Cajun Eggplant & Black-Eye Pea Stew
Ingredients (use vegan versions):
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 med eggplant-diced
2 large tomatoes-diced
1 med yellow onion-diced
1 green bell pepper-seeded&diced
2 cloves garlic-minced
1 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
1 cup water
1 tablespoon dried oregano,
2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon black pepper,
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon salt 3-5 dash Tabasco
1 15 ounce can black-eye peas-drained & rinsed
brown rice
Directions: Start brown rice first, and chop veggies. Heat oil over med. heat and add eggplant, tomatoes, onion, pepper, garlic. Cook 10 minutes. Then, add can tomatoes, water, oregano, thyme, pepper, cayenne, salt, and cook for 25 mins. Then, stir in peas & tabasco, remove from heat let stand 10 minutes. Serve over brown rice.
Serves: 4-6
Preparation time: 1 hr.
cut and pasted directly for VegWeb.com
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Eggplant!!
Here are a couple of recipes for eggplant from my recipe keeper. They are vegan recipes--feel free to substitute where necessary.
Eggplant Pomodoro
1 eggplant (sliced into 1/2 inch rounds)
1 cup soy/vegan mayonnaise (must have fat in it)
1/4 cup Dijon mustard (any mustard will do)
1 cup Italian style breadcrumbs
Sauce:
3 tomatoes
10-15 chopped fresh basil leaves
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp. extra virgin oil
Preheat oven to 400 F.
Combine mayonnaise and mustard in a bowl until well blended. Coat each slice of eggplant with the mayo/mustard mixture and second coat each slice with breadcrumbs. Arrange coated eggplant slices on foil covered cookie sheet and bake at 400 F for 45 minutes.
While eggplant is baking, saute diced tomatoes, garlic and basil in olive oil until well heated, and set aside.
Serve baked eggplant with a generous portion of tomato mixture. Enjoy!
Serves 2-4
Crunchy Eggplant with Spicy Sauce
1 large eggplant
1/2 cup soymilk
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup water
1 TBSP brown sugar
1 TBSP rice vinegar
3 TBSP soy sauce
1 TBSP mustard
1 tsp red chili pepper
cornstarch
oil for frying
salt
Cut eggplant in bite-sized pieces. Heat a deep frying-pan, cover the bottom with oil. You know what to do here--dip, dip, dip in flour and salt combo then fry until golden and crispy.
Remove eggplant to paper towel. Serve covered in sauce over rice or on its own.
Sauce:
Boil water, sugar and chili in small saucepan until sugar dissolves. Turn off heat, add soy sauce, mustard and vinegar. Combine cornstarch with water, add to pan to thicken sauce.
*****
Adapted from Vegweb.com
As I typed these up, I realized how completely amateur the authors of them were--I did a little editing as I went. A seasoned cook like yourself should have no problem filling in the blanks.
I love you!
Eggplant Pomodoro
1 eggplant (sliced into 1/2 inch rounds)
1 cup soy/vegan mayonnaise (must have fat in it)
1/4 cup Dijon mustard (any mustard will do)
1 cup Italian style breadcrumbs
Sauce:
3 tomatoes
10-15 chopped fresh basil leaves
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp. extra virgin oil
Preheat oven to 400 F.
Combine mayonnaise and mustard in a bowl until well blended. Coat each slice of eggplant with the mayo/mustard mixture and second coat each slice with breadcrumbs. Arrange coated eggplant slices on foil covered cookie sheet and bake at 400 F for 45 minutes.
While eggplant is baking, saute diced tomatoes, garlic and basil in olive oil until well heated, and set aside.
Serve baked eggplant with a generous portion of tomato mixture. Enjoy!
Serves 2-4
Crunchy Eggplant with Spicy Sauce
1 large eggplant
1/2 cup soymilk
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup water
1 TBSP brown sugar
1 TBSP rice vinegar
3 TBSP soy sauce
1 TBSP mustard
1 tsp red chili pepper
cornstarch
oil for frying
salt
Cut eggplant in bite-sized pieces. Heat a deep frying-pan, cover the bottom with oil. You know what to do here--dip, dip, dip in flour and salt combo then fry until golden and crispy.
Remove eggplant to paper towel. Serve covered in sauce over rice or on its own.
Sauce:
Boil water, sugar and chili in small saucepan until sugar dissolves. Turn off heat, add soy sauce, mustard and vinegar. Combine cornstarch with water, add to pan to thicken sauce.
*****
Adapted from Vegweb.com
As I typed these up, I realized how completely amateur the authors of them were--I did a little editing as I went. A seasoned cook like yourself should have no problem filling in the blanks.
I love you!
