Category Archives: Vegetables

What’s for Lunch?


Posted by katiebird

Tuna Salad & Tomato-Onion Vinaigrette

Lunch!

Exercise your hunter-gatherer skills! Most offices have packets of mayo and mustard lying around, and there are usually bottles of vinaigrette dressing in a refrigerator somewhere. You can keep everything else in your desk drawer or overhead bins.

To really make this lunch sing, fix it around 10:30 and let it sit in the refrigerator for an hour or so.

Tuna Salad
1 can tuna, drained
3 packets mayonnaise
1 packet mustard
1/4 onion, finely chopped
herbs/spices to taste

Mix all ingredients. Chill for 1 hour if possible.

Tomato/Onion Vinaigrette
8 sun-dried tomatoes
3/4 onion, coarsely chopped
1/4 c vinaigrette

Cover tomatoes in water (just enough to cover), microwave for 8 minutes (there should be a little juice in the bottom, let it stay). Allow to cool for several minutes. Add onion, stir, let stand for several minutes (to soak up the juice). Add vinaigrette. Chill for 1 hour if possible.


Indigenous Solidarity Quesadillas with Irish Cheese and Maque Choux, contributed by DuctapeFatwa


Posted by katiebird

You can make these with flatbread, naan, roti, traditional flour tortillas or any of the new “wraps.” Some of the latter come in various flavors and low carb versions as well as whole grain. I would not recommend injera unless you make it special, because in the usual form it is too soft and floppy.

Once you have selected the base for your quesadilla, obtain some Irish cheese and grate it. Irish are the indigenous people of the British Isles, so using Irish cheese in your quesadilla is a nice way to salute Europe and show solidarity.

Cut up an onion (Sufi chop) and a sweet bell chile in any color. Put a pan on the fire, add a bit of olive oil, when it is hot, add your chopped vegetables and let them cook but not all the way. Take some out and spread them onto your tortillas or whatever you are using, add your grated Irish cheese, fold over, wrap in alumininum foil and put inside the heated oven section of your fire source.

Now make maque choux: That is essentially what those bags of “Authentic Mexican” vegetable medleys of corn, black beans, sweet chiles, etc. are. This is a traditional Native American dish that is very easy to make. Just dump some in the pan with what is left of your onions etc, and add a bit of African cayenne, chopped habaneros, jalapenos, all or none, depending on how much flavor you wish your maque choux to have. Add a bit of garlic, some cumin seeds and a tiny whisper of cinnamon. Let it all cook for a while as the quesadillas bake.

Some like them to be soft, some like the bread a bit crispy, so take them out sooner for soft, as soon as cheese is melted, Put your maque choux on top, and dribble salsa around them.

If you want a very pretty look, alternate drops of red and green salsas to celebrate Mexico.

You can also top the maque choux with chopped tomatoes if you have good ones.

This is a good way to get in a serving of vegetables, and depending on your bread substance, a minimum of evil white carbs.

Serve with little bowls of chopped pungent chiles, chunks of avocado, chopped cilantro so diners can customize their quesadillas.


Chimol: An Ancient Vegetable Condiment That Everybody Can Eat, contributed by DuctapeFatwa


Posted by katiebird

At least I hope everybody can eat it. It comes from Meso-America.

Cut up an onion (Episcopal chop)
Cut up a couple of tomatoes in the same fashion. If possible, use tomatoes grown by a person, or “Heirloom” or “Uglies” if you have to get them at the supermarket.

Dump it all into a bowl.

Add salt and pepper.

You can also add chopped cilantro, garlic, sweet bell chiles, jalapenos, habaneros, radishes, celery, (yes, Puget, carrots, too) it is really up to you, the tomato and onion can just be a base.

Put chimol on top of just about anything you eat. You can have as much of it as you want. It has almost no sugar or grams or calories or any of those things but it tastes very good and can make foods that do not taste very good more bearable.


Hot Salad Method


Posted by katiebird

There’s a story behind this; I always have a story.

I was traveling the country roads in the UK, living in a bus I’d transformed into a motorhome, and shopping in small villages. Most villages had a butcher shop, a bakery and a “green grocer” that sold locally-grown vegetables, eggs and a few oranges imported from the Canary Isles. It was my first introduction to only eating foods that were in season.

In the cruel month of January, I found their vegetable stocks depleted down to nothing but brussel sprouts. I hated brussel sprouts. My opinion had been formed in my elementary school cafeteria where they were boiled and covered in a glue-like white sauce. To me, they smelled bad and tasted worse.

So, I spent an afternoon in a book shop, browsing for some way to cook brussel sprouts that wouldn’t make me gag. I ended up buying “The Whole Food Cookbook” by Elizabeth Cornish. Her recipe (amended slightly): Continue reading →


Flexible Vegetable Dish that Does Not Suck, contributed by DuctapeFatwa


Posted by katiebird

Here is something you can do with vegetables to make them less unpalatable.

Heat some vegetable oil, canola, peanut, etc. or you can use I Can’t Believe How Many Kinds of Imitation Butter There Are on the Shelves, in a large skillet, then turn down the fire and add a dollop of ginger and garlic paste (if you want, you can make your own: one part grated ginger to 3 parts peeled garlic, make it into a paste in your blender or with mortar and pestle), a little biryani masala, curry powder, a few cumin seeds, cayenne pepper, salt, this is all very flexible. Mix in with the oil, careful not to burn the spices, this is why you have turned down the fire, let the heat of the oil do the work. Continue reading →