Vegan Mofo VI- Day 5: There's No Taste Like Home

 I had my heart set on making tortillas this week, but didn't think I could do it after all. Then I remembered how sucky it is to get caught up in limited thinking. Instead of taking a nap or lazing around in between my weekly volunteer hours and my work shift, I got in the kitchen and got down to work.

My maternal grandmother used to make fresh torts every day when all her kids were at home. I don't know how she did it, but I have fun memories of playing with a little ball of masa while she was making torts for us. Before I moved back east for five minutes in the early 2000s, I asked her to teach me how to cook beans and make torts, fearing that nothing in Boston could compare to what I had grown up with. Of course, nothing I made would be as good as hers, but at least it would be closer somehow.

I should have the notes I took that day, but today I could not find them. I was too embarrassed to call and ask for them again so I used a recipe off the internet. Do not tell Abuelita! They turned out pretty good, but not good enough for me to forget about finding my notes from grandma. Nothing is ever that good, right? My mom gave me an  A+ for effort, but we agreed I'll have to try again soon. I only made a dozen small torts because I was short on time, but the good thing is they fit perfectly in my tortilla oven. If you don't have one, I highly recommend you get one ASAP. I'm kind of bummed they don't have any more like mine but the Texas and L.A. ones are pretty rad too.

I wanted to try the Whole Wheat Flour Tortillas with Chia from Viva la Vegan, but I didn't have any wwf or time to wait for shortening to get to room temp. I plan to make them soon with pot of black beans. I can't believe I haven't made anything from that book yet. Please don't smack me with your chanclas!

Vegan Mofo VI- Day 4: You Taco'n To Me?

 After a brief breakfast interrruption, I decided to keep going with my improvised theme. Also because I talked to my sister and she told me today is National Taco Day. I had no idea and will have to add it to the calendar for next year so I can have a taco party. It wasn't quite "Taco Tuesday on a Thursday", but if I couldn't make tacos, I could at least make taco mix.

I've never made my own taco mix before. I usually just season a block of tofu with a packet from the store.  I knew I had some tvp hiding in the pantry so I searched the internet to find a recipe that sounded good. Luckily I found one, and it's from a fellow Mofo, even better! I used The Snarky Chickpea's recipe with a few small changes. Instead of vegetable broth I used BTB No Beef Base (also hiding in the pantry), brown onion, and some frozen bell pepper strips my brother left behind when he moved last month. I also added about 6 cloves minced garlic. I used this recipe for taco seasoning, but ended up adding 2 T instead of 1 1/2 T.

I hadn't planned on cooking this at all, so I think I made the best of what I had on hand and it turned out great. I packed a bowl with beans, rice and taco mix for my work dinner, yum! I will probably do this more often and just experiment with different seasonings until I find my dream taco blend. It didn't take that much longer than using tofu, especially since I didn't have to wait to press and cube anything! Plus I was able to get this all done while my tortilla masa was resting. Yay! I was super proud of my time management until I realized I still had a lot of dishes to do before changing clothes for work. It's only the first week, maybe I'll have it down by the end of the month. Here's hoping!

Vegan Mofo IV - Day 2: Rice Rice Baby!

Even though frijoles will always be my favorite food, rice is pretty high on the list too. I like mine with lots of veggies in it to balance out all of the starchiness, or at least try to. This is another dish that should be really easy to make but that I will find a way to mess up.

Cooking teaches you a lot of things and one of the hugest lessons I am still struggling with is patience. One mistake I used to make was lifting the lid or stirring the pot. No, no, and no. Put the lid on and leave it alone. Today I did that and everything turned out great, plus I got to watch a bit of one of my favorite films, Volver. I know it's Spanish and not Mexican, but who cares?!

I remember my great grandma's rice would have huge slivers of onion in it, which as a kid, grossed me out since I had not yet acquired a taste for onions. Now, I love them and always put a whole one when the recipe calls for half. Same for garlic, two cloves? Let's put seven, no eight! Some people put veggies and and some do not. Most like to use chicken broth. I grew up eating rice this way and I loved it, having no idea how it all came together. Now I know, but still wanted to find a way to enjoy it, vegan style.

