This week I was given some tomatillos and some peppers. Seemed like the perfect time to make salsa verde.
After removing the husks and and washing the tomatillos. I cut them in half. I split and seeded the peppers. Cut up some onions and garlic. Put them all under my broiler for about 15 minutes. Till they looked like this.

After they cooled I put them all in the food processor with the juice of one lime salt and cilantro to taste and ran it all around. The finished product looks like this.

It’s fresh and delicious awesome on tacos or just chips and so easy to make.

Here’s what you need:
Large bunch of Greens Kale and Escarole work well
3 or 4 slices of bacon
1 onion
1 can coconut milk
1 cup of broth I use chicken but veggie would work too
Cayenne pepper
Salt

Here’s what you do:
Rough chop the onion and bacon
Saute the bacon and onion in a large sauce pan till onions are translucent
Add coconut milk and broth bring to a simmer
Add greens and salt and cayenne to taste
Cook until the greens have all wilted.
It will be very much like soup this dish is often used as a gravy over roasted meat.

A guest post from The Hooligan:

The recipe was adapted (stolen) from a sweet potato soup Adrian Stock used to make. It’s extended-family-holiday-dinner-sized, so reasonable people will want to halve the amounts.

2-3 Butternut squash
2 big onions
1 cup cashew pieces, roughly chopped
4 cups veg or chicken stock

1 1/2 cups heavy cream (for less fat, use evaporated skim milk)

I know that I promised you a guest post from the Hooligan about making ice cream it is not quite ready yet. If you know him feel free to send him a message telling him how much you are looking forward to it. In the mean time I thought I would let you know about a side dish we made this weekend that was very yummy. We had some beets that we picked up at the farmers market. Now roasted beets are delicious all by themselves. We added some blue cheese. Then we made some walnut brittle by melting butter adding sugar and walnuts then letting it cool on some parchment. We broke that up and and put it over the beets too. The Hooligan doesn’t like beets, but he ate these. So I think you might like them too.

I was supposed to tell you about corned beef ravioli with mustard sauce. Recently the hooligan and I have been making our own pasta. One of the things we like to do is to make interesting ravioli. Now there are lots of simple pasta recipes online so I am going to concentrate on the filling and the sauce.
Our filling was corned beef chopped fine and potatoes that were mashed but still chunky. The sauce was simple too. Melted butter and deli style brown mustard with a splash of irish whiskey. They were a fantastic appetizer for the podcast crew.
I am sorry it took so long to tell you about this recipe. Next time spring! And craft projects.

Last week I promised you some of my favorite vegetarian recipes.  Cook these when your vegetarian friends come to visit or anytime because  they are delicious.

First up, my grandmother’s Escarole and Beans.

Here is what you will need:

1lb Escarole – This is a green leafy vegetable. I like the recipes best with it. If you can’t find escarole you can use spinach or collard greens.

3 or 4 Tablespoons of Olive Oil

3 cans of White Kidney or Cannellini Beans

3 cloves of Garlic chopped fine

Red Pepper Flakes

Salt

Here’s what you do:

Open the cans of beans. DO NOT DRAIN

Grab your big sauce pan. Heat the olive oil till shimmering.  Add the garlic and brown it just like you are making pasta sauce

Add the beans with the liquid they were canned in. Lower heat to medium.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  I over season it a bit because we will be adding the greens.

Simmer stirring for 10 to 15 minutes

Add the greens a few handfuls at a time stir them and let them wilt. Then add the next handful. Do this until all the greens are added to the pan.

Cover and simmer on low for 20 to – 30 minutes.  Serve with crusty bread.

Next up Vegetarian Jambalya

Here is what you need:

I make this using vegetarian Charizo sausage.  Feel free to use any vegetarian sausage you like. If you can find a vegetarian Andouille, that would be awesome

1 pkg Vegetarian Sausage

3 Carrots chopped

2 ribs Celery chopped

1 large Onion chopped

2 or 3 Bell Peppers chopped

2 Tablespoon Olive Oil

1 quart Vegetable Broth

1 large can of Crushed Tomatoes

1 cup Rice

Salt

Cayenne Pepper

Here’s what you do:

Once again grab you big saucepan and  heat the olive oil till it shimmers, you should be good at this by now.

Add the sausage and vegetables cook them till the veggies soften and everything starts to brown.

Add broth and tomatoes salt and cayenne pepper to taste.  It should be kind of spicy.

Simmer covered on low  for 45 to 60 minutes.  Stirring occasionally.

Add the rice.  Cover and on low for another 45 minutes or so till the rice is tender.

This is wonderfully hearty and spicy great for a cold winter night.

Speaking of veggies.  Today I started my tomato and pepper seeds inside.  Will let you know more about the garden as it progresses.

So do you ever go meatless?  What do you make?

Sorry this is so late.  Holiday stress and work is crazy.  Will try to post again on Friday. I know you don’t want to hear my excuses. You want to hear about Cookiemageddon. It was awesome!! Everybody’s cookies were great.  My wonderful husband gave me my Christmas present early a new KitchenAid mixer, which is already getting a workout.  As a matter of fact that wonderful Hooligan made his amazing shortbread in that mixer just this weekend.  He was nice enough so write up the recipe to share with you.  So here it is.

Shortbread Cookies

1 Cup Brown Sugar

2 Cups Butter

4 Cups Flour

1 cup dried cranberries/raisins/currants

In mixer, cream butter & sugar together, then slowly add flour. Add a cup of dried fruit and mix.

Divide dough in half. Form half of the dough into log shape 1 ½ to 2 inches in diameter. Wrap in plastic wrap and flatten sides to form square log. Repeat with 2nd half of dough and refrigerate both logs for at least 4 hours.

To bake: preheat oven to 350 degrees. Unwrap logs and cut into ¼ inch slices. I use parchment paper on my cookie sheet and place them fairly close together. If they’ve been refrigerated long enough they won’t spread much. Bake for 20 minutes or until light brown. They can go from pale to burn in 30 seconds so keep an eye on them.

Variations: I’ve replaced the fruit with 1/8 cup of caraway seeds. Another variation is to leave out the fruit, dip the cooled cookie halfway in melted dark chocolate, and sprinkle with a few grains of sea salt. Let cool on wax paper.

These were also successful using a vegan margarine, but they spread out and didn’t hold the shape as well. I used the caraway seeds on that batch and my vegan friends loved them.

I love these cookie the texture is perfect!  They are particularly yummy with hot chocolate.  You can thank me for that tip later.