Beanie Jose's with Mustard Roasted Brussels Sprouts

These are meatless sloppy joe's with taco seasoning, so I present: Beanie Jose's
Tempeh provides a meaty texture and the red kidney beans help pull everything together. This recipe was adapted from Mark Bittman's Almost Meatless Sloppy Joes which was featured in the May 2010 Cooking Light magazine.  This recipe is meatless and delicious.  Everything comes together in about 30 minutes, making this an easy weeknight meal.

You can use a ready prepared taco mix, or you can make your own.  Serve the beanie jose's on top of toasted kaiser rolls and top with sliced red onion rings.  I served with a side of roasted brussels sprouts. Preheat the oven to 400 F, prep the brussels sprouts, then heat the water for the tempeh.

Ingredients:
Serves 4-6

2 c water
2 T olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 T minced garlic, about 2-3 medium cloves worth
1/2 t salt
1/4 t fresh black pepper
3/4 cup tempeh, cut into 2" chunks (about 1/2 of a block of tempeh)
1/2 cup grated carrot (1/2 of a large carrot)
2 t taco seasoning (see below)
1 t brown sugar
1/2 t dried oregano
1/4 t crushed red chili flakes
1 14 oz can diced tomatoes
1 14 oz can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
4-6 kaiser rolls
1 medium red onion, sliced into rings

Directions:
1. In a small saucepan, heat up 2 cups of water over medium-high heat. Once hot, add in tempeh and simmer for 10 minutes. Simmering the tempeh helps reduce the bitterness.
2. In a non-stick skillet heat up the olive oil over medium-high heat. Once hot, add in onion and garlic. Saute for 5 minutes.
3. Crumble tempeh and add it into the pan. Continue breaking the tempeh apart until it resembles grounds. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Add in carrots, taco seasoning, sugar, oregano, and red pepper. Cook for 2 minutes.
5. Stir in tomatoes and mix everything together.  Continue to cook for 10 minutes.
6. Meanwhile, add half the beans to the pan, and mash the other half in a small bowl. Add in the mashed beans and stir everything together until the beans are heated through.
7. Top the bottom half of each roll with 3/4-1 cup of the beanie jose's. Serve alongside some onion rings.

Taco seasoning:
1 T ancho chili powder (you could also use dried chipotle powder)
1-2 t cumin
1/2 t garlic powder
1/2 t dried onion flakes
1/4 t smoked Spanish paprika
1/4 t salt
1/4 t fresh black pepper
1/4 t red chili powder
1 t oregano, dried

1. Mix all the spices and herbs together. Store in an airtight container.
Yield: 3-4 T (depending on if you add/minus ingredients)

Mustard Roasted Brussels Sprouts
Serves 2-3
Ingredients:
1-1/2 c brussel sprouts, (measure them whole, then cut them in half, or quarter them depending on size)
1 T olive oil

For dressing:
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 T water
1 T olive oil
1 tsp capers, rinsed
1/8 tsp coarse sea salt
fresh black pepper to taste

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 F.
1. Quarter or halve the brussels sprouts and toss them with 1 T of olive oil.
2. Place them in a pan and roast for 20-25 minutes, stirring often.
3. Combine the ingredients for the dressing and set aside.
4. Toss the dressing with the roasted brussels sprouts and serve immediately.

Apple Pie

With plenty of apple trees around and too many sour apples on those trees...apple pies are in order.  This came together very quickly with some store bought pie dough.  The apple pie filling has been adapted from Bill Neal's Biscuits Spoonbread and Sweet Potato Pie cookbook. Youn and Nathan, thank you for sending along this cookbook.





Before getting started, read the directions on the store bought pie dough. Grease a 9" pie plate and set aside.

