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!

November Updates

Okay, okay, okay. I fail Vegan MoFo to a ridiculous degree. I'm sorry. It's not for lack of news, food, or inspiration.

In October, I was in Colorado with my family. My 8 year old nephew, N, was scheduled to have some intense surgery. Basically, he has cerebral palsy, and his hamstrings are extremely tight. He's already undergone a few procedures to help him walk better, including botox and casting, and tendon lengthening. Up until now, he's used a wheel chair, a walker, AFOs, and molded-plastic and velco braces to get around, and he's done well for himself, but he has the bad habit of W sitting. W sitting is basically sitting on his knees with his feet and calves splayed out to either side of his body--which above, looks like a W. Sitting in this position has turned his hips out, and his knees in, so his doctors decided that this needed to be corrected immediately. When I first heard about the surgery, I was told he would undergo three separate procedures at once, his hips would be broken, they would realign his knees, and they would take the muscle from the back of one of his calves and move it to the front. Yikes! It all sounded like too much, and I know my mother, N's legal guardian, was overwhelmed. As luck would have it, I wasn't scheduled to teach in October, and so I would be able to spend nearly the whole month with my family, be there for the surgery, and also for Halloween and my father's birthday, while still making it back to Austin for the presidential election. Unfortunately, I did not really have the time, energy, or means to blog most of the time I was in Colorado, but I think this is a pretty damn good excuse.

The hospital stay was intense, but overall, the trip was great, and I feel so fortunate that I could take it. N ended up only requiring one surgery for the time being, but that--breaking his hips--necessitated an almost-full body cast, starting below his pecs and going all the way down to his ankles. His recovery time was also increased, although his hospital stay was cut down by a few days. N is still in his cast, but we be getting out of it just before Thanksgiving. He's uncomfortable, and grumpy to be so immobile, but as rascally as ever.

While in Denver, I managed to make it to my favorite restaurant a few times, as well as try some vegan ice creams that aren't available in Austin, and I'll review those in a later post. I also got a chance to hang out with H, and see her new house, and to catch up with a former roommate.

Just before my trip, I had been in contact with Addie Broyles, the food editor for our local newspaper. I ended up winning a small contest by talking about my favorite Thanksgiving side dishes, and she mentioned that she'd be interested in posting the recipe. Last week, she held a photo shoot for the food and the chefs, and I got to meet the creative and sweet Diann, who is also having a recipe published. I was ecstatic when I realized that Addie had picked two vegans for the feature, especially when I returned to Austin and found out she had interviewed my friends, students and coworkers at NE/ Casa de Luz for a feature about macrobiotics. I feel so grateful to live in a city where the major paper acknowledges vegans, and doesn't compartmentalize us. If you're an Austinite, pick up a copy of the Austin American Statesman on Monday, November 24 to see all the Thanksgiving side dishes. Also, if you're on Twitter, you can follow Addie, or join the Austin Food Bloggers group on Facebook (assuming you're in Austina and a blogger).

Last week I also notice that someone had scraped my entire blog and was using the posts for their gaming site to try and sell illegal WoW gold. They had also scraped a severely right wing racist blog, and I think the most offensive aspect of all was having my name (my posts were stolen word for word, with my name intact on the recipes) associated with that kind of vitriol. Thankfully, JD notified the fake blog's admin that they had violated copyright, and within minutes, all of my content was down.

It's been a crazy month, and things probably aren't going to slow down until after the new year.

Post Thanksgiving Report

My dinner plate, from left: Mashed Potatoes with Mushroom Gravy, Walnut, Fig and Cranberry Cornbread Dressing,
Blanched Broccoli, Cauliflower and Carrots, Spiced and Caramelized Butternut Squash Purée, Slow-Cooked Collard Greens, Fresh Cranberry Sauce, Wheat Gluten Roast, Wild Mushroom Pilaf

I'm sorry for my abrupt absence. I had a horribly tenacious computer virus/spyware/adware infection. I thought I was going to have to wipe my hard drive and restore to factory settings (in fact I had tried to do that, but I was unable to complete the process). I ended up getting help from the Geek Squad. The gentleman who came to nurse my comp back to health was extremely helpful and knowledgeable. The whole clean up took over three and half hours, and it took about a week just to get them here. This absence of course breaks up my Vegan MoFo postings....

