green

Christmas doughnut.

New toy!

Are there any more presents for us?

Ted and I stayed home this Christmas, which means we hosted our traditional Christmas Eve open house. This year the forecast was for cold, wet weather so we thought chili might be a good dish to serve our guests.

Now Ted is typically the chili chef in this household, but because of scheduling he couldn’t prepare it in time for Christmas Eve this year. I’ve never made chili before, and Ted was fuzzy on details, so I went in search of a recipe I could use as a starting point. I found one touting itself as “The Best Vegetarian Chili in the World” — how could I go wrong?

Recipe Source: The Best Vegetarian Chili in the World by calead910

Notes and Substitutions: I diddled with this recipe a fair amount: omitted the celery, but added extra onion and an additional orange bell pepper; added about 3/4 of a habañero pepper for extra kick; pumped up the cumin and added an extra clove of garlic and an extra bay leaf; mis-read the recipe when shopping and bought only one package of veggie ground, so supplemented with a bit of soyrizo (soy based chorizo); even with the smaller amount of ground, it was looking a little lacking on the beans side, so I added and extra can of black beans.

We served this up with some shredded cheddar cheese, chopped red onions, sour cream, and cornbread.

Verdict: I really liked the way this turned out: very hearty, and tasty, and spicy (but not sear-your-lips-off spicy; the other seasonings added complexity and depth to the heat). I think I preferred the accidental ratio of more beans/less veggie ground. Ted is dubious about the garbanzo beans. I think they add good texture and mouth feel, but Ted thinks they don’t look right (although his objection is not strong enough to stop eating it. heh).

It was really simple to prepare and seemed to be a crowd-pleaser to boot. Definitely adding it to my regular menu rotation… yum!

Each December, a small cul de sac in El Segundo transforms into Candy Cane Lane–a neighborhood where all the houses are festively decorated to celebrate winter and Christmas. It’s great to bring a mug of hot cocoa and stroll the street, taking in the lights and music and dropping in to say hello to Santa. Here are a few shots from this year’s visit - enjoy!

Santa and Rudolph hit the links

Tropical Frosties

RAWR!

Chilly flamingoes

Reindeer runway

Trees grow a little different here

Late Jurassic/Early Sinterklaassic fraternization

Screening at Santa’s Theater

Santa in the isolation chamber

Beautiful.

Whoops - they seem to have been BoingBoinged… lower quality version on YouTube here

It’s been getting chilly lately, and a big bowl of steaming udon sounded like the perfect remedy.

Recipe Source: Me just screwing around.

Notes and Substitutions: I didn’t have any of pre-packaged udon with seasoning packets, but I did have a bunch of ingredients that might work well: soy sauce, ginger, shiitake mushrooms, kombu, scallions, spinach, and tofu. I just kind of threw things together in hopes of making something edible.

Verdict: It was… ok, but just so. Adding chili pepper really helped boost things a bit, but the broth was a bit bland. Still, it was hot a filling and the individual ingredients were pretty yummy.

I really need to learn how to make better vegetarian dashi so I can make last-minute osoba now and again without resorting the packaged stuff.

From the folks at Rolling Dog Ranch

I love tortilla soup, but most restaurants and recipes use a chicken base, so I searched for a recipe online with the intent of either finding a vegetarian version or making one meatless. Part of the allure of this particular recipe was the short cooking time, and the ingredients sounded tasty, so I prepared a double batch for a Wow we hosted recently.

Recipe Source: Emeril Lagasse

Notes and Substitutions: I used the poblano pepper for this recipe. Substituted veggie broth for chicken broth, veggie chicken strips in place of real chicken. I also added a a little extra garlic, a can of corn kernels for a little more chunkiness, and used bagged tortilla chips instead of homemade (but only because I was running behind; I’d probably prefer the latter). Topped with avocado and the chipotle crema, which is so tasty and so easy to make. After having a taste after the 20-minute simmer, I confess to being a little disappointed — there was certainly something missing. But after adding the final ingredients–cilantro, lime, and a bit of the Essence seasoning–really made everything come together beautifully.

A few notes for next time:

• wear gloves when cutting the chili peppers;
• add black beans as well, and maybe pump up the spices a little to compensate;
• try baking the tortilla strips as well as frying to see if baking is an option;
• blend half the soup to make the base a little thicker.

Verdict: Quick, hearty, and flavorful. I was slightly skeptical about getting good flavor our of a 25 minute simmer, but was pleasantly surprised. It got thumbs up from all who tried it, and we’re definitely adding it to the regular soup rotation.

OK, not really Moroccan (it uses Indian spices) but it’s still a favorite of mine.

Recipe Source: Grace and Mae at allrecipes.com

Notes and Substitutions: I don’t deviate much at all from this recipe. I tend to like this with a bit of salt added, but beyond that usually prepare this as written. Sometimes cannellini (white kidney) beans are hard to find. I’ve tried Great Northern and White beans as substitutes, but both tend to lose their structure. I now think that red kidney beans or navy beans might be better substitutions.

Verdict: This is a great soup. It’s spicy, thick and hearty, and wonderfully aromatic–the house smells wonderful as it’s simmering. Yum yum yum.

Another recipe from a blogger. Although I don’t like squash, I do like squash soup and it sounded good enough to try.

Recipe Source: Becky Stern at Craftzine.com

Notes and Substitutions: Squashes are tough little buggers, and the recipe calls for the squash to be peeled, seeded, and cut into chunks. The skin is smooth and hard, and coupled with it’s rounded surfaces I felt the need to be very careful indeed while cutting it. Next time I make this, I will seriously consider using a reciprocating saw to do the cutting. I later spoke with a pal of mine and she says she asks grocery stores to cut the squash for her (at least halved to get it started).

I mis-read the recipe when I wrote out my shopping list and thought the half and half was optional. Whoops. Substituted with sour cream thinned with water to make “cream.” I used acorn squash and 8 cups of broth, 2 bay leaves (I like bay leaves), and scallions for garnish. I topped it with small cubes of browned tofu seasoned with salt and pepper.

Verdict: A very nice, aromatic soup. The flavor is savory and spicy and lightly sweet. The second night we ate this I forgot to add the browned tofu bits, at which point I realized the texture of this soup is a little odd on its own: it’s not creamy enough to be a bisque, and not quite chunky enough to suit my tastes, so the addition of the tofu was a pretty important for my enjoyment. Still, the flavor is terrific and I’d definitely make it again, just with the understanding that additional chunky bits and/or more cream/blending are essential rather than optional (for me).

I saw this recipe linked from another blog and was enticed by the short cooking time and the nice variety of vegetables it contained.

Recipe Source: Lost Button Studio, based on a Martha Stewart Vegetable Soup recipe

Notes and Substitutions: I replaced the chicken stock with veg, substituted broccoli for one of the zucchinis, and combined basil, oregano, and bay leaves for the “Italian seasoning”

Verdict: This was a little too bland for my tastes. I think the short simmering time contributes to this; certainly the veggie stock substitution changes things significantly, too. It was a nice, chunky mix of vegetables that retained much of their texture (which I did like) but I think I prefer minestrone that has stronger flavors.