Asparagus and Mushroom Quiche with a Brown Rice Crust

Chris, of the popular vegan food blog Eat Air, observed in a post last week that the overwhelming majority of vegan food bloggers are women. To address this disparity and provide some good male role models for his son, he posted a challenge to the men of the house: Cook something and then write about it.

When I read the post to D, he agreed to take on the challenge and began mulling over what he could cook. I've mentioned before that when we first started dating D impressed me with his cooking skills, wowing me with roasted vegetables in balsamic sauce, couscous with curried vegetables, and other delicious dishes that he created from his stash of vegetarian cookbooks. If he had the time, I'm sure he'd want to do more of the cooking around here--that is, if I'd let him. Cooking is the one domestic duty that I actually enjoy, so I tend to hang onto it as my "thing." (I allow dish washing and cleaning the litter boxes to be his things.)

So, he was planning to do a little cooking over the weekend, but on Thursday morning, I woke up with lower back and hip pain that worsened over the next few hours so that by dinner time, I could barely walk. For the next three days, D took over all the household as well as parental duties, even spending all day Thursday at the district science fair with E (proud parent moment: she won 6th place in microbiology for her project on yeast). We ordered take-out on Thursday night, but for every other meal, D was in the kitchen cooking. Unfortunately, no photos were taken, dashing his hope of food blogging glory. Still, he was my hero, singlehandedly taking on everything while I sat by helplessly, back pressed up against an ice pack, popping pain killers and reading mystery novels.

By Sunday night, resting, icing, and stretching exercises had reduced the pain so that I felt steady enough on my feet to attempt to cook. Sitting on an ice pack had given me a lot of time to think about what I wanted to do with the asparagus in my fridge, and I'd worked up quite a craving for quiche. I could have added asparagus to my Mini Crustless Quiches, but I wanted something a little more filling. I decided to try making a full-sized quiche with brown rice as a gluten-free, fat-free crust.

I'm happy to report that it was an resounding hit, adult as well as kid-friendly. I'm not so happy to report that it remains a light meal--light in the sense that it won't fill you up. Though I've written it up as 4 servings, the three of us finished the whole thing and would have put a big dent in a second one, had there been one. My advice for this quiche is the same as for the mini quiches: Serve it with plenty of side dishes or be prepared to make a double batch.



Asparagus and Mushroom Quiche with a Brown Rice Crust
(printer-friendly version)

Brown rice makes a crispy, chewy crust that makes this quiche more satisfying without adding refined flours and fat.

One 12-ounce package firm or extra-firm silken tofu*
1/4 cup plain soy milk
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon tahini
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
3/4 teaspoons salt

2 cups cooked brown rice
1 tablespoon vegan parmesan (optional)
freshly ground pepper, to taste
1 bunch asparagus (about 12 ounces)
1/4 cup shallots, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 heaping cup (about 4 ounces) sliced mushrooms
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
olive oil spray

Preheat oven to 350. Put first 8 ingredients (tofu through salt) into blender. Puree until completely smooth, stirring a couple of times between blending.

Mix rice with 3 tablespoons of the tofu mixture and the vegan parmesan (optional). Add freshly ground black pepper to taste. Spray a pie pan with cooking spray or canola oil, and press the rice into the bottom and up the sides of the pan.



Bake for 8 minutes. Remove from oven.

Snap the tough ends off the asparagus and discard. Cut off the top 3 inches and set aside. Chop the remaining stalks into 1/2-inch pieces.



Spray a medium non-stick saucepan with olive oil and heat. Add the shallots and cook for about 1 minute. Add the garlic, asparagus, and two tablespoons water. Cover and cook for 2 minutes. Add the mushrooms, bell pepper, and 2 more tablespoons water. Cover and cook 2 more minutes. Remove cover, sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste, and cook, stirring, for a minute or two until most liquid has evaporated. Separate out the asparagus tips from the rest of the vegetables. (NOTE: Next time I will not pre-cook the asparagus tips; they should cook well enough in the oven.)