Since this is a food blog, and a big food day just passed, I'll be posting the obligatory post Thanksgiving report, with accompanying pictures and a few recipes. JD and I both moved to Austin as adults, so we don't have any family in town, and neither of our families were planning to come to town, so we hosted a dinner for our fellow Thanksgiving Orphans.

Traditional Sage Dressing.

We had a pretty exhaustive list of dishes for Thanksgiving, including two dressings (stuffing)--I was leaning heavily toward a walnut, fig, and cranberry cornbread dressing, and JD couldn't bear to live without a sage white bread dressing to stuff in his turkey*. He's generally pretty traditional as far as flavors go, and can be a bit hesitant to mix things up.

The kitchen was pretty hectic, so the recipes in this post aren't exact, but are more like guidelines.

Sautéed onion and celery, dried cranberries, dried figs, herbs and toasted walnuts.

Walnut, Fig and Cranberry Cornbread Dressing

by Christina Terriquez

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
1 small onion, diced
sea salt
2 stalks celery, diced
3/4 cup dried, fruit juice-sweetened cranberries
3/4 cup dried figs, diced or cut into quarters
1cup walnut pieces, lightly toasted
6 cups of your favorite cornbread, prepared, cooled, and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
3 teaspoons dried sage
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning, Simply Organic brand recommended
1 teaspoon dried thyme
4 cups vegetable broth

Directions
Preheat oven to 350° F.

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil over medium-high oil and sauté the onion with a pinch of sea salt until translucent. Add celery and a pinch of sea salt and sauté until tender. Add cranberries, figs, and walnuts and sauté for about two more minutes.

Heat remaining oil, and add dried herbs and cornbread cubes. Toss cornbread to lightly brown.

In a 13"x 9" baking dish, mix dried fruit mixture and cornbread. Add vegetable broth and season to taste with salt.

Bake, uncovered for 30-45 minutes, until brown and crispy on top and moist, but not wet, inside.

Assembling the cornbread dressing.

JD made the turkey and prepared all its accompaniments. While he was cleaning it, there was a horrifying/ridiculous moment when I realized he had his hand literally up the turkey's butt. That was...kind of weird, and I don't think he appreciated me pointing it out. He also put his foot down when I cheekily suggested we name it.

The spread.

We didn't actually get to cook the mulled cider because I ran out of pots and pans (I added the spices and orange rind and it's been steeping in the fridge while we slowly drink it), but here's our menu:

Mulled Cider
Beer
White Wine
Wild Mushroom Pilaf
Slow-Cooked Collard Greens
Blanched Broccoli, Cauliflower and Carrots
Sweet Potato Casserole with Candied Pecans
Mashed Potatoes
Mushroom Gravy
Spiced and Caramelized Butternut Squash Purée
Walnut, Fig and Cranberry Cornbread Dressing
Sage Dressing
Wheat Gluten Roast
Stuffed Turkey with Giblet Gravy
Fresh Cranberry Sauce
Triple Chocolate Silk Pie
Cashew Creme



The biggest disappointment was the wheat gluten roast. I had tried a stuffed wheat gluten roast earlier in the month, and it looked great, but was just okay in the flavor and texture department.

Cute but unremarkable stuffed Thanksgiving wheat gluten roast.

I thought I'd try one of Bryanna Clark Grogan's recipes, for Thanksgiving. Of course I tinkered with the recipe a bunch, and it came out really dry, hard, and pretty much inedible. JD and I both agreed that my usual seitan is much better. Since it was so tough, I ended up grating it and cooking it with diced onion, grated carrot, garlic, cumin and tahini as a filling for tamales a few days later. The tamales were excellent.

