Garlic Leek Soup

Cold weather in November and too many hard frosts in a row made it necessary to pull out all the remaining leeks in our small garden. As it turned out, this was way too many leeks to use up fresh so I chopped and froze some for later. I did use a large number of them fresh, along with many heads of homegrown garlic to make this warming, healthy, easy soup. It freezes very well too, and for those who will eat croutons, that dresses things up indeed! We put chopped onion greens on top - or even a drizzle of olive oil if you eat that.

5-6 medium leeks, washed, chopped

4-5 heads of garlic (@25 cloves), peeled & smashed

1 zucchini- chopped

1-2 teaspoons summer savory

1-2tsp dry thyme

1tsp black pepper (add to taste)

1-2 tsp salt (can be added to taste)

3-4 creamy potatoes chopped - Yukon gold or chieftain or other variety 

6-8 cups water 

Prepare leeks - slicing lengthwise to rinse between the layers and get all the dirt out! Cut off the tough dark leaves and save for making some other broth. Chop the more tender white and pale green parts and toss in a large pot with all the peeled garlic, zucchini, potato, herbs, seasonings and water. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for about 20-35 minutes until all is cooked thoroughly. Blenderize or use a wand blender until all is puréed smooth. That's it!

Sushi Rice Balls

This began as a savory finger food idea for a celebration at the neighborhood yoga studio where I teach. What could I bring that would be real food, easy to handle without utensils, filling enough to sustain after a 90 minute yoga practice, and with the least likelihood to make dietary or health problems for people? So sushi rice seemed a good start and I wanted to put something yummy inside the rice, making it possible to pop in the mouth and enjoy the flavors as they reveal themselves. I made a terrible mess the first go, and tried again, plus rolled some in Nori sheets and cut them into more normal looking sushi rolls. Not everyone likes seaweed flavor though, so I tried again for rice balls. Here's a plan that will work, with the warning that it really makes sense to keep your hands slightly moist with a water dipping bowl as you form each ball. Give yourself an hour to make these even though the rice only takes 25 minutes, since the rice soaks first while you cut up veggies, and then has to cool as you set up your production line. Once you are making them, it goes fast!


SUSHI RICE BALLS
   with edamame, shiitake mushrooms, avocado & pickled ginger (plus unsalted peanuts if you like)

RICE
1 3/4 c sushi rice
1.5 cup water
1 tsp sea salt
3 TBLSP natural brown sugar
4 TBLSP rice vinegar

INSIDE (whatever you want...)
1/4 cup shelled cooked edamame (you can buy these frozen and just microwave them for 1 minute)
2 thinly sliced and cut up shiitake mushrooms
1/2 not-to-ripe avocado sliced in little bits
pickled grated or sliced ginger (you can make this yourself or buy a jar of it)
Other Options: bits of peeled seeded cucumber; roasted unsalted peanuts; bits of scallion or carrot or spiced tofu -- anything you like!

OUTSIDE
1/4 c toasted sesame seeds (you can roast them yourself in a few minutes in a small saute pan)

SAUCE: (all can be adjusted to your taste)
1/3 cup low sodium Tamari
2 TBLSP sweet black vinegar (or regular black vinegar)
2 finely chopped cloves of garlic
1/4 cup water

Sauce Option: Mix up some dry Wasabi powder with water - either runny like a sauce, or thick like a paste - if you like this spicy-hot addition (like horseradish or mustard sauce, some people love it and some don't)

RICE PREPARATION:
Measure your rice into a strainer that fits inside a BIG BOWL in the sink. Run cold water over the rice, gentle massaging the rice in the water, as the bowl fills enough to submerge the rice (turn off the running water at this point!). Softly turn the rice over in your hand under water, releasing some of the starch. The water will get cloudly. Pour out the water and do it again - at least two, usually three times - until the water stays mostly clear. Leave the submerged rice soaking at this point for 10-20 minutes as you get all the other ingredients ready. I've been told this helps keep each kernel whole and gives it a beautiful sheen.

