Vegetarian Dinner Fails to Win Fans

My cousin and her family are vegetarians, so when her family came overfor dinner I had a complete, meatless Mexican menu planned. I had read one of the cookbooks by Jennifer McCann, author of the Vegan Lunch Box blog, that had a recipe for black bean tamales. So I hinged my hopes on making them for dinner, unaware of the obstacles that lay ahead. Chief of which being that corn husks are in very short supply in Central Massachusetts.

Since hope springs eternal, I started by calling the supermarket down the road from where I live. The grocery manager was incredulous that such a product exists, then he looked up and down the International aisle looking for them, with no luck. And when I asked him for masa

harina, the superfine corn flour that's used to make the tamale dough, he told me that they sell cornmeal but that was it.

I asked a friend if she knew where to buy corn husks, and she suggested buying some fresh corn and using the husks to wrap the tamales. This was an excellent suggestion, but I didn't feel like eating dry, out-of-season corn just to get the husks.

A Web search didn't reveal any bodegas in Worcester, so I drove to Fitchburg because I knew of one there. When I arrived, I found that it had gone out of business. Then it was on to the

Fitchburg Market Basket -- my last, best hope -- and struck out. They did have frozen tamales, however, which I bought. I also picked up the fixings for enchiladas and a box mix for little cheese breads.

I worked on dinner for about 90 minutes. Here are the stats:

Dinner was such a huge failure that Mike made quesadillas with customized queso for the kids: Olivia's had no cheese, only refried beans; Eli's had a microscopic layer of cheese; Henry's had a good amount of cheese; and Jack's also had turkey.

Oh, and I forgot to serve the tamales. Not that it would have mattered, I imagine.

So if you're ever entertaining some vegetarian adults, here's how you can wow them with dinner:

Vegetarian Enchiladas:

1 T. vegetable oil

1 onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 potatoes, peeled and cubed

1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes

1 c. vegetable broth

1 packet Goya Sazón

1 t. Goya Adobo

1 c. Textured vegetable protein (TVP)

1 26 oz. can crushed tomatillos

12 corn tortillas

1 c. grated cheese (leave out for the vegan option)

Preheat the oven to 350°. Heat the oil in a frying pan and saute the onions and garlic over medium heat until soft. Add the potatoes, tomatoes, broth, and seasonings. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and cover the pan. Cook until the potatoes are done but not mushy (I left it about 10 minutes; check often.) Take the pan off the heat, then stir in the TVP, cover the pan, and set aside until the TVP has absorbed most of the liquid.

Pour about 3/4 c. of tomatillos into the bottom of a 9" x 13" baking dish. Microwave the tortillas for 30 seconds to soften them up. Fill each tortilla with some of the TVP mixture, roll it up, and place it seam side down in the baking dish. When done, pour the rest of the tomatillos over the enchiladas. Top with the grated cheese, if using.

Cover the pan with foil and bake for 25 minutes. Remove the foil, turn the oven up to broil, and leave in the oven until the cheese is browned, about five minutes more.

If you're trying to please two vegetarian kids and two omnivores, I suggest Frosted Flakes.

The Easier It Is to Prepare, the Less the Kids Like It

Jack really, really, really likes shrimp. So when I found a recipe on Cooks.com for 10-Minute Shrimp I was over the moon. Because nothing says "weeknight dinner" like "10-minute" in the title. And I figured that I was covered by substituting cannellini beans for the shrimp to satisfy on-again/off-again vegetarian Henry.

Alas. The beans failed to tempt Henry's taste buds.

The shrimp, however, was a monster hit and, as ever, I loved them both. So here are the recipes:

10-Minute Shrimp Scampi (adapted from Cooks.com)

1 lb. frozen shrimp

2 cloves garlic, pressed or minced

3 T unsalted butter

1 fresh lemon

Place shrimp and garlic in a microwave-safe bowl and cook on high until the shrimp are hot, 3-5 minutes. Drain the liquid, then add the butter and parsley and cook on high for 1 minute or until the butter has melted. Remove from microwave and squeeze lemon juice over the shrimp to taste. Serve over spaghetti with lots of grated cheese.

Mmmm, bwah, don't that look good?