Grated leftover seitan with diced onion, grated carrot, minced garlic, cumin and tahini.

The biggest surprise to me was the spiced and caramelized butternut squash purée. It was richly flavored and extremely aromatic. I made it on a lark, as I'm not generally a big fan of butternut squash. It's usually just a bit too watery and not quite sweet enough for me. If I'm making winter squash, it's almost always going to be a kabocha or a buttercup. However, when we went grocery shopping, the organic squash was priced well, and it stores well, so I figured if I didn't use it for Thanksgiving, I'd have plenty of time to do something else with it. I'm so glad I bought it! The dish was divine, and it was the first thing to be entirely eaten--no leftovers! If you make this for dinner, I would recommend doubling or tripling the recipe as it's fantastic the next day, and it can be used in soup, as the filling for empanadas or pies, sweetened for a dessert, or frozen for later.

Squash and spices, midway through roasting.

Roasted and Spiced Butternut Purée
by Christina Terriquez

1 large butternut squash, peeled, seeds removed and cut into 1 inch chunks
2 whole cinnamon sticks
seeds and empty pod of 1/2--1 vanilla bean
sea salt
water
shoyu, optional
sweetener, optional

Directions
Preheat oven to 350° F.

Place squash, cinnamon sticks, vanilla bean and empty pod, a pinch of sea salt, and enough water to cover the top of the squash. Bake for 1--2 hours, stirring occasionally and adding water if needed. Squash is done when completely soft, and slightly brown.

Remove from oven. Carefully remove cinnamon stick and vanilla pod. Mash with a fork or potato masher if needed and season to taste.

Notes
This gets better the longer it bakes. Ideally, it should be so soft that you don't really need to mash it, as stirring is enough to break up any large pieces.

If you don't have a vanilla bean, omit it entirely, vanilla extract will not work. However, if you have empty vanilla pods that you've been saving, you can use 3 or four of them in place of the seeds.

You can spice this up more with a pinch of cayenne powder, ground cloves, or nutmeg.

You can substitute ground cinnamon for the whole sticks.

Try adding a little coconut milk for a richer, creamier consistency. This also works well if you make this into a soup, or add some cayenne.

Sautéed onions, celery, and wild mushrooms for the pilaf.

The pilaf was a pretty basic pilaf, I used brown basmati, sautéed onion, celery, garlic, fresh shiitakes, and reconstituted wild mushrooms with a little thyme. It was yummy, but overshadowed by the other dishes.

The meal was delicious, the company good, and the music, well, we cooked to all four sides of the Saturday Night Fever album, so it was pretty....disco. Which prompted me to think about having a glam Disco Thanksgiving next year.....I don't think JD is really up for that, though. The only bad thing was that JD put the fresh-from-the-oven turkey directly onto the glass table cover, which, of course, cracked immediately. Ah well. I hope everyone had a good day and something for which to be thankful.


*I'm sure some people are wondering how a vegan could allow a turkey to be cooked in their house. Well, 1) this is JD's house too, and he's (usually...) pretty accommodating of me, so I figure I should be accommodating for him because 2) since we've been together, he usually doesn't buy/cook/eat animal products and 3) we invited many omnivores, and I think the best way of spreading the vegan/vegetarian message is by being an example and showing how fun, delicious and compassionate being a vegan can be. By making a dinner where all the dishes, with the exception of the turkey, were vegan, I can do just that. No one wants to be lectured on a holiday, and I for one, don't want to lecture. I DO want to prepare beautiful, yummy food for my friends and family to enjoy, and that's exactly what I did.

ETA: I made the Fig, Walnut, and Cranberry Cornbread Dressing for my family for Christmas, and I was a little worried that it would be too extreme, but they loved it. "THIS is how stuffing should taste!" was my mom's response to her first bite. The recipe was bit different, since I didn't have my own equipment or pantry, and it took about 1 1/2 hours to find dried figs at the grocery store, but it was definitely worth it.