Spread the vegetables (excluding the asparagus tips) on top of the rice crust. Pour the remaining tofu mixture over the vegetables, stirring lightly to distribute it through the vegetables. Arrange the asparagus tips over the top and spray lightly with olive oil.



Bake for 60 minutes. Let cool for about 10 minutes before cutting (this helps make the quiche slice more cleanly, but if you don't care about that, go ahead and dig in; we did!)

4 servings: 223 Calories (kcal); 5g Total Fat; (18% calories from fat); 12g Protein; 34g Carbohydrate; 0mg Cholesterol; 441mg Sodium; 4g Fiber. Weight Watchers Core (omit tahini)/4 Flex Points.

*Tip: Make this lower in fat by using lite silken tofu and fat-free soy milk: 200 Calories (kcal); 2g Total Fat; (10% calories from fat); 11g Protein; 34g Carbohydrate; 0mg Cholesterol; 485mg Sodium; 4g Fiber. Weight Watchers Core (omit tahini)/3 Flex Points.

Tags: vegan recipes vegetarian cooking food fat-free

Pasta with Asparagus, Cannellini Beans, and Porcini Cream

One of the things I love most about this time of year, besides the flowers and the birds and not having to wear a jacket all the time, is that fresh asparagus is actually affordable. When the price drops below $2.00, I start buying two or three bunches at a time and eating it almost every day. It's one of those vegetables I consider luxury foods, and it fits easily into just about any type of meal. Making a stir-fry? Throw it in. Need a side dish? Roast some up. Quickie pasta? Roast it, stir-fry it, or steam it and toss with noodles for an elegant meal that doesn't require you to spend all night in the kitchen.

And that's basically what I've done here. This sumptuous recipe makes use of seasonal asparagus as well as one of my year-round staples, dried porcini mushrooms. They're great for adding a deep woodsy flavor to sauces, soups, and stews, and I particularly like the contrast of the fresh, green asparagus with the earthy mushrooms. Adding the porcini soaking water to the dish amps up the mushroom flavor, but be sure to strain it first; I've had dishes come out with sandy grit when the porcini juice hasn't been filtered--not a pleasant mouth-feel!



Pasta with Asparagus, Cannellini Beans, and Porcini Cream
(printer-friendly version)

It's not exactly ridiculously easy, but this recipe comes together fairly quickly when you cook the pasta at the same time as you do the sauce and asparagus.

1/2 ounce dried porcini mushrooms
1/2 cup boiling water
12 ounces pasta of choice (I used campagnelle but could use gluten-free)
1 pound asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1-inch lengths
1/2 cup light silken tofu (or firm silken)
1/2 cup plain soymilk
1 clove garlic
1 pinch nutmeg
salt and pepper, to taste
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon sherry
15 ounces cannellini beans (or great northern beans), drained and rinsed

Pour the boiling water over the mushrooms and soak until they are completely rehydrated, about 20 minutes. Strain them through a fine sieve or a coffee filter, catching and reserving the liquid; rinse them if gritty and chop. Set aside.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling water until al dente. When it's done, drain it, reserving 1/2 cup of the cooking water, and put pasta into a serving bowl.

While the pasta's cooking, blend the silken tofu, soymilk, and garlic until smooth. Pour it into a saucepan, add a pinch of nutmeg and the reserved mushroom liquid and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the lemon juice, sherry, and the drained beans. Add salt and pepper to taste. Simmer until beans are warm.

And while that's cooking, steam the asparagus until tender but crisp, about 5 minutes.

Add the asparagus to the cooked pasta and toss in the sauce. If it seems dry, add a little of the pasta cooking water. Add more salt or pepper to taste and serve.

