Watermelon Mountains

Apparently Albuquerque, New Mexico gets 300 sunny days a year. So, what are the chances that I'm here for 3 cloudy days in a row? It meant I never got to see the infamous Sandia mountain sunsets, where the mountain turn a brilliant shade of watermelon pink for which they are named.

I've eaten lots of chillies and guacamole, so I'm totally in my comfort zone. But the food I found most intriguing were the sopapillas. They're fried sweet bread served plain, with cinnamon sugar, drizzled with honey, or even stuffed with enchilada-type fillings. A quick google told me there are many recipes, some of which are vegan. However, I'll have to leave cooking this one to the experts as a deep fryer in my own house could only lead to trouble for me!

Bread Bowl Quiche

I'm such a sucker for bread. Prescribing to an Atkin's-type diet would be pure and complete torture for me. Luckily I can curb my carb-loading ways and (for the most part) eat them only in moderation, otherwise I could easily be 20, 30, maybe 50 pounds heavier than I am now.

It occurred to me recently that in making quiche I could swap the pastry for a hollowed-out loaf of bread, the trick being to wrap the outside of the bread with tinfoil to prevent it from drying out while the filling bakes. In this trial I used a fairly dense loaf of German rye bread, which had its pros and cons. The con was that the density of the bread made it a little tough to cut through on my dinner pate. However, the fortunate pro was that leftovers Paul and I have been enjoying for lunch over the past few days haven't had soggy crusts in the least, despite being refrigerated and microwaved. I plan to test this recipe with a few other types of bread, but given my fondness for all things leavened, I'm sure I'll like them all.

FYI - the filling I used was the Bean and Asparagus filling from Veganomicon, as well as a tofu and olive one I whirled together in the food processor. If you want to try this at home, just use your favourite quiche filling.

Corncakes with Stewed Black Beans

Stewed black beans are a staple in my house, but I usually have them with rice, on tostadas or in a burrito. Tonight I thought they would be nice with corncakes, and indeed they were. There's no real novel recipe here - just your standard corncake recipe kicked-up a notch with jalapenos, green onions, cilantro and lime zest. The black beans were stewed with red onion, lime zest, smoked paprika, cumin, leftover canned green salsa, and water. It wasn't rocket science and it turned out prettier and even more satisfying than I imagined.

Hearts and Stars

I've been meaning to try this out for quite some time now, but some time was what I was lacking. Eventually it happened and I think it's pretty cool! I made a lentil kabob type filling as I did a recipe or two ago, and steamed it in these heart and star forms (ice cube trays). Then to add more flavour I stewed them in some sweet and sour sauce. I can imagine that kids would go for this sort of thing....heck, I'm 32 and I go for this sort of thing!

Next time I'm going to try making it with tofu and gluten and all sorts of hearts and star shaped stuff.

Mein urin riecht fremd

I'm in Freiburg, Germany right now for a set of non-stop meetings. I should be taking this time-off for much needed sleep, but my jet-lag simply won't have it. So, instead I write about what I've eaten at every meal since I arrived: spargel, or white asparagus! I love green asparagus and until now I've never had the opportunity to try the white stuff. Little did I know I was coming to southern Germany just in time for the spring harvest. They take this stuff seriously! Apparently there is a strict spargel rating system, intensive harvesting techniques, special etiquette for handling and eating it, and during the spring restaurants focus entire sections of their menus on this stuff. It's incredibly tasty...too bad I won't be able to get it when I return home to Toronto.

Quiche kind of Paté

I was intrigued by the Asparagus Quiche with Tomatoes and Tarragon recipe from Veganomicon for two reasons. One, it's a vegan quiche recipe that uses no tofu or nutritional yeast but rather navy beans. And two, it's a quiche that includes asparagus pureed right into the filling. I thought it was a really wonderful pie with a light texture. It tasted nothing like quiche, but more like warm veggie paté in a crust. I thought it was so nice that the next day I decided to make my own version of the recipe, but with cannellini beans, wasabi and sweet peas instead of navy beans, asparagus and tarragon. Both were good, but I prefer asparagus over sweet peas anyday, so the Veganomicon recipe wins the competition. I guess that's why Isa and Terry are award winning cookbook writers and I'm not! :-)

Fakin' Bacon' Appetizers

Long long ago I used to love bacon-wrapped water chestnut appetizers. They were so salty and crispy, just how I like my appetizers. So, when Paul found mock bacon that actually looked like the real thing, I couldn't resist! They aren't nearly as salty or greasy, but they were just as good and far less cruel.