Vegan Jalapeno Cilantro Aioli

Saturday we had a late night summery dinner. It was over 90, and there was no way I was turning on the oven for dinner. I came across a recipe for roasted sweet potato cubes with jalapeno cilantro aioli. Because of my egg allergy, I needed to substitute Veganaise for the mayonnaise, and, because I’m Italian, I added a garlic clove to the recipe. It looked delicious, and tasted even better than it looked. Even my very mayo-averse Katie enjoyed it. It came together easily in my food processer. The aioli was intended for the sweet potatoes, but we ended up dipping the asparagus and the chicken in it.

Vegan Jalapeno Cilantro Aioli

1 clove garlic

1 Cup Cilantro, bottom stems removed

1 medium jalapeno, seeds and pith removed

½ Cup Veganaise

1 ½-2 Tablespoons lime juice (1-2) limes

¼ teaspoon salt and several grinds of fresh pepper

Place garlic clove in food processer, pulse a few times. Add cilantro and jalapeno, chop fine. Add Veganaise and blend well. Add lime juice, salt and pepper and pulse until just combined. Taste for seasoning. Refrigerate for at least an hour to let flavors combine. With the addition of a little almond or soy milk, this would make a wonderful salad dressing.

*A couple of hints:

If you hate cilantro, use parsley. You get all the fresh green herby flavor, with out the strong cilantro taste.

Use gloves, or at least, a plastic sandwich bag when you are handling the peppers, because sure enough, you will scratch your nose, or rub your eye, and then you will be miserable.

Microwave the limes for about 30 seconds before you juice them. Then, let your nine-year-old play with them for a few minutes. Limes are notoriously stingy with their juice. Microwaving them and rough handling make more generous.

Slow Cooker Refried Beans

Annie, the nine-year-old budding thespian, has been working very hard on the school play. On Friday, she was part of a showcase. She rehearsed until 4:15 and had to be back at school at 5:15.

“Mommy, you can just take me to Taco Bell, and then take me back to school,” she offered up helpfully.

Now, Taco Bell was one of my favorite pre-gluten free indulgences, but they offer nearly nothing for those of us who can’t eat wheat. It is in their meat, corn tortillas, potatoes, and almost everything else. In addition to that, there was the money I didn’t want to spend on fast food, and the gas I didn’t want to waste driving seven or eight miles out of my way.

“I can make you burritos, if you want Mexican food,” I countered.

“Homemade beans?” she asked.

“Yes.”

Done, terms negotiated, Annie was getting her Mexican food.

I learned how to make refried beans in the slow-cooker a few months ago, and I don’t think I have bought a can of beans since. After fiddling with the recipe a little, I came upon one I really like.

2 cups dry pinto beans, rinsed and sorted

1 onion peeled and coarsely chopped

3 large celery stalks chopped into thirds or quarters

2 Tablespoons mild chili powder

1 ½ teaspoon each salt, onion powder, garlic powder, and cumin

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 ½ Tablespoon Crisco, lard or bacon fat

Place the first three ingredients into the slow cooker and cover with about an inch and a half of water. Set to high for about four hours. You can cook them on low for eight hours, but I am always too last minute to do this. Resist the urge to season them at this point. If you salt the beans before they are fully cooked they will never fully soften, leaving you with grainy refried beans. Check occasionally to make sure they are still covered. If they look dry add a little water, just enough to cover.

At about four hours, begin checking them. You want them really soft, not kind of soft. At this point you can season the beans. I use a homemade taco seasoning, the seasonings above.

Here is the controversial part. I apologize in advance. Add 1 ½ Tablespoons Crisco. I seldom use Crisco in anything I cook, but it really makes a difference in these beans. If you are not vegan you can use bacon fat or lard. Something about the addition of this kind of fat is what creates those creamy unctuous beans they serve at Mexican restaurants.

If you have a lot of extra water scoop some out, but, this is important, save it.  You don’t want too much water in the beans when you mash them, but if you have to have to add water back in, you want the starchy seasoned water the beans cooked in. So many beans are ruined by the addition of plain water. It kills the flavor.

The ideal way to make creamy wonderful refried beans is with an immersion blender. You can mash them with a potato masher, but you will have a hard time getting them all mashed and creamy. Some people like refried beans with a little texture, so this might work for you.