10-Minute Cannellini Scampi

1 14-oz. can cannellini, drained and rinsed

2 t vegetable oil

2 cloves garlic, pressed or minced

3 T unsalted butter

1 fresh lemon

Place cannellini, oil, and garlic in a microwave-safe bowl and cook on high until the beans are hot, 2-3 minutes. Drain any liquid, then add the butter and parsley and cook on high for 1 minute or until the butter has melted. Remove from microwave and squeeze lemon juice over the beans to taste. Serve over spaghetti with lots of grated cheese.

Oh boy, when do we eat?

Peeled Zucchini...Your Secret Ally

Who doesn't like zucchini? Well, it turns out the answer to that question is "Everyone in my house except me." I don't understand these people. It's green, it gets squishy when steamed, it's bland...oh, now I get it. But it got me thinking: with these qualities going for it, zucchini could be my secret ingredient in a lot of dishes, lending its nutritional value without standing up in the middle of the dish yelling "I am zucchini! Hear me roar!" Except for one thing, that telltale green skin.

You know where this is going, right?

Yep, peeled and grated, zucchini fades into the surrounding ingredients and takes a back seat to stronger flavors. And I know for a fact that it's undetectable because I've included it in a number of dishes lately and my supertaster husband, Mike, hasn't noticed it at all. I know that he reads this blog, so I'm only going to reveal the recipe for one of the zucchini hiders. Mike, I love you, man, but sometimes it's better that you don't know. I'm doing this for your own good. Really. Did I mention that I love you?

Try it for yourself, and you'll see that it works. But for goodness sake, get rid of those incriminating peels and zucchini ends before somebody sees them!

Garden Sauce for Pasta
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
4 tomatoes, seeded and diced
2 bell peppers, seeded and diced (use red bell peppers for maximum invisibility)
1 c. zucchini, peeled and grated
1 T fresh herbs, minced (parsley, oregano, basil...whatever's handy)
Salt and pepper to taste

Put everything except for the herbs in a pot, cover, and cook over medium heat until all the vegetables have softened, stirring occasionally. Using an immersion blender, purée the vegetables until smooth. If the sauce seems too thick, add water to thin it out. Add the herbs, salt and pepper. If the kiddos don't like leafy green things, you can add the herbs before you purée the sauce.

Success!!!

Oh, happy day! Last night on the way home from after-school care, Henry asked what was for supper. "Rice and beans," I told him. "Yay!" he replied.

Are you kidding me!?! "Yay!" All right!

Lately I'd been throwing lots of air balls. Last week I made a corn chowder using Better than Boullion vegetable stock base that was so bad that I threw the entire batch away after I'd muscled down a bowl to prove "how good it was." It wasn't. And two nights ago I made a concoction that can only charitably be described as "loaf." I learned that there is such a thing as stretching a pound of meat too far.

My new favorite cookbook is Cheap. Fast. Good! by Beverly Mills and Alicia Moss. It is a textbook-thick tome detailing all kinds of money-saving, nutritious meals. Oh, did I mention the recipes come together really quickly? Granted, the Loaf recipe came from this book, but it redeemed itself in spades with its rice and beans recipe. I added a couple of Latin American flavorings I had around the house and came up with a keeper. Henry could not shovel it in fast enough. In fact, he had his mouth right next to the plate and was literally shoving the food into it with his spoon.

Jack, on the other hand, is on a one-molecule-only dinner kick and couldn't be troubled to eat anything. Too bad, more for us!

Riding on that success, I tried serving Henry some banana custard I'd made with some bananas that had been on the way out. No deal. Oh well, ya can't win 'em all!

So I guess there is hope after all for getting the kids to eat healthful vegetarian meals. Don't give up!

Rice and Beans
(adapted from Cheap. Fast. Good! by Beverly Mills and Alicia Moss)

1 c. rice
1 onion, chopped
1 T. vegetable oil
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 c. cooked black beans (or one can, drained and rinsed)
1 c. cooked red beans (or one can, drained and rinsed)
1 can chopped tomatoes, with liquid
1 c. frozen corn kernels
1/2 t. salt
1 t. cumin
1 t. ground coriander
1 packet Sazón Goya
1/2 c. Recaito Goya
Grated cheese and salsa for serving

Cook the rice in a steamer or in a pot on the stove with 2 c. water. While rice is cooking, heat a deep skillet over medium high. Add the oil, then the onion. When the onion is softened, add all the other ingredients. Continue cooking until the corn is heated through and the edge is taken off the garlic. Serve the bean mixture over rice in bowls.

Meet your new best friends!