Bean & Butternut Squash Vegan Chili – Ate by Ate Cooks Fall Comfort Food!

Ate by Ate is baaaack!  Taking a week off was one of the weirdest feelings in the world.  I haven’t stopped blogging for more than a day in the last two years so with the exception of posting some photos to Ate by Ate’s Facebook galleries, not blogging at all for a week was a complete 180.  I don’t think there will ever be a time when I’ll feel completely caught up, but a week off was exactly what I needed.  It took the pressure off, I got to do a little bit of holiday planning with friends, and while I still feel like there are a million things to do for Ate by Ate, at least I’m a tiny bit caught up on sleep at the very least!

And now we’re ready to dive right into the holiday blitz!  I’m so, SO excited for Christmas and the holidays.  I’m excited to see friends, to give my family and friends their presents, and of course, to eat!  I’m currently working on the December Food Calendar (the 1st draft went to Food Bloggers of Canada last night!) and I’m planning my weekends of food the best I can.  I forsee Christmas cupcakes, vegetarian yummies, tea, hot drinks, peppermint and candy canes, cookies, baking, and hopefully lots of special winter menu items and comfort food!

Cooking up a storm!

My week off from blogging not only allowed me to do some heavy-duty planning for the month of December, it also allowed me to cook for the very first time!  I KNOW!  The girl who has only ever baked has finally cooked a great, hearty meal all on her own from scratch!  For those of you who don’t know, my mum has always done the cooking in my family and shoos me out of the kitchen.  Always has, probably always will so long as I’m living under the same roof.  I consider myself lucky when I can take out my baking sheets and mixing bowls without so much as a frown.  Maybe I’m exaggerating a little.  Point is, I’ve read food magazines since the age of 8, have watched more cooking and food shows than I have anything else, have been fascinated by cooking and baking and the culinary arts for years, but have never truly cooked!

Boiling water for pasta and noodles doesn’t count.  Making sandwiches and salads don’t count.  Or eggs.  I’m not discrediting the preparation of those foods at all because goodness knows making food isn’t a skill you’re just naturally born with, but it’s just different for me because of how I’ve grown up.  I’m not a food blogger with a wealth of cooking experience under her belt and I don’t have a plethora of recipes (although I do hope everyone enjoys the cookie and baking ones I do post!); but what I do have is a willingness to learn and a passion that sees no end.

So, what did I end up making as my very first, real foray into cooking?  VEGAN CHILI!  I cannot tell you how happy and elated I feel about this meal!  I couldn’t stop smiling for the entire day after I made it.  I feel so proud that I did it all on my own and that it didn’t taste awful – I got the thumbs up from both my brother and my mum and I thoroughly enjoyed it myself!  I took a cue from this vegetarian chili recipe from All Recipes.com, modified it, and made it my own.  And best of all, I used the most amazing, delicious and fresh butternut squash from the Evergreen Brick Works farmers’ market to make it!  And if you can believe, it feeds 4 hungry stomachs and is incredibly hearty!  I hope you all enjoy it as much I did!

Bean & Butternut Squash Vegan Chili recipe

Serves 4 to 6

(adapted from “The Best Vegetarian Chili