Serves 4. Per serving: 446 Calories (kcal); 3g Total Fat; (5% calories from fat); 19g Protein; 85g Carbohydrate; 0mg Cholesterol; 258mg Sodium; 8g Fiber. Weight Watchers: 8 Flex Points.

Tags: vegan recipes vegetarian cooking food fat-free

Twitter

New recipe coming up! In the meantime, I wanted to point out that I've added something to the right sidebar, a little box entitled "what am I doing." I've signed up with Twitter, a micro-blogging service that lets me send little updates throughout the day telling you (or anyone who's interested) what I'm doing right at that time.

Unfortunately, my life is about as exciting as leaf mold, so what you're apt to see are announcements of what I'm eating or what I'm thinking of cooking or links to articles I've found interesting or photos I find funny (Warning: There may be Lolcats). If you're interested, just look for the little box near the end of the right-hand column and check it periodically; if you're very interested, sign up at Twitter, where you'll be able to "follow" me (sort of like cyber stalking without the ickiness) and record your own little "tweets."

Dublin Coddle with Vegan Irish Sausages

Finding something different to make for St. Patrick's Day isn't easy when you've never been to Ireland and have no idea how authentic any of the dishes that we Americans think of as Irish actually are. I set out looking for something different from the Corned "Beef" and Cabbage I'd made last year, something that hadn't already been made vegan a dozen times before like Colcannon, and finally settled on Bangers and Mash, a favorite in Irish pubs in the United States. And then I saw this: "An Irish Sausage is not a Banger." According to this Irishman, sausages are called bangers in England, but not in Ireland (though I wonder if in these multicultural times the term hasn't been adopted in at least some parts of Ireland).

So, it turns out that Bangers and Mash is not an Irish dish, and I really, really wanted an authentic Irish dish for the occasion. I already had my taste buds set on using Julie Hasson's brilliant steamed sausages technique to make Irish Sausages (as I now knew they should properly be called), so I started looking for other recipes in which to use them and stumbled upon Coddle (it was actually mentioned in the article that disillusioned me about bangers, so I had to check it out). This simple stew looked like the perfect vehicle for my vegan sausages.



Coddle contains a few standard ingredients--sausage, potatoes, onions, parsley, and bacon. Making it vegan just meant substituting vegan sausage for pork and leaving out the bacon, though to make up for the bacon flavor, I added a little Liquid Smoke to the broth. The coddle is then slow-cooked (or "coddled") until the vegetables are tender; adding dark beer near the end increases the authenticity of the dish and deepens the flavor. (Don't use Guinness, even though it's traditional, because it isn't vegan; check online sources for vegan beers.)

It's simple, yes, but absolutely delicious--hot and filling and the very definition of "comfort food."


Coddle before cooking

Dublin Coddle with Vegan Sausages
(printer-friendly version)

4 Irish Fauxsages (see below) or about 12 ounces of other vegan sausage, sliced 1/2-inch thick
1 1/2 pounds baking potatoes (about 4 medium), cut into 1/2-inch slices
1 large onion, sliced
2 tablespoons parsley, minced
salt and pepper, to taste
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth or prepared bouillon
1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke flavoring
3/4 cup dark beer (optional)

Brown the "sausages" in a non-stick skillet. In a large Dutch oven with a heavy lid, layer the ingredients in this order:

• Half of the potatoes
• Salt and pepper
• Half of the onions
• Half of the parsley
• All of the Fauxsages
• Remaining Potatoes
• Salt and pepper
• Remaining Onions
• Remaining Parsley
  

Mix the Liquid Smoke into the broth and pour it over all. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to the lowest setting and cover tightly. Cook for about an hour, or until potatoes are very tender. Add the beer if you're using it, and simmer for about 15 minutes more. Ladle into bowls and serve with Irish Soda Bread.

Note: This could easily be cooked in a slow cooker; for best results, double the recipe for large crockpots and cook on low for 6-8 hours.