Cut up all your little bits of things you want in your sushi rice balls. Keep it small and simple at first - a little bit of ginger, cuke, avocado and a couple edamame are PLENTY in one rice ball.

COOK THE RICE:

Drain the rice. Put it in a good sauce pot (heavy bottom - even heat - good lid) with the water. Bring to a boil and as soon as it boils, cover it and turn it down to LOW. Set the timer for 15 MINUTES COOKING. If you hear it crackling before that, turn it off. In either case, 15 minutes or once you hear it crackling, turn it off, put the lid on it, take it off the heat and set the timer for 10 MORE MINUTES just sitting.



Measure out the salt, sugar and vinegar in a cup and dissolve -- perhaps even microwaving for 20 seconds to help dissolve the sugar. This needs to be fully dissolved before you use it.

After the rice has sat 10 minutes, GENTLY SCRAPE IT OUT INTO THAT LARGE BOWL. You want to keep the kernels intact. With your bamboo paddle or wooden spoon you will gently cut into the rice again and again as you drizzle the sugar/salt/vinegar over the rice. You are not mixing/stirring. NOT STIRRING. You are cutting in various directions, turning and cutting until all the kernals are soaked by the vinegar mixture. Let this cool - gently cutting to give more surface area - and traditional would have you fanning it at the same time!

This is a good time to toast your sesame seeds and set them out on a plate for use in the construction stage.

MAKING THE RICE BALLS

Once cool enough to handle, get your finger bowl of water ready, have all your ingredients right there, and set out a cookie sheet with wax paper on it, or the plates upon which you might want to put the balls once made. I like to put the cookie sheet of balls into the fridge for a little while before serving, so that they harden just a little and hold together better. I've set them out at a party for a couple hours before serving though, so it isn't necessary to chill them. You can actually make them a day in advance and keep them in the fridge with a plastic bag over them.

Anyway, to begin making the balls, moisten your hands, take some rice in the palm of the left hand and spread it just a little. Put your inside ingredients in the middle, and with a moistened right hand, take a little dab more rice and put it over the left hand materials, squeeze gently into a ball form, gently dabbing each ball in the toasted sesame seeds and setting them on the prepared wax paper or plate. Continue doing this -- moistening your hands, figuring out how much rice goes in the first layer, how much filling to put in, how much on top, and how much to squeeze into the ball shape.


You can always decide to make sushi rolls with the same ingredients!! Taking sheets of nori (seaweed prepared in thin sheets that you can buy at many grocery stores) on a bamboo rolling mat, you spread a spare layer of rice over the sheet, put the filling materials in a line along the middle across the sheet. Then you roll from the edge closest to you, gently tucking the front edge in and under, using steady light pressure along the bamboo mat as you continue rolling to the opposite edge -- tucking and compressing to firm up the roll. Remove the mat and then slice however thick you want your rolls - using a VERY SHARP KNIFE or you will have a squashed mess.

SAUCE:

Most people like a soy sauce type of dipping sauce for sushi or dumplings. You can make this up as you go along - I used low sodium Tamari to reduce the salt content and make sure there was no wheat gluten in it. Regular soy sauce has wheat gluten in it.  I use Chinese Black Vinegar and Sweet Black Vinegar, and lots of garlic. You can add fresh ginger, or even pepper flakes! I know some of my family and friends love wasabi - the Asian Horseradish - so I buy the powder and mix it with water to get a fairly thin but potent sauce. If I make these into sushi rolls, I would not use as much water and let it be a soft/loose paste that is easier to put on a sushi roll slice.

ENJOY!! Remember that you can change what you put inside - if you don't like avocado, or can't eat peanuts, use something else like cucumber, little radish bits, shiso leaves, kimchi, soaked tofu or even refried black beans! My goodness the possibilities are endless.

These keep well for a day or two in the fridge, but generally won't last that long if people know they are in there...

