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Inspired by Amy’s frozen dinner, Black Bean and Vegetable Enchiladas, (All of Amy’s frozen dinners are great!),

    three would-be gourmets taste-tested a copy-cat recipe that proved to be very good — almost as good as Amy’s.

 

The recipe is below, in case you do not have one for enchiladas or have never tried a mole sauce (a spicy sauce often containing cocoa, Mexican by design).  The cocoa powder mellows out the heat and other sharp flavors, and this could be the secret ingredient that accounts for the exquisite taste of Amy’s enchilada sauce.

 The only problem we had was in keeping the tortillas from breaking when they were folded around the finely diced vegetables. There may be corn tortillas available that don’t break as easily.  One recipe suggested warming and oiling the tortillas before covering them with sauce.  That may help, but it would add calories.

 Anyway, a really yummy vegetarian recipe without wheat or dairy is something to treasure. 

SAUCE

• 4        tbsp vegetable oil
• 1/4     cup tapioca flour (or 2 tbsp rice flour)
• 3        tbsp chili powder
• 1 – 2   tsp cumin
• 1/2     tsp cayenne pepper, or to taste
• 4        cups water
• 1        8-ounce can tomato paste
• 1        8-ounce can tomato sauce
• 2        tsp garlic powder
• 1        tsp onion powder
• 2        tsp cocoa powder
• 1        tsp salt

Heat the oil, flour and chili powder together in a large pot. Allow to cook for a minute or two. Add the remaining ingredients and bring to a slow simmer. Stir well to combine. Allow to cook for at least 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add more spices as desired.

ENCHILADAS

• 1/4     onion, diced
• 1        carrot, diced
• 1/2     zuchinni, diced
• 1/2     can black olives
• 1/2     red bell pepper, diced
• 8        oz frozen corn kernels
• 1/2     block firm tofu, drained and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1/2     can black beans, drained
• 10-12 corn tortillas

Using a food processor for quickest results, finely dice the onion, carrots, zucchini, olives and bell pepper. To this mixture add the corn, tofu, black beans and 1/3 of the enchilada sauce and combine well.

Spoon 2-3 tablespoons of the vegetable mix into each corn tortilla. Roll them and place them in a baking pan, seam side down. When the pan is full, spoon 1/3 of the enchilada sauce on top of the wrapped tortillas – being sure to cover all of the edges!

Bake 30-35 minutes at 350° or until done, spooning the remaining 1/3 of the enchilada sauce over the top, halfway through the cooking.

Before filling, the corn tortillas may be oiled or dipped in sauce to soften them.

Meatless Mondays Catching On

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a meatless Monday resolution on Tuesday, April 6, 2010. The measure declared every Monday as “Vegetarian Day” and urged restaurants, grocery stores and schools to offer more plant-based options. The city by the bay known for touting innovative cuisine and healthy lifestyles became the first Meatless Monday city! The resolution passed by San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors ensured that residents will gain greater access to healthy, meatless options while learning about the connection between what they eat and their health.

In November 2012, the City of Los Angeles declared all Mondays to be “Meatless Mondays,” citing actions by the Baltimore City Public School System, Oakland Unified School District, along with other school districts in Arlington VA, Oneida NY, and Longmont CO, as well as the cities of San Francisco, Takoma Park MD, and Annapolis MD, Marin County CA, and the Council of the District of Columbia.

 

 

 

Tags: enchiladas, Meatless Monday, mole sauce, vegetarian

From The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception

By Max Heindel

Jehovah came with His Angel and Archangels and made the first great division into Races, giving to each group the guiding influence of a Race-spirit—an Archangel. For each Ego He appointed one of the Angels to act as guardian until the individual spirit had grown strong enough to become emancipated from all outside influence.

It is a notable fact that man and his religions have evolved side by side and in an equal degree. The earliest religion of any Race is found to be as savage as the people governed by it and as they become more civilized, their religions become more and more humane and in harmony with higher ideals.