Makes 4 servings. Per serving (without beer): 293 Calories (kcal); 4g Total Fat; (7% calories from fat); 25g Protein; 43g Carbohydrate; 0g Cholesterol; 589mg Sodium; 5g Fiber. Weight Watchers Flex Points=5.

With beer: 311 Calories (kcal); 4g Total Fat; (6% calories from fat); 25g Protein; 44g Carbohydrate; 0g Cholesterol; 591mg Sodium; 5g Fiber. Weight Watchers Flex Points=6.

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If you haven't tried it yet, you have to make a batch of Julie's Spicy Italian Vegetarian Sausages. The recipe is wonderful in its simplicity and its consistently delicious results. You can see for yourself how easy it is by watching Julie's video. She's even challenged people to put their own spins on the recipe, so if you do a Veg Blog Search, you'll find dozens of different sausage variations on other blogs.

Since Irish sausages are mild and sweet, not spicy or smoky, for my Irish variation I completely changed the spices to reflect traditional Irish sausage recipes. Marjoram, ginger, and nutmeg are standard, but since gluten doesn't have any flavor of its own, I needed to add a few non-traditional seasonings--sage and thyme--to build up a flavor base. Irish sausages typically contain bread crumbs as a binding agent, so I added some to mine, making them moister and a little less firm than Julie's original recipe (a good thing, in my opinion, though how firm you like your sausage is a matter of personal taste!) They turned out the texture and color of cooked Gimme Lean, and I think they'd make a nice breakfast sausage, perhaps with just a touch of smoked paprika or Liquid Smoke.



Irish Fauxsages (Vegan Irish Sausages)
(printer-friendly version)

1 vegan bouillon cube (enough to flavor 2 cups water, see below)
1 slice whole wheat bread
1 cup vital wheat gluten (about 4.5 ounces or 127 grams)
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1/2 tablespoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon marjoram
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon ground sage
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon flax seeds, ground

1 cup cool water
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon cashew butter
1 tablespoon soy sauce

Dissolve the "beef" bouillon cube in 2 tablespoons of hot water and set aside to cool. Toast the piece of bread until medium-brown, and then put it into the food processor and pulse until it's in fine crumbs.

Put the bread crumbs into a large bowl and add the remaining dry ingredients, wheat gluten through flax seeds, stirring well to distribute the seasonings evenly. Mix the bouillon mixture with the cool water in a large measuring cup or bowl and add the garlic, cashew butter, and soy sauce. Whisk or blend with a hand blender until ingredients are well-distributed.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, and stir to mix just until evenly moistened. Add a little more water if it seems too dry.

Place a piece of aluminum foil on the counter, and scoop 1/2 cup of gluten mixture onto it. Shape into a rough tube, fold the bottom edge of the foil over the gluten, and roll up. Roll the tube back and forth, pressing lightly with your hands, to give it an even shape, and then twist the ends closed. Repeat with the remaining gluten to form 5 sausages.

Place all the sausages in the top of a steamer, cover, and steam for 35 minutes. Remove them from the heat and let cool until easy to handle. Fauxsages can then be used in recipes or eaten as-is. (I always eat one right away--just to check the quality, of course!)

Makes 5 sausages. Per sausage: 157 Calories (kcal); 4g Total Fat; (10% calories from fat); 22g Protein; 10g Carbohydrate; 0mg Cholesterol; 614mg Sodium; 2g Fiber. Weight Watchers Flex Points=3.



In this recipe I used one cube of Edward & Sons' Not-Beef Bouillon; it's vegan, and one cube flavors 2 cups of liquid. Since I wanted the flavor to be a little stronger than normal bouillon, I used double the amount, so if you're using another kind of bouillon or broth powder, I recommend using enough to flavor two cups of water.

Happy St. Patrick's Day...2009!

Tags: vegan recipes vegetarian cooking food fat-free

What I Did on my Spring Break Vacation

Warning: Photo-heavy post. No food. Much water.

