My Book House » cookery

Geographic Venn: When Worlds Collide Deliciously

Ms. Kathy — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 11:13:00 +0000

More on the Salsa Liberation Front. I have discovered a new delightful combo: salsa and (tah dah!) hummus eaten with vegan Ritz-oid cracker! I used Cedars tahini hommus (their spelling) which is extremely thick and tahini-ishious and Four Seasons (Whole Foods house brand?) organic mild salsa, which is extremely runny but flavorful. I think if I used a runnier hummus, I would mate it with a chunkier salsa to keep the combo thick enough to clump on a cracker.

I plan to experiment more with this. I think if I made a Mexi corn salsa saucy thing using a 14 oz can of diced tomatoes, sauted onions, garlic, and a 14 oz can of corn seasoned with cumin and some salt (cooked and chilled) and put it in on top of a layer of thick hummus and sprinkle it with chopped olives (perhaps even a few green Med style ones) it might make a tasty party dip. It might even be good (chilled also) on top of some nice mixed greens as a sort of alt to tuna salad. The hummus makes a good flavorful protein source. Updates as my salsa explorations continue!

Baby, I’m Amaized: Arepas!

Ms. Kathy — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 01:21:00 +0000

I made arepas tonight using a recipe from Herbivore Magazine . The arepas were made from
**2 cups of masa harina (corn flour),
**salt (I used a fairly liberal pinch),
**3ish tablespoons of olive oil
(My olive oil was cold so I was fishing it out of the bottle in globs using a metal shishkabob skewer. There’s some good vegan recycling going on at my house!)

*** 1 and three-fourths cups of water.

The recipe said to mix the masa, salt, and oil well, which I did with a fork much liking pie dough. I first took the fork and fluffed up the masa and salt and then dribbled the olive oil in and continue to fluff, which made little balls of dough.

Lastly I dribbled in the water and continued to fluff it with the fork.

After adding all the water, I balled the dough into a solid mass and let it rest in the bowl, covered with a towel.

After the dough had its nap, I made 8 golf balls out of the it. I then proceded per the directions to pat them out into little 2 and a half inch discs and fry them in a cast iron skillet. I put more oil in the skillet for the first batch(a quarter to eighth of an inch) and the arepas were like little sponges and just soaked it up. They did brown nicely but were a bit too greasy. For batches two and three, I just liberally coated the skillet bottom with oil at the start of frying and when I turned them over and they cooked nicely.

I ate my lovely arepas left over instantaneous vegan “chili“, which originally was composed of
1/2 a jar of the Mild Full Circle Salsa
1 drained can of black beans
1 can of corn
1 can of diced tomatoes (14oz)
and some Adobo seasoning.

The arepas were fantastic broken up in the chili, sort of like tamales, all lovely and corny. (Ok this is the point where I admit that I am a Southerner, raised on grits, cornbread, cornmeal-dusted fried okra, corn-on-the cob, creamed corn, hush puppies, ….. I am starting to sound like Bubba and Forrest, the point is I REALLY LIKE CORN. These arepas meet some primal digestive Southern need of mine. I also love Mexican food but have given up on getting vegan food in restaurants.

I even have arepas left over for manana – sorry I don’t have a tilde!

Full Circle Salsa

Ms. Kathy — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 05:04:00 +0000

I have started using some Full Circle products. I am a little suspicious because they are sold in some pretty hard core mass market stores like Bilo. I have not researched their origins. I am a somewhat lacadasical organic foodie.

I tried the mild salsa, which had an excellent flavor of cumin. Cumin is one of my absolute favorite spices so I loved it. It would make a great topping for tacos, enchiladas, or as the base of a quick Mexi-bean soup thing. Will definitely be adding this item to my regular shoppnig list.

The Full Circle natural microwave popcorn is good, too, and is vegan unlike the butter flavored version.

Beautiful Flaws

Ms. Kathy — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 12:21:00 +0000

I like the picture (above) by Charles Sheeler of a pair of homely silos glorified as temples; places of worship. It reminds me that the foundation of civilization is a stable food source that allows human beings the freedom to move up Maslow’s pyramid of needs.

In 1980 I read a book called Diet for a Small Planet, by Frances Moore Lappe’ that changed the way I think about food and other things. The book advocates that a meatless diet is a more efficient way for more humans on this planet to get the protein they need to live healthy, productive lives. The ideal of the perfect meal that I grew up with was a meat-centered meal with vegetables and breads as complements to the meat. Diet for a Small Planet paved the way for me to see that there are other ways of living and other ways looking at things.