Additionally, I actually found some "Dressing Bread" at the local King Sooper's (the name Kroger's go by in the Denver Metro area). It was a dense loaf of bread that had all the sage, celery seed, pepper, and herbs that typically go into dressing. I had never seen or heard of this before, but it actually came in handy, especially since the loaf I bought was on the reduced price shelf since it was older and slightly stale--which is exactly what I was looking for, since it was the day before Christmas, and it wouldn't have time to get stale naturally. Is this a new thing? Has it been around for a while, but I've just missed it? It was sort of neat, really aromatic, but also very weird.

Mama C's Green Chile

I had planned on posting this recipe over a month ago. Thank Vegan MoFo for helping me catch up with things I meant to post ages ago and keeping me on track with my posts. Isa at PPK has a growing list of other people participating in Vegan MoFo.

Do I really need to tell you who Isa is? Okay, I might need to tell some of you. She's the author of three books that have taken the vegan cooking (and blogging) world by storm, Vegan with a Vengence (VWAV), Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World (VCTOW), and most recently, Veganomicon. She's also the creator and co-host of the cooking show, Post Punk Kitchen, which airs on some PBS stations, and is viewable on Google Video.

Smothered Burritos

When I was a child in Colorado, I played softball in a little league within the Catholic Diocese. I was a Saint. While the team didn't go out together for ice cream or pizza after each game, food was very much a part of the game ritual. After every game, the girls on the team each got a soda, and each family had to put in money for concessions (giant jars of monster pickles, bulk candies and soda, lots of soda), and on a rotating basis, provide refreshments. My memory of the exact details on this are a bit fuzzy, because, frankly I was more concerned with hitting a homer, having a G-DOUBLE-O-D-E-Y-E, and not getting a black eye from that fierce pitcher who hit at least two members of our team with a fast curve every inning she pitched, each time we played her team.... however, I believe that each family was expected to make burritos.

I was not a particularly picky eater as a child, but I did not like spicy food. I just didn't understand why in the world people would eat food that made them uncomfortable--which is funny because as an adult, I've been known to eat wasabi paste like avocado. As a child, I only ever ate burritos when my mother made them, and though it was a rare occasion, she would make an enormous batch when she did. As I recall, her burritos were not especially authentic--I think they consisted of browned ground beef, slices of longhorn colby cheese, refried pinto beans and green chile with pork--but, my oh my, the green chile!

I loved and have longed for my mom's green chile often since I moved away. I didn't know until recently, but many of the dishes I grew up thinking of as Mexican were actually New Mexican, which is probably why it's rare to see chile verde in Texas, except as "green chile pork stew". When I was growing up in CO, green chile was THE chile. If you wanted a bean, tomato and ground beef stew with cumin and spices, you asked for chili con carne. There was even a place called Chubby's that had chile cheese fries, or what I liked to refer to as Heart Attack on a Plate. It seems as though in any other state, that dish would be served with chili con carne, but at Chubby's, it was always green chile, and it was divine.

Obviously, green chile is a very sentimental dish for me. I can't smell roasting green chiles without getting nostalgic for fall in Colorado with the changing of the leaves, the golden aspens, the end of summer vacation and the butterflies associated with the beginning of school. I thought about trying to recreate it off the top of my head, but I was feeling sort of homesick by this time, so I called up my mama and chatted for a while, then asked her how she did it. Not being especially fond of cooking, she never wrote any recipes down, so she'd tell me a few steps, then go back and change everything. It was adorable. And it further cemented my need to make chile right away. My mother told me that she used tomatoes, which didn't sound right at all to me, so I omitted them at first....bad idea. The chile didn't have any tang or zest. The moral? Always listen to your mama.

When I told JD that I wanted to attempt making green chile, he thought I meant a white bean, chicken and green bell pepper stew. Right then, I knew I HAD to make green chile, and I had to make it until it was perfect.