I have food for you, a St. Patrick's Day dish that is actually two recipes in one. Making it took up most of the day on Sunday, and I'd hoped to get it posted in time for the holiday itself. What I forgot to take into consideration is that D and I were leaving early the next morning to drive up to Johnson City, Tennessee, to pick up E, who had been visiting friends there.

I'll get the recipes posted soon (at least in time for the next St. Paddy's Day!) In the meantime, here's a look at DeSoto State Park near Fort Payne, Alabama. It's near the halfway point between here and our friends in Tennessee, so on our way home, we stayed in one of their rustic CCC cabins, perched on a cliff just above a rushing river...



...which we could hear from our cabin's porch. It afforded lots of opportunities for dueling photography:



(Somehow all of the photos of me disappeared from D's camera. Hmm. Wonder how that happened.)

We arrived late in the day, threw our stuff into the cabin, and set out on a hike along the river.



Though she was tempted to take a little swim, E managed to stay safely on the rocks the whole hike. Along the way, we walked under waterfalls...



...stood alongside waterfalls...



...and even passed over a waterfall or two.



In a few weeks, this whole area will be ablaze with rhododendrons, but the only flash of color we were treated to was this butterfly:



After our hike, we returned to our cabin to sit on the porch and enjoy a a glass of wine (Naked Juice for E) before dining on spaghetti, sourdough garlic bread, and steamed broccoli. Somehow simple food tastes like a gourmet dinner when you're worn out and surrounded by nature.

When we awoke the next morning, the rain was pouring down, so we skipped the hiking we had planned and went up to the park's lodge for a breakfast of grits, English muffins, and hash browns (I call it the Vegan High-Carb Special). E stepped out onto the deck for a last view of the hills before we headed back through the rain to Mississippi.



There were too many sights that we didn't get to see, including DeSoto Falls and Little River Canyon. The next time we pass through, we definitely plan to spend more time in the lovely northeastern corner of Alabama.

P.S. If you've emailed me, I haven't forgotten about you! As soon as I sort through the mountain of email that accumulates after being off-line for 3 days, I'll get back to you.

Porcini Wonton Ravioli

I went a little wrapper crazy on a recent trip to the Asian market. For some reason, I felt compelled to pick up wonton wrappers, gyoza, spring roll wrappers, and thin sheets of tofu. I didn't really have anything in mind to do with any of them, and since they were all frozen, I figured I could take my time deciding. But somewhere in the back of my mind lurked a recipe I'd seen that used wonton wrappers to make ravioli, so I decided wonton ravioli would be my first use of my huge wrapper supply.

I'd like to call this a Ridiculously Easy recipe, but I can't. Though using wontons is easier than making pasta from scratch, any time you have to fill or wrap anything individually--spring rolls, sushi, gyoza--it's a time consuming process. Though these ravioli were pretty simple to put together, I still had to make a filling, stuff them, boil them, and make a tomato sauce. It took a while and after I finished, my kitchen looked like the scene of a battle between the forces of Corn Starch and Blended Tomato. When my husband came in to clean the kitchen (as per our longstanding agreement that whoever doesn't cook washes up), he was confronted with a tofu-porcini encrusted bowl and food processor, a blender coated with tomato reside, multiple pots to wash, and counters dusted with cornstarch. Nothing easy about that, but at least I didn't have to deal with it!

So how do wonton wrappers taste as ravioli? In a word, thin. Though they swell when boiled and enclose the filling well, they lack the toothsome thickness of real pasta and, therefore, aren't quite as filling as the real thing. And, as you can see from the photos below, their thinness allows the color of the filling to show through, which in the case of this mushroom filling isn't really aesthetically pleasing. Still, it's been a long time since I've had ravioli, and to be able to whip up a batch on a weeknight was a treat. But I have to say that if I had to clean the kitchen too, I'd have given these a pass.