Hummus Taco

Using whatever is in the house is my way of operating. This taco is totally a product of that way of thinking. It made a lovely easy fresh lunch. This means that you, too, can make a fabulous taco lunch practically no matter what you have around for ingredients. This is what happened today and I do recommend it!

Hummus Taco

Corn tortillas (ready made or home made)

Tomatoes - cut into chunks (we used kumatoes, but cherry or grape tomatoes would work)

Avocado - cut into small cubes

Mushrooms sliced thinly and cut into rectangular bits (I used white button mushrooms)

Hummus - ready made or homemade (we used roasted red pepper hummus)

Red pepper chopped in small bits

Hot sauce - your favorite kind

 Put all the cut up ingredients on a large plate. Heat each tortilla about 30 seconds per side over a hot gas burner or in a small nonstick fry pan. Load your taco with the assortment of goodies and enjoy! So simple it almost seems crazy to write this down. It didn't occur to me that I would blog this, so the only picture I have is what was left I my hand when my husband said, "this was so good, you should blog it."

Brussels Sprouts with mustard sauce

Lately my husband has been enamored with mustard. There is a tang and a depth added to a dish with just the right amount of mustard in addition to the usual ingredients. Yes, there are patterns and habits in making vegan meals every day, and mustard quite simply adds a bit of spice to life! So when I was planning a fairly common combination of brussels sprouts, onion and mushrooms as a major side dish, I chose to add a stone ground mustard to the Bragg Liquid Amino, water and dash of black pepper. It was well worth it, and turned this one-pan dish into an instant favorite.






BRUSSELS SPROUTS WITH MUSTARD SAUCE

2 torpedo (or other pungent red) onions
10-12 medium button mushrooms
2-3 cups or 1.5 pounds Brussels sprouts
2 tsp Bragg Liquid Amino
2 TBLSP stone ground mustard of your choice
1/2 c water
dash freshly ground black pepper

Slice the onions in thin slices, separating the rings in the bottom of a wide non-stick pan.
Clean the Brussels sprouts (cut off the tough stem ends and peel away any yucky leaves, washing off any dirt), and slice them in half vertically - cutting through from the stem end through the floret.
Brush the mushrooms and cut in quarters if large enough, or in half if smaller (use more of them if they are small).

Layer the Brussels Sprouts over the onion layer, putting the mushrooms on top. Pour 1/2 c water, Bragg's, and mustard over all of this and cover with lid. Simmer for about 10-15 minutes, stirring once or twice. Then turn off and leave covered, allowing the Brussels sprouts to steam and soften further, while not overcooking the mushrooms.

You can serve just like this, or cook a couple minutes without the lid to further reduce the mustard sauce onto the veggies.

Brussels Sprout Balls

We bought a stalk of first of the season Brussels sprouts. When I steamed them to turn them into the main beautiful course for a dinner plan, it turned out that they just didn't have the flavor I hoped they would. They were immature, a little bitter, and quite plainly, not up to being the star of the show. I cooled them, put them in a bag in the fridge and regrouped dinner around spiced tempeh and quinoa. That all went fine but I was left contemplating what to do with a stalk's worth of young not-so-interesting Brussels sprouts. Today I came home from teaching and decided to just throw them in the blender, chop them into bits and turn them into something yummy. It would take lots of other ingredients with flavor to offset them, but they could definitely provide a texture that could make an interesting dinner. These are nice with any kind of sauce you like. They are good with both applesauce and kimchi!

Not expecting greatness, I didn't photograph the process -- but you can imagine how it looked.