From this fact materialists have drawn the inference that no religion has a higher origin than man itself. Their investigations into early history have resulted in a conviction that, as man progressed, he civilized his God and fashioned Him after his own pattern.

This reasoning is defective, because it fails to take into account that man is not the body, but an indwelling spirit, an Ego who uses the body with ever-increasing facility as evolution progresses.

There is no doubt that the law for the body is “The Survival of the Fittest.” The law for the evolution of the spirit demands “Sacrifice.” As long as man believes that “Might is Right,” the Form prospers and waxes strong, because all obstacles are swept out of the way regardless of others. If the body were all, that manner of life would be the only one possible for man. He would be altogether incapable of any regard for others and would forcibly resist any attempt to encroach upon what he considered his rights—the right of the stronger, which is the sole standard of justice under the law of the Survival of the Fittest. He would be quite regardless of his fellow beings; absolutely insensible to any force from without that tended to make him act in any manner not conducive to his own momentary pleasure.

It is manifest, then, that whatever urges man toward a higher standard of conduct in his dealing with others must come from within, and from a source which is not identical with the body, otherwise it would not strive with the body and often prevail against its most obvious interests. Moreover, it must be a stronger force than that of the body, or it could not succeed in overcoming its desires and compelling it to make sacrifices for those who are physically weaker.

That such a force exists, surely no one will deny. We have come to that stage in our advancement where, instead of seeing in physical weakness an opportunity for easy prey, we recognize in the very frailty of another a valid claim upon our protection. Selfishness is being slowly but surely routed by Altruism.

Nature is sure to accomplish her purposes. Though slow, her progress is orderly and certain. In the breast of every man this force of Altruism works as a leaven. It is transforming the savage into the civilized man, and will in time transform the latter into a God.  [The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception by Max Heindel  367 – 369]

It must not be thought that these successive steps were taken easily, nor without rebellion and lapses upon the part of primitive man. Selfishness is ingrained in the lower nature even unto this day, and there must have been many lapses and much backsliding. We have in the Jewish Bible good examples of how man forgot, and had to be patiently and persistently “prodded” again and again by the Tribal God. Only the visitations of a long-suffering Race-spirit were potent, at times, in bringing him back to the law—that law very few people have even yet learned to obey.

There are always pioneers, however, who require something higher. When they become sufficiently numerous, a new step in evolution is taken, so that several gradations always exist. There came a time, nearly two thousand years ago, when the most advanced of humanity were ready to take another step forward, and learn the religion of living a good life for the sake of future reward in a state if existence in which they must have faith.  [RCC 372 – 373]

Christ came to prepare the way for the emancipation of humanity from the guidance of differentiating Race and Family-spirit, and to unite the whole human family in One Universal Brotherhood.  [RCC 353]

All other religions have been but leading up to the Christian religion. They were Race Religions and contain only in part that which Christianity has in fuller measure. The real Esoteric Christianity has not yet been taught publicly, nor will it be so taught until humanity has passed the materialistic stage and becomes fitted to receive it. The laws of Rebirth and Consequence have been secretly taught all the time, but, by the direct Command of Christ Himself, as we shall see, these two laws have not been publicly taught in the Western world for the past two thousand years. [RCC 164]

Christ came to reunite the separated races in bonds of peace and good will, wherein all will willingly and consciously follow the law of Love.

The present Christianity is not even a shadow of the true religion of Christ. That will remain in abeyance until all race feelings shall have been overcome. In the Sixth Epoch there will be but one Universal Brotherhood, under the Leadership of the Returned Christ, but the day and the hour no man knows, for it is not fixed, but depends upon how soon a sufficient number of people shall have commenced to live the life of Fellowship and Love, which is to be the hall-mark of the new dispensation.  [RCC 360]

  Is it strange that people find it difficult to realize this high ideal of continued well-doing, made doubly hard by the fact that self-interest is entirely ignored? Sacrifice is demanded with no positive assurance of any reward. Surely it is much to the credit of humanity that so much altruism is practiced and that it is constantly increasing. The wise Leaders, knowing the frailness of the spirit to cope with the selfish instincts of the body, and the dangers of despondency in the face of such standards of conduct, gave another uplifting impulse when they incorporated in the new religion the doctrine of “vicarious Atonement.”

