southwestern stuffed red peppers

my, my, it has been a long time! the holiday season is busy enough, but on top of that, 1. i was snowed in by the midwest blizzard, 2. i had my internet service go out two separate times for several days, 3. was in a car wreck that left me on the couch unable to bend or cook. my car was also totaled so i've spent the better part of a week looking for a replacement vehicle. but i'm alive... and cleaning the dust off my blog. here is a colourful recipe to put the spring back in my step!

• 3 medium red bell peppers
• 2 cups corn, cooked
• 2 cups black beans, cooked
• 1 2oz. can green chilies
• 1/2 cup salsa
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 package silken tofu (6 oz.)
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon water
• salt to taste

slice the red peppers in half, so they form a bowl shape. boil the peppers in a large saucepan for approximately 5 minutes, drain and reserve the water. in an 9x11 casserole dish, pour in half a cup of the reserved water and lay in the red peppers with the open side up.


in a food processor or magic bullet, pulse the tofu, vinegar, lemon juice, water and a pinch of salt. when mixture is creamy, combine in a bowl with the rest of ingredients. scoop mexi-mixture into each red pepper bowl, filling to the top. cover the dish with foil, and bake in a pre-heated oven at 375°f. after 25 minutes, remove the foil and check that there is still a little bit of water left in the dish (add a few tablespoons if needed). return the dish to the oven and bake uncovered for another 15-20 minutes. i topped mine with guacamole and served with cornbread muffins.

kickin' cornbread casserole

the first time i made cornbread was last year, to go with my smokey white bean chili recipe. since then, i've found myself craving different variations of standard cornbread and decided i wanted to make a cornbread casserole of some sort. below is the results.

• 3/4 cups cornmeal
• 3/4 cups unbleached flour
• 1/2 cup soy milk
• 2 tablespoons vegan butter (i use smart balance)
• 1 can corn
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 can rotel
• 1 tablespoon onion
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons ener-g egg replacer (w/ 3 tbsp water)
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 2 tablespoons tabasco or other hot sauce
• 1 cup breadcrumbs
• vegan mozzarella (optional)

mix dry ingredients (except breadcrumbs) in a large mixing bowl. in a separate bowl, mix up the wet ingredients (butter, milk, tomatoes, rotel, egg replacer and hot sauce), and fold them into the dry.


spread into a lightly greased 8x13 glass casserole dish - top with a thin layer of vegan breadcrumbs. i prefer panko. if you prefer, spread mozzarella tofutti slices or other vegan mozzarella on top.

bake for 40-45 mins @ 350°f.

untraditional gazpacho

traditionally, gazpacho is served cold, but i like mine at room temperature. traditionally, it's a refreshing summer dish, but i like it in the winter too as a counter to all the heavy meals. traditionally, bread crumbs are almost always in the recipe, but i omitted them because really, they just seemed unnecessary. no offense to other gazpacho chefs - i'm sure there are plenty of great recipes with breadcrumbs, but this is untraditional gazpacho, after all.

• 2 14oz. cans fire roasted tomatoes (drained)
• 1 jar of roasted red peppers (drained)
• 1/2 can whole kernel corn
• 1/2 cucumber, peeled
• 1/2 green bell pepper
• 1/4 cup cilantro
• 2-3 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 tablespoons onion powder
• 1 ½ tablespoons ground black pepper
• 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• hot sauce to liking

just throw everything in a food processor and pulse until you have a well blended chunky gazpacho. you may need more vinegar or hot sauce to help liquefy everything.

makes several bowls.

raw tomato and corn bisque

i'm not a huge fan of 'cold' soups, but i can do okay with room temperature. when i make raw soups, i usually eat it up right away, or if i have to chill it, i usually let it stand out of of the fridge for about 45 minutes to bring the temp up. of course, that's just personal taste. this recipe made about 2 decent-size bowls of soup and was really filling!

• 2 large fresh tomatoes
• 5-6 sun dried tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2-3 fresh basil leaves
• 1 tablespoon fresh garlic minced
• 1 cup fresh corn
• sea salt and ground pepper to taste

throw everything but corn in a magic bullet or food processor and blend. add corn. eat.