Spinach, Roasted Poblano and Potato Empandas

Spinach, roasted poblano and potato empanada

Since all my posts this week have been about quick and easy meals, eating out, or convenence products, I've felt illogical guilt and made semi-complex meals, even when I've been super tired from work.

After work today, I needed to stop and pick up a few items from the grocery store. While there, I decided to make chick'n and yellow rice for dinner, but instead of using some form of chicken analog like usual, I thought I'd mix it up and try using some of the chickpeas I made earlier in the week, so it would be a bit healthier and little more satisfying.

I started making chick'n and yellow rice after Daisy Martinez inspired me with her show Daisy Cooks! (if I ever have a show, I want some kind of punctuation in the title). My version of this dish usually looks similar to hers, but that's where the similarities stop. I often use brown rice, she always uses white. She uses about 1 tablespoon of salt per cup of rice, in addition to the olives and the chicken stock. I think that's an insane amount of salt! She uses sofrito and recaito and her dish gets its gorgeous yellow color from achiote oil. I use mirepoix and turmeric for color. You get the point.

There's just something about this dish that always makes me want more. I was so excited about eating it tonight. But it was missing something. I don't think it was the fake meat. I actually really loved the texture of the chickpeas. The rice was too sweet, and some kind of tang was missing. JD and one of our friends, who joined us for dinner, both enjoyed it, as did I, just....not as much as usual. Mostly because I was expecting a very specific flavor, and this just wasn't it.

Chickpea and Yellow Rice

But I was really pleased the other part of the meal, savory empanadas! I made a vegan chorizo, potato and caper version, and a spinach, roasted poblano and potato version. These actually would have been perfect for last week's Iron Chef challenge. It's odd, now that I think about it, since the challenge, I cannot get enough potatoes.

Closeup of soy chorizo, potato and caper empanada

Both empanadas, side by side

I thought up this dish while I was at the store today, when I saw the veggie chorizo. For some reason the chorizo seemed like it would be perfect with potatoes and capers, but I tasted a little flat. I think maybe some daiya would help next time.

For the Spinach, Roasted Poblano and Potato version you'll need:

2 large russet potatoes, cut into 1/2" cubes and boiled
2 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 an onion, minced
half a roasted poblano, minced
1 cup frozen spinach, chopped
1--2 heaping tablespoons Vegenaise
sea salt
seasonings of your choice, including, but not limited to: garlic, garlic powder, onion powder, nutritional yeast, pimento stuffed olives, capers, roasted red peppers, black pepper, red pepper flakes, etc.
empanda dough, pie dough or puff pastry dough, see note
oil for frying, optional

Directions
After boiling potatoes, drain them and set them aside.

Heat olive oil in a small skillet. Add onion and sauté until translucent. If using fresh garlic, add it now, mincing or pressing first. Add poblano pepper and sauté for a few minutes. Add spinach and heat through and cook for a few minutes so liquid can evaporate.

Add potatoes and mash them up a bit, so some are broken and some are still whole. Turn off heat and add Vegenaise. Taste and adjust seasonings. Potatoes should be chunky, and have a creamy but not liquidy consistency.

I used premade emapanda wrappers, and filled them with about 1/4 cup of filling each, then fried them in safflower oil, but the size and amount of filling needed for each empanada is totally up to you. if you don't want to fry them, you can bake them.

As far as seasoning goes, I used a bit of nutritional yeast for a slightly cheesy flavor, plus freshly ground black pepper and garlic.

Spinach, roasted poblano and potato empanada

I also made sparkling raspberry lemonade with Topo Chico, lemons and some leftover raspberry syrup.
P.S. Sorry for the awful pictures lately. I don't know why, but I can't get photos to come out the way I envision them lately.

Things to Eat in Denver When You're on Vacation

We just got tickets to visit my family and so I'm studying up on all new vegan places/places with amazing vegan options in Denver. THERE. ARE. SO. MANY. My heart is exploding like the Grinch's when he realizes the true meaning of Christmas from all the wonderful Whos in Whoville.

Seriously Austin, for a vegan mecca, we have some work to do.

This post is dedicated to all of the wonderful places that I want to try(or go back to) when I visit Denver in January.

1) Watercouse Foods! Watercourse Foods has been my all time favorite restaurant in the whole wide world for as long as I can remember.

Almost anything on the menu can be made vegan.

My mom and I go there at least once every time I'm in Denver and one of us orders the Banana Bread French Toast, vegan, and the other orders either the Country Fried Seitan or the Tempeh Scallopini and we share the hell out of them. I am also a fan of the Grinder.

