(no subject)

[felicula]

I'd like to say a nice, gigundous, smiling, "Welcome!" to everyone who has added me to their friends list since the housewarming party this past weekend.

I'm sorry I was eepishly shy Friday night and for an earlier chunk of Saturday. I don't do so well with large crowds of people, especially large crowds of people I don't know well. Damnitol, I wish I wasn't such a shy ham...

I think it took taking part in the round of Pass-the-Baby with Ewan, then joining in with storming the porn store to fully shake off the shy-quiet-eep-ies.

Despite that, I'd have to say that it was the best party I'd ever attended. Thank you, dawnstar and kolys!

Before mechanchaos and I left the dawnstar's and kolys's place Saturday night, there was some interest in my meatless balls recipe. I remembered posting the recipe before, so I dug it out of my archives.

I also have made tofu ravioli (well, more like tortellini), and tofu cincinatti chili. I've been on a kick of pushing the envelope of just how many dishes I can substitute tofu in place of ground animal. I've been pleasantly surprised.


Vegetarian Black Bean Chili

1 Tbsp canola oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, chopped
1 large carrot, sliced
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
1 sweet green pepper, chopped
6 roma tomatoes, chopped
2 19-ounce cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp salt

In a large saucepan, heat oil over medium heat. When hot, add carrot. Cook, stirring, for 2 1/2 minutes. Add Onion, pepper, jalapeno, and garlic. Cook, stirring, for another 2 1/2 minutes.

Reduce heat to low. Stir in chili powder, cumin, salt, beans, and tomatoes. Cook for 7 minutes, stirring occasionally. Turn off heat and let the flavors meld for 10-20 minutes, then serve.


This chili is great when fresh veggies are in season and temperatures outside are high. I serve it with Asian-style white sticky rice. I adapted this from a recipe from a little free cookbook mechanchaos had clicked on a link to receive from Ontario Greenhouse Vegetables. I wish I had the link he used to get the cookbook. Everything I've made from this little free book has been delicious.

Edit:I found out the reason I couldn't find the recipe book earlier. They do have recipes available on their website here. There are actually more recipes than just those in the little book I have too.

The problem with the way they wrote the recipe for the chili is that it didn't look like the photo if you followed what they'd written. The picture in the book looked like a very colorful fresh veggie summer recipe. The recipe itself tended to lose its color with more of a winter comfort food feel. It also had rosemary in it which, though it offered a more sophisticated flavor, lessened its family appeal. The recipe above was how I solved the problem of color loss while shifting it from winter to summer appeal. Now it looks like the photo and tastes just as good - better, if you ask me. ***grins***

If you're interested in any of the other recipes I've mentioned, drop me a comment here and I'll post them.

All in all, I had a great time. It was neat to meet and get to know lots of folks, even though I was terrified of meeting new folks at the same time.

Comments

[blackfelicula.livejournal.com]

I've added quite a collection of new LJ friends as well, and been added in return by most of them. It's a neat feeling. Now if only I could muster up some more interesting content for folks to be reading from me... :)

[lite.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking there might be something to be said about an "Extended Brain"
Dawn and Oli's/My/Jen and Robby's Friends... Plus Brain.
Somehow.. it works :)