This is vegan chili:

…This is not:

That delicious dollop of sour cream is so powerful!! It changes EVERYTHING!

Chili is like cornbread. Rules exist about chili rights and wrongs. No beans. No this. No that. People are super picky and sentimental about the stuff. And, I mean…I get it. I do.

SO…

Before I begin, let me say this: If you’re from Texas, and this chili offends you, I’m sorry. I love everything Texas. I really do.

Friday Night Lights is the best show to ever grace our TV screens. (Yeah, I said it.)

I’ve been wanting to take a road trip to Marfa and sleep in one of those hipster tee-pees for I dunno how long.

Migas might be one of my favorite breakfast dishes ever…(next to pancakes, obvi).

And despite El Paso being the scariest city in the country, when I drive across Texas, I still pass through.

This pot of simmering deliciousness destroys every chili rule in the book.

There’s veggies: orange bell peppers, zucchini, red bell peppers, corn and onions and garlic.

And there’s beans: cannellini and kidney. Lots of spices. A little jalapeno. Vegetable broth.

There’s a little simmer action…

..And then boom! Flavor central.

This vegan chili packs killer flavor like no other; it’s spicy, earthy, hearty…all while not weighing you down.

Totally perfect for those nights when you want something warm and cozy but still healthy and light…

And its springiness comes in handy when you pair it with some cheesy cheddar jalapeno cornbread…

Not to worry! I’ll show you that next time!

Spicy Vegan Chili

Print this recipe!

Adapted from Simply Recipes

3 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 medium yellow onion, diced

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 yellow bell pepper, diced

2 small zucchini, diced

1 jalapeno pepper, diced (I like spiciness so I used 2)

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes

1 1/2 cup of vegetable stock

2 tablespoons of cumin

1 teaspoon oregano

1 tablespoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon of cayenne

1 15-ounce can cannellini beans, rinsed

1 15-ounce can kidney beans, rinsed

1 ear of corn

In a large pot, heat olive oil on medium heat. Add the onions and cook until translucent, about 4 minutes. Add the red bell peppers, yellow bell peppers, zucchini, and jalapeño chili peppers. Cook for about 5 more minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about a minute more.

Add the tomatoes to the pot along with the vegetable stock. Add oregano, paprika, and cumin. Add cayenne to desired heat and cook, at a simmer, for 20 minutes.

Add the white beans and kidney beans. Stir in the corn. Add salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. Simmer for 5 minutes.

Serve with sour cream and some chopped chives.

Serves 4-6

So…you may have noticed that I’ve been MIA lately. It’s also possible you haven’t noticed since if you’ve been too busy drooling over A’s more recent recipes.  At any rate, the short story is that I got a call to come back to NC for a 3-month job, and had only 5 days notice before I needed to start. If you’re trying to visualize what that must have been like, picture this:

Me, running around my apartment throwing whatever random clean clothes I had into suitcases.

Me, getting giddy with excitement about getting to be in Asheville for 3 months over the summer!

Me, crying because I’m not going to get to go to Cinespia this year.

Me, packing 4 pairs of high heels, which I wear almost never, and only two pairs of flip flops, which I wear every day. I, of course, will not realize this until I am all the way across the country. This will happen at the same time I realize I have 10 dresses to wear on the weekend, and only 3 pairs of jeans to wear during the work week. Packing fail.

So, to kick off my Southern summer, I give you this recipe: Hashbrowns – scattered, smothered and covered. Most of you will remember these from one too many late nights at Waffle House. For those that haven’t had the pleasure, this is what I typically would eat in college whenever I found myself still awake and hungry at 3am. As to what I had been doing to keep me awake that long…umm…I plead the fifth.

Here’s all you need to know: These are potatoes fried in a pan (scattered), topped with sautéed onions (smothered) and cheese (covered). Seriously delicious, even if you eat them at a more respectable hour of the day.

Hashbrowns – Scattered, Smothered and Covered

Print this recipe!

Serves 2

1 russet potato, scrubbed and grated.
½ cup chopped onion
½ cup shredded cheddar cheese
¼ cup of canola or olive oil

Fill a large bowl with water and liberally add some salt. Soak the potato shreds in the salt water bath for about 10 minutes to draw out all of the starch. Drain, and then squeeze all the moisture out of the potato using a clean dish cloth.

Meanwhile, heat about 2 tablespoons of oil in a large pan and sauté the onion over medium heat for about 5-10 minutes, until the onions begins to brown. Remove from the pan and set aside; wipe the pan clean with a paper towel.

Add another 2 tablespoons of oil to the pan and bring up to medium high heat. Scatter the potatoes onto the pan and fry until they turn golden brown. Using a large spatula, flip the potatoes over, keeping them as together as possible. Scatter the onions over the potatoes and then top with cheese. When the other side begins to turn brown, transfer the hashbrowns to a plate. Dig in immediately!