This idea is scouted by some very advanced philosophers, and the law of “Consequence” made paramount. If it so happens that the reader agrees with these philosophers, we request that he await the explanation herein set forth, showing how both are part of the scheme of upliftment. Suffice it to say, for the present, that this doctrine of atonement gives many an earnest soul the strength to strive and, in spite of repeated failures, to bring the lower nature under subjection. Let it be remembered that, for reasons given when the laws of Rebirth and Consequence were discussed, western humanity knew practically nothing of these laws. With such a great ideal before them as the Christ, and believing they had but a few short years in which to attain to such a high degree of development as this, would it not have been the greatest imaginable cruelty to leave them without help? Therefore, the GREAT SACRIFICE on Calvary—while it also served other purposes, as will be shown—become rightfully the Beacon of Hope for every earnest soul who is striving to achieve the impossible; to attain, in one short life, to the perfection demanded by the Christian religion.  [RCC 374]

 All Race-religions are of the Holy Spirit. They are insufficient, because they are based on law, which makes for sin and brings death, pain and sorrow.

All Race-spirits know this, and realize that their religions are merely steps to something better. This is shown by the fact that all Race-religions, without exception, point to One Who is to come. The religion of the Persians pointed to Mithras; of the Chaldeans to Tammuz. The old Norse Gods foresaw the approach of “The Twilight of the Gods,” when Sutr, the bright Sun-spirit, shall supersede them and a new and fairer order be established on “Gimle,” the regenerated earth. The Egyptians waited for Horus, the newborn Sun. Mithras and Tammuz are also symbolized as Solar orbs and all the principal Temples were built facing the East, that the rays of the rising Sun might shine directly through the open doors; even Saint Peter’s at Rome is so placed. All these facts show that it was generally known that the One Who was to come was a Sun-spirit and was to save humanity from the separative influences necessarily contained in all Race-religions.

These religions were steps which it was necessary for mankind to take to prepare for the advent of Christ. Man must first cultivate a “self” before he can become really unselfish and understand the higher phase of Universal Brotherhood—unity  of purpose and interest—for  which Christ laid the foundation at His first coming, and which He will make living realities when He returns.

As the fundamental principle of a Race-religion is separation, inculcating self-seeking at the expense of other men and nations, it is evident that if the principle is carried to its ultimate conclusion it must necessarily have an increasingly destructive tendency and finally frustrate evolution, unless succeeded by a more constructive religion.

Therefore the separative religions of the Holy Spirit must give place to the unifying religion of the Son, which is the Christian religion.

   Law must give place to Love, and the separate Races and Nations be united in one Universal Brotherhood, with Christ as the Eldest Brother.

The Christian religion has not yet had time to accomplish this great object. Man is still in the toils of the dominant Race-spirit and the ideals of Christianity are yet too high for him. The intellect can see some of the beauties, and readily admits that we should love our enemies, but the passions of the desire body are still too strong. The law of the Race-spirit being “An eye for an eye,” the Feeling is “I’ll get even!” The heart prays for Love; the desire body hopes for Revenge. The intellect sees, in the abstract, the beauty of loving one’s enemies but in concrete cases it allies itself with the vengeful feeling of the desire body, pleading, as an excuse for “getting even,” that “the social organism must be protected.”  [RCC 384 – 385]

If we have become aroused from the usual lethargy and are anxious to progress, the question naturally arises, what must I do?

Without well-kept tools the mechanic can do no effective work; similarly, the instruments of the Ego must be cleansed and sharpened; then we may commence work to some purpose. As one works with those wonderful tools they themselves improve with proper use and become more and more efficient to aid in the work. The object of this work is Union with the Higher Self.