Ingredients:
6 cups thinly sliced, peeled apples (about 6 large or 8 small-medium apples)
1 cup sugar
pinch salt
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 t cinnamon
1/4 t freshly grated nutmeg
2 t brandy (I subbed in rum, and the time before that, amaretto)
3/4 tsp rosewater (I subbed in a fig vinegar)
I omitted the following, but you can include if you like:
2 T butter
1 egg
1 T milk

Preheat oven to 425 F
1. Place the thinly sliced apples in a bowl. Sift 3/4 sugar, salt, flour and spices over the fruit and mix them to combine.
2. Stir in brandy and rosewater.
3. Roll out the pie dough and fit it into the pie pan.
4. Place fruit on top. Shave butter over the fruit if you are using the extra butter. If you are making a double-crusted pie, fit it onto the bottom crust by moistening the edges of the pie dough and crimping together to make a seal. Slash the top decoratively to let out steam.
5. If using an egg wash, beat the egg with the milk and brush on the dough.
6. Sprinkle with the remaining sugar (should be about 1/4 cup).
7. Bake at 425 F for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350 F, and continue to bake for 40 minutes.
8. The pie is done when golden-brown on top and the fruit is bubbling inside.

Truffled White Beans with Chard and Tomatoes

I am in love with truffle oil. This is a simple healthy dish that uses swiss chard, cherry tomatoes, and white beans to show off the truffle oil.  Serve over rice or with these gruyere scalloped potatoes from Cooking Light.

I was lazy with photos today, so I'll leave you with some of my favorite parts of NC:




Truffled White Beans with Chard and Tomatoes
Serves: 4
1/2 tsp olive oil
1 small red onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
3-4 cups chard, chopped. If the stems are small enough (from garden chard, like Bright Lights chard) chop them fine and set aside.
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes or 1 tomato chopped,
1 14 oz can of white beans, rinsed and drained
salt and pepper to taste
2 T truffle oil
1/4 tsp smoked paprika
1/4 c water

Directions:
1. Heat the olive oil in a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Once hot, add in red onions, chard stems, and garlic.  Cook for 4 minutes.
2. Once the onions and garlic mixture begins to brown, add in swiss chard. Stir every 2-3 minutes. Once the chard begins to wilt and reduce in size, move the chard around to expose the inside of the skillet. Add tomatoes.
3. Cook for 4 minutes.
4. Add in white beans, and cook until the beans are heated through, about 2 minutes.
5. Season with salt and pepper.  Drizzle with truffle oil and smoked paprika. Add water if the chard begins to look dry.
6. Serve immediately.

Tempeh Wings, Things, and Stumps

TEMPEH WINGS!

I like tempeh and I like wing sauce. After much searching, and trial and error, I have found the best combination of recipes for tempeh wings (or things, or stumps, or fingers, or whatever you want to call them). These are simply marvelous, fantastic, and finger-licking good.

To make the tempeh wings, I followed this recipe and post of The Ordinary Vegetarian's Tempeh Hot Wings.  I think the recipe has gone viral, as I have found it on many vegan blogs, but Sarah's directions are really easy to follow, and I kept getting distracted by all the other delicious recipes she has posted (which I hope to add to a future week of meals).

To make these really crunchy, put the steamed tempeh in the soy milk/rice milk, dredge in flour, re-dip in the soy milk/rice milk, and then dredge in the breadcrumbs. I used Panko breadcrumbs, soy milk instead of rice milk, and smoked paprika.  Honestly, I will put smoked paprika into anything. I had to increase the baking time by about 20 minutes, but I think you can put them in and take them out when browned enough.  Toss in wing sauce once they come out of the oven.

I liked the simplicity of Vegan Dad's wing sauce: half margarine and half wing sauce.  His post on making your own vegan wings was pretty impressive.  I utilized butter and Thai sriracha sauce with a splash of Tabasco to very appetizing results.  I have 3 kinds of hot sauce in the pantry, and I just couldn't justify buying another one.  I can't wait to try the BBQ sauce, and the number of other appetizing recipes.

I served up my tempeh "things" with some coleslaw:


This coleslaw utilizes the seasonings of a ranch-based dressing, in yogurt thinned with water.

