A friend from church invited me to share a recipe for her blog.  I was honored to do it!  One of our favorite things is Sweet Potato Pancakes, made by my husband.

Check out Oregon Mom’s Empty Nest for the recipe! 

Yep.  I said tofu dessert.  Before you decide to just skip this post altogether, take a look at the picture.  I mean, that doesn’t look scary or gross or anything, right?    Maybe you’ve already experienced the versatility of tofu, but if you haven’t, maybe this could be a starting point.  It’s rich.  It’s got a dark-chocolate-with-undertones-of-peanut-butter flavor.  It’s creamy and moussey.  And it looks lovely in individual little bowls.  I’m not sure where this recipe came from, but my mom passed it on to me a number of years ago.  I made it yesterday for the first time in a long time, and I probably won’t wait so long to make it again.

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Mousse

12 oz. extra-firm tofu (Mori-Nu Silken works very nicely)

1/2 cup real maple syrup

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/3 cup peanut butter (The good stuff…something like Adams, with just ground peanuts and salt.  Creamy would probably be best for this, but crunchy could work, too.) 

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

2 tablespoons soy milk

Blend all ingredients in a food processor until smooth (this may take a few minutes).  (If you don’t have a food processor, mixing it all up with a mixer and then throwing it into a blender can work, too.)  Chill for a couple hours or overnight.

Makes about 2 cups.

Along with the vegan chili, I made non-vegan baking powder biscuits.  (We’re what you’d call “semi-veg”…sorta.)  They aren’t exactly “health food” but they aren’t the worst thing on the planet either.  Normally we do a yummy corn bread with chili, but these biscuits only take 10 minutes to bake (vs. 30+ for cornbread), so in the interest of eating dinner sooner rather than later, the biscuits won out this time.  I’m guessing this recipe is fairly basic, but I’m sharing it off a recipe card that I wrote way back in 1992 when I copied the recipe from a college friend.  We made them to go along with homemade peach freezer jam.  Delightful!

Baking Powder Biscuits

4 cups flour (we use whole wheat pastry flour)

2 tablespoons sugar (we use organic evaporated cane juice)

2 tablespoons baking powder

2 teaspoons salt

1/2 cup butter (could use 1/2 cup Earth Balance)

1 1/2 cups milk (we use soy milk)

Preheat oven to 450.  In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.  Cut butter into flour mixture.  Stir in just enough milk so dough leaves side of bowl.  (Don’t pour the whole amount of milk in at once, as you may find you don’t need the whole thing.  Or, you may find you need a bit more, so adjust accordingly.  I begin stirring it all together with a fork and end up finishing the mixing with my hands.) 

Knead for about 30 seconds until it’s well combined and relatively smooth.  Pat flat until about 3/4″ thick.  Cut with a circular cutter.  (I use one that’s about 2 3/4 ” in diameter and end up with about 12 biscuits.) 

Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake for about 10 minutes.  They should come out golden brown and nice and soft on the inside.  And they naturally just pull apart in the middle, like they just know what their purpose in life is.  Wonderful! 

Something I’ve come to terms with about myself in the past year is that I don’t really enjoy cooking.  I know I can cook and I think I’m not half-bad at it, but there is always something else I would rather be doing than taking the time to cook something.  Baking ranks a bit higher for me, but still…I would rather be taking pictures or reading, when it comes right down to it.  If I had unlimited funds, I think I would hire a personal chef.

But…I don’t have unlimited funds and eating out all the time obviously isn’t a good idea for a number of reasons, a couple major ones being said funds and health.  I am very blessed to have a husband who is quite handy and happy in the kitchen, and to be honest, I rely on him more than I’d like in this area.  But, on Thursday, the 24th of April, 2008, I managed to pull off a super yummy vegan chili recipe!  And it was pretty easy and quick because I just used canned beans (no bean soaking required) and a food processor for chopping.  I used this recipe as my inspiration.

Vegan Chili

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 large onion, finely chopped*

3 cloves of garlic, minced*

2 large carrots, thinly sliced*

1 red bell pepper, seeded and finely chopped*

1-4oz can diced green chilies

2-14.5 oz cans diced tomatoes*

3-4 cups water

2-15 oz cans black beans, rinsed and drained

2-15 oz cans kidney beans, rinsed and drained

1 cup assorted dried mushrooms, chopped*

1/2 cup bulgar

1-10 oz bag frozen corn

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar

2 tablespoons chili powder

1/2 tablespoon taco seasoning

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

*I used a wonderful food processor to chop the onion, garlic, carrots and bell pepper to smithereens.  Even though our kiddo eats carrots and peppers a lot, he does better with them in soup when they are super small pieces and just kinda blend into the background.  I also smoothed out the diced tomatoes in the food processor to make more of a tomato soup base, and the mushrooms got pulverized into small bits.  We actually aren’t big mushroom fans at all, but these dried ones worked really well, adding a very nice texture.  The bulgar was great for texture, too.

Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a heavy, large pot over medium-high heat.  Add onion, garlic, carrots, red bell pepper and diced green chilies and saute until the onions and carrots are almost tender, about 5-8 minutes.  Add tomatoes, water, beans, mushrooms, bulgar, corn, vinegar and spices.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, uncovered, until bulgar is tender and mixture thickens, stirring often, about 20 minutes.  Ladle chili into bowls and enjoy!

PS – This was not at all spicy for us, so it was kid friendly, and Ethan gave it his seal of approval with, “This is good mommy!  Thanks for dinner!”  Seth keeps a container of dried jalapeno powder in the pantry and he sprinkled some in his bowl to add a little – Bam!

PSS – This was made in our new Lodge Logic cast iron Dutch oven that we recently picked up at Costco.  This is our second piece of cast iron cookware.  They’re handy to have around the house because they can double as weapons to be used on intruders!