This may have been the dumbest week to make soup considering that LA actually set a record for highest temperature ever recorded in the city. I have been lazing around my apartment in shorts and tank tops while the air conditioning has struggled to try and keep the heat at bay. And for some reason, I got an absolute hankering to make soup. Please note – this is perhaps the first time I have ever written the word “hankering”. I like it; expect more to come.

I can blame this soup entirely on Cafe Magazzino in Burbank. See, on Friday’s this place makes a tortilla soup that is good enough to bring tears to your eyes. I have actually woken up in the morning with drool sliding out of my mouth because I was dreaming about this soup. Okay, that’s kinda gross, but it totally happened.

Here’s my issue with Magazzino’s though – they are only open on weekdays and only for lunch. And that soup only shows up on Friday. So onWednesday   when I absolutely could not control my craving any longer I had to resort to making my own. This meant I had to stand over a hot stove in the middle of the day while it was 95 degrees outside. And then I devoured a steaming bowl of soup. That’s how much I love this stuff.

Since Magazzino’s won’t give up their recipe I had to come up with my own. This one turned out pretty good, although I after tasting it I wanted to tone down the onion and garlic flavor which I’ve reflected in this recipe. It’s thick and hearty soup that is full of flavor; way better than your average tomato soup. If it actually feels like fall where you are I suggest you give this a try.

Tortilla Soup

Print this recipe!

I only garnished my soup with tortilla strips, but a lot of people like avocado and/or cheese as well. I’ve never really caught on to the avocado-in-soup thing, but to each her own.

3 tablespoons olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
½ cup fresh onion, chopped
5 corn tortillas (6-inch diameter) coarsely chopped
1 28 oz can whole tomatoes
1 tablespoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons chili powder
2 whole dried bay leaves
2 cups vegetable stock
1 quart water
Salt

Garnishes (optional)
3 corn tortillas, cut into strips
1 avocado, diced
Monterey jack or cheddar cheese, shredded

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Saute garlic, onion and tortillas for about 5 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring frequently. Blend with an immersion blender until smooth. (you can also blend in batches using a countertop blender)

Garnish with your choice of ingredients and enjoy!

Pulling a muscle in your back totally sucks. Especially when you do it on a Saturday morning. Even worse is when your fiancé is sick with a cold at the same time. Yeah, we had a super awesome weekend.

Thanks God for Law & Order SVU marathons.

And take out pho noodle soup.

And easy to make California avocado sandwiches.

I’m not gonna lie, I totally ripped this off from Atlanta Bread Company. And I really wouldn’t’ have had a problem buying one of theirs except there isn’t a single one in Los Angeles. Ironic, considering they’re the ones that named this the California Avocado sandwich. So they left me with no choice, I had to make it on my own.

Luckily, this is really easy and takes only a few minutes to make. And it’s nice and refreshing, which is great when you’re lying against a heating pad on a hot summer day.

Bakery focaccia + fresh avocado + SVU. Not a bad weekend after all.

California Avocado Sandwich

In my back-pain fog I totally forgot to add the cheese. It was still pretty good, but adding it back in is awesome too. Feel free to adjust this to your own tastes.

Half a focaccia round, cut into wedges
¼ cup mayonnaise
2 teaspoons chopped fresh dill
1 avocado, thinly sliced
¼ cup thinly sliced red onion
4 slices provolone cheese
¼ cup mayonnaise
2 teaspoons chopped fresh dill

In a small bowl combine the mayonnaise and chopped dill. Slice the focaccia wedges in half and spread one side with dill mayo. Pile the bread with sliced avocado, red onions and provolone cheese. Enjoy.

Fact: I don’t eat very much meat. Technically, my diet is classified as “pescetarian” because the only meats I will eat are fish and seafood.

Fact: I never call myself a pescetarian because I think the word sounds snotty.

Fact: Contrary to popular belief, I, like most vegetarians, do not like eating salads all the time. I do not typically believe that a salad constitutes a meal. I prefer “stick to your ribs” kind of food.

Fact: Uncooked and/or steamed tofu is gross. Seriously people, why even put it on the menu?

Fact: This Bolognese is amazing. It is 100% vegetables and brings back every memory I have of eating the beef-based kind. With recipes like this I do not miss meat. Ever.

Fact: I ate this for dinner and then breakfast the next morning. Totally awesome.

Vegetable Bolognese

Print this recipe!

Adapted from Giada Dr Laurentiis

I liked the base of vegetables that this recipe uses, but I thought it was a little skimpy on the tomato aspect so I added in a can of crushed tomatoes. It is absolutely perfect, definitely going to be showing up in my kitchen a lot more often. I used white button and cremini mushrooms, but feel free to play around to get different flavors.