There are three steps by which this work conquers the lower nature, but they are not completely taken one after the other. In a certain sense they go together, so that at the present stage the first receives the most attention, the second less, and the third least of all. In time, when the first step has been wholly taken, naturally more attention can be paid to the other two.

There are three helps given in attaining these three stages. They can be seen in the outside world, where the great Leaders of humanity have placed them.

The first help is Race religions, which by aiding humanity to overcome the desire body, prepare it for union with the Holy Spirit.

The full operation of this help was seen on the Day of Pentecost. As the Holy Spirit is the Race God, all languages are expressions of it. That is why the apostles, when fully united and filled with the Holy Spirit, spoke with different tongues and were able to convince their hearers. Their desire bodies had been sufficiently purified to bring about the wished-for union and this is an earnest of what the disciple will one day attain to–the power to speak all tongues. It may also be cited as a modern, historical example, that the Comte de St. Germain (who was one of the later incarnations of Christian Rosenkreuz the founder of our sacred Order), spoke all languages, so that all to whom he spoke thought he belonged to the same nation as they. He also had achieved union with the Holy Spirit.  [RCC 433 – 434]

 

St. Joseph’s Church Chapel Window at Zabrz

The purpose of the religion of the Son, Christ, is to further uplift mankind by forming it into a Universal Brotherhood of separate individuals.

The ideal of the Religion of The Father will be the elimination of all separateness, merging all into One, so that there will be no “I” nor “Thou,” but all will be One in reality. This will not come to pass while we are still inhabitants of the physical Earth, but in a future state where we shall realize our unity with all, each having access to all the knowledge garnered by each separate individual. Just as the single facet of a diamond has access to all the light that comes through each of the other facets, is one with them, yet bounded by lines which give it a certain individuality without separateness, so will the individual spirit retain the memory of its particular experiences, while giving to all others the fruits of its individual existence.

These are the steps and stages through which humanity is unconsciously being led.  [Max Heindel, RCC 436 – 437]

 

 

 

 

Tags: Angels, Archangels, Christ, Christianity, Jehovah, Religion, world religions

By Jerome Weidman and first published Nov 1955 in Reader’s Digest

When I was a very young man, just beginning to make my way, I was invited to dine at the home of a distinguished New   York philanthropist. After dinner our hostess led us to an enormous drawing room. Other guests were pouring in, and my eyes beheld two unnerving sights: servants were arranging small gilt chairs in long, neat rows; and up front, leaning against the wall, were musical instruments. Apparently I was in for an evening of Chamber music.

I use the phrase “in for” because music meant nothing to me. I am almost tone deaf. Only with great effort can I carry the simplest tune, and serious music was to me no more than an arrangement of noises. So I did what I always did when trapped: I sat down and when the music started I fixed my face in what I hoped was an expression of intelligent appreciation, closed my ears from the inside and submerged myself in my own completely irrelevant thoughts.

After a while, becoming aware that the people around me were applauding, I concluded it was safe to unplug my ears. At once I heard a gentle but surprisingly penetrating voice on my right.  “You are fond of Bach?”

I knew as much about Bach as I know about nuclear fission. But I did know one of the most famous faces in the world, with the renowned shock of untidy white hair and the ever-present pipe between the teeth. I was sitting next to Albert Einstein.

“Well,” I said uncomfortably, and hesitated.   I had been asked a casual question. All I had to do was be equally casual in my reply. But I could see from the look in my neighbor’s extraordinary eyes that their owner was not merely going through the perfunctory duties of elementary politeness. Regardless of what value I placed on my part in the verbal exchange, to this man his part in it mattered very much. Above all, I could feel that this was a man to whom you did not tell a lie, however small.

“I don’t know anything about Bach,” I said awkwardly. “I’ve never heard any of his music.”

A look of perplexed astonishment washed across Einstein’s mobile face.

“You have never heard Bach?”

He made it sound as though I had said I’d never taken a bath.

“It isn’t that I don’t want to like Bach,” I replied hastily. “It’s just that I’m tone deaf, or almost tone deaf, and I’ve never really heard anybody’s music.”

