Megan Carle - College Vegetarian Cooking: Feed Yourself and Your Friends

We have two recipes for tacos in this book, which may seem repetitive, but the only similarity is the tortillas and cheese. This version has the great combo of black beans and corn, with a little bit of zip from the sauce. J

Serves 4

cup sour cream

1 (4-ounce) can hot green chiles

1 (15-ounce) can black beans

1 (15-ounce) can corn kernels

1 tablespoon chili powder

16 (6-inch) corn tortillas or 8 (8-inch) flour tortillas

1 cups shredded lettuce

1 cup grated Cheddar cheese

Combine the sour cream and green chiles in a small bowl and set aside.

Drain the beans, rinse under cold water, and place in a small saucepan. Add the corn and its liquid and cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, for 8 to 10 minutes, or until hot. Drain the liquid and stir in the chili powder.

Place 4 corn tortillas or 2 flour tortillas on a plate. If you are using corn tortillas, double them up, so you have 2 stacks of 2 tortillas each. Spoon some of the black bean mixture onto the centers. Top with the lettuce, cheese, and sour cream sauce as desired. Repeat with the remaining ingredients.

Food for Thought:

Okay, lets just get this over with. We all know that beans are loaded with great nutrients and are low in fat. Unfortunately, we also know that they can cause an embarrassing issue. So, what to do? If youre using canned beans, rinse them before you use them, like in this recipe. If you cook beans, soak them for a few hours first, then drain them. Use fresh water to cook them and cook until theyre very soft. Ive heard that this can lessen the effects by up to 80 percent.

This tasty recipe is like pizza, but easier. It takes about 2 minutes to prepare, looks impressive, and tastes great. Puff pastry isnt used much in the United States, but Europeans cant do without it. Its really easy to work with, and the results are always perfect. To thaw frozen puff pastry, put it in the refrigerator the night before you want to use it. M

Serves 4

Cooking spray or oil

1 sheet , thawed

2 tablespoons spicy mustard

5 slices Swiss cheese (about 4 ounces total)

2 large tomatoes

teaspoon Italian seasoning

Preheat the oven to 400F. Generously coat a baking sheet with cooking spray or oil.

Unfold the puff pastry sheet and place it on the prepared pan. Spread the mustard over the pastry, leaving a -inch margin all around the edges, and top with the Swiss cheese. Slice the tomatoes to inch thick, arrange them over the cheese, then sprinkle with the Italian seasoning. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the puff pastry is golden brown. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Food Trivia:

Ive always wondered what makes the holes in Swiss cheese, so I decided a little research was in order. After reading quite a bit about the process, I will simply say that the holes are made by sizable bubbles of gas produced in the cheese-ripening process. Anything more than that falls under way too much informationunless youre studying biochemistry, that is.

Stir-frying is one of the quickest, easiest, and healthiest ways to cook, and this recipe is a great introduction. You dont need a wok or any other special equipment, just a regular old frying pan and a spatula or wooden spoon. Once you get this recipe down, you can add your own touches. More or less spice, different vegetables, more garlic or ginger, different saucesthe possibilities are endless! One word of caution with this and other stir-fries: if you add wet vegetables to hot oil, the oil will sputter and spit, so drain or pat excess water off your ingredients. M

Serves 4

2 cups plus 1 tablespoons water

1 cup rice

1 teaspoon cornstarch

3 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

1 tablespoon sugar

1 small onion

4 stalks celery

3 zucchini

3 cloves garlic

2 tablespoons canola oil

teaspoon crushed red pepper

1 (8-ounce) can sliced water chestnuts

1 cup whole peanuts

Place the 2 cups water and rice in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Cover and simmer over medium-low heat for 20 minutes, or until most of the water is absorbed. Remove from the heat and let stand for 5 minutes. Combine the cornstarch, remaining 1 tablespoons water, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sugar in a small bowl, stir until smooth, and set aside.

Peel the onion and cut into -inch pieces. Trim and discard the ends of the celery and zucchini and cut into -inch pieces. Peel and finely chop the garlic or pass it through a garlic press.

Place the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Let the oil get hot but not smoking (its right when a drop of water flicked onto the surface of the oil evaporates right away). Add the onion, celery, zucchini, and crushed red pepper and cook, stirring frequently, for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the vegetables just start to get soft. The stirring is so the ingredients dont stick and so they get cooked evenly. Add the garlic and water chestnuts and cook, stirring frequently, for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the vegetables are still firm but also a bit tender. Pour the sauce mixture into the pan and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute, or until the sauce thickens. Stir in the peanuts and take the pan off the heat immediately. Spoon some rice into the center of each of 4 plates and top with equal amounts of the hot vegetables and sauce.

Food Trivia:

There are a lot of stories about where the name Kung Pao came from, but all agree the dish was named for someone importantapparently, this gives it prestige. Personally, I just like it because it has peanuts.

In our family, this dish is usually made with chicken. Then Megan started trying to convince us that tofu was actually good. I tried it reluctantly, and I was kind of surprised to find that the tofu wasnt bad (shocking, I know). So even though Im not a true tofu believer, this is pretty good, especially if you use baked tofu, which holds together when you cut it up much better than regular tofu does. J

Serves 6

Cooking spray or oil

1 pound uncooked spaghetti

1 (8-ounce) package baked tofu

2 (10.75-ounce) cans cream of mushroom soup

cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 (15-ounce) can sliced mushrooms

cup milk

1 teaspoon salt

teaspoon pepper

Preheat the oven to 350F. Coat a 9 by 13-inch baking pan with cooking spray or oil.

Bring a large saucepan of salted water to a boil and add the spaghetti. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes, or until al dente. Drain the spaghetti in a colander.

Meanwhile, cut the tofu into bite-size pieces and place in the baking pan. Add the cream of mushroom soup, Parmesan cheese, mushrooms with their juice, milk, salt, and pepper and stir well. Add the spaghetti and toss until its completely coated and the tofu and mushrooms are fairly evenly distributed. Bake, uncovered, for 30 to 40 minutes, or until lightly browned. Remove from the oven and serve immediately.