I know I can't ask anyone for a real recipe so checked the internet, and finally found one I liked at forkfingerschopsticks. I printed it out and got super excited about trying it. I used Better Than Bouillon No Chicken Base for the "broth" and 2- 8 oz. cans of tomato sauce instead of one. I added 2 cups thawed frozen mixed vegetables, a whole onion quartered and sliced, and I think 8 cloves minced garlic. I love this recipe. I can't wait for my sister to stop by and try my rice later!

p.s. If you haven't read Michele Serros' Chicana Falsa there is a really great piece in there called "Attention Shoppers" that you will never not think about when shopping for frozen vegetables.

Vegan Mofo VI Day 1: Beans Beans, They're Good For Your ♥

I love Mexican food and since I am Mexican-American, you'd think I would be great at preparing it, right? I hate to break it to you, but I am not. My family has been in the states for quite some time now so there isn't too much that is done fresh and from scratch. Most of us do not have the time or the patience for that these days. Also, it's not like anyone will give you an honest to goodness recipe you can follow. "Oh I put the water to about here, then I just keep an eye on them". Where is "here" on my pot? I don't have the same one as you. I'm not an old school cooking genius, I need guidelines, measurements, time tables. I'm still learning to cook and I haven't got it down to where I just "know" something is ready. Although I am getting a lot better at eyeballing my measurements.

Since I do have quite a bit of time on my hands so I decided to give it another try. I say another, because I have had some bean bummers like you wouldn't believe. I think one time the beans were just too old and dry and another time I didn't have the flame high enough. Let's also factor in the hour or so it used to take me to sort them out!

This time I did a much better job, though not as perfecto as I would like. It takes practice, and most importantly patience. I sorted my beans a lot quicker than last time, yay! I did such a good job that I sorted through another two lbs. just in case I messed up and had to start over. I know that's not the best attitude to have, but given my past, it seemed like a good idea. I think I should have had the flame a bit higher, so I noted that for next time. They ended up taking about an hour longer than I would have liked but at least I didn't have to throw them out. I put a bunch of whole garlic gloves and some kombu since I heard both help to eliminate the musical element that most people associate with beans.

Today I refried them and added some salsa for un desayuno muy delicioso! I usually sauté some soyrizo to the pan before adding the beans, but that wasn't in this week's budget. Maybe next time!

I didn't make my own salsa, but I still think my grandma would be proud. Next up is Mexican Rice and maybe some torts if I get up early enough mañana.

Scrambled Torts are Tops!

The more I cook from Vegan Brunch, the more I fall in love with it. I get into a bad habit where I have a few favorites I make over and over and forget that there are 40 or 50 more recipes in that book I can try. I'd been meaning to make the "Scrambled Tortillas" for a while, and actually bought all the ingredients to make it last week, but it was just too hectic and it didn't happen. This week I got back on track and put them back on the menu. They will definitely be on the repeat list.

As much as I love one-pot cooking, I will bust out three pans and a blender to make this. Even though it uses a few more dishes than I would like, none of the steps are too hard and it doesn't take very much time. And if you are a "clean as I go" person, you shouldn't have too much of a mess by the time you are finished. Or even better, you can sucker someone else into doing the dishes for you. Food is always a good bribe.

This dish reminded me of chilaquiles, which I love, but with potatoes thrown in to make it even more yummy. I tried to present it as prettily as possible, garnishing with green onions and avocado, but the next time I eat it, it's all getting piled into a bowl and heading straight for my belly. ¡Buen Provecho!

Señorita Carnita

taco overloaded-toothpicks employed to keep it together

I have been lusting after Jackfruit Carnitas from the first time I read about them. I can't remember where it was first, but it was either from quarrygirl's blog or The Urban Housewife. I could never find the right jackfruit at regular stores and did not have the presence of mind to look at asian grocery stores, where I would have found it much sooner. When we were in L.A. I managed to cajole my sister into stopping at Figueroa Produce where I managed to take the last four cans they had on the shelf. Sorry to whomever else wanted some.