1 pound pasta – I used rigatoni
3 small – medium carrots, peeled and chopped
1 small onion, peeled and chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
2 garlic cloves
1/4 cup olive oil
3-4 sprigs fresh thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
6 ounces assorted mushrooms, stemmed and chopped
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 14oz can of crushed tomatoes
1/2 cup red wine
1/4 cup Parmesan

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain pasta, reserving 1 cup of the cooking liquid.

Place the carrots, onion, bell pepper, and garlic in a food processor. Pulse the vegetables until finely chopped but still chunky. Place the olive oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chopped vegetables, thyme, oregano, salt, and pepper and cook until tender, about 6 minutes.

Add the mushrooms and tomato paste and continue cooking, stirring to dissolve the tomato paste, until the mushrooms are softened, about 5 minutes. Add the crushed tomatoes, reserved liquid from the pasta and red wine. Bring the liquid to a boil, reduce the heat to low, and let the mixture simmer until the liquid is reduced by half, about 10 minutes. Remove thyme sprigs.

Toss the pasta with the sauce, sprinkly with parmesan and serve.

I really, really, really miss summer vacation. I wish that someone had told me that adulthood meant most of my summers would be spent sitting behind a desk. At least then I could maybe have found time to start a petition for change. Nowadays if I find myself with more than a week of free time it’s because I’m unemployed and I then I’m stressed about paying rent, health insurance, and buying dog food. Why can’t I just go to summer camp instead?

Since I’m currently working I have to squeeze all of my summer fun into the weekend, which is not even close to the amount of time I need to do everything I have planned. Like laying by the beach, or catching up with a friend at Aroma Café, or flying back to North Carolina so that I can float down a river in an inner tube. Things like that cannot be squeezed into a normal 48hours, at least, not when I also have to do laundry, grocery shopping, sweep my floors and walk the dog. Seriously, can we form a protest about this??

I did manage to find the time to stroll through the farmers market and found everything I needed to make this salsa though. And that’s pretty cool. I sat on the couch while reading a book and ate this entire bowl all by myself. It sort of felt like summer vacation, and it at least allowed me to forget about that pile of laundry for a while.

Fresh Corn & Avocado Salsa

Print this recipe!

It is absolutely imperative that you chop all of the vegetables to roughly the same size as a corn kernel, otherwise the flavors will be off. The dressing in this salad is not meant to dominate the flavors of the salad, and it is therefore very light. The real stars of the show are the fresh vegetables, so I implore you to buy the best quality you can for the best salsa. I cooked my corn by leaving the husks on and placing them in the oven for 30 minutes, but any technique that you prefer will work.

3 ears of corn, cooked (by grilling, boiling, baking, however)
¼ cup chopped red onion
½ cup chopped red pepper
1 large avocado
Juice of 1 lime (roughly 2 tablespoons)
2 tablespoon olive oil
½ teaspoon chili powder
1 small garlic clove minced
¼ teaspoon salt

Combine the lime juice, olive oil, chili powder and garlic clove in a small bowl, set aside.

Using a knife, scrape the sides of the corn to remove the kernels. Place in a small bowl. Combine with the onion, red pepper, avocado and dressing and gently mix together.

There’s a recurring problem that I have when it comes to cooking. I don’t always read the directions. Well, I guess I DO read them, but only once, and then I start cooking as if I’ve done this a million times before only to glance back over the recipe and realize that I’ve missed a couple of really important steps. Like, I should have started thawing something out last night and I now need it to be un-frozen right this second. Or, the recipe actually called for 5 potatoes and I only bought 2. Yeah, these little details just kill me sometimes.

When it came to this recipe I thought that I was doing pretty good. I read about how Adam of Amateur Gourmet had forgotten to soak his beans overnight, and was pretty impressed that I remembered to do this. Yeah, for a second I felt like a rockstar. But then I sort of skipped over how you’re supposed to make a sauce with a bunch of these ingredients, and THEN add the beans, and instead just threw everything into the pot, stirred it together and realized my mistake only after I checked the recipe back for baking instructions. So close, yet so far.

However, there are some recipes that I just don’t think you can mess up, and I believe this is one of them. Despite my grievous mistake, these beans were amazing. The flavors blended together to form the most amazing BBQ sauce I have ever tasted, and the beans were plump, tender and just heaven. Seriously, for those of you who are like me and grew up eating baked beans from a can – you will be shocked at just how good these are. It doesn’t even seem fair to call them a side item when they really sort of dominate and take charge of whatever plate of food you add them to. I’m not gonna lie, I ate them for breakfast the next day. Yeah, I’m super weird. But sometimes that works out well for me.