Friday, May 29, 2009
Mighty Force
Life can be so disappointing and as each of us contemplates those things, people and situations which bring us sadness and displeasure, even pain, I think it's beneficial to apply a little context.
This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of Nature instead of a feverish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.
George Bernard Shaw
Remember, we are just an extra in everyone else's play.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of Nature instead of a feverish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.
George Bernard Shaw
Remember, we are just an extra in everyone else's play.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Changing Fortunes
This is the wonderful fortune found by yours truly in a fortune cookie. I had just met Tony and was at a very precarious juncture in my life, as I'm sure you recall. (Whew, life just kind of blew up in my face there for awhile...)
Enchanted by the fortune, I tucked it into the rear view mirror of my car and kept it there until it became reality, after which I moved it to my jewelry box where I will keep it forever.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Allowing myself to dream
As I grow more confident in my abilities, I am beginning to allow myself to envision what life could be. I have seen many houses here in town that cause me to have a sharp intake of breath, but my fancy has always passed. This particular property, however, really has my juices flowing. The link provides pictures of it now, as it has been restored. If you'll scroll down, you can also see BEFORE pictures. The yard is big enough that I can envision a vegetable garden, fruit trees and, safely separated from Maddie, chickens and a coop. Maybe even a goat or two. If you'll notice, it also has a mother-in-law apartment above the 2-car detached garage. I'm also seeing a swimming pool.
Dream with me, won't you? And envision yourself sitting in the garden enjoying a cup of coffee with your daughter while your granddaughter tells grandiose stories of her daily adventures and your grandson skips from one manly task to the next.
Dream with me, won't you? And envision yourself sitting in the garden enjoying a cup of coffee with your daughter while your granddaughter tells grandiose stories of her daily adventures and your grandson skips from one manly task to the next.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Getting Serious
Good morning! How are you? I'll give a call soon.
The thing about vegetarian/vegan cooking is this: there are so many yummy and fattening ways to prepare food...the forum website I have been using makes absolutely no effort to list fat/calorie content. The recipes are good and animal-cruelty free, but the fat content can sometimes be high.
Here's a link to a recipe and website that provides recipe ideas that are vegan and fat-free!
The thing about vegetarian/vegan cooking is this: there are so many yummy and fattening ways to prepare food...the forum website I have been using makes absolutely no effort to list fat/calorie content. The recipes are good and animal-cruelty free, but the fat content can sometimes be high.
Here's a link to a recipe and website that provides recipe ideas that are vegan and fat-free!
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Shaped by Memories
Stephanie Rodriguez of McKinney: Issues, not candidates
Look beyond labels to find the real question
10:00 AM CDT on Friday, November 2, 2007
"To see ourselves as others see us is a most salutary gift. Hardly less important is the capacity to see others as they see themselves."
Aldous Huxley
Election day, 1976. Mom had picked me up from school, and that was significant because I usually walked. She'd been invited to a baby shower, so there I was, sitting loosely in the front seat of our tan Dodge Duster, my little sister rolling around in the back.
We were off base and headed out into the country, so there was time to talk. Not like in the city, where I was always getting shushed because someone had to concentrate on traffic.
"How was your trip?" I asked my mother.
She smiled with some confusion.
"What trip?"
"Your trip to Washington. To vote."
Mom laughed and tapped her cigarette into the ashtray.
"A person can vote anywhere, honey. You don't have to go to the capital."
Oh.
"Well, then," I continued as nonchalantly as possible. "Whom did you vote for?"
It was a loaded question. I was 6 years old. I didn't care about the election. But I was a nervous child and our household had this tenseness to it and, prone to eavesdropping as I was, I had somehow ascertained that my parents disagreed on who was the better candidate. In my young mind it was all a great mystery that could be solved with one simple question.
"Young lady," she said to me. "Who I voted for is my business and my business alone. It is my right."
And that was the end of that. I don't think it was an intentional lesson, because I know my mother and she very rarely does things intentionally, but it was nonetheless a potent one. In that moment my mother taught me to not first reach the conclusion and then work backward, but to assess the information before arriving at my own conclusions.
(It wasn't until I inadvertently outed myself on the Collin County Opinions page of The Dallas Morning News that I learned that there's a name for people like me: liberal. At least that's what my e-mails keep telling me, so it must be true.)
Kids today have it so much better. They don't have to deal with the moral ambiguity of weighing all sides. Nope. These days it's all laid out, red or blue, at a very early age with the help of children's picture books such as Why Mommy Is A Democrat and Help! Mom! There Are Liberals Under My Bed!
I learned about those titles from an Aug. 25 column by Catherine Rampell that appeared on the Viewpoints page of The Dallas Morning News.