BRUSSELS SPROUT BALLS (makes a dozen golf-ball sized crisp balls)

2 dozen (at least) small sprouts - a stalk's worth,
  chopped in a blender to make about 5 cups
3 small potatoes, grated
1 good sized carrot grated
1 small onion chopped fine (or several Vidalia slices)
3-4 sundried tomatoes chopped fine
3-4 garlic cloves smashed and chopped fine
2 tsp Bragg Liquid Aminos
1 tsp white Miso
1/3 cup buckwheat groats, ground fine
1/2 cup chick pea flour
1/8 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp sage
1/2 tsp cumin
salt to taste

1. Grate and chop all the veggies putting them all together in a good sized bowl.
2. Put the flour-like materials together with the spices and add to the bowl, mixing in the Bragg's and miso and combining until it is mostly uniformly mixed.
3. Heat oven to 375F, put a sheet of parchment paper in a baking pan (or use a silicone sheet).
4. Form 12 golf ball sized balls with your hands, and lay them out on the paper, lightly salting them. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until just as crisp and nice as you like!

Minestrone Soup or Stew - Fresh Veggies

This is the season of garden abundance and even my little plot offers us whatever it can. Too much rain and many of the tomatoes split. Rain meant that I couldn't pick the beans either (terrible for the plants to handle them when wet) so my rejuvenated beans produced more succulent beans than expected.  Corn is best fresh off the cob, but it will taste nearly as marvelous if cut off immediately upon cooking and cooled, tossed in a freezer bag and frozen for mid winter.  What to do with a kitchen counter covered in harvested veggies? Make minestrone! When you add the al dente pasta it will absorb a good bit of the soup broth, so if you want it to stay soupy, add a little more water, and if you want to eat it more like a stew, cook down the broth a bit.

Here's my impromptu version.

Garden Plenty Minestrone - makes 2 quarts

2-3 cups of 1" green bean pieces

1 medium yellow squash cut into slices
1 large onion, cut fine or slices
1 can chick peas (or red kidney beans) or fresh cooked
2 small stalks celery chopped (with leaves if you like 'em)
3 cups chopped chunks of ripe tomatoes
2 carrots cut into pieces
1/2-1 cup corn kernels
3-5 cloves smashed and chopped garlic
1 Tablespoon dry oregano (or more if fresh)
1/2-3/4 cup fresh basil leaves chopped roughly
1 tsp Bragg Liquid Amino
Springs of fresh parsley for garnish
4-6 cups water for soup
4 ounces firm tofu cut into small pieces (optional)
black pepper, grated fresh
dash of salt
1 cup brown rice pasta of your choice & water to cook it

1. Cut up the veggies into pieces you want to find in your soup -- though squash and tomatoes will soften and some of it will become broth.
2. Add all the veggies to a good sized pot, with 4 cups of water and bring to a boil, then turn it down and simmer with a lid on at such an angle that steam can escape.
3. In a separate pot, boil up 4-5 cups of water and add the 1 cup of brown rice pasta, cooking at a boil for about 5 or 6 minutes, drain in a colander and set aside.
4. When veggies are nearly all softened, remove the lid, add the tofu and either add liquid if needed to keep it soupy, or let the liquid cook down a bit. Turn the whole thing off, add the pasta and stir. Salting to taste and adding fresh ground pepper and a sprig of parsley.

Veggie Black Bean Burgers

I've found a burger I really like - we ate them wrapped in lettuce after we covered them in dill pickle slices, ketchup, (relish on my husband's), onion slices and fresh summer tomato. Sorry I didn't photograph the process, but I was just not thinking that it would turn out as well as it did. So I'm posting the recipe, and next time I promise I'll add the way things looked as I go along. This started with a can of black beans (organic, low salt) drained and dumped in a bowl. It would need more salt if you cook your own black beans. I ended up with 7 burgers .. but you could fix that by making them all just a little smaller and get 8 out of it. We ate 3 between the two of us, and froze 4. (I'm so excited about that!)