Ranch-Yogurt Coleslaw:
Serves 4
1/2 of a medium head of green cabbage, shredded or sliced thin. I prefer slicing, because the shredding just destroys the cabbage
2 carrots, shredded
1 red bell pepper, chopped

For coleslaw dressing:
1/2 cup or more plain yogurt (the European yogurt I buy is runnier than US yogurts, so I think I used 3/4 cup of yogurt thinned with 3 T of water).
1/2 tsp dried dill
1/2 tsp dried garlic powder
1/4 tsp dried mint
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried onion flakes
1/2 tsp salt
fresh black pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Mix together cabbage, carrots and bell pepper in a large bowl.
2. In a smaller bowl, combine yogurt through black pepper. Taste and adjust seasonings.
3. Thin the yogurt with approx. 3 T of water. If the dressing is too thick, thin with more water.
4. Stir into cabbage mixture and adjust seasonings if needed. 

Butternut Squash Galette

If you've been lucky to try a galette before, than this may inspire you to bake one at home.  My first galette eating experience was at 3 CUPS in Chapel Hill, NC. I think I had a galette with sweet potato and goat cheese. It was delicious, and has been on my cooking to-do list for a while now.  Making this is labor intensive, but straightforward (obviously you can patronize 3 CUPS, but....), because there is little room to mess things up.  This would be a delicious fall or winter main dinner dish (especially for a vegetarian main dish at Thanksgiving).  Allow 4 hours for prep and cooking.



This winter squash galette recipe is from my Deborah Madison cookbook.   You can use winter squash or butternut squash. I adapted it slightly for what was available to me here in Belgium. I used butternut squash, oregano instead of sage, and half whole wheat flour in the galette dough; any other substitutions are written below.

Winter Squash Galette
2 1/2 pounds of winter squash (such as butternut squash)
1 small head garlic, cloves separated, but not peeled (I used 6-7 cloves and it was plenty)
1 T olive oil
1 onion, diced (I used 2 small red onions)
12 fresh sage leaves, chopped, or 2 t dried (I subbed in 2 t oregano, and found it to be good)
1/2 cup parmesan
salt and pepper
1 egg, beaten for the egg wash

1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Cut the squash in half and scoop out the seeds. Brush the tops of the squash with olive oil. Place the garlic into the squash cavities and then put the squash cut side down onto a sheet pan. Roast 40 minutes.
2. After the squash is cool enough to handle, scoop out the squash and squeeze the garlic from the cloves. Mash together, but leave some texture.
3. Heat up about 1 T of olive oil in a skillet, and add the onion and sage, cooking for about 12 minutes. Add it to the squash and season with salt and pepper. Add in parmesan cheese and combine.  Set filling aside.





Galette dough:
Enough for one large galette or a dozen 3-inch turnovers.
2 cups all purpose or whole-wheat pastry flour (I used 1 cup pastry flour and 1 cup whole wheat flour)
1/2 t salt
1 T sugar
12 T cold, unsalted butter, cut into small pieces (I ended up using only 8 T)
1/2 cup ice water, or as needed

1. Mix the flour, salt and sugar together inside a bowl.  Cut in the butter by hand. I used a fork to mash it into the flour until I had several pea-sized chunks.
2. Sprinkle the ice water over the top, adding in 1 T of water at a time and working it into the dough. You will be kneading it in slowly. The ice water helps to keep the butter cold, so you will have a flakey crust.
3. Continue to combine, until the dough comes together into a ball. Press it into a disk and refrigerate 15 minutes, if the butter feels soft.  I found it easier to roll out when cold.




Pastry flours ready for the mixing (above)




Pastry dough with pea-sized butter chunks (above)



Making the Galette:
1. Roll out the dough on a lightly-floured surface. Be liberal with the flour so you don't end up making the galette dough stick to your counter.  Roll it out, then rotate it, to make sure it doesn't stick.  Roll out to 14 inches in diameter.
2. When ready, lightly fold the galette into quarters and transfer it to the back of a sheet pan or cookie pan and then unfold it. It will be larger than the pan.
3. Place the butternut squash filling into the center, and spread the filling around, leaving 2 inches at the border.
4. Pleat the dough over the filling, then brush the edges with the beaten egg. Bake until the crust is golden (about 25 minutes). I found it took about 40 minutes to bake.

