Happy New Year from The Chubby Vegetarian!

This year has been krazy. Seriously, there was so much to be thankful for and also so many unexpected events on both ends of the scale. Reminiscing about 2012 just makes our heads spin. During all of the activity, there remained one constant: we ate some good food that we made right here in the Chubby Vegetarian kitchen. All of it was inspired by our friends, family, great chefs, and amazing ingredients. We even got to venture out of our kitchen a few times in order to share what we like to make with some appreciative folks.

We have learned so much from your feedback and comments, and we're really glad you are here with us in numbers that we never could have imagined when we started this blog back in 2008. We hope you stick around to see what we cook up in 2013. We have a lot to look forward to this year (our book The Southern Vegetarian is coming out in May!), but before we look ahead, we thought we'd revisit some of our most popular dishes (#1-3) and our personal favorites (#4-15). Here is our top 15 from 2012:

1. Vegetarian Meatballs
2. Spicy Quinoa + Black Lentil Salad with Avocado Vinaigrette
3. Smoked Coconut Bacon
4. Miracle Mushroom Gravy over 3-2-1 Drop Biscuits
5. Vegetarian "Midnight Snack" inspired by Restaurant Iris
6. Peanut Butter Swirl Greek Fro-Yo (and a little magic)
7. Super-Moist Banana Muffins
8. Pizza Fritta + Vegetarian Bolognese & Smoked Provolone
9. Sweet Potato Piccata (inspired by The Publican)
10. Vegetarian Mulligatawny: Indian-Inspired Vegetable Stew
11. Vegetarian Shiitake Ramen
12. Better Jalapeño Poppers
13. Cocoa-Hazelnut and Vanilla-Hazelnut Spreads
14. Vegetarian Eggplant Tajine (oil-free and vegan)
15. Mascarpone Banana Pudding (In a Jar)

Wishing y'all a wonderful 2013! We can't wait to see this brand new year unfold, and we can't wait to cook some new stuff and share it all with you.

Better Jalapeño Poppers

*We're so flattered to be in the running for TheKitchn.com's Best Recipe Blog award. 

Vote HERE. If this is your first time to the TCV site, welcome, y'all!*

Vegetarians don't need another reason to eat another absolutely scrumptious bread/cheese combo, but here goes: like pizza, grilled cheese, cheese toast, cheese and crackers, and even fondue, this spicy combo is a total winner. 

The Chubby Vegetarian version of this omnipresent bar snack, the jalapeño popper, is "better" because it's crunchier, more delicious, and un-fried, unlike its greasy predecessors. Why, they're so simple to put together that you could make 'em with one hand tied behind your back. 

So what are you waiting for? Turn on your little sports game and eat these jalapeño poppers like a sophisticated man...with a fork.

Better Jalapeño Poppers

4 large or 6 medium jalapeño peppers (halved lengthwise, seeds removed)
2 ounces neufchâtel cheese
1 cup shredded cheddar
1/4 teaspoon granulated garlic
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon chipotle pepper powder
Zest of 1/2 lime
1 large egg (beaten)
3/4 cup Panko bread crumbs
1 teaspoon olive or canola oil
Sour cream and fresh chives (to garnish)

Place the seeded, cut peppers cut-side-up on a parchment lined baking sheet. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl mix the neufchâtel, cheddar, garlic, cumin, chipotle, and lime zest together until well incorporated. Divide the mixture among the peppers by stuffing them until the mixture is even with the cut. 

In a medium bowl mix the egg with the panko until well incorporated. Place the mixture atop the cheese stuffed peppers until all of the panko is used. Drizzle peppers with olive oil. Bake for 20 minutes or until  golden brown. Garnish with sour cream and chives and serve immediately. (Makes 8 to 12 poppers.)

Paleo Energy Snacks

My sister Lindsey is a great cook. She and her family live in Boulder, Colorado, and they follow the paleo diet: lots of protein, lots of veg, but sugar is out. These little energy snacks definitely count as dessert, though. When we first tried them while visiting out west in July, we knew we would have to beg Linnie to share her recipe. 

These are great snacks before or after a workout or a nice long run. Because they're packed with good fat, they stave off hunger pangs for a good long while. They are quite addictive, too. Best of all, they are really simple and easy to make using your food processor. Here's how she does it. 

Paleo Energy Snacks

10 dates (pitted)

1/4 cup coconut oil

2 tablespoons coconut milk

1/2 cup sliced almonds 
a generous pinch of sea salt flakes

1 1/4 cup finely shredded coconut, unsweetened

In your food processor, add pitted dates, coconut oil, and coconut milk; process until it is smooth. Add sliced almonds and salt and pulse (three times or so) until almonds are broken down but still chunky. Transfer mixture to a medium-sized bowl and mix in the coconut flakes by hand. Using wet hands, form into densely packed spheres smaller than a golf ball. Line snacks up on a parchment-lined pan and bake for 10 minutes on 350 or until slightly golden brown on top. Allow to cool for at least 10 minutes. Store in a container in the fridge. 