I try to keep a container of these beans in the fridge all the time. They are great with corn chips, added to a quesadilla, or between two corn tortillas. For those of us with gluten and wheat issues, they are a nice starchy comforting thing to eat when you can’t eat the kind of stuff you are used to.

           

The beans, along with seasoned ground turkey and beef, some chopped tomatoes, sour cream, rice, and homemade guacamole made the Mexican meal Annie was dreaming about. She and Katie had theirs in a giant flour tortilla, I had mine, minus the cheese and sour cream in a bowl. Everyone was happy.

My New Normal

My story is like so many others. If you are reading this, it may be like yours. Still, I'd like you to know who I am, and why I am doing this. I can not remember when I was not a foodie. Growing up, I learned how to cook at a very young age, and was always very adventurous when it came to eating. My oldest friend (known her the longest, not longest alive) still brings up the time, as a teenager, I rejected a $7 pair of pants for being too expensive, and then immediately spent $5 on an ice cream from Haagen Dazs. My passion for food eventually led me to a career as a food and wine writer and restaurant reviewer.
 There was another constant in my life; my health issues. I have always had digestive issues and a lack of energy. I battled depression, joint pain and frequent headaches. I was often nauseated, and I began suffering moderate to severe upper abdominal pain about six years ago. I never put the symptoms together, but rather, over the years, tried to deal with them separately.
 Everything came to a head in mid-January of this year. I began the year on a 10 day "Daniel Fast", a program that excludes all animal products, all sugar, and all leavening agents. It was intended as a spiritual discipline, to start the new year in the right frame of mind. I felt fine during the fast, and even enjoyed adding a few wonderful vegan dishes to my repertoire of recipes. When I broke the fast, every health issue I ever had intensified. I couldn't stand or work for more than 15 minutes or so before I had to sit down. My depression was the worst I could remember it, and my stomach pain was constant and unbearable. I went to a doctor fearing the absolute worst. The only thing I could think of that would cause such severe and unrelenting fatigue was cancer.
 After weeks of tests, including visits to the cardiologist, it was discovered that I had allergies to eggs, cow-dairy, peanuts, and a mild wheat allergy. The wheat allergy was so mild that the PA I was seeing said it wasn't really an issue. I immediately cut eggs and dairy out of my diet, in addition to the sugar that had been cut out for Lent. I felt slightly better. I was still having fatigue and unremitting stomach pain. Because I was so limited in what I could eat with exclusion of eggs and dairy, that I became hyper-aware of what I was eating. This led me to figure out that wheat and wheat products seemed to make my stomach-aches worse. I decided to cut out all wheat products and see if that helped. I can not stress the difference that made. Two days after removing wheat from my diet, I woke up with more energy than I had had in years. The depression was gone; so were the joint aches, the headaches, and the nausea. I wondered if it was an anomaly, one long overdue good day. I woke up the next morning, cautiously taking note of how I felt. I felt great and continued to. After about a week of no wheat, I made myself a barley pilaf. The symptoms returned, worse than before. I could barely get out of bed, and my stomach pain was awful. A quick internet search uncovered that those with gluten sensitivities should not eat wheat, barley or rye.
The problem now seemed to be gluten, not just wheat. As I learned about Celiac and gluten-sensitivities, so many things made sense, like my sever nutrient deficiencies, the digestive issues that went all the way back to childhood, and the lack of energy that plagued me my entire life.
 So now, I am one of those people I felt sorry for. I am a label-reader, a waitstaff questioner, a salad-because-there-is-nothing-else-safe-on-the-menu eater. I have food allergies. I feel my best on no wheat, no eggs, no cow dairy, no sugar. I suspect there will be some more things that have to go. I am too much of a foodie to succumb to a life of bland tasteless food. I am learning a new way to cook. I will post recipes for my friends, new and old, who would like to know what I and my family are eating. Many recipes will be vegan. Some will contain sheep's or goat's cheese. All will be gluten-free. I will do my best to make them delicious, but I'll be honest about my failures. As I come across good resources I will let you know. I'll also probably whine from time to time.
 But, I will also get used to this new normal.