I used the recipe from The Vegan Girl's Guide to Life, by Melisser Elliott a.k.a. The Urban Housewife. The directions are really simple and you can make these in the crockpot or stove top. They probably come out better in the crock but I am still crock-shy so I opted for the range. Everything was going great until I realized I had timed things so poorly. I had to take the dog for her walk and I didn't want to leave the pot unattended when it was so close to almost being finished. So I stupidly added a bunch more liquid, knowing there was no way it would all cook out by the time I got back. Eveything was cooked but it was still too wet, so I simmered for another hour or so before calling it quits for the day.

A day or two later I took them out and drained the excess liquid. Then I tried to shred them up a bit and toast them in a pan. They were more like small chunks than stringy carnita goodness but they still tasted great. I will have to cut the spices/simmer time when I make them again since they were a bit much for my sister, which meant there was no way my niece could try them. I fixed up a huge taco like so: bean layer on the bottom, "carnitas", onions, cilantro, radishes and squirted the whole thing with lime juice. I washed it all down with mexicoke. ¡Delicioso!

p.s. Today is my late great-grandmother's birthday. She passed before I was vegan or even really learned how to cook. I wonder what she would think of this. It's also my friend Judy's birthday.¡Feliz Cumpleaños!

yesterday once more

cactus flower in bloom



making leftovers look fancy via combination plate



snapdragons my brother planted last time he came to visit



ms. penny fresh and clean after her bath

rosas y 'ritas

Most people know that Cinco de Mayo is not the real Mexican Independence Day (¡16 de Septiembre!), even yo, la más pocha, have known that for years. However it is definitely not the first or last historical/cultural event to be turned into a reason to party. 4 de Julio anyone? Who am I to say no to a party, in any language. That would just be rude.

Porque somos pochas, the only Independence day we normally celebrate is 4th of July. Twilight zone marathon, barbecue, fireworks (still allowed in our city!), beer and cocktails= good times. This year we decided to have a special dinner for Cinco De Mayo for no particularly good reason other than the 5-letter word that has finally made vegan enchiladas possible: d-a-i-y-a. We first made them for my sister's birthday in March and have been waiting for an excuse to do it again.Last time my mom helped me and we were able to fit more enchiladas into a 13" x 9" pan. I forgot that when left to myself I will put so much filling that you can barely roll them. It's great when you are eating them, but not so good when you realize you are going to have to make three pans instead of one. The plus is that they are easier to fit in the fridge now.

For dessert we had "Mucho Margarita Cupcakes" from VCTOTW. I think this is only my 5th attempt of the 75 recipes in the book, slacker! I will definitely try them again since it was one of the quicker cupcakes to make, even with all of the lime squeezing. We have some older pans that still bake great but since they're old they leave marks on the paper liners y no me gusta. About a year ago, I bought a new pan but I think it is too light or something else is wrong with it. These and the "Pineapple Right Side Up" are the only ones I have made in that pan and they stuck to the liners so you only get about half a cupcake when you eat them. I baked three smaller ones in foil heart cups and those turned out fine so I'm thinking its the pan. The cupcakes I did get were still quite delicious and the frosting también. I do need some practice with the sprinkles, maybe next time I will follow directions and roll them in the sugar.

I also made flores de papel crepé. for the ladies That was the one thing I actually got right today. The first one I made was huge so I did next two large and medium sized. The extra large one was definitely my favorite. I love to wear flowers in my hair, especially when they are almost as big as my hair (still not sure if I should chop it before the wedding or leave it fro-tastic). My sister was having a bad day and didn't want to wear hers. My niece had taken hers off and couldn't be bothered to put it back on. Luckily my mom is a good sport and I pinned one on her as soon as she got home.