Colorado is known for its divine craft beers (and also its awful Coors), and they have tons of good ones here, as well as a rotating wine list. For the kids or the teetotalers, there's Oogave fountain soda, teas, fresh squeezed juices, and even milkshakes. They have a fabulous bakery and serve amazing desserts. You have to try at least one. And then you'll probably decide that you need another. They serve Sweet Action's frozen treats, so you can get anything a la mode.

2) Sweet Action Ice Cream Last year, I was super excited to try Sweet Action, only to find out that they were closed for the month. Completely dejected, we went to Watercourse, and found out that even though the brick-and-mortar location was closed, Sweet Action had still sent some of their fine products out.

We got to devour a huge piece of Watercourse's rich chocolate cake with a generous scoop of Sweet Action's coconut-based vanilla ice cream and it was amazing. My mom, brother, nephew and I all had some, and though we were stuffed, we couldn't get enough! It was, hands down, the best ice cream of any kind that I've had in years.

Since I'm apparently a huge masochist, I watch their Facebook page and salivate over all of their ingenious flavors, like chocolate whoopie pie, baklava, molasses swirl and pumpkin fudge ripple. Hopefully this time I'll get to try more.

3) Rebellion Pizza Holy Cow! I have never been here, but I am love with the owners. They offer vegan versions of chicken, Italian sausage, pepperoni, bacon, Canadian bacon, ranch dressing, American cheese, Swiss Cheese, Cheddar, and Pepper Jack, in addition to Vegenaise and BOTH Daiya Mozzarella and FYH Mozzarella. Insane.

They also offer vegan Boca burgers on any of their specialty burgers at no extra charge, and any of their specialty pizzas can be made vegan. This is by no means a vegan establishment, they just love the vegans and it shows.

The prices seem really reasonable, and they have a big delivery area, plus delivery is always free! They also have pizza toppings that are unconventional for pizzerias to carry, but super delicious like broccoli, kalamata olives, spinach, artichoke hearts, banana peppers, plus carrots, sun dried tomatoes, and even celery!

4) Sputnik I am way eager to try this place. Vegan green chile! Vegan green chile smothered over fries! Vegan arepas! Vegan tacos with sweet corn, roasted poblanos, black beans, toasted pepitas, chipotle crema and guac? What? The tacos are only $5.50? Insanity.

There's a specially priced happy hour and late night menu, in addition to their weekend hangover brunch, which includes bloody marys and a $5 mimosa carafe (don't know if these are vegan). It looks like all of their salads are vegan, including a hearts of palm salad and a really cooling-sounding cucumber and jicama salad (since it will likely be around 12° F when I'll be there if last year was any indictation, I won't be trying the jicama salad, as I'm used to 80° F winters, but it still sounds yummy!)

5) Beet Box They offer tons of amazing looking desserts, including formerly-forbidden-for-vegan-pastries like croissants, for really reasonable prices. They don't have a brick-and-mortar storefront, but they are available all over town at a variety of places, like Sweet Action and Paris on the Platte.

6) Mad Greens With 10 locations, and tons of options, this salad, soup and sandwich place sounds a good place to try after gorging on Beet Box's treats. I can't tell which soups and sandwiches have vegan options, but you can make your own salad.

They offer an amazing and extensive list of ingredients including apples, asparagus, cannellini beans, edamame, grilled onions, mango, pears, roasted corn, roasted red pepper, sugar snap peas, sesame seeds, plus premium ingredients like artichoke hearts, avocado, walnuts, grilled portabello and marinated tofu.

These are definitely the kind of salads that make vegans happy. There are also over 20 house made dressings, but I don't know which, if any, are vegan.

7) The Shoppe I've tried going to The Shoppe for two years in a row, so here's hoping for a charmed third time. They have vegan cupcakes, and I'd like to see how they stack up against Sugar Mama's Bakeshop, which has some outstanding vegan options. I believe The Shoppe also has a rotating list of vegan flavors, but their website is kind of confusing....It looks like maybe they have a vegan Elvis?

8) D Note This place doesn't have any of their signature dishes labeled vegan, but they do have lots of options for create your own pizza or pasta dishes, plus a salad or two that look vegan. They have 13 veggie pizzas, but they all seem to include at least a cheese, though I'm sure you could get the cheese omitted.

9) The Comfort Cafe The set up sounds similar to that of Austin's Casa de Luz, but it's an even more intriguing concept. The food is all on a donation basis, and you can even volunteer to work if you don't have any money to donate. Unfortunately, it doesn't sound like they have an overwhelming variety of vegan options, but the philosophy is great, and it's right around the corner from one of my former schools, so I'll try to check it out.