The Best Baked Beans

 

Adapted from Ina Garten, via Amateur Gourmet

Print this recipe!

Lots of changes to this. As stated above, I sort of changed the preparation technique, but it worked out well for me so give it a try. I also left out the bacon, and used dried ginger instead of fresh since that was what I had on hand. Honestly though, from this combination of flavors only good things will happen, so don’t be worried.

1 lb dried red kidney beans
1 large yellow onion, roughly chopped
1 bay leaf
6 whole black peppercorns
¾ cup real maple syrup
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup ketchup
1 tablespoon Chinese chili paste
1 tablespoon dried ginger
1 teaspoon salt

Soak the beans in water 8 hours or overnight. Drain the beans and then place in a dutch oven with the chopped onion, bay leaf, peppercorns and 8 cups of water. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 50 minutes or until the beans are tender. Drain the beans once again, reserving half of the liquid.

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.

In the pot, add in the remaining ingredients and the 1 ½ cups cooking liquid. Cover with a lid, and cook in the oven for 6-8 hours. Every two hours you should check and stir the beans and determine if you need more cooking liquid to keep them from drying out. 8 hours will get you the maximum flavor in the beans, but they’re still awesome after 6 hours, FYI.

Remember when I wrote about what I wouldn’t eat as a kid? Yeah, this recipe would also make it on that list, because it has lots of different foods actually touch each other *gasp*. This recipe also nearly made it on the list of what my adult self won’t eat, because not only are foods touching each other, but they’re foods that I wouldn’t normally put together. Eggs, granny smith apples and curry powder?? What mad scientist came up with this??

Well, I’m glad that someone out there was more adventurous than me. I’m also glad that I was brave enough to try this recipe even though  while making it there were a few times I wanted to call it quits. Not because it’s hard to make (it’s super easy) but when I started mixing the curry-lime dressing over my eggs, apples and onion I began wondering if I would be better off just making a peanut butter sandwich.

Mmmmm…. peanut butter….

Sorry, I get distracted by really delicious foods. There’s definitely something to be said about a classic combo like peanut butter and jelly. And I’m here to tell you, there’s also something to be said about eggs, granny smith apples, and curry powder.

Mmmmm….eggs….curry powder….

Be brave. Remember, you’re an adult now.

Curry Egg Salad Sandwich

Adapted from Epicurious

Print this recipe!

Some of the reviews for the original recipe mentioned that the onion flavor was a little strong, so I cut back on it and thought it was perfect. I also left out the cilantro since I didn’t have any on hand, and I didn’t miss it one bit.

1/3 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice (half of one lime)
1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
1 ½ teaspoons whole grain or Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon salt
Pinch of cayenne
6 hard-boiled large eggs, chopped
1 cup diced Granny Smith apple (roughly 1 apple)
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
8 slices wheat bread
Lettuce for garnish (optional)

Mix together the mayo, lime juice, curry powder, mustard, salt and cayenne. In a separate bowl, add together the chopped eggs, apple and onion. Pour the curry dressing over top and gently stir everything together. Serve on toasted wheat bread with lettuce, or just eat it with a fork as it is.

There are two clear types of holiday recipes. There are the time-tested kind, the ones that have been made over and over again, and will always be around because 1) everyone loves them and 2) the person making the recipe could do it with their eyes closed and one hand tied behind their back. There are also the newer kinds of recipes, those that are maybe a little more modern, with unusual ingredients and were probably found in a magazine or, ahem, a food blog.

This recipe is hands-down an example of the first type. My mother’s cheese dip graces pretty much every holiday party she attends in December, it is a rare occasion when she’s able to bring any leftovers home. This is the kind of appetizer that you snack on before dinner, and then return to when you’ve finished dessert. It’s the kind that you can’t stand in front of for more than 5 seconds without compulsively piling some on a cracker, until you’re wondering where all the crackers went and why you feel so full all of a sudden.

You really wanna know how good this is? It has mayonnaise in it. Mayo binds the whole thing together and coats every little piece of cheese, olive and pecan in the mix and, as you know, I hate mayonnaise. But I like this. I eat it with a smile on my face and won’t even bother to try and change the recipe. That should really tell you something.  I suggest you grate some cheese, chop some olives and prepare to smile a lot this holiday season.

Mom’s Holiday Cheese Dip

Recipe by Fair Johnson

Print this recipe!

1 lb. sharp cheddar cheese, grated
1 cup pecans, toasted and chopped
1 medium onion, grated
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1 clove garlic, pressed
1/2 teaspoon tabasco
1/2-1 cup chopped stuffed green olives, depending on how much you like olives

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl and refrigerate for 30 minutes to an hour. Serve with crackers and hope your friends and family save you some.