Chickpeas Curry with Spinach and Wild Rice

Recipe (from Manjula's Kitchen) here.

Manjula's Kitchen is one of my favorite South Asian cooking sites.  Her recipes and accompanying video instructions make her recipes easy to follow, and preparing Indian meals accessible. Most cooks of Indian origin estimate measurements without really knowing whether they used 1 tablesoon or 1 teaspoon.  This becomes a problem if you are using say red chili powder, or you end up turning a dish neon yellow with too much turmeric.  Her site is wonderful.

I've been toying with the idea of only cooking Indian foods for a month, where my main goal would be to try and cook the foods that I grew up with.  I don't even prepare the foods I grew up with, and I miss them terribly.

This week we ate chole or channa (chickpeas) with spinach and I served it with some parathas and wild rice. The chole turned out delicious. The leftovers were devoured the next day.  This took under 30 minutes to prepare. I reduced the oil to 1 T from 3 T,  found the ginger essential, increased the salt, and used canned diced tomatoes.  Boil-in-the-bag wild rice mix was a nice addition, and parathas heated up from the freezer (you can buy frozen parathas from a South Asian grocery store) rounded out the meal. Serve the chole with a side of yogurt.

Recipe (from Manjula's Kitchen) here.

Week of Meals

The last post of a Week of Meals was cluttered and long.   I like the idea of weekly meals, so I'll only share what the week holds. Recipes will follow later. Cheers!

Week of Meals:
Day 1: Channa saag and wild rice mix
Day 2: Tofu satay lettuce wraps with ginger mushroom basil soup
Day 3: Fettuccine with parmesan reggiano with an arugula salad
Day 4: Tempeh jerk wings with coleslaw
Day 5: Cheese tortellini with tomato basil soup
Day 6: Butternut squash galette with an arugula salad

Week of Meals

I started off last week with food on the mind.  On Sunday, I put together a week of meals (five meals). 

It didn't take too much time, maybe an hour or so, and I was able to reward myself for the effort with a nice home brew. I tend to get sick of planning, but I was motivated this week, and so I'd like to share. First here's the list of meals, and I'll post recipes below. 

Day 1: Mixed beans with tomato bruschetta

Day 2: Spaghetti with zucchini and basil

Day 3: Taco salad

Day 4: Mushroom and wild rice soup with peach-bibb lettuce salad

Day 5: Quinoa stuffed tomatoes with Cajun oven potatoes

On Sunday evening, Allison and Nico, came over for some dinner. We had gone on a bike ride to Mechelen along the canal or Vaartkom just north of the city. It was warm and sunny and was a break from how cold it has been in August.  During dinner, Nico and Allison talked about their 25 favorite meals. It was pretty hilarious because I think they have a shared Google Doc to plan meals. Nico is a fabulous cook (see here).  I loved their idea of a fondue-TV-movie dinner night and was inspired by their list of favorites, especially fried brie.

Here are the recipes:

Meal 1: Mixed beans with tomato bruschetta on homemade bread (Karl baked the bread).  

The beans are a simple recipe from my Deborah Madison cookbook.  It's a good way to use the small quantities of leftover dried beans. 

For the beans:

1 cup mixed beans, soaked and drained (any variety of beans will do, I used adzuki, chickpeas, white beans, and kidney beans)
6 cups water
1 bay leaf
few sprigs parsley and thyme
2 garlic cloves
1 tsp olive oil

Directions
1. Bring the beans, water, oil and aromatics to a simmer. Cover the beans slightly and simmer for 1 hour or until tender.
2. Season with salt, and serve with shredded parmesan, black pepper and fresh chopped parsley or other herbs.