The So All May Eat Cafe runs on a similar donation philosophy, but they are much further away, and I don''t think they have many vegan options, so I doubt I'll be able to make it there--I've tried in the past.

It also sounds like there are couple of vegan food cart options, like The Sprout House and The Steamin' Demon (a cute name for a spicy food trailer would have been The Steamin' Vegan, with a vegetable mascot that had steam coming out of its ears).

I had heard somewhere (I guess here?) that Denver was one of the locations where Chipotle was offering the mythical Gardein chick'n option. Last year, I had a couple bowls of pozole from Chipotle, which I could not find any info about online, though I'm hoping to see it roll out to other cities sometime. Denver is a big test market, so sometimes you'll see something really awesome available there for a very short period of time, and then you will never see it again, and if you ever mention it at a later time, everyone will look at you like you dreamed it. But you didn't, damnit! You didn't!

Ahem. Sorry, I digress. I think Chipotle is one of the great national vegan institutions. You always know that at any Chipotle you can get vegan beans, rice, and veggie additions, and you can watch them make it, so there's not going to be a hidden piece of chicken or something--this happened to me once with a feta wrap from Wendy's when I was ovo lacto. The meal is going to be filling, reasonably priced for the amount of food you're getting, and a pretty complete meal. In the past, Chipotle has really saved me, like when a family member was in the hospital, and I didn't have the means to cook or know of any other places close by with vegan options. I'm sure there will be at least one time when I'm out with family or friends and a Chipotle is my best bet during this trip, so I'll try to do a review of the garden blend or pozole.

Anyway, what are your favorite places or menu items to eat while on vacation? Know of any other awesome vegan finds in the Denver metro area? Let me know in the comments!

Quick and Easy Recipe: Chick'n Parmeshaun

This is another one of those things that I never really thought about posting, because it seemed too basic, or something.

We had a vegetarian house guest for a couple of months this summer, and I made this, which impressed our guest, who had only eaten Boca Chick'n patties in sandwiches, and never much thought about different ways to use them before. I also had an (omni) friend over for dinner after work one night recently, and I threw together this meal, which surprised her with its flavor and texture.

It's obviously not going to fool anyone into thinking they're having real chicken parmesean, but it does hit the same notes in a satisfying and much lower fat, not to mention super quick and easy, way. It's a nice, quick meal, although it's pretty much all prepackaged items, so it's not the freshest, or the least refined thing around. It's easy to keep the items on hand for the days when time is short.

For a 15-minutes-or-less meal of Chick'n Parmeshaun:

Boca Chick'n patties, one per person,
good pasta sauce, see note
FYH, Monterey Jack flavor
dried pasta, whichever shape you like most, I like penne
fresh green veggies like broccoli, sugar snap peas, asparagus, etc.

1) Turn on broiler if using FYH.

2) Put a 3 qt. saucepan full of water on to boil.

3) Place Boca Chick'n patties on a baking sheet, with 2--3" between each.

4) Pour sauce, as desired, over each patty. I typically use about 1/4 cup for each patty.

5) Crumble and sprinkle FYH over each patty.

Like this.

6) Place in oven or toaster oven for approximately 10 minutes, until patty is thawed and warm, and FYH is dark and melty.

Like this.

7) Meanwhile, blanch your choice of veggies in water as soon as it comes to a rolling boil. My veggie of choice for this meal is always broccoli.

8) Remove veggies from water when they are tender crisp. Add salt to water and let water return to boil.

9) Add pasta to boiling water and cook until al dente.

10) Dress your pasta. I usually add a dab of EB or a drizzle of olive oil, then a good sprinkle of nutritional yeast and garlic powder(fresh garlic is too strong), but sometimes I mix it up and keep the pasta plain with a drizzle of olive oil or EB, or heat some pasta sauce up and cook the pasta in the sauce for a few minutes.

11) Serve chick'n patty over dressed pasta, with a big side of cooked vegetables.

Notes
You can make a fresh green salad, sauté your vegetables, or cook something like kale in a separate pot, and omit step 7.

I love FYH, but if you're a diehard Daiya fan, or can't get enough Teese, you can use those. I've never tried them in this dish, so I don't know how long they would take, or if they would need the broiler.

This meal is all about convenience, so I use jarred pasta sauce. If you've got a stock of home canned sauce, or a freezer full of frozen sauce, I'm sure those would be amazing.