Candy Kale Chips

We love lacinato kale, a.k.a dinosaur kale, around here lately and have been wanting to make some kale chips that no one could possibly resist. Using honey and fresh orange juice to take away some of the inherent bitterness in the greens helps to make that happen. Other kale chip recipes have you cook the kale at 350 degrees, but at this temperature, the thin kale goes from limp to burned on the edges in no time flat. We figured out that if we cook the kale at a lower temperature for longer, the result is a crisper, more evenly cooked chip.

Doing something good with the tough stems of kale that are removed before making the chips was a goal, too. This recipe is for a simple, quick dill pickle, but feel free to add whatever spices you like to the pickling liquid. Try it today, and you just might start obsessing over this super-healthy superfood just like we are. 

Candy Kale Chips 

6 cups loose packed laminate/dinosaur kale (stems removed and reserved; about 1 1/2 bunches)
1 tablespoon orange blossom honey
juice from 1 satsuma orange (about 1 tablespoon)
1/4 teaspoon sea salt flakes (+ a pinch or two)
1/8 cup olive oil

Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Cut de-stemmed kale into pieces about 2-3 inches long. Place into a large bowl and set aside. Whisk honey, satsuma juice, olive oil, and 1/4 teaspoon sea salt flakes until emulsified and pour over kale. Massage the mixture into the kale for 1-2 minutes until the leaves are completely coated. Spread kale out -- no leaves should touch -- on a parchment-lined, rimmed baking sheet and sprinkle a pinch of salt on top. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes. Let chips cool and then store them in a glass container. 

Vegetarian Tom Yum Soup (Oil Free and Vegan)

Anyone who reads this blog knows that we are very susceptible to the power of suggestion. We hear a dish mentioned, and we just absolutely must make it. At the I Love Memphis blog, the Tom Yum soup at Shanghai was mentioned as one of the 10 best things this year. (View the complete list HERE.) 

Anytime I eat Thai food, I always longingly stare at the Tom Yum on the menu. It always contains shrimp stock and chicken stock -- it's just how that soup is made. So, I decided to take matters into my own hands and come up with a great vegetarian version of this classic soup. 

Kombu is the key here. It's a sea vegetable, and it has the highest amount of umami of any vegetable. The part of the shrimp, a classic component of this soup, is being played by king oyster mushrooms which, as you can tell by their name, have a very 
seafood-like texture and flavor. These elements paired with the fragrant punch of the broth, the spiciness of the sambal, and the acidity of the lime make for one great bowl of soup.


Vegetarian Tom Yum Soup

2 stalks  lemongrass
1 quart low-sodium vegetable broth (like Whole Foods 365 brand)
3 lime leaves
1/2 inch sliced ginger
1/2 ounce kombu (about 3 small sheets, rinsed)
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon (or more)  sambal
2 tablespoons vegetarian fish sauce (or soy sauce)
4 cloves crushed garlic
1 cup tomato wedges
1 red pepper (sliced)
1 cup full-fat coconut milk  (like Whole Foods 365 brand)
1 1/2 cups sliced and quartered king oyster mushrooms
1/2 cup fresh cilantro
1 lime (quartered)

Trim the ends off of the lemongrass and peel away the first two layers. With the back of your knife or a frying pan, beat the lemongrass until it splinters. Cut into 4 pieces and set aside. In a large saucepan, bring the broth to a boil with the lemongrass, lime leaves, ginger, kombu, brown sugar, fish sauce (or soy sauce), and garlic. Cover and reduce the heat to a simmer; allow this mixture to cook for 20 to 25 minutes. Strain out the solids leaving only a fragrant broth. Return the broth to the saucepan over medium heat. Add the tomato, red pepper, and coconut milk. Allow the tomato and pepper to warm through. Just before serving, stir in the king oyster mushrooms. (They're easy to overcook and become rubbery of they sit in the hot broth for too long.) Ladle the soup into bowls and garnish with cilantro and a squeeze of lime. (Serves 4 as a starter and 2 for dinner.)

Purple Potato Pierogi

If you've never had a pierogi, allow me to describe it to you: it's like a cheesy, potato-y, onion-y ravioli that is seared in butter. These things are, in a word, heaven. Not all pierogi are made with potatoes--some are made with sauerkraut, and some with fruit. In our house, we like the potato ones best. 

Here, we've used purple sweet potatoes (available at Whole Foods) and purple onion to make for a colorful surprise inside the little dumpling. It also makes for a slightly sweet foil to the sourness of the sauerkraut. You can use any kind of potato you want here. Get creative and make it your own. 

Purple Potato Pierogi

1 1/2 cups peeled, chopped purple potato (about 1 medium)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter (divided)
1 1/4 cups finely diced diced purple onion (about 1 medium)
1/4 cup white wine (like Pinot Grigio)
1 cup shredded sharp white cheddar
Kosher salt and cracked black pepper (to taste)
Pierogie Dough (recipe follows)
1 cup vegetable broth (like Whole Foods 365 brand)
Sauerkraut, sour cream, and chives to garnish 

Boil the potato in salted water until tender (about 8 minutes), drain, and set aside in a large bowl. In a medium frying pan over medium heat, melt 1 tablespoon of the butter and cook the onion until translucent and starting to brown. Deglaze the pan with the wine and cook until most of the liquid has evaporated. Add the onion to the potato and mash until no large pieces of potato are left; you want it to have some texture. Fold in the shredded cheese and add salt and pepper to taste.