Veggie Black Bean Burgers (makes 7-8)

Mash together in a medium sized bowl:
1 can black beans
1/2 cup finely chopped onions
1/4 cup roasted corn
1/4 cup chick pea flour
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp thyme
1/3 tsp salt

CHOP & THEN STEAM IN A STEAMER BASKET
Small bits but not too finely chopped:
1 small golden zucchini
1 medium-small carrot
1 small stalk of broccoli (1/2 cup?)
2/3 of a small sweet potato
(you could add a little mushroom... or red pepper ... or hot pepper)

Once this is softened, add it to the beans, and combine well.
ADD: 1/4 - 1/3 cup masa harina (flour made from roasted corn - Bob's Red Mill makes a nice one)

Spread about 1/2 cup masa harina on a plate, form patties and gently place one side and then the other in the corn meal. Cook in a non-stick saute or fry pan for about 10 minutes, turning gently. Cook less if you are going to freeze and reheat ... OH YUM!  I promise I'll show you how beautiful these were all wrapped in fresh lettuce and dressed up the way a burger should be!!

Veggie Black Bean Burger Nutrition Facts Serving Size: 1 Serving (118g) Amount Per Serving % Daily Value* Calories 96 5% Total Fat 1g 1% Saturated Fat 0g 1% Trans Fat 0g Cholesterol 0% Sodium 381mg 16% Total Carbohydrate 19g 6% Dietary Fiber 5g 21% Sugars 3g 0% Protein 5g 10% Vitamin A 11% • Vitamin C 20% Calcium 4% • Iron 10% * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calories needs. courtesy of cronometer.com using my data.

Multigrain Millet Veggie Loaf

Every July my husband is invited to go pick chanterelle mushrooms in the woods in preparation for our friend's annual party and the classic cream-of-chanterelle soup he likes to make for that occasion. Usually we can tell by the weather that the call will come soon, but sometimes it is just that the date of the party is approaching and mushrooms must be found.  This year there was a lot of rain, and the mushrooms were plentiful, but some were too soggy and many if not most had already been inhabited by other little organisms that love them too.  Coincidentally, errands had taken us into Woodstock, NY where we had chanced upon The Garden Cafe and a lovely polenta-like "millet veggie loaf." When I saw the small quantity of beautiful mushrooms that would not keep well, I thought they would add a golden color to a millet loaf. Then I discovered I only had about a half cup of millet. For one more day I kept the mushrooms in the fridge and sought out millet from the nearby town grocery stores and even a large grocery in Cobbleskill. No go. So multi-grain the loaf became. It was delicious!! One of our new favorites.

Multi-grain Millet Quinoa Veggie Loaf  
(6 reasonable, 4 huge servings)

GRAINS
1/2 cup millet
1/2 cup red quinoa (pretty, but pale would do too)
1/3 cup red lentils
1/4 cup corn meal
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp tumeric
approximately 4 cups water

1) Cook this slowly in a pot for about half an hour, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile...

2) Chop & then saute about 15 minutes in a large non-stick saute pan until softening:

VEGGIES

1 medium carrot
1 cup vidalia or other sweet onion
1 medium zucchini
1/2 cup fresh corn (cooked & cut from cob)
1/2 a red pepper
2 tsp Bragg's Liquid Amino
1-2 tsp fresh dried thyme or fresh thyme or something else you like

THEN ADD: 1 cup of chanterelles (I know, I know, use what you have -- regular button mushrooms would be lovely too, or chopped shiitakes...)
And saute another 5 minutes.

COMBINE the grains into the saute pan and mix well until the whole thing is one textured beautiful melange. Let cool about 5 minutes and then EITHER mold into a loaf shape in the same pan if it can go in the oven, OR dump this onto parchment paper on a baking sheet or wide baking pan, and gently push in from all sides until this is about 1.5 inches deep (or thick)... loaf- like! You can store it in this format until about 20 minutes before you need to serve it.

FINALLY: Bake at 350F for about 20 minutes. Let stand a couple minutes and then cut and serve with any sauce you like -- marinara, or plum/mushroom sauce or spicy onions and peppers  or grilled tempeh ... oh my, it's good with so many other flavors!

By accident we had some leftover poblano-tomatillo-plum sauce and I added chopped portobellos and chopped red onion to that.