Porcini Wonton Ravioli
(printer-friendly version)

Filling:
1/2 ounce dried porcini mushrooms
8 ounces firm tofu
1 clove garlic
1 tablespoon fresh basil
1 teaspoon nutritional yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)

Sauce:
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 28-ounce can whole tomatoes
1 teaspoon basil
salt and pepper, to taste

20-24 vegan wonton wrappers

Filling:

Put the dried mushrooms into a bowl and cover with hot water. Soak for about 30 minutes, or until completely rehydrated. Drain (reserve liquid for another use) and put the mushrooms into the food processor. Pulse to chop. Add the remaining filling ingredients to the processor and puree until smooth.

Sauce:

Spray a medium-sized sauce pan with olive oil, and heat. Add onion and sauté until translucent. Add garlic and cook for another 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes and their juice and break the tomatoes apart using the edge of a spoon. Add remaining sauce ingredients, except salt and pepper, and simmer for 15 minutes. Then, transfer sauce to blender and pulse until it's a consistent, coarse texture. Return to the pan and add salt and pepper to taste. Keep warm.

Making the ravioli:

Put a large pot of water on to boil. Dust a cookie sheet with cornstarch and have it ready.

Take two wonton wrappers and brush one side of each with a little water.



Put about one tablespoon of filling onto one of the wrappers (on the moistened side) and cover with the other one, moistened sides together.



Press out any air around the filling and press the edges closed. Seal the edges by pressing with a fork all around the outside of the wonton.



Place each filled ravioli on the cookie sheet and cover with a tea towel or plastic wrap. When all of the ravioli are filled, they may be kept covered in the refrigerator until you're ready to cook them.

Cooking the ravioli:

When the water has reached a boil, turn down the heat enough to maintain a very gentle boil. Add half of the ravioli and cook until they bob up to the top of the water, about 5 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to remove them to a dish and cover. Cook the remaining ravioli. Serve 2 to 3 to a plate, topped with tomato sauce.



Makes 4 servings, 10-12 ravioli. Per serving: 149 Calories (kcal); 3g Total Fat; (15% calories from fat); 8g Protein; 27g Carbohydrate; 0mg Cholesterol; 604mg Sodium; 4g Fiber. Weight Watchers Flex Points:2.

Tags: vegan recipes vegetarian cooking food fat-free

Korean Noodle Stirfry

I'm always saying that I love Korean food, but when I stop to think about it, what I really love is certain flavors of Korean food: kim chee, Korean barbecue sauce, and gochujang, the hot pepper paste that Koreans consider one of their three essential condiments. I'm sure there's more to love about Korean food, but because I'm a vegan, I've never tasted most of it. Korean restaurants in the US have menus that center around meat and fish dishes, and whenever I've eaten at one, I've had to ask that dishes be prepared vegetarian. Fortunately, the chefs have been very accommodating, letting me know which meals can and can't be prepared vegan, but a lot of the food is off-limits.

Since I now live in a state with no Korean restaurants at all, when I'm craving Korean food, I have to make it myself. Bi bim bab is one of my family's favorite dishes, but making it the way we like it takes a lot of time: 4 or 5 separate dishes must be prepared, as well as rice and a sauce made of gochujang. It's a lot to go through when what you really love most is the spicy-sweet-sour, unique, taste of gochujang. So to satisfy my cravings for that flavor, I've started using gochujang in other, non-traditional, dishes, such as this quick noodle stir-fry for two.



Korean Noodle Stir-fry
(printer-friendly version)

To my taste, this dish is fairly mild, so if you want more spiciness, be sure to have some extra gochujang available to add to taste at the table.

