Stews and Chilies

Healthy Super Bowl Party? Start with a Big Pot of Really Good Chili

January 31, 2012
A Big Pot of Really Good Chili

If, like me, you made a New Year’s resolution to start eating healthier, you might be just a little worried about what you’re going to eat at the Big Party coming up this weekend. I’m referring, of course, to the Super Bowl, the day when grown adults run and dodge and knock each other down [...]

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Ridiculously Easy Vegetable Gumbo and Cooking From Your Pantry and Freezer

January 16, 2012
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Near the end of the first week of my KISSS healthy-eating plan, calamity struck–or at least what passes for calamity when you are trying to cook and eat healthy soups every day. I went to the pantry and found that I had no onions. No onions! Take a look at almost any of my savory [...]

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Black Bean-Pineapple Soup Stew Chili

April 7, 2011
Black Bean-Pineapple Soup Stew Chili

Sometimes ideas just come to me. I call it being inspired, but people of my parents’ generation called it being “touched in the head.” I was sitting here at my desk one day thinking how much I like salsa with pineapple in it (because that’s the kind of deep thinking I do), when it occurred [...]

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Ridiculously Easy Lentil and Vegetable Stew

October 28, 2010
Ridiculously Easy Lentil and Vegetable Stew

I’d hoped to be sharing a Halloween recipe with you, but life has been getting in the way of cooking lately.  The other night I went into the kitchen to make a last-minute dinner of my Dirty Little Secret Soup but wound up making so many changes that it took on an entirely new character.  [...]

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Ridiculously Easy Southern Succotash Stew

March 22, 2010
Ridiculously Easy Southern Succotash Stew

From a nutrition standpoint, I’ve never felt bad about using frozen vegetables; I’ve always believed (and new studies back me up) that vegetables that are frozen just after harvest actually retain more nutrients than fresh vegetables that have been shipped long distances. In the winter months, when the only fresh, local produce I can get [...]

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Sweet Potato, Okra, and Chickpea Gumbo

September 29, 2009
Sweet Potato, Okra, and Chickpea Gumbo

With okra, as with most things in life, size does matter. When you’re talking okra pods, smaller is better—tender and tasty. Let them grow too big and they become tough and woody. However, when it comes to the plants themselves, bigger is definitely better. After a summer of more garden failures than I care to [...]

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Iraqi-Inspired Seitan and Eggplant Stew

August 25, 2009
Iraqi-Inspired Seitan and Eggplant Stew

I first made this stew a week ago, when I was looking for something to do with the small Thai Eggplants that were going to waste in my refrigerator. Aromatic and warmly spiced, this Iraqi-inspired recipe was so delectable that I was actually happy that I was going to have to make the whole meal [...]

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Tunisian Vegetable Ragout with Quinoa

March 25, 2009
Tunisian Vegetable Ragout with Quinoa

Eggplant. For a long time it seemed to me as if being vegetarian meant eating eggplant. I’d go into a restaurant and the one vegetarian item on the menu would be ratatouille, eggplant Parmesan, or pasta with eggplant. Though currently the ubiquitous vegetarian item seems to be hummus, there are still restaurants I visit where [...]

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Irish White Bean and Cabbage Stew

March 11, 2009
Irish White Bean and Cabbage Stew

What makes a dish Irish? Ask the average person on the street and he will probably tell you “corned beef and cabbage,” although I have it on good authority that corned beef is not a traditional Irish food. I’m certainly no expert; though I’d like to believe that at least some of my ancestors came [...]

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White Bean Chili

November 7, 2008
White Bean Chili

No, this photo wasn’t torn out of an old newspaper, though that was the effect I was going for. Sometimes when I don’t like the way a photo comes out, I imagine how it would look in some different era, such as the 70′s. Dark, washed out colors and a grainy texture can hide a [...]

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Achiote Beans Recado

August 12, 2008

When it comes to seasonings, I’m a compulsive buyer. When I see an herb or spice that I’ve heard of but never used, I can’t pass up the opportunity to buy it—even if I have no idea what to do with it. I’m particularly bad about this when I’m ordering from Penzey’s or The Spice [...]

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Dublin Coddle with Vegan Irish Sausage

March 23, 2008
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 [...]

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Smoky Refried Bean Soup

March 4, 2008
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 [...]

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Gold Rush Chili

September 26, 2007
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I apologize for my absence from blogging for the last week, but it’s hard to write about cooking when you haven’t been doing any. We’ve been going through a family crisis (not serious, just time-consuming) that began last Friday, and since then, the whole family has been completely exhausted, both mentally and physically, and no [...]

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White Bean and Garlic Stew

April 11, 2007
White Bean and Garlic Stew

This week I had a request from my husband to make an old favorite that we haven’t had for a while. This stew is different from anything else I make because it uses a whole head of garlic. Now, if you’ve tasted my baba ganoush, you know I can tolerate some garlic. But even I [...]

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Gumbo z’Herbes with Cajun Tempeh Bacon

February 28, 2007
Gumbo Z'herbes with Tempeh Bacon

Most people outside of my home state have never had this “Greens Gumbo,” but it’s an authentic Louisiana dish. Traditionally, it was made without meat to serve during Lent, but with Louisianians being the great seafood and meat lovers they are, ham and seafood eventually made their way into this naturally vegetarian soup. Well, now [...]