ADDENDUM: It just happened that I created a quick successful little sauce the last time I made this. It added moisture and a nice touch - tahini (1/4 c) plus tamari (1.5 TBLSP) plus a little honey (1+tsp) and water (to the consistency you want) ... yum.

Millet Quinoa Veggie Loaf Nutrition Facts Serving Size: 1 Serving (305g) Amount Per Serving % Daily Value* Calories 206 10% Total Fat 2g 4% Saturated Fat 0g 2% Trans Fat Cholesterol 0% Sodium 198mg 8% Total Carbohydrate 39g 13% Dietary Fiber 6g 23% Sugars 4g 0% Protein 8g 17% Vitamin A 7% • Vitamin C 36% Calcium 3% • Iron 15% * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calories needs. courtesy of cronometer.com using my data.

Red Papaya Salad with Black Eyed Peas

My husband couldn't resist a large "green" papaya for $1.25 at the grocery store. This was directly influenced by our recent viewing of the movie The Scent of the Green Papaya (see Roger Ebert's review of this 1994 Vietnamese/French film). As it turned out it was not a green papaya but a Red Caribbean! Right away I felt liberated to make a papaya salad that did not have to try to emulate the amazing green papaya salads of Vietnam... Since I had been craving black eyed peas, and had a few limes on hand, a framework quickly turned into a new summer favorite. Here's what happened.

RED PAPAYA SALAD WITH BLACK EYED PEAS

Half a red papaya - peeled, de-seeded, sliced and "cubed"
1-1.5 cup dry black eyed peas
3 cups water for peas
1/2 pint grape tomatoes
3 cloves fresh garlic - crushed and chopped finely
3 slices Vidalia onion, chopped finely
good handful of fresh green beans (15-20 beans)
2-3 cups fresh baby arugula (if you like it), baby spinach or fresh watercress
1 lime
1/2-1 tsp sea salt
(a few red pepper flakes if spice is desired)

1. Prepare the papaya by cutting in half, peeling, slicing lengthwise, scooping out seeds, slice and then chop. Don't worry about everything being the same size, just think abouta  nice bite size.
2. Steam the green beans, rinse in cold water and chop into 1/2 inch pieces. Set aside.
3. Cook the black eyed peas in a good amount of water, about 25 minutes, with just a little salt. While these are cooking, you can crush and chop the garlic and chop the onion. Drain and add the chopped onion and garlic to this, and cutting the grape tomatoes in half and stirring them into the warm beans.  Let this cool to room temp or put it in the fridge.

4. Construct: Add papaya chunks and green beans to the black eyed peas mixture. Add salt, a dash of red pepper flakes if you want heat, and the juice of at least half the lime or possibly the WHOLE lime! Set in the fridge for a bit if you want it cool or eat at room temperature. SERVE on a bed of baby arugula. Great for picnics. Can be eaten as leftovers the next day.

Poblano and Tofu filled TACOS

Inspiration comes from various places, and lately it has been in the form of very small local shops in my Prospect Heights neighborhood that are being inventive with tacos as a medium for yummy vegan options. There are some work days when it is just hard to figure out how to find energy to cook and I am truly grateful to these little enterprises that have given me a way out. Then I crave that tasty morsel at home, and just have to give it a try! Here is a way to start on this path that I hope will inspire you to wander to your own delight. I took simple ingredients: 2 poblano peppers, 2 little onions, a small handful of mushrooms, a block of tofu, a dab of miso and a few teaspoons of spices, plus 5 corn tortillas and we had a taco dinner that was out of the ordinary, really fun, and left us conjuring up a "next time" with all sorts of additional options.  Here's what I did.

You will need over an hour of prep time as the tofu has to soak in the paprika sauce, and then most of the ingredients need to roast half an hour or so in the oven.  The good news is you can roast the peppers and at some point put the tofu in the oven too, easily getting everything ready to eat at the same time. Honestly, this first effort I complicated matters by forgetting to get the corn tortillas ... so I tried to invent them too... which was really fun and gave a nice grainy bottom layer, but no way could we wrap. I am definitely going to get the necessary fine-grind corn meal (harina) and try the tortilla project again. When I get it to work, I'll blog it because I really liked having a thick grainy corn plate under these, and eating with a fork was fine. For now, though, just buy the tortillas!