A look of concern came into the old man’s face. “Please,” he said abruptly, “You will come with me?”

He stood up and took my arm. I stood up. As he led me across that crowded room I kept my embarrassed glance fixed on the carpet. A rising murmur of puzzled speculation followed us out into the hall. Einstein paid no attention to it.

Resolutely he led me upstairs. He obviously knew the house well. On the floor above he opened the door into a book-lined study, drew me in and shut the door.

“Now,” he said with a small, troubled smile. “You will tell me, please, how long you have felt this way about music?”

“All my life,” I said, feeling awful. “I wish you would go back downstairs and listen, Dr. Einstein. The fact that I don’t enjoy it doesn’t matter.”

He shook his head and scowled, as though I had introduced an irrelevance.

“Tell me, please,” he said. “Is there any kind of music that you do like?”

“Well,” I answered, “I like songs that have words, and the kind of music where I can follow the tune.”

He smiled and nodded, obviously pleased. “You can give me an example, perhaps?”

“Well,” I ventured, “almost anything by Bing Crosby.”

He nodded again, briskly. “Good!”

He went to a corner of the room, opened a phonograph and started pulling out records. I watched him uneasily. At last he beamed. “Ah!” he said.

He put the record on and in a moment the study was filled with the relaxed, lilting strains of Bing Crosby’s “When the Blue of the Night Meets the Gold of the Day.” Einstein beamed at me and kept time with the stem of his pipe. After three or four phrases he stopped the phonograph

“Now,” he said. “Will you tell me, please, what you have just heard?”
The simplest answer seemed to be to sing the lines. I did just that, trying desperately to stay on tune and keep my voice from cracking. The expression on Einstein’s face was like the sunrise.

“You see!” he cried with delight when I finished. “You do have an ear!”

I mumbled something about this being one of my favorite songs, something I had heard hundreds of times, so that it didn’t really prove anything.

“Nonsense!” said Einstein. “It proves everything! Do you remember your first arithmetic lesson in school? Suppose, at your very first contact with numbers, your teacher had ordered you to work out a problem in, say, long division or fractions. Could you have done so?”

“No, of course not.”

“Precisely!” Einstein made a triumphant wave with his pipestem. “It would have been impossible and you would have reacted in panic. you would have closed your mind to long division and fractions. As a result, because of that one small mistake by your teacher, it is possible your whole life you would be denied the beauty of long division and fractions.”

The pipestem went up and out in another wave.

“But on your first day no teacher would be so foolish. He would start you with elementary things — then, when you had acquired skill with the simplest problems, he would lead you up to long division and to fractions.

So it is with music.” Einstein picked up the Bing Crosby record. “This simple, charming little song is like simple addition or subtraction. You have mastered it. Now we go on to something more complicated.”

He found another record and set it going. The golden voice of John McCormack singing “The Trumpeter” filled the room. After a few lines Einstein stopped the record.

“So!” he said. “You will sing that back to me, please?”

I did—with a good deal of selfconsciousness but with, for me, a surprising degree of accuracy. Einstein stared at me with a look on his face that I had seen only once before in my life: on the face of my father as he listened to me deliver the valedictory address at my high school graduation.

“Excellent!” Einstein remarked when I finished. “Wonderful! Now this!”

“This” turned out to be Caruso in what was to me a completely unrecognizable fragment from “Cavalleria Rusticana.” Nevertheless, I managed to reproduce an approximation of the sounds the famous tenor had made. Einstein beamed his approval.

Caruso was followed by at least a dozen others. I could not shake my feeling of awe over the way this great man, into whose company I had been thrown by chance, was completely preoccupied by what we were doing, as though I were his sole concern.

We came at last to recordings of music without words, which I was instructed to reproduce by humming. When I reached for a high note, Einstein’s mouth opened and his head went back as if to help me attain what seemed unattainable. Evidently I came close enough, for he suddenly turned off the phonograph.