Since this recipe was passed down orally, it's a little bit looser than most of my recipes, but that just gives you more freedom. If you're a mild kind of person who doesn't want to make a big batch, only add 1 or 2 jalapenos, and 2 quarts of water. If you like things face meltingly hot, and think the more the merrier when it comes to leftovers, add 6 or more hot peppers--hell, throw in a habanero or scotch bonnet!--and use 4 quarts of water. The original recipe, of course, used pork, and I use seitan, but you could omit that and use a different thickener if you're opposed to seitan, wheat intolerant or celiac.

Mama C's Chile Verde/Green Chile
by Christina Terriquez

8-10 mild green chili peppers like mild hatch, poblano, or, my favorite, anaheim, washed and dried and whole
3-6 medium or hot chili peppers like serrano, or jalapeno, washed and dried and whole
olive or safflower oil
5 stewed or fresh tomatoes, skins peeled and discarded and flesh minced
1/2-1 yellow or white onion, diced
2-4 cloves of garlic
2-4 quarts of water (1 quart is 4 cups)
sea salt
1 lb seitan or 1 batch Easy Wheat Gluten
organic white unbleached flour

Directions
Roast peppers over flame until skin is black and blistered, being careful not to puncture skin as juices will leak. Set blackened peppers aside or in brown paper bag to cool. Repeat until all peppers are roasted.

Using plastic gloves, under cool running water, peel the skin away from the peppers, de-stem and de-seed. Dice pepper flesh.

In a medium skillet, heat a small amount of oil and sauté onions, garlic, and a pinch of salt, until onions are translucent and beginning to brown. Remove from heat.

In a stockpot or large dutch oven, add onions, garlic, peppers, and tomatoes. Simmer for at least 1 hour.

Cut half of seitan into 1/2 inch chunks, and add to stockpot. Cut remaining seitan into pea-sized pieces, and brown in skillet with oil. Set aside for garnishing just before serving.

Dilute 2 tablespoons of flour in 1/4 cut of water and slowly stir into chile. Season chile with sea salt. If chile looks thick enough for your liking, serve. If chile seems a little watery, dilute flour 1 tablespoon at a time, and add to chile. Keep in mind that chile will thicken as it cools.

Notes
Chile is great as a sauce for smothering burritos, making green enchiladas, or pouring over scrambled tofu or tofu omlets for a sort of "huevos rancheros" dish.

We often eat it room temperature with chips.

It's very important to use gloves when peeling hot chili peppers, as the essence stays on your fingertips for a long time and burns sensitive skin and mucous membranes. I've known many a person who didn't wear gloves when seeding peppers, then (after washing their hands) went to the bathroom or touched their eye, with stinging consequences.

Flour is what my mother always used, but you can use a different thickener. My favorite thickener is kuzu powder.

Tomatillos may be use in place of tomatoes for a greener chile verde.

In one of the last big meals R, JD and I ate together, we had smothered burritos filled with Monterey Jack Follow Your Heart NotCheese , refried pinto beans and green chile, covered with lettuce, tomatoes, avocado, more NotCheese and more green chile, plus Spanish rice and zucchini ribbons sautéed with olive oil and garlic. We each had one flour tortilla burrito and one sprouted grain (or maybe sprouted corn?) tortilla burrito. Pretty simple, but sooooo good! Interestingly, although I loved green chile in burritos as a child, I could not stand smothered burritos as they always seemed like a soggy, hard-to-eat mess. Either I'm less sensitive as an adult, or the vegan tortillas are more impervious to the vegan chile than lard-laden tortillas are to conventional green chile.

Burritos smothered in Mama C's Green Chile

With some leftover chile, we had tofu omelets filled with mushrooms and covered in green chile, with a little NotCheese for garnish. The green chile is not pretty, but it IS delicious! JD is not really a fan of tofu, and we don't eat it much, but if there's chile in the house, he'll scarf down two smothered tofu omelets in no time. I don't do nightshades very often, but when I do, I do them right.

Tofu omelet with mushrooms, and Mama C's Green Chile