roasted veggie broth!

i've been meaning to make my own veggie broth for a while. like, years. i spend way to much money for it in stores, and its theoretically more economical for me to just make the stuff. i've had dreaded celery sitting the veggie bin in the fridge for a week - since the only time i will touch it is to add flavor to a broth and then toss it - and i knew it was time. oh yes, it was time.

also, i'm trying to be healthier and eat more veggies. so...i went with a slightly adapted version of the roasted veggie broth in 'how to cook everything vegetarian.'

to begin with, i roasted veggies. a bunch of them - drizzled with oil, for 45 minutes. here we have about half a bunch of celery, three onions, a couple parsnips, a turnip, a bulb of garlic, about seven carrots, and the world's largest sweet potato. i think that's it.

it was all too much for this pan, so we had a sous pan:

during those 45 minutes, i turned them, which was not a pretty enterprise. i also drank this tasty beverage, which you should buy should you get the chance.

ok. here they are coming out of the oven. mmm. roasted.

careful readers will notice that there are suddenly mushrooms in the amongst the other veggies that weren't there before. this is because i initially forgot them, and they were added halfway in.

the veggies went into the soup pot. and then, what's this? why, yes, i am deglazing the roasting dishes.

here you see the veggies, the 'glaze,' a whole bunch of parsley, some fancy soy sauce (i know!) and some salt and pepper. i would have put some wine up in there, but i forgot. at this point, something very sad happened. i put the two roasting dishes in the sink and began to fill them with water to soak for a bit. and then, about 30 seconds into soaking, the smaller dish randomly and spontaneously cracked and broke in three large pieces. i have no clue why. we will now have a moment of silence for my broken glassware that held many a batch of brownies. sigh.

but life must go on. and so, i added about 20 cups of water to the mix, and let the whole thing boil before i turned down the heat and partially covered the pan as it simmered.

for two hours...

at this point, i decided it was done - a slightly concentrated broth. and i had to get creative with the whole straining thing. i put this lovely pasta strainer on top of another cooking pot and started to pour straight broth.

everything was lovely until the cooking pot began to fill up.

so i moved on to cooking pot #2.

i mashed the veggies left in the big soup pot to release some of the broth, and them dumped them through the strainer. this time the weight in the strainer may have been a bit much and slipped into the pot multiple times, while i said very bad words.

and then i dumped the leftover veggies in the trash, and all of the broth back in one of the pots. again.

there it sat for a few hours, to cool down. then i ladled it out into freezer bags - ended up with around 15 cups. this was actually more work than i thought. but then again, i also went all fancy and roasted everything, which i wouldn't be doing if this was just veggie scraps. which, by the way, i have officially resolved to begin saving.

i started tonight - there is, as we speak, a piece of carrot in a gallon bag in my freezer.

along with these babies - what i will end up making with them is yet to be seen...

black bean and sweet potato chili!

i made sweet potato and black bean chili last night, because it was time to cook and i realized that i thought we had all the ingredients.

also, i decided to just kind of wing it, for once, and not really follow any specific recipe. and, you know what? it worked! also, its kind of impossible to mess up chili.

i chopped up an onion and some garlic and let them brown for a bit. in the meantime, i chopped up the biggest sweet potato EVAR, along with some carrot coins, and popped them in the microwave for a few minutes to get a little head start in the softening process, since i was hungry.

i added cumin, chili powder, and some chipotle to the onions/garlic, and, after a minute and a spash of water, dumped in the sweet potatoes and carrots with a small amount of tomatoes in juice.

later on came salsa, more tomatoes, black beans, and, at the last minute, some frozen organic corn...

here you see some chili pictured with a bit of cheez and a lovely organic blue corn chip. easy-peasy, as the cool kids like to say.

sweet potato / black bean quesadilla (minus the queso)!

i was all set to make sweet potato and black bean quesadillas a couple nights ago for dinner, but then the cold set in during the prep work and i felt like cooking nothing....but the good news is that lunch today was a snap since the sweet potatoes were ready to go and there was just me to please.

i put a handful of chopped onions and some garlic on to saute with a bit of cumin...

and added some mooshed up sweet potato, black beans, and a bit of salsa.

and corn. remembered the corn right after i took this picture. we love frozen, organic corn. yes we do.

and, lastly, a bit of this: tabasco brand chipotle sauce. i was introduced to this a few years ago, and i love it so much, that i would marry it if it were legal. we would have beautiful, fiery, red-headed children:

put the mixture in a tortilla, and cover with cilantro before folding and grilling lightly in a pan on both sides.

i like to eat mine with a little salsa and avocado on the side. it was a tasty and delicious lunch - well worth the wait.

p.s. the cold is finally on its way out. kleenexes everywhere can relax.

p.p.s. the neko case concert last night was awesome - we were in the front row and, once, she totally looked at me. this means we are now BFF!

snobby joes!

i made snobby joes from veganomicon. what's nice is that, even though its from a book, isa is also kind enough to post it on her blog, the post punk kitchen, so i can also link you to the recipe (if you click here).

snobby joes are like sloppy joes, but different. you have to admit, there's something about sloppy joes you have a fond memory of. maybe its a recent memory. my sister, for example, is an omni and requests sloppy joes on her birthday every. single. year. this is partly because she loves them and partly because she loves the old 'manwich' commercial. i agree with her that sloppy joes can be fun and that its a catchy commercial, although i find the name of the product rather sexist and disturbing.

i think the 'snobby' part comes in because these are non-sexist and healthy, and because they are filled with lentils:

i, myself, am working my way up to loving lentils. this is a great recipe for that. because, you cook them and set them aside as you are also chopping up things like onions and peppers...

look! they change colors when cooked!

then you add the cooked lentils, some tomato sauce, tomato paste, various spices, and cook it up with a bit of maple syrup and yellow mustard. sadly, the pics of the cooking snobby joes were blurry and too embarrassing to post. i know - i was doing so well. oh well.

i'll have to make do with a pic of my finished plate. i served them with a baked sweet potato and some roasted broccoli, which was tossed with some olive oil, lemon juice, and a little minced garlic. i will say that i got full mid-way through and didn't touch the potato. lunch today will be the potato topped with left-over snobby joe(s ?), and i have no doubt it will be fabulous. this is excellent comfort food.