Gluten Free Wraps!!!

The brown rice wraps I used yesterday at the SGFA Conference were Food for Life. I was calling them life is good, oops!!! Well life is good when you find a tasty wrap. Look for them in the freezer department of your local health food store. If they don't have them ask! Any retailer using UNFI (United Natural Foods) can get them. Their sprouted corn tortillas are also very good. They are great for Mexican lasagnas.

A Mexican Lasagna, sounds silly but they are sooo good. I make home made salsa, that I can in the fall, but your favorite store bought salsa will do.

You will need:
a large lasagna pan
your favorite cheese (soy or dairy), shredded
2 packs of Food for Life corn tortillas, defrosted
3-4 jars salsa

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2.Grease your lasagna pan.
3. Spread down some salsa.
4. Layer down about 6 tortillas.
5. Sprinkle cheese.
6. Continue this until all tortilla are used and top with salsa and cheese.
7. Bake until heat through and bubble. Finish under the broiler for a extra crispy edge and toasty brown cheese!!!

This is a great comfort dish for people of all ages and so easy to make. When I have a busy week of catering and cant chop another veggie this is a great dinner. Serve with a salad and you have a quick and tasty meal!!!

Vegetarian Chili for a Party

This yummy chili recipe will make enough to feed an army of friends or great for freezing. I used canned tomatoes, but this would be a wonderful way to use the summer's abundance of tomatoes and peppers.

Black Bean and Sweet Potato Chili
Yield: 20-22 quarts

3-4 T Canola Oil
4 medium Spanish onions, small diced
1 head of garlic, minced
4 jalapenos, minced
6 green peppers, small diced (Any color you like, green were on sale this week!)
8 sweet potatoes, medium diced
8, 28oz cans whole tomatoes (I like Muir Glen!)
6 cups water (Use the cans to get all tomato residue.)
½ cup chili powder (I like Frontier salt-free!)
8 cups dried black beans or 20 cups canned

1. Soak and cook beans as described in the White Bean Gratin recipe.
2. Sauté onions and garlic in oil, cook till translucent and slightly caramelized. Add peppers and sauté until soft.
3. Add sweet potatoes and sauté a few minutes more.
4. Add tomatoes, breaking them up with your hands leaving them chunky. Add all juice from tomatoes and the water.
5. Stir in chili powder and bring to a simmer cook until sweet potatoes are tender. Add black beans and simmer until desired consistency.
6. Garnish with cilantro, cheese, sour cream or your favorite topping.

The garden!

Our house is in great need of repair; we have an awesome little 1800's farm house. I feel overwhelmed working on the inside, so I have taken to working on the yard. My first project of the spring was to take out 17'x17' portion of the front lawn and put in a vegetable garden. To my surprise I finished the day I started and all ready have my plants in the ground! My desire to have the vegetable garden stemmed from my friend Timothee giving me a pressure cooker last summer. I went canning crazy, I sent Matthew all over looking for produce. Peaches and strawberries from Scott's, tomatoes and peppers from Urban Oaks and various Farmer's Markets. The best thing is to find a place that will save you seconds. We got bushels of peaches at bargain basement prices, we had enough peach marmalade to last the winter and then some. So I'm hoping to get a lot out of our garden. I planted cucumbers, eggplants, summer squash, pole beans, bush beans, peas and countless tomatoes. Now the waiting begins, other then watering, composting and some weeding there isn't much to do.

Although the marmalade was very tasty the best thing I made was a mole sauce. It was far from traditional moles, but so delicious. I made chili all through the winter with the sauce as the base. The sauce ended up being very versatile and worked with turkey, beef, tempeh and beans. I used dark purple brandywine tomatoes and these yummy chocolate habaneros. I thought it was clever using both these varieties because they already had a chocolate hint to them. I didn't have classic Mexican chocolate so I used Green & Black organic cocoa powder and it sure did the trick!!! This was one of those recipes I just winged and I hope I can recreate it this year. I will be sure to take plenty of notes and write a recipe.

Now to the rest of the yard. I don't have picture of the vegetable patch yet, so my flowers will have to do for now!!