mustard and cornmeal crusted seitan, roasted sweet potatoes, and citrus collards with raisin redux. I made the seitan from scratch since I can't seem to find a store around here that sells it. It was not difficult, but a bit labor intensive. It turned out pretty good, and was kind of fun. I would make it again. The mustard-cornmeal crusted seitan was pretty delicious, if I do say so myself. Very nice crust, crunchy but not excessively so. Also, very simple to have such nice results. The recipe is from Vegan Soul Kitchen, by Bryant Terry. The citrus collards with raisins were also from that book, and this is the second time I made them. I used a mixture of greens this time (collards, mustard, kale) sauteed with garlic, raisins, and orange juice. The sweet potatoes were cut in half, brushed with olive oil, and sprinkled with Old Bay (a recent discovery of mine, although probably not a recent discovery for the rest of the world) and roasted at 450 while I made the rest of the food. The whole meal was so easy but so tasty! A good week night meal for sure.