4 ounces buckwheat soba (one bundle, broken in half)
8 ounces firm tofu, cut into bite-sized cubes
1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce mixed with 2 tablespoons water
1/8 teaspoon sesame oil
2 medium yellow squash, halved lengthwise and sliced 1/8-inch thick
1/2 onion, cut into thin wedges
4 cups bok choy (3-4 baby bok choys), sliced thin
1 teaspoon garlic, minced
1 cup mung bean sprouts
1 1/2 tablespoons gochujang
3 tablespoons water
1/2 teaspoon sugar or agave nectar
1/8 teaspoon sesame oil

Put a large pot of water on to boil. Add the soba and cook according to package directions. Drain and rinse briefly with cold water. Set aside.

While the pasta is cooking, prepare the tofu and vegetables. Spray a large non-stick skillet or wok with oil and heat it over a medium-high burner. Once it's hot, add the tofu in a single layer. Cook until light brown on the bottom, and add the soy sauce/water mixture and the 1/8 teaspoon sesame oil. Turn the tofu cubes over and cook until liquid has boiled off. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Add the squash and onion to the skillet and stir-fry until the squash is just beginning to get tender. Add the bok choy, garlic, and 2 tablespoons of water, stir well, and cover. Cook until bok choy is wilted but still bright green, just a couple of minutes. Add the bean sprouts and cook, covered, one more minute.

In a small bowl, mix the gochujang, water, sugar, and sesame oil. Add it to the vegetables and stir well to coat.

Add the tofu and pasta to the vegetables, and toss well to distribute evenly. Cook until heated through.

Serve with additional gochujang, which can be thinned with water and a splash of sesame oil.

Makes 2 large servings. Per serving: 386 Calories (kcal); 9g Total Fat; (18% calories from fat); 26g Protein; 59g Carbohydrate; 0mg Cholesterol; 1372mg Sodium; 6g Fiber. 8 Weight Watchers points.

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About the Ingredients

You can find gochujang (which is also spelled kochuchang and gochuchang) at Asian grocery stores that sell Korean products. If you can't find it yourself, be sure to ask. Sometimes it's even better to bring in an empty package or a photo:



It comes in jars or tubs that are often labeled "Hot Pepper Paste." Unlike other "chili pastes" that you may find, it's a thick paste with the consistency of miso and a uniform color of dark red. Once opened, it will keep in the refrigerator for a very long time.

You can use any noodles you like for this recipe, but I like buckwheat soba:



One bundle of noodles is enough for two servings. I like to break them in half for this dish; otherwise, it's hard to distribute the vegetables throughout the pasta.

I hope you'll look for gochujang the next time you're out shopping. If you like spicy food, you really owe it to yourself to give it a try.

Other Vegan Korean Recipes:

• Vegetarian Korean Bulgogi Wraps with Gochujang Marinade
• Tofu Soybean Paste Stew (Dubu Doenjangjjigae in Korean) (omit anchovy powder)
• Korean Yumminess: Bulgogi and Kim Chee Tutorial
• Noodle Wars: My Naeng-myun (Cold Korean Noodle Soup)
• Korean Tofu and Vegetable Stew
• Kimchi II
  

Tags: vegan recipes vegetarian cooking food fat-free

Smoky Refried Bean Soup

Thanks to everyone who emailed and left comments identifying my mystery birds. The robins and cedar waxwings are still hanging around, even after last night's storms. I've discovered that they've finished the hackberries and are now eating our holly berries, so I'm hoping there's enough food for them to stick around a while.

Since I've been using a lot of my spare time bird watching, I've slipped into cooking so many "ridiculously easy" recipes that I've decided to make Ridiculously Easy a permanent feature on the blog. Through the magic of blogging, I've gone back in time to add a tag to many of the recipes that fit into this category, dishes that take just a few minutes or that allow you to dump your ingredients into a pot and let them cook a short time while you're free to do other things. Just click on the tag to see the first few recipes that I've categorized as Ridiculously Easy, or R.E for short.