“Now, young man,” he said, putting his arm through mine. “We are ready for Bach!”

As we returned to our seats in the drawing room, the players were tuning up for a new selection. Einstein smiled and gave me a reassuring pat on the knee.
“Just allow yourself to listen,” he whispered. “That is all.”

It wasn’t really all, of course. Without the effort he had just poured out for a total stranger I would never have heard, as I did that night for the first time in my life, Bach’s “Sheep May Safely Graze.” I have heard it many times since. I don’t think I shall ever tire of it. Because I never listen to it alone. I am sitting beside a small, round man with a shock of untidy white hair, a dead pipe clamped between his teeth, and eyes that contain in their extraordinary warmth all the wonder of the world.

When the concert was finished I added my genuine applause to that of the others.
Suddenly our hostess confronted us. “I’m so sorry, Dr. Einstein,” she said with an icy glare at me, “that you missed so much of the performance.”

Einstein and I came hastily to our feet. “I am sorry, too,” he said. “My young friend here and I, however, were engaged in the greatest activity of which man is capable.”
She looked puzzled. “Really?” she said. “And what is that?”

Einstein smiled and put his arm across my shoulders. And he uttered ten words that — for at least one person who is in his endless debt — are his epitaph:
“Opening up yet another fragment of the frontier of beauty.”

Tags: Bach, Einstein

Springtime is the land awakening.  The March winds are the morning yawn. 

February 23, 2012

I wonder if the sap is stirring yet,

If wintry birds are dreaming of a mate,

If frozen snowdrops feel as yet the sun

And crocus fires are kindling one by one:

Sing robin sing:

I still am sore in doubt concerning Spring.

-Christina Rossetti- 

March 9, 2012

March bustles in on windy feet

And sweeps my doorstep and my street.

She washes and cleans with pounding rains,

Scrubbing the earth of winter stains.

She shakes the grime from carpet green

Til naught but fresh new blades are seen.

Then house in order, all neat as a pin,

She ushers gentle springtime in.

-Susan Reiner, Spring Cleaning–

March 15, 2012

Where did Gabriel get a lily,

In the month of March,

When the green

Is hardly seen

On the early larch?

-Grace James-

[Photos all taken at 43°11’N and 89°14’W]

Tags: annunciation, gabriel, March, spring

Tags: anunciation, gabriel, holy ghost, peter paul rubens

 

Because difficult-to-answer questions often come to members of

The Rosicrucian Fellowship, the following explanations are offered.

THE ROSICRUCIAN FELLOWSHIP

Qualities that Make It Unique

Inquirers typically request a comparison between the Fellowship and another organization. Other groups may change from year to year, but it is possible to list certain qualities which together make The Rosicrucian Fellowship unique, even among organizations that use the word, Rosicrucian,  in their names.

The Rosicrucian Fellowship:

1. Has never been affiliated with any other organization.
2. Does not charge for its teachings.  There are no dues, fees, or solicitations.  The work is carried on by means of freewill offerings.
3. Emphasizes esoteric Christianity and the devotional/heart path as well as the mind path, its goal being to achieve a perfect balance between head and heart.
4. By its esoteric interpretations of the Bible, sheds light on the Christian mysteries, provides insight into Christ’s true mission and His gospel of love, and prepares students for universal brotherhood.  “That Christ Jesus is our ideal” is integral to the Rosicrucian Fellowship program.
5. Recognizes that as differentiated Spirits in God we are reborn again and again on the physical plane in bodies of increasing efficiency to learn the lessons incident to material existence, and to unfold our latent divine potentialities into dynamic powers.
6. Promotes self-forgetting love and service; the ideal is that the teachings be used to help others, not to serve one’s self.
7. Studies principles of right living and practices spiritual healing.  The healing work is carried on mainly by work in the invisible planes during the patients’ sleep.
8. Uses spiritual astrology as a tool for self understanding and for understanding others – for healing and for guidance; and to link the fundamental elements of science and religion for a comprehensive understanding of the universe.
9. Imparts the Rosicrucian teachings which the Elder Brothers formulated to counterbalance a growing materialism that had increased physical knowledge but almost extinguished the Light of the Spirit; this in order to further the evolution of mankind and prepare humanity for The Aquarian Age.
10. Gives advanced exercises to probationers only when they are completely ready, and then these exercises are customized for each individual.
11. Prepares disciples for initiation on the higher planes; no initiation ceremonies or rituals take place in the physical world.
12. Offers a philosophy that benefits those who are self-motivated and capable of independent study.  Self-reliance is strongly encouraged, not only in the area of study, but in all areas of life and endeavor.
13. Was founded by Max Heindel, messenger of the Brothers of the Rose Cross; has no secret handshake or grip and does not issue membership cards.