Meal 2:  Spaghetti with Zucchini and Basil

This also came out of my Deborah Madison cookbook. I've made it a few times because the zucchini just melts in your mouth and the fresh basil is very tasty.

Spaghetti with Zucchini and Basil 

2 medium zucchini, cut lengthwise, then in bits across

1/3 cup olive oil (use much less on a non-stick skillet, 3 T is fine)

2 garlic cloves, sliced

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup milk or half and half (I used milk)

1 lb of spaghetti (or enough for 4-6 persons)

fresh parmesan

1/2 cup of basil, torn into chunks

1. Heat up olive oil  in a wide skillet over medium-high heat.

2. Start heating up the water for the pasta

3. When olive oil is hot, add in garlic. When garlic is fragrant add in zucchini. Cook over medium heat until the squash is soft and brown (about 20 minutes)

4. When pasta water is boiling, cook pasta.

5. When squash is done cooking, stir in milk, salt and pepper. Adjust for seasoning. 

6. Combine the spaghetti with the squash and top with basil and parmesan

Meal 3: Taco salad with chips

I substituted lentils for the smart grounds featured in the recipe.

Meal 4: Mushroom and wild rice soup with peach butter lettuce salad

The soup comes out of my Cooking Light Fresh Food Fast Weeknight Meals. It's a pretty good collection, although I found many recipes to be very meat heavy. 

Mushroom and Wild Rice Soup

1 T olive oil

2 cups mushrooms, sliced (any mix of mushrooms will do)

1/2 cup bell pepper, chopped fine

1/2 cup red onion, chopped fine

1 package boil-in-the-bag wild rice blend

1/2 cup ricotta cheese

2 T basil

2 T parsley

1 tsp dried garlic

salt and pepper to taste

2 cups milk (I used 1 cup soymilk, 1/2 cup water, and 1/2 cup milk)

1. In a soup stockpot heat olive oil and add bell pepper and onion.

2. In a separate sauce pan heat up 2 cups water. 

3. Mix together ricotta, dried garlic, herbs, and salt and pepper in a bowl and set aside. 

4. Add mushrooms to soup stockpot and cook 7 minutes. 

5. When the saucepan full of water boils, add in a boil-in-the-bag wild rice blend, and cook according to package directions. 

6. When mushrooms have cooked down, stir in cheese and milk. Add more salt if needed. Bring to a boil until the soup thickens a bit. 

7. Stir in wild rice and heat through. 

For the salad (serves 2)

1-2 cups washed Bibb lettuce

1 peach, sliced

2 T pumpkin seeds

Dressing:

1.5 T fig or other flavored vinegar

1 T olive oil

1 T water

salt and pepper to taste

Mix together dressing and toss with the salad. 

Meal 5: Quinoa stuffed tomatoes and Cajun oven potatoes

I made this when Nico and Allison came over. It looks like a lot of work, but if you prep things in order everything comes together in about an hour.

For the potatoes:

8 small-medium waxy potatoes, washed and scrubbed

3 T olive oil

For the tomatoes:

1 cup quinoa, rinsed and drained

2 and 1/2 cups water

1 T olive oil

1 clove garlic, chopped

1 red onion, chopped

1-2 cups chard, chopped

6 ripe medium-large Roma tomatoes, halved lengthwise and pulp removed in a bowl

1/2 cup ricotta

1/4 cup basil

1/4 cup parsley

salt and pepper to taste

1/4 tsp red chili powder

1/2 (or more) mixed beans (leftovers from earlier this week), omit if you don't have

1. Preheat oven to 400 F.

2. Quarter the potatoes in wedges and toss with 3 T olive oil. Set in a casserole dish and place in oven once hot. Ignore the potatoes while you prep everything else. These will take the longest to cook so get to them first. 

3. In a small sauce pan combine 1 cup quinoa and 2 and 1/2 cups water over medium-high heat.  Stir every 10 minutes. Quinoa will take 15-20 minutes to cook.  The quinoa is done when the water is evaporated and the quinoa looks light and fluffy. While the quinoa cooks you can prep the tomatoes and stuffing. 

