« June 2005 | Main | August 2005 »
July 26, 2005
El cocinar es diversión!
Cooking is fun!
Our cherry tomato plant is more prolific than I can manage—leaving me with an extra pound or two of tomatoes every week. (I only wish the other tomato plants would do as well. I’m still in denial but will discuss it when I’m ready.) My solution to the overabundance of tomato fruits? Make salsa! I’ve been experimenting with ingredients and proportions and following is the best to date. Next time I think I will try making a mint salsa. If it’s good I’ll post the recipe.
Mango Chipotle Salsa
6 cups cut up tomatoes
1 bunch cilantro, cleaned and trimmed of lower stems
1/2 a red onion, cut up
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 mango, cut up
Juice of 2 limes
1 can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (see notes)
Hefty piece of ginger, peeled and cut up (see notes)
1/4 teaspoon tumeric
salt to taste
Combine all ingredients in food processor, pulsing to combine. Be careful not to over process or you’ll just have liquid. If you don’t have a food processor you can still make a great fresca-style salsa, it will just take you longer to chop everything up.
- I used 2 peppers in my salsa. I suggest starting with one (or even half of one, if you’re especially spice-timid), and working up to more as you taste test the salsa. The peppers are easy to work with if you remove them from the can with a fork and then cut them up with a fork and sharp knife. Put everything into the salsa (sauce, seeds, all of it).
- I used a piece of ginger about as long but thicker than my thumb. Press the peeled pieces of ginger in a garlic press over your salsa—let as much juice drain out of the press as possible. Remove the pulp from the press (don’t add this to the salsa) and repeat until you’ve used all the ginger.
Vegetarian Enchiladas
Vegetarian enchiladas are fun and messy to make. They call for salsa to marinate tofu—I suggest using a canned store-bought variety. The flavors seem to penetrate the tofu better than with fresh salsa. Save your fresh salsa for chips or salads. I use canned enchilada sauce and am satisfied with the results. I know homemade sauce would be infinitely better, but this already takes some time to make. If I ever find and use an enchilada sauce recipe I’ll let you know how it goes.
1/2 package firm tofu
1 cup salsa
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small potato
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup corn (fresh or frozen)
1 head broccoli, trimmed and cut into small pieces
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
salt to taste
45 oz. enchilada sauce
Corn tortillas
Fresh spinach
Cheddar cheese, grated
For filling:
Mix salsa and olive oil in large mixing bowl. Cut tofu into cubes and place in bowl, stirring to combine with salsa mix. Marinate at least one hour covered in refrigerator, stirring once.
While tofu marinates, cube and boil potato for about 5-7 minutes, until barely cooked. Rinse under water to cool.
Add potato, beans, corn, and broccoli to tofu mix and combine well.
In dry pan toast coriander and cumin until fragrant. Add spices and salt to mix, combining well.
To make the enchiladas:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Pour about half an inch of enchilada sauce into a 9×12 baking dish.
Pour some sauce in a pie pan or other deep dish. Place a tortilla in dish and coat both sides with sauce. Transfer to a plate and add a heaping tablespoon of filling. Add a few spinach leaves and roll up. Transfer to baking dish - seam side down- and repeat.
When baking dish is full pour sauce over enchiladas to coat thinly. Sprinkle with grated cheese. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 5-10 minutes until cheese begins to golden. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.
Posted by April at 11:38 AM | Comments (0)
July 21, 2005
Music I’m Digging
I recently updated my I Pod and there are four albums I can’t stop listening to:
(Click on album art to purchase—trust me you won’t regret it!)
1. Martha Wainwright, Martha Wainwright
Spunky, pretty, and soulful describe Ms. Wainwright’s debut album.
2. M. Ward, Transfiguration of Vincent
Nate and I saw this Portland, OR artist open for Bright Eyes last year and I’m so happy to finally have this album. Now I want his latest release, Transistor Radio.
3. Detroit Cobras, Baby
I’m not sure how I stumbled upon the Detroit Cobras, but am grateful for the discovery. This female duo rocks.
4. Mekons, I Heart Mekons
The Mekons have many other albums, but this is the one I’ve got and it’s great! If their other releases are as good then I’ve got some collecting to do. (Unfortunately I can not find this album for sale anywhere. If you want, you can get other Mekons releases here).
Posted by April at 02:10 PM | Comments (0)
July 18, 2005
Images of California
There are some things I’m working on for Feminist Housewife, but I felt the need to post something in the interim. So—a photographic account of my two most recent trips to California.
The first trip was a while ago—it actually predates my last entry. I was working for Nate’s parents at the PMA show and I arrived early so I could spend time in Santa Cruz with friends. Here’s a picture of Hope behind some flowers.
I think we’d had quite a bit of wine by this point in the evening. By the way—I’ve stopped drinking. The decision fell between the two trips.
The next day (despite my hang over) Alison and I packed a picnic and headed for the beach, where we met Sid.
Sid is the sea gull above. His wing is broken. We fed him a lot of bread and chips as discreetly as possible so as not to alert the other sea gulls. Here’s a pic of Alison:
She’s such a sweetheart. The lucky duck is getting ready to trek across Europe, leaving any day now.
Then came the PMA show, where I took this one of Kelley and Jill; Nate’s mom and sister, respectively.
After the show I had a lovely time hanging out with Meadow—unfortunately I don’t have any photos of our time together. Then it was back to Joplin for about a week, I think. We returned to California for the Fourth of July holiday. Here are some pictures I took in the Phoenix airport. I don’t know who Nate’s on the phone with. I actually thought about calling him from my seat right next to him—he’s on the phone a lot when he travels.
That’s me—our waitress was weird and insisted on checking the picture to make sure she wasn’t in it. I don’t know what difference it would make, it’s not as if I would have agreed to delete it if she had been.
I’d recently made my decision to abstain from drinking and changed my plans to help me stay on course. Instead of staying in Santa Cruz with Matt and Hope (as much as I love them- I wasn’t ready) and remained in Calistoga with the Brogans instead. What a fabulous few days!!! My sister, brother in law, and nephew came to visit us in Calistoga. We had fun in the pool, and I wish I’d gotten more pictures of Simon playing in the water.
Well, that’s it. I always have a hard time coming back here after visits home. (At this point I consider the entire state of California home.) Nate could tell something was up when we were packing for the return trip. I told him how depressing I find Joplin to be, he sympathized, we talked, and came to a mutual decision to establish a primary residence in Kansas City (Nate will still need a place in Joplin for work). To say I’m happy about this is an understatement, but I’ll elaborate as things start progressing.
Posted by April at 01:07 PM | Comments (2)