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Chickpea and Turnip Stew with Ethiopian Spices

February 1, 2007
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I bought a pound of organically-grown turnips at the farmer’s market, and it took me a few days to decide what to do with them. Turnips are not something I use often; in fact, the last time I bought them may have been almost a year ago when I made Creamed Turnips. I mentioned in [...]

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Thick and Hearty Pinto Bean Chili

January 17, 2007
Thick and Hearty Pinto Bean Chili

Mississippi is finally getting a taste of the cold weather that’s sweeping across the country, and though some transplanted Northerners here may think that it’s long overdue, I just want to hibernate. Maybe I’m getting old, but I have no desire to go outside once the weather is below freezing. Yes, I know that in [...]

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Tunisian Bean and Chickpea Stew

October 3, 2006
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Last week, three new cookbooks arrived by mail, so for days I’ve been poring over recipes and considering new things to cook. The first to arrive were the two I ordered from Nava Atlas–her new cookbook, Vegetarian Soups for all Seasons, and the bonus copy of Vegetariana. They are both beautifully written and illustrated and [...]

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Black-eyed Pea Gumbo

August 8, 2006
Blackeyed-Pea Gumbo

Yesterday was the first day of school, and I don’t know who was more excited, my daughter or I. She’s in a new school and riding the bus for the first time, and, best of all, her best friend is in her class. She was so eager to start that yesterday she woke up at [...]

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Chickpeas and Barley in Red Lentil and Eggplant Sauce

April 28, 2006
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Today’s recipe is based on a recipe in Madhur Jaffrey’s World Vegetarian, Anatolian Red Lentil Stew with Wheat Berries and Chickpeas, which I wound up adapting more than I meant to. The first adaptation was out of necessity: I didn’t have wheat berries so I used barley instead, and I served it over rice (jasmine [...]

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Fennel and White Bean Stew

April 12, 2006
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Last night’s dinner was a simple stew built around the lovely, anise-like flavor of fennel. I began by sautéing fennel and garlic and added only minimal seasonings in order to play up the fennel taste, not distract from it. I added zucchini and mushrooms near the end, but you can substitute any vegetable you like–spinach, [...]

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Mirliton and White Bean Stew

March 22, 2006
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One of my favorite Louisiana ingredients is mirliton. If the name doesn’t sound familiar to you, perhaps you’ll recognize it as chayote, vegetable pear, chouchou, choko, vilati vanga, or one of the other many names it goes by. It’s a little hard to describe the flavor and texture because it really isn’t like anything else. [...]

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Beefless Stew

March 21, 2006
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Yesterday was supposedly the first day of Spring, but you wouldn’t know it from our weather. It’s been raining for days and the temperature has been pretty chilly for Mississippi. So last night I resorted to a favorite family comfort-food: Beefless Stew. I try not to use many processed “meats” in my cooking, but every [...]

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Korean Tofu and Vegetable Stew

March 19, 2006

I’ve been eager to use the new bowls I got from the Korean grocery store, so I looked around the internet until I found a stew that looked perfect at Vegetarian Times. I have to admit that I hardly changed anything about this recipe, just made a few substitutions for ingredients I didn’t have. The [...]

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Winter Squash Stew with Pinto Beans and Corn

February 27, 2006
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I still had half a butternut squash left from when I made the Winter Ragout, so last night I decided to make this Winter Squash Stew, which Courtney had posted on the Fatfree_Vegan email list. Courtney is a great finder, adapter, and writer of fat-free, vegan recipes, so I was certain that anything she had [...]

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Adaptations

February 21, 2006

Last night I decided to try out a couple of recipes from other people’s blogs. Fiber at 28 Cooks had a great-looking recipe for Polenta Crackers, and I was in need of something to serve with guacamole, so I decided to give her recipe a try. The only major change I made was to leave [...]

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Chickpea Gumbo Now Playing at a Blog Near You…

February 20, 2006
Chickpea Gumbo

Guess who’s doing a guest post over at A Veggie Venture? I am! Hop on over there to check out my Chickpea Gumbo! And thanks to AK for all her Veggie Evangelism!

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Chili with Baked Lime-Chipotle Tortilla Chips

February 8, 2006
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Like most cooks, I’m endlessly adapting recipes. Last night, I took a favorite recipe that I had already adapted to be fat-free and adapted it even more, this time to use a whole grain instead of the bulgur wheat originally called for. The results were satisfying, though more time-consuming. The original recipe, from Moosewood Restaurant [...]

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French Lentil and Portabella Stew

February 1, 2006
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After seeing several recipes that call for French (or Puy) lentils, I bought a bag of them…and then promptly forgot where I’d seen the recipes. So I searched and searched yesterday for some delicious way to cook these interesting looking lentils, but nothing I saw looked like what I had conjured up in my imagination: [...]

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Crockpot Eggplant and Tomato Stew with Garbanzo Beans

January 12, 2006
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I don’t use the crockpot as often as I probably should, but it came in handy last night when I had a meeting around the time I’d normally be making dinner. Around 3:30 in the afternoon, I started chopping vegetables, and by 3:45, Crockpot Eggplant and Tomato Stew with Garbanzo Beans was in the crockpot [...]

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