I've been a little absent lately - between some traveling and work being extra busy I haven't had a lot of energy for coming home and writing and going through photos. I never even finished up writing about our San Diego trip - oops! Anyway, I do have things to share! Like Mexican May (is that not PC? it's just that one day on Cinco de Mayo isn't enough for me!).
In case you didn't know, Cinco de Mayo is one of my most favorite holidays (Is it even considered a holiday here? Doesn't matter really - I consider it one). In college our best parties were on Cinco de Mayo, they were usually filled with pinatas, sombreros, and giant buckets full of margaritas. These days I can't quite imagine drinking a margarita out of a bucket, or at least not on a weeknight. Instead I decided to celebrate the second best way, by making lots of Mexican inspired food.
I came across a recipe for
Spicy & Smoky Lentil Taco Meat on another blog -
The Chubby Vegetarian. I love tacos and I was excited to try something other than my standard mashed kidney bean mix. The recipe called for smoked sundried tomatoes, which I could not find - instead I used regular sundried tomatoes and a little liquid smoke. I liked the idea of using a smoked cheddar cheese in the tacos as well - usually I'd just use a plain cheddar and this added a nice flavor. Overall the recipe was good, but I would have to disagree with the statement that this replicated the texture of taco meat. Even though it has been a good 14 years since I've had real taco meat I promise you it does not have the texture of lentils. I has tried this recipe out ahead of time thinking I might bring it to work for our Cinco de Mayo potluck, but I decided it wasn't something I could really sell to my meat-eating coworkers.
I decided to go with a Soyrizo stuffed Empanadas to bring to work instead. I used a simple dough recipe I found online and made the filling by sauteing red bell peppers, onions, and jalapenos with some chipotle chili powder and a little cumin, then adding the whole package of Soyrizo and cooking until the peppers and onions were nice and soft. I was really pleased with the results - even my non-vegetarian coworkers seemed to really enjoy them! I forgot to take any photos of them, but to be honest I don't think empanadas photograph all that well anyway.
Now I think I need to make a grocery store run and buy some more avocados! Perhaps I can find something to use them in for Sunday Dinner...
-C
In case you didn't know, Cinco de Mayo is one of my most favorite holidays (Is it even considered a holiday here? Doesn't matter really - I consider it one). In college our best parties were on Cinco de Mayo, they were usually filled with pinatas, sombreros, and giant buckets full of margaritas. These days I can't quite imagine drinking a margarita out of a bucket, or at least not on a weeknight. Instead I decided to celebrate the second best way, by making lots of Mexican inspired food.
I decided to go with a Soyrizo stuffed Empanadas to bring to work instead. I used a simple dough recipe I found online and made the filling by sauteing red bell peppers, onions, and jalapenos with some chipotle chili powder and a little cumin, then adding the whole package of Soyrizo and cooking until the peppers and onions were nice and soft. I was really pleased with the results - even my non-vegetarian coworkers seemed to really enjoy them! I forgot to take any photos of them, but to be honest I don't think empanadas photograph all that well anyway.
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