I will not steal Good Eats titles, I will not steal Good Eats titles, I will not steal Good Eats titles, I will not steal Good Eats titles...

I have a wild undying love for Alton Brown and the television masterpiece that is Good Eats. I have the same passion for Golden West's Brussels sprouts, and I love bacon and potatoes. It's a balance that does not strike easily and often becomes volatile. An in depth look at this sordid love triangle and more on today's Maury Povich.

Alton Brown is freaking great. From the food to the puns to the production value, everything about it is awesome. Sure the early episodes look like they're shot on vhs tape but what he lacks in fancy equipment he makes up for in awesome visual aids and tons of heart. For every recipe I cook there's an Alton Brown to go with it. If I can think of which one it is I'll link you to it. That being said, there's one particular episode that I think every aspiring chef will enjoy as either a crash course or a refreshing refresher on the basics of knife work.

This is a great episode, definitely worth checking out. It teaches everything from use to maintenance.

I think that since I plan to be talking a lot about vegetables in my upcoming entries, if you plan to follow along at home this is a particularly fantastic episode since he demonstrates how to cut basically all kinds of vegetables into various sizes. Sounds kind of tedious but trust me, it's totally great. If you learn nothing, I owe you a coke. Alright, that's enough about that.

We all love Golden West Cafe. If you don't like Golden West, you're either not from Baltimore or are tragically uncool and tasteless. Maybe you work there and hate your job... but probably not. Anyway, if you're no stranger to this fine establishment then I hope you are in the know that their Brussels sprouts are AWESOME. That's right, all caps, underlined, italics, and bold. They're that good. I really miss being able to walk a few sunny blocks to the restaurant and scarf these things down while sucking back several of the well chosen beers from their draft. The retaurant serves the sprouts halved and dressed in terryiaki, fried slightly crispy (it tastes like they use sesame oil), and then topped with (toasted?) sesame seeds. Basically it tastes like biting into a mini eggroll. Alas, I live in the annals of Baltimore County now and its nowhere near as easy to pop over. That's why when Letitia came home with a bag of Brussels sprouts, I knew what I had to do. I did some research and was on the fence about what recipe to choose until I stumbled across this guy who was trying to recreate the same recipe. Check out his blog, he's a photographer and designer and does a really nice job with it. Anyway, without any further adieu, the recipe. If you loved this recipe and want more information about Brussels sprouts, check out your local library! Orrrrrrr this OTHER video of Good Eats!

Finally, those of you who know me are probably out there shouting into your computer screens, "Kevin!!! WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU MAN? I THOUGHT I KNEW YOU!!!!" or maybe you're just thinking, "This guy doesn't seem like much of an omnivore to me, more like an OMNIBORE, AMIRIGHT?!" and then look around to realize no one heard your hilarious joke. To you folks I say this. 

CHEDDARY BACONY POTATO SOUP IN YOUR MOUTH, JERKS

Don't be too judicious with your salt, I definitely thought the batch I made needed a little after it was done cooking. I made sure to be extra generous with my bacon garnish and I also topped it with a little cheddar cheese because, come on.  How are you gonna have a baked potato with no cheese? It's the right thing to do. If you're vegan... you'll just have to check back later for a different recipe. Or check out this blog. It's one I stumbled on while looking for new vegetarian meals. See guys? Omnivore.

Blog post number two in the bag. Next blog, next blog, next blog!

Vegan Chili or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Vegetables

As with all new beginnings, introductions are an order. My name's Kevin and I am a foodie in search of enlightenment through dining. In my ongoing quest to consume food and avoid boredom, I've decided to take on the challenges of writing a food blog that isn't lame or boring and doesn't come off totally pretentious; something that virtually anyone can surf into and enjoy on multiple levels. Prepare yourself for a bevvy of embedded Alton Brown videos, other people's recipes and some of my own, links to other food blogs, and any other food related media I can figure out how to send your way through the magic of the internet. I hope you find the content to be educational and humorous but even more so, I hope you walk away from this as excited to explore your own culinary future as I am to document mine.

And now, on to our story...

This recent foray into food blog-ism had it's start with a great documentary called Forks Over Knives. (If you have Netflix you can watch it here, if not you can watch it on hulu). Now... I am and have always been a huge proponent of the belief that humans, with our giant brains and meat tearing teeth, are intended to be omnivorous and for a truly well balanced diet we should be eating meat regularly. This being the case, when my girlfriend turned on a documentary about eating a plant based diet being the cure for a variety of diseases, and the path to a healthy lifestyle I tried really hard to ignore it. Even so, as I listened to the bits and pieces of the movie I caught from the other room I was driven to give the film my undivided attention. I'll let you watch it for yourself and draw your own conclusions but it made me feel like I should try to shift my diet away from frequent meat consumption. So now here I am, a barbecue-loving-red-blooded-meat-and-potatoes kinda guy, about to take a wide eyed journey into vegetarian and vegan food. With you. Exciting, right?