4. In a wide skillet, heat up olive oil over medium heat. When oil is shimmering, add in garlic and onion and saute for 3 minutes, or until onion is soft. Add in chard and continue to cook until chard is wilted. Turn off heat and set aside. 

5. In a greased oven casserole dish set tomato halves up.  Break apart the tomato pulp by chopping it up. You can mix it in with the stuffing or stir it with the chard-onion mixture

6. Mix ricotta, herbs, quinoa, salt and pepper and red chili powder together, stir in beans if you have them. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed. Fill the tomatoes with the mixture and then set them in the oven.  The tomatoes will cook for about 30 minutes.  Turn the potatoes to ensure they are getting nice and roasted. 

You can serve the roasted potatoes in any way, these are my 2 faves:

Rosemary with coarse salt and fresh pepper

Cajun seasoning

Just sprinkle over the potatoes once done and serve. 

Ladies Night

Last night I went to Ladies Night at the Movies. Seriously. I did. I had no idea what to expect but it was so different and so cool that I had to rush home and write about it.



First some background, my Belgian-American friends, Nico and his lovely wife Allison, are probably a huge reason why Karl and I moved here. Nico went to school at KU Leuven, and so we spent a few weeks last September emailing back and forth with them about their experiences and how we'd fit in (they were right about almost everything). Allison has visited Belgium several times in the past and has come out recently to continue her Dutch/Flemish language course.  She is lovely, kind, beautiful, smart, and much better at Dutch than I. She has introduced me to Nico's family in Leuven, Brussels, and Mechelen. She is essentially a tornado of social outings.  Naturally, Ladies Night, was because of Allison.  I met several of her friends this past weekend, and they invited me to Ladies Night at the Movies.

Ladies Night at the Movies is held monthly at the Kinepolis movie theatre in Leuven.  Apparently, it sells out weeks in advance, and is filled with women of nearly every age.  You check in with your tickets and proceed up to the top floor, except as you arrive you are handed a gift bag and promptly given a Cola Light (it's even opened for you). I'm still in shock as I'm processing everything (I had denied the Cola Light, once I realized that a free glass of wine was included in the ticket price).

Ladies Night is essentially set up like a health fair. There are tables and booths of all things for ladies. There are student hairdressers doing quick hair updo's and make-up, there are jewelers, and make-up tables, it's obvious product placement, but no one really gives a hoot.  One vendor is selling lingerie and sex-toys, another is giving out health info and selling you gym memberships.  In the middle of all the vendors are cocktail tables with women gathered around them eating capers and olives and sipping their free Cola Lights and wines. It was AMAZING.  A little bit ridiculous, but totally fun, and unlike anything I could imagine would happen in the US.  A theatre in the US sells you junk food and ads, and you are bombarded with the ads, but never part of the ads.  You could never imagine a theatre that gives you cocktail olives and capers, and has young staff serving you alcohol.  Here, you are part of the ads, you are cool, you are Cola Light, you are fashionable, hip, young, cool.   Oh yes, and before you enter the theatre, you fill out your ticket with your name and contact info, and they draw for prizes (things like gift certificates and products of the many vendors that donated stuff).

My gift bag was filled with perfume, lotion, and shampoo samples, meusli and granola bar samples, an entire bottle of Fiero martini mix (at 14.9% Et-OH), product coupons. It was ridiculous, self-indulgent, and totally worth 12.95.



The movie was....wait for it....Eat Pray Love. I can't imagine a better movie for Ladies Night. While I prefer to never admit to watching chick flicks, I at least only admit to watching them in the privacy of my own home (and yes SATC 2 is on that list).  I can't put myself in the Gilbert fan camp - so I'll refrain from commenting.  I did, however, have a great time attending Ladies Night at the Movies and had to admit it was a very nice way to meet some fellow ladies.