Ironically, on page 16A of that very same edition an article was run with the headline: "First Mickey, now Simba – Disneylike lion is hero in Hamas cartoon; rats represent Fatah."
The article went on to describe – well, really it doesn't matter what the article described. The important thing is that children believe whatever they are told, so when cartoon characters instruct them as to who is right, who is wrong and who should die as a result of it, well, ladies and gentlemen, that's the gospel truth and the chess board has, in effect, been set for the next generation.
It's no different for the innocent children of the Middle East than it is for some American Air Force brat trying to piece together the puzzle of her identity.
To this day, when I ask my mother whom she voted for, she tells me of her constitutional right to not share that information.* When we talk, it is of issues and of the human condition; it is certainly not about the humans themselves. Our conversations never revolve around politics.
It is who we are and I think it is honest and admirable. Too often we define ourselves by how others define us; character, however, comes in defining ourselves and allowing others the freedom of reaching their own conclusions.
*Note: This last election changed all of that when my mother and I decided, along with an unprecedented number of Americans, to let our voices ring loud and clear. God bless America.
Stephanie Rodriguez of McKinney writes children's novels under the name S. Kimzey Daniels and is a former Voices of Collin County volunteer columnist. Her e-mail address is stephrodriguez70@aol.com.
Look beyond labels to find the real question
10:00 AM CDT on Friday, November 2, 2007
"To see ourselves as others see us is a most salutary gift. Hardly less important is the capacity to see others as they see themselves."
Aldous Huxley
Election day, 1976. Mom had picked me up from school, and that was significant because I usually walked. She'd been invited to a baby shower, so there I was, sitting loosely in the front seat of our tan Dodge Duster, my little sister rolling around in the back.
We were off base and headed out into the country, so there was time to talk. Not like in the city, where I was always getting shushed because someone had to concentrate on traffic.
"How was your trip?" I asked my mother.
She smiled with some confusion.
"What trip?"
"Your trip to Washington. To vote."
Mom laughed and tapped her cigarette into the ashtray.
"A person can vote anywhere, honey. You don't have to go to the capital."
Oh.
"Well, then," I continued as nonchalantly as possible. "Whom did you vote for?"
It was a loaded question. I was 6 years old. I didn't care about the election. But I was a nervous child and our household had this tenseness to it and, prone to eavesdropping as I was, I had somehow ascertained that my parents disagreed on who was the better candidate. In my young mind it was all a great mystery that could be solved with one simple question.
"Young lady," she said to me. "Who I voted for is my business and my business alone. It is my right."
And that was the end of that. I don't think it was an intentional lesson, because I know my mother and she very rarely does things intentionally, but it was nonetheless a potent one. In that moment my mother taught me to not first reach the conclusion and then work backward, but to assess the information before arriving at my own conclusions.
(It wasn't until I inadvertently outed myself on the Collin County Opinions page of The Dallas Morning News that I learned that there's a name for people like me: liberal. At least that's what my e-mails keep telling me, so it must be true.)
Kids today have it so much better. They don't have to deal with the moral ambiguity of weighing all sides. Nope. These days it's all laid out, red or blue, at a very early age with the help of children's picture books such as Why Mommy Is A Democrat and Help! Mom! There Are Liberals Under My Bed!
I learned about those titles from an Aug. 25 column by Catherine Rampell that appeared on the Viewpoints page of The Dallas Morning News.
Ironically, on page 16A of that very same edition an article was run with the headline: "First Mickey, now Simba – Disneylike lion is hero in Hamas cartoon; rats represent Fatah."
The article went on to describe – well, really it doesn't matter what the article described. The important thing is that children believe whatever they are told, so when cartoon characters instruct them as to who is right, who is wrong and who should die as a result of it, well, ladies and gentlemen, that's the gospel truth and the chess board has, in effect, been set for the next generation.
It's no different for the innocent children of the Middle East than it is for some American Air Force brat trying to piece together the puzzle of her identity.
To this day, when I ask my mother whom she voted for, she tells me of her constitutional right to not share that information.* When we talk, it is of issues and of the human condition; it is certainly not about the humans themselves. Our conversations never revolve around politics.
It is who we are and I think it is honest and admirable. Too often we define ourselves by how others define us; character, however, comes in defining ourselves and allowing others the freedom of reaching their own conclusions.
*Note: This last election changed all of that when my mother and I decided, along with an unprecedented number of Americans, to let our voices ring loud and clear. God bless America.
Stephanie Rodriguez of McKinney writes children's novels under the name S. Kimzey Daniels and is a former Voices of Collin County volunteer columnist. Her e-mail address is stephrodriguez70@aol.com.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