Roll the dough out using your pasta maker on a number 5. Alternately, roll the dough out using a rolling pin to get the dough just about as thin as possible. Place 1 heaping tablespoon about 1/2 inch apart, fold the dough over, and cut a half-moon shape using a fluted pasta wheel. Continue until all the dough and filling has been used. You can re-roll the scraps and use those if you have more filling to use. Makes about 24 pierogi.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, and in a separate 12-inch frying pan, melt 1 tablespoon of butter over low heat. Boil 12 of the pierogi for about 3 minutes, crank the heat under the butter to high, transfer the boiled pierogi to the buttered pan; allow them to cook undisturbed for 2 to 2 1/2 minutes for a nice sear. Add 1/2 a cup of the vegetable broth and flip the pierogi using a pair of tongs. Repeat this process with the remaining pierogi or freeze them for another day.

Serve the pierogi of a bed of warm sauerkraut garnished with a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkling of chives. Spoon the pan sauce created with the broth and butter around the plate.


Pierogi Dough

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (like Whole Foods 365 brand)
1 large egg (beaten)
1/2 cup 2% Greek yogurt (or sour cream)


In a large bowl add the flour and make a well in the center. Add the egg and the yogurt. Mix until a smooth dough forms. Cover and set aside until ready to roll it out.

Vegetarian Egg Muffin

My first job, apart from working in my dad's paint store color-matching samples of paint chips, was, like many people, at Mc Donald's. It was right around the corner from my house. My buddy Andy and I would work breakfast, which meant waking up (or in many cases, staying up) until 4 a.m. to get the crates of eggs, muffins, gravy mix, and cheese up from the basement cooler and into the kitchen and start cooking. I actually learned a lot about cooking in those years. Burger University was my first and only formal culinary training. We had to memorize cook times, frying temperatures, and the stats on just about every item McDonalds sold in order to become a manager. That's right -- I was a manager at McDonald's when I was 16. I was also vegan at the time. Weird, I know!

We used real eggs in those days, but that was over 20 years ago. I'm not sure how they do it now. Today, I'm still making a version of America's favorite breakfast sandwich, but with a few key changes. We like to use a whole-wheat English muffin, cheddar cheese, and a simple cured slice of portobello mushroom, a terrific vegetarian stand-in for Canadian bacon.

Vegetarian Egg Muffin 

2 thick, large portobello mushrooms
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon cane sugar (like Whole Foods 365 brand)
3-4 drops liquid smoke
4 slices sharp cheddar cheese (like Whole Foods 365 brand)
4 whole-wheat English muffins (split, toasted)
4 poached eggs*

The first step to making this breakfast sandwich is to cure the mushroom slices overnight, so it's best to do this ahead of time. Slice the mushrooms about 1/4-inch thick starting at the top of the mushroom and working across parallel to the gills. (You should be able to get 3 to 4 slices out of each mushroom before getting to the gills.) Save the gills and the rest of the scraps for another use. Mix the kosher salt and sugar together in a small bowl. Into a glass container, place a slice of the mushroom and sprinkle it with the salt and sugar mixture. Continue until all slices and seasoning have been used. Add the liquid smoke, cover, and place in the fridge overnight. The salt and sugar will draw a lot of moisture from the mushrooms. 

To assemble, place the cheese on the toasted  muffin. Sear cured mushroom slices in a a hot, dry pan for a few seconds until brown. Place 1 or 2 mushroom slices on top of the cheese, top with poached egg, salt, pepper, and the muffin top. Wrap it up and take it on-the-go or sit down and enjoy it with a cup of espresso. Either way, it beats the drive through.

Makes 4 breakfast sandwiches.

*How to poach an egg: Fill a 10-inch frying pan 1/2 full of water and set it over medium 
heat. Add to it 1/ 4 cup white vinegar and 1/8 cup kosher salt. That seems like a lot of salt, but think of it like salting pasta water. Once the water starts to gently simmer, slowly crack an egg into the water. By slowly I mean open it halfway and let the albumen touch the water for a few seconds then gently let the rest of the egg fall into the water. This will make for a more compact egg. Be patient! Once the white has mostly set, you may flip the egg using a spatula. Push the egg against the curved edge of the pan and it should flip. Flipping it makes it cook faster, but you will loose that beautiful yellow yolk showing.

It takes about 5 minutes for a runny yolk, 6 for a slightly set yolk, and 7 to 8 to form a little, yellow, rubber ball of a yolk. You can poach the eggs ahead of time and cool them in an ice bath once they are cooked to your liking. To reheat them place them in hot water for a few seconds.

The trick is the vinegar. It coagulates the albumen as soon as it hits the water so the egg doesn't go everywhere.