Paprika Tofu Tacos (3 big helpings)

1 block firm or extra firm tofu
3 teaspoons (or more) paprika
1-2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon oregano (crush it into a fine powder)
.5 teaspoon or less salt
1 tablespoon sweet chili sauce (or sweet/sour sauce or salad dressing)
1.5 cups water

for topping:
1-2 chopped up dill pickles
4 scallions, chopped


1. Compress slabs of tofu, about 6 using the whole block, by placing a dish towel on a baking sheet, spread the slabs on the dish towel then fold the dish towel over the slabs, and place another baking sheet on top with a solid weight on it -- like a pile of books, or cutting board with a kettle on top, or something weighing a couple pounds.  Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl.
2. After compressing for at least an hour, cut the tofu slabs into 1.5" long rectangles (slice the shorter way and then in half again). Put these carefully in a shallow bowl and cover in the sauce. Soak a while, an hour or so, carefully rearranging so that the sauce covers all the facets of the little rectangles. Spread on a tin foil covered baking sheet, drizzling the sauce over the surfaces, reserving a little to add after turning.
3. Heat oven to 400 F, and bake about 15 minutes, turn, drizzle, and bake another 10 minutes. These will be dry and coated red.
4. Chop the pickles and scallions -- about a tablespoon per serving -- to add to the taco. You could add fresh cilantro to this if you have some!
5. Heat corn tortillas one at a time over a hot burner, lay on plate and cover with tofu with chopped pickle mixture on top.


Poblano Peppers & Onion Tacos (3 big helpings)

2 good sized poblano peppers
2 small onions (I used Cippolinis)
1-2 teaspoons red miso
1 teaspoon crushed basil
3/4 cup water
.5 cup mushrooms (I used bunashemeji but enoki or button would be fine)

1. Cut peppers lengthwise into about 5 pieces each, and onions into 8 wedges each (quarter and slice again).
2. Mix red miso and herbs with water in a bowl. spread tin foil on a baking sheet and spread out the vegetables, lightly drizzling the miso mixture on each piece. bake (roast) in oven at 400F for a total of about half an hour, adding a little more miso moisture and separating the onion layers, de-sticking the peppers from the foil a couple times.
3. Remove from oven and slice into 1/4 inch strips (I cut across the whole pile of stuff, not separating onions from peppers), so that this will be easily bite-sized.  put mushrooms in a microwave save bowl and heat for less than a minute. this will soften and bring out the juices of the mushrooms.
4.  Heat the tortillas, spread the pepper-onion mix, top with mushrooms, and drizzle a little miso sauce on top.

Paprika Tofu Tacos (makes 3) Nutrition Facts Serving Size: 1 taco (383g) Amount Per Serving % Daily Value* Calories 329 16% Total Fat 16g 25% Saturated Fat 3g 15% Trans Fat Cholesterol 0% Sodium 410mg 17% Total Carbohydrate 21g 7% Dietary Fiber 5g 18% Sugars 2g 0% Protein 27g 55% Vitamin A 5% • Vitamin C 10% Calcium 26% • Iron 37% * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calories needs. courtesy of cronometer.com using my data.

Roasted Poblano Onion Taco (makes 3) Nutrition Facts Serving Size: 1 taco (218g) Amount Per Serving % Daily Value* Calories 99 5% Total Fat 1g 1% Saturated Fat 0g 1% Trans Fat Cholesterol 0% Sodium 68mg 3% Total Carbohydrate 21g 7% Dietary Fiber 4g 16% Sugars 5g 0% Protein 3g 6% Vitamin A 0% • Vitamin C 76% Calcium 5% • Iron 7% * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calories needs. courtesy of cronometer.com using my data.