Vegan Chili

A sure crowd pleaser and decievingly simple to make!  Don't be scared off by the list of ingredients.  If you use a slow cooker, there are only three simple steps: 1. wash & chop veggies 2. open cans 3. throw everything in the slow cooker and leave to cook for 2-3 hours.  Voila!  Beautiful, delicious, and nutricious chili!  I was a bit unsure because this is my first attempt to make a veggie chili, but I'm pretty stoked by the outcome =D  I read about a dozen recipes and came up with this..

All of the following ingredients can be omitted or added depending on your own personal taste preference, you're the cook! =)

Ingredients:
1   Tablespoon Cooking oil
2   Carrots, diced
1   Onion, diced
3   Cloves of garlic, minced
2   Red Bell Peppers, diced
1   Green Bell Pepper, diced
1   Anaheim Chili, diced
2   Jalapeno Chilis, take the seeds out with latex gloves or with plastic wrap to avoid the ultimate "finger sting", dice and remember to wash everything (the knife, your hands, and cutting board).
2   Cups of Baby Bella Mushrooms, chopped
1   Zucchini or Italian Squash, diced
1   15oz Can of Whole Kernel Sweet Corn, drained (you can opt to use fresh corn if its in season)
1   15oz Can of Black Beans, drained
1   15oz Can of Pinto Beans, drained
(you can use regular beans by soaking and cooking the beans beforehand)
1   28oz Can of Peeled Tomatoes (No Salt Added)
(you can use fresh Roma tomatoes. Cut crosses at the bottom of the tomatoes, boil a pot of salted water and blanche the tomatoes then drain and put tomatoes in an ice bath, the skins should come off easily after that.  Peel and roughly chop.)
2-4 Cups of Vegetable stock
1   Tablespoon of Chili Powder
1   Tablespoon of Cumin
1   Teaspoon of Cayenne Pepper
2   Tablespoons of Dried Basil
2   Tablespoons of Dried Oregeno
***Secret Weapon: 1 Teaspoon of 5 Spice Powder***
Salt and pepper to taste
When serving, top each bowl with a dollop of sour cream, chopped cilantro or chives, shredded cheddar cheese and diced avocado.
(I added a few pieces of beef sausage for the meat eaters and a poached egg for breakfast)

Instructions:
When using a slow cooker...just follow the steps outlined in the intro above.

When using a pot...heat on the stove over medium high and add cooking oil.  Add the carrots, onion, and garlic.  Cook for a few minutes then add the pepper and chilis.  Cook for another few minutes then add the mushrooms and zucchini.  Cook for another few minutes then add the corn and beans and tomatoes followed by all the seasoning.  Stir and cook for a few minutes then add the vegetable stock until it covers all the veggies by over an inch.  Bring to boil and reduce to simmer, cover simmer over low heat for 2 hours.

When using a Thermal Insulated Cooking Pot (a.k.a. the "Magic Cooker")...follow all the same above instruction when using a pot except you use the "Magic Cooker" pot and simmer only 10 minutes on the stove then take the pot and place in "Magic Cooker", seal and forget about it for 3 hours.  I chose to use a "Magic Cooker" and it is my preference for slow cooking because it doesn't need any electricity and the food is essentially cooking by its own heat, genius!

Heart of Green

I LOVE avocados!  The natural creamy goodness, the subtle yet intoxicating flavor, and something about cutting open the rough unattractive outer shell to find such beautiful green flesh never ceases to amaze me.  The Chinese term for avocado literally translates to "butter fruit".  Avocados are nature's butter.  Give me a piece of toast with half an avocado sliced on top with a little salt and pepper and I'm content with life. =)

This Green Goddess Breakfast is my perfect way to start the day...

Ingredients:

1 Egg

1/2 Avocado

A few Basil leaves

1 piece of Toast

Salt and Pepper

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Directions:

Toast a piece of bread in the toaster or oven.  Pan fry an egg gently in olive oil to medium doneness (cooked on both sides but the yolk is still slightly runny, salt and pepper).  Cut half an avocado into slices.  Arrange the toast on bottom, then add the egg, then the avocado slices, and lastly the washed and dried basil leaves.  Drizzle with a little more extra virgine olive oil and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Simple green goddess goodness

Stir-Fry Bok Choy & Mushrooms

Stir Fry Bok Choy & Mushrooms

Ingredients:

A Few Bunches of Bok Choy

A Few Ounces of Mushroom (I used King Oyster here, but you can use almost any other meaty mushroom like Shitake or Portebello sliced)

2-3            Cloves of Garlic

Salt & Pepper

• When stir-frying any veggie dish, you generally want to slice or chop your ingredients into similar shapes and sizes so that it’s visually pleasing and cooks evenly.

1. Wash all the veggies and slice the bok choy and mushrooms into 1-inch pieces.
2. Add a tablespoon of cooking vegetable oil to a hot wok or large sauté pan over medium high heat.
3. Mince the garlic and add to the pan, once you see the garlic sizzle and smell the garlic aroma add the mushrooms and let the mushrooms cook until slightly brown, a few minutes.
4. Add the bok choy, salt and pepper to taste, toss with the mushrooms and sauté for a couple minutes until leaves wilt.  Remove from heat and serve.