Today's easy recipe turned out to be so delicious and comforting that I can see it becoming a regular meal at my house. Like my last R.E. recipe, it uses refried beans (though I assure you that not all my ridiculous recipes do!) I know that some people turn their noses up at canned refried beans, and though I agree that freshly made taste better, the canned version is such a great convenience. In this soup, they contribute a wonderful creamy mouth-feel that will make you think the soup is richer than it is. But if you don't like using canned refried beans, you can always do it the old fashioned way: whiz up a cup and a half of pinto beans in your food processor with a little of their liquid and add them straight to the soup. No frying needed!



Smoky Refried Bean Soup
(printer-friendly version)

This soup is so thick it's almost a chili. Use the minimum amounts of chipotle chili powder and hot sauce to make this a mild dish or add more to make it as hot as you dare.

1 large onion, chopped
3 - 4 cloves garlic, minced
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes (I used fire-roasted)
15 ounces fatfree refried beans
15 ounces black beans, cooked
1 cup frozen corn kernels
1 teaspoon cumin
1 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/8 - 1 teaspoon chipotle chili powder (to taste)
1 teaspoon hot sauce (or to taste)
1/2 teaspoon Mexican oregano (optional)
salt and pepper, to taste

Spray a large, non-stick pot with cooking spray, and sauté the onion until it begins to brown. Add the garlic and bell pepper and cook for one more minute. Add all the remaining ingredients and cook until the flavors blend, 20-30 minutes.

Serving suggestion: Garnish with fresh tomato salsa and serve with baked tortilla chips and a large salad.

Makes 4 large servings. Per serving: 257 Calories (kcal); 1g Total Fat; (4% calories from fat); 15g Protein; 47g Carbohydrate; 0mg Cholesterol; 895mg Sodium; 14g Fiber. Weight Watchers Core (4 Flex Points).

Tags: vegan recipes vegetarian cooking food fat-free

Robins: Harbingers of Spring or Winged Nuisances?

The dog's been barking non-stop, the cars are splashed with lumpy purple and white gunk, and the cats are afraid--yes afraid--to go outside. Is it the invasion of the body snatchers? No, it's the return of the robins.

They're everywhere. Drawn by the berries in the huge hackberry tree in the front yard, they've descended by the hundreds to eat our berries and drink from our birdbath. When they're not drinking, they're chirping and driving our dog crazy. But no matter whether they're eating, drinking, or chirping, they poop; huge portions of our driveway are stained purple with their droppings. And despite the springlike weather, the cats cower in the doorway. They're vastly outnumbered, and that terrifies them.

Still, I'm coming down on the Harbingers of Spring side of the question. I've loved watching them from the kitchen window as they share the water in the birdbath just outside, leaves still floating in it because the robins came earlier than I expected this year. They come and go, sometimes 5 or 6 of them at a time, often chatting to each other. Here's a little sample of their socializing:


"I'm glad we could finally get together for a drink."


"Look, I told you, I'm seeing other birds!"


"Too complicated for me!"

After taking hundreds of cloudy photos from the kitchen window (which, truth be told, hadn't been cleaned since before the birdbath was), I ventured out onto the front porch one morning, still in my bathrobe (my neighbors think I'm nuts) to take a few shots of the robins in the hackberry tree. Surprisingly, neither my presence nor that of my cowardly cats caused them any fear at all. They completely ignored us as they went about their birdly business...



...thinking deep bird thoughts...



...and scouting around for other trees to plunder.

In addition to bringing some beautiful weather, the robins seem to have brought a flock of mystery birds with them--or at least they're mysterious to me because I've never seen them before, at least not close enough to get a good luck at them:



If anyone recognizes this beautiful bird, please let me know its name. "Pretty tufted yellow and red tipped bird" is a little tedious to say. We've had dozens of these cuties hanging out with the robins. I think they're fairly young--once I saw one open its mouth and try to get a robin to feed it! I'd love to know what they are and where they came from.

Thanks for letting me share my bird thoughts with you. I'll be back to share a recipe with you soon, but I've got a couple of cars to wash first.