Almost-ten-years-but-not-quite Black Bean Tamale Notes

Like Valentines day, our Anniversary was filled with a lot of cooking. Well, my husband doing a lot of cooking to be exact! Usually our wedding anniversary falls during a time when I am abroad. June seems to be the month most convenient for research trips to Italy (and I am not complaining!), so this year we wanted to forgo the typically fancy dinner and we made a feast from one of my favorites The Voluptuous Vegan. If you have followed some of my earlier posts you will know that this book offers some crazy satisfying meals (I mean full meals with plating instructions to boot!) that are, at times, labor intensive, but always worth the work.

For the big 7th my husband and I went for this fun recipe for Tamales to show our dedication to both cooking and each other. This meal comprised of Pickled Red Onions, Masa Harina Tamales with Black Beans and Tomatillo-Cilantro sauce and Chayote, Red Pepper and Corn salad. We also threw in some brown rice made with black bean water, which was a nice addition.

Green Pepper, Hot Oil & Daiya Tortilla Pizza

What is Daiya? Well, let me enlighten you. Daiya is the first cheese substitute (but I really hate to call it a substitute, let's just call it a super yummy cheesy topping) that I can no longer live without. There are only two other vegan edibles out there that match this new obsession: Spicy Sweet Chili Doritos and Purely Decadent Peanut Butter Zig Zag. Oh yes, these are vegan delights, and I am sure that you can imagine the menu of my junk food paradise, which in no way constitutes a healthy eating habit, even for a vegan. This is why I keep these items rarely stocked in my kitchen and almost never at the same time, lest I lost all sense of control.

As more and more vegan-friendly products are in demand this list of dangerous addictions grows, but Daiya is particularly satisfying for me. I have always been a cheese junky. It has been documented as we have recently discovered, in the pages of my sister's childhood journal, that I had a rather tiresome love of cheese. It started with Kraft slices, a seemingly innocuous childhood snack, and moved on to Velveeta dips, cream cheese, then plain blocks of cheddar and baby swiss. It wasn't until college that my taste in cheese refined to asiago, aged Parmesan, and Brie. I am sure that you can imagine that my first of many trips to Italy nearly knocked my cheese loving socks off, and really, to make a very long story short, I am still in disbelief that I gave it all up three years ago.

One day I literally stopped eating cheese in all its flavorful iterations, and I haven't missed it much. I did try here and there some soy/rice slices for grilled cheese to some success, but nothing to write home about. I have never brought myself to invest in having gourmet nut cheese (which some people swear by) shipped to my door. But then again, I haven't really been searching to fill the cheeseless void. My vegetable pizza can surely rival any double-cheese, pepperoni laden pie, and I am a much more discerning tomato sauce consumer and creator. If the world never created a good "cheese" I would have been a content vegan.

But, then there is Diaya and it's good. It's available at my supermarket at reasonable price. So far I have tried it on pizza, pasta and veggies and I have to say, I am hooked! It is a non-soy healthy version of a cheesy topping. Check it out --> Diaya

This is one of the quick lunch recipes that I make for dissertation writing breaks.

GREEN PEPPER, HOT OIL & DIAYA TORTILLA PIZZA

Ingredients:
1/2 C tomato sauce
1/2 green bell pepper chopped
1/2 T hot pepper oil
1/2 C Shredded Daiya mozzarella
1 wheat tortilla

• Heat the oven to 425 degrees
• Oil a baking pan
• Place the tortilla on the baking pan, add the sauce, pepper and cheese, drizzle some hot oil over the top
• Bake or 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and bubbly.