• Remember to keep cooking time in mind, whatever will need more time to cook should be added to the pan first.
• You can also use any other green veggie, such as broccoli, chayote, or spinach.  The mushrooms are sort of like a yummy meat substitute. =)  Below is spinach with beech mushrooms and also a little sliced red chili for an additonal spice.

Chunky Salsa

Chunky Salsa

Ingredients:

2            Tomatoes

½           Bunch Cilantro

1            Sweet Onion

1            Jalapeno (2 if you want it spicier)

2            Cloves of Garlic

½           Lime Juiced

Salt & Pepper

1. Dice tomatoes, sweet onion, jalapeno, chop cilantro, and mince garlic.
2. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl, add the lime juice and salt and pepper to taste.

Green Guacamole

Green Guacamole

Ingredients:

2            Avocados

1            Bunch Cilantro

2            Tomatillos

½            Sweet Onion

2            Cloves Garlic

1            Lime Juiced

½             Teaspoon Cumin

Salt & Pepper

1. Half the avocados and carefully remove the seeds.  Score the flesh of the avocados by cutting vertical and then horizontal lines without cutting through the skin then scoop out into a bowl with a spoon.
2. Dice the tomatillos and sweet onion then add to the bowl.
3. Chop the cilantro and add to the bowl.
4. Mince the garlic then add to the bowl along with the lime juice, cumin, and salt and pepper to taste.
5. Mix everything together and serve

            *To keep avocados from browning, keep one of the avocado seeds in the guacamole.

Vegan Love

Vegan Love

Nope, your eyes do not deceive you, I wrote “love” with “vegan”.  Those who know me know my love of food, almost all food.  I appreciate how so many things from this beautiful and bountiful Earth have been ingeniously used to give us life and sustenance.  It is a testament to human adversity, history, tenacity, and innovation.  Many mistake my love of food, including animal and animal by-products, as a shunning of those who choose to live a vegan or vegetarian life-style.  This cannot be further from the truth.  I admire and respect any who make careful, educated, and well thought out choices for themselves and choose to stand by a principle.  The thing that I detest, are not those who choose to be vegetarian or vegan for a love of your own health or animals, but those who choose to be wasteful, hypocritical, and devalue an animal’s life by wearing a leather belt while speaking of animal rights.  What I consider a further indignity is the person who chooses to act and think out of cultural ignorance, and demeans other people’s way of life by rudely assuming another culture’s food is gross just because it is foreign to them.  Before I veer off into a whole other vent, I’m reminded that I entitled this post, “Vegan Love”.  So instead of the venting, let me refocus on the love. =)

Granted most of time I consider my diet pretty healthy.  80% of the times I cook at home, bring home-cooked food to work for lunch, and its usually healthy well-balanced Chinese food.  Some protein, lots of veggies, and brown rice are common factors. But I do like a good cleansing a couple times a year.  I’m not a physician or scientist or even a nutritionist, I’ve read a few articles and that’s about it, so this is not by any means expert advice, just what I’ve experienced and done in my life to stay healthy.  I feel that our bodies, like other machinery in our lives like our cars or plumbing, must collect some undesirable substances through our daily intake of stuff, good and bad, and that extra gunk in our system can’t be good for us.  So every few months or so, I like to clean it out.  Unclog my organic biological pipes, and the best cleaning method that I’ve done is a strict vegan diet for about 10 days.

The rules are simple: only eat vegetables and drink water.  That’s it.  This cleanse was first inspired by a spiritual fast based on the story of Daniel in the Old Testament.  The first time I did it, it was spiritual based so I was on the diet for 40 days.  Since then, I’ve done it more for a physical cleanse as well as spiritual fast.  The first questions people have are always about what kind of food might be allowed or drinks, like “how bout coffee? can you have soda? bread? milk? pastries?”  I used to answer each question but now I just repeat the simple diet: ONLY eat vegetable and drink water.  If you question it, then don’t eat it.  Of course there are a few grey areas, like avocados and tomatoes.  Are they fruit or vegetables?  I don’t know, but I eat them. 

I also found that Asian cooking is very vegan friendly!  There’s only so much salad someone can eat and raw veggies aren’t my favorite, so I allow myself olive oil, salt and pepper.  The possibilities are quite expansive and I’m challenged to cook and eat veggies I don’t normally try.  The creativity in my cooking improves leaps and bounds and I feel healthier, cleaner, and thinner by the end of the 10 days.  That’s a good thing.

I have asked myself, why not make this a permanent life choice?  All that I have listed are positive outcomes.  My answer is simply that I love food…all food.  It might not be the best for my health, but I WANT to eat animals and their by-products.  I love cheese, bone marrow on toast, chicken broth, sweet seafood, and a tender piece of red meat.  So I opt for a semi-annual cleansing to allow for guilt free consumption the rest of my days, I figure it balances out somehow =) 

Now for some vegan recipes that help me keep my vegan days delicious…see following posts...