So; vegan chili. It seems like a pretty quintessential vegetarian recipe and a non threatening place to start. I've always prided myself on my Cincinnati style chili (that I'll eventually post about) and while it's nothing particularly special I always thought I had done a good job of capturing the Je ne sais quois of something decidedly not at all french. When Letitia (my girlfriend) suggested we take on vegan chili my gears started turning.How would I make chili be chili with out glorious protein-laden flavor-enhancing meat? After browsing a few recipes that suggested using a bunch of soy based meat substitutes to round out the texture of the dish I decided to see what we had in the pantry to use instead. I'm still not particularly sold on the virtues of soy and I'm trying to avoid consuming too much of it. (Note to self: Blog on pros and cons of soy consumption at a later date.) Anyway, I was looking for an ingredient to take something that was basically Mexican flavored vegetable soup and turn it into a dish I could truly in my heart call chili. That's when I opened the cupboard and saw a clear plastic bag filled with everyone's favorite chenopod: quinoa. For those of you not in the know, this pseudocereal is a seed that provides a complete protein source and is also high in fiber, iron, and magnesium. Not only that but it's fairly robust and it's texture stands up to time even in soups. I knew that I had found my meat substitute. It definitely had the body I needed to round out some stick to your ribs chili. (I'm thinking of trying bulgur wheat next time) Now that I'd acquired everything I needed, it was time to get cooking. These can sizes might not be exactly correct but they're my best guesses. I'll be sure to document better in the future, ya know with like pictures and stuff. I will also try to do more measuring.

Ingredients:
1 (15oz) can of kidney beans
1 (15oz) can of great northern beans
1 (16ish oz) can of tomatoes
~3 Cups vegetable stock
1 cup of quinoa
1 red onion chopped
1 yellow pepper chopped
2-4 cloves of garlic minced (some people like garlic... some people don't. I often add twice what is directed...that being said do not add eight cloves of garlic to this recipe.)
Tabasco Sauce (any kind will do, I used the green kind this time)
1.5 Tbs Chili powder (more on this later)
2 tsp Cumin
1/4 tsp Paprika
1/2 tsp Turmeric
Ground cayenne pepper
Black pepper
1 Tbs tomato paste
salt
olive oil

I like this recipe especially because it all cooks in one pot. Less dishes = more winning. SO. Take your one pot, I've got a nice aluminum job with a heavy bottom that disperses heat quite well and holds about six quarts, and put it over a medium high heat. Let it heat up for about 45 seconds and then add a tablespoon of olive oil. Throw in your onion, yellow pepper, and garlic with a pinch of salt and saute them until they're slightly tender but not mushy. They don't need to really take on any color, we're just trying to get our aromatics pumping before adding a bunch of liquid into the equation. After a minute or two of cooking I added in my spices.  I used a good amount of garden variety chili powder, probably somewhere in the neighborhood of a tablespoon. In addition to that I used a couple of smoked chili powders that I really like. McCormick Spices makes an ancho and chipotle chili powder both of which are awesome. I'm guessing between the two of them I added another teaspoon or so of seasoning. Anyway, add all your spices in there. I put turmeric in just because its good for what ales you including joint pain and muscle fatigue. Saute a little longer. Keep in mind Kevin Malone's advice from The Office. "The trick is to under cook the onions, everyone's going to get know each other in the pot".

Once you've got your vegetables going, drain your beans and dump them, plus the can of tomatoes (and all the tomato liquor) into the pot. Pour in enough vegetable stock to cover everything and put the spurs to the heat. Bring everything to a low boil and give it a healthy dash of your favorite Tabasco sauce. Now is also the time to put in the tomato paste. Add the quinoa last and make sure to stir everything frequently to prevent stuff from sticking to the bottom of your pot. Once the quinoa is cooked (about 15-20 minutes) you're ready to dine.

This dish ends up not only being vegetarian but vegan and gluten free and thus can be served to even the hippest of your friends without fear of dietary restrictions.

So that's it. My first blog entry. I hope that you enjoyed it. Feel free to leave me feedback on any aspect of the content, because as much as this is an ego trip for me, I hope it is entertaining and educational for you.