WHY I AM A ROSICRUCIAN STUDENT

STUDY WITH US

Tags: church, Spiritual Organization, The Ecclesia, The Rosicrucian Fellowship

Recently taste-tested, this duo rated a unanimous thumbs up.  Exceptional for aroma and taste, both can be prepared ahead of time.  The roasted vegetables will keep under refrigeration for up to four days in advance, and the corn pudding can be assembled several hours before baking.

ROASTED WINTER VEGETABLES – serves 4 to 6

1        lb carrots

1        large red onion

1        lb little red-skin potatoes (or russets)

1        lb sweet potatoes, peeled

1        29-oz can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed

3/4     lb Brussels sprouts

1/4     cup olive or coconut oil (or half & half)

4 – 5   garlic cloves, minced

1        teaspoon crushed rosemary

1/2     teaspoon salt

1/4     teaspoon pepper

1        tablespoon packed brown sugar

 Cut the vegetables into uniform-sized pieces (about 2-inch).   Set the oven to 425°.  Heat the oil to liquefy it along with the garlic, rosemary, salt, pepper, and brown sugar in a shallow roasting pan in the preheating oven.  Remove from the oven and add the vegetables, stirring to coat them with the oil and flavorings.  Bake uncovered for 45 minutes. 

 To retain moisture, after they are sufficiently browned, cover with foil and reduce the heat for the latter part of the roasting time.

 

SOUTHWESTERN CORN PUDDING

Serves 4 to 6   

This intensely flavorful, velvety side dish is the perfect accompaniment to roasted vegetables or any Southwestern meal.

v     2 tablespoons oil (olive oil or coconut oil)

v     4 cups fresh or frozen corn kernels (about 6 ears)

v     1 red bell pepper (small), seeded and finely chopped

v     1 – 2 tablespoons finely chopped jalapeños (or more to taste)

v     1 cup coconut milk

v     1/4 cup cornstarch [or quinoa or chickpea flour]

v     1/2 cup cornmeal

v     2 tablespoons pure maple syrup

v     1/2 cup finely chopped scallions

v     1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro

v     1 teaspoon salt

v    1/4 teaspoon cayenne

1. Preheat the oven to350°F and lightly grease an 8-inch square baking or casserole dish
2. Saute the corn, bell pepper, and jalapeños in a large skillet for 10 – 12 minutes, stirring occasionally; the corn should be very lightly browned. Meanwhile, stir together the cornstarch and coconut milk until the cornstarch has mostly dissolved.
3. When the corn and the peppers are ready, transfer 2 cups of them to a blender or food processor. Add the coconut milk and cornstarch mixture, and pulse about 20 times, until the mixture is mostly pureed but not completely smooth.
4. Return the contents to the skillet and mix with the remaining corn, cornmeal, maple syrup, scallions, cilantro, salt, and cayenne.
5. Pour the batter into the baking dish and bake for 40 minutes. Let cool for about 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

Note: If you want to use the whole can of coconut milk (1 1/2 cups) increase the corn meal to 3/4 cup.

Quinoa flour has a nutty taste that complements corn beautifully, while chickpea flour gives a nice egg-like taste. However, any flour, including cornmeal, can be substituted if you’re in a pinch.

 

Tags: Tasty Vegan