If not, look for pasta sauces that don't have sugar listed as an ingredient. The difference between sauces with and without this one ingredient is typically about 40 calories, not to mention a ton of flavor. The sugar tempers down all the yummy tanginess of the tomatoes and the subtleties of the other ingredients, so all you taste is sweet. Gross. I cannot stand super sweet marinara.

My favorite, widely available sauce is Classico's Tomato and Basil. It comes in both conventional, approximately $2, and organic, usually $3.50 or less. One serving is 1/2 cup and contains 50 calories. Classico's Tomato and Sweet Basil, on the other hand, is similarly priced(though I'm not sure if it's available in an organic version) DOES contain sugar, and one 1/2 cup serving is 90 calories. I'm not a fanatic about calorie counting, but this is a crazy big difference. It's always good to read labels to check out more than just the vegan-ness of ingredients.

I like making one extra patty and taking the leftovers for lunch. It travels super well, and it takes no more effort to make 1 or 2, than it does to make 3 or 4. The FYH will not remelt unless you broil it again, though....but I enjoy the once-melted texture.

Product Review: Laver Fish

JD and I both LOVE Laver Fish! Laver fish is the really cartoon-y looking fish analog that you sometimes see at Asian markets. It is also sometimes called beancurd fish, though it's not actually tofu. It's flavored and pressed yuba--basically thin, chewy sheets of soymilk--that's wrapped in nori. It's always sold frozen, and it has a chopstick down the center as an artificial bone. Not all versions are vegan, some contain egg white, and there are different varieties. We prefer the style that is just yuba, nori and soy sauce, but there are some that contain more flavorings, even some with mushroom added.


I love the flaky, light texture of laver fish, and JD says it's pretty close( in texture) to actual fish. I also love that it's minimally refined, since it's just yuba and nori pressed together. I've even found a recipe for making your own laver fish online that I'd like to try during this MoFo, if I can make it to one of the Asian markets.

JD wants me to mention how much the taste varies by brand, he doesn't enjoy the particular style/brand in these photos because it's too sweet, and he says you can't taste the nori--he's not even the biggest fan of nori, though he does appreciate the "sea flavor" it lends to dishes like this laver fish or sushi.


While it's minimally processed, we typically only eat it once a month or less, but it's is a relatively inexpensive convenience food (about $3), and it's considered 3.5 servings. Our favorite quick meal with laver fish is the one in the photos; pan-fried laver fish, boiled potatoes, and steamed, blanched or sautéed vegetables. JD likes to dress his potatoes with EB, while I prefer to make a dipping sauce out of Vegenaise, prepared horseradish, lemon juice, a pinch of sea salt, and lots of freshly cracked black pepper. I use this sauce on both the potatoes and the laver fish. This meal usually takes around 15 minutes to prepare, so we can make it in a snap, even when we're super-famished.


You can also prepare laver fish in other ways, and one of our favorite complex preparations is to make laver fish tacos, by thawing the laver fish, cutting it into thin strips, then lightly breading and frying it. When we make this, we usually serve it in corn tortillas with fresh homemade salsa--mango chipotle works especially well!

Quick Chickpea Pasta

This was just a quick lunch I whipped together. This is the kind of one pot meal I often eat, although I usually add more vegetables. I don't usually post about this kind of thing, because it seems pretty basic, but it's a great, easy meal to put together.

I was cooking for JD and I both, so I couldn't add asparagus, spinach, mushrooms, or broccoli and the kale and carrots both had to be really well cooked and small. I had some leftover penne, and I made a big pot of chickpeas the other day, so I would be able to throw stuff together easily this week, so they were the foundation of this one pot meal.


First, I sautéed the chickpeas so they'd be a bit more tender, and added the seasonings; garlic* nutritional yeast, crushed red pepper flakes, sea salt, fresh ground black pepper, and a tiny dash of Old Bay. While that was simmering, I washed and cut the kale and carrots. I know it doesn't look like it, but that's a whole bunch of kale, and only half a package of penne; all of the kale is just hiding out below. After the greens were tender, I added the penne and cooked until it was warm, and the liquid had all evaporated. I wanted dry pasta with a "fried" texture today, but it would equally good with a bit of unsweetened soymilk to make it saucier. Or with any of the vegetables I mentioned above, or even diced onion, zucchini, or roasted red pepper. Yum.


*The garlic I've been getting lately has been really aggravating! It looks like a regular head of garlic, but when you go to peel one clove, it falls apart into 6 unpeeled cloves, then when you try to peel one of those really small cloves, they fall apart into 3 microscopic cloves! It gets really frustrating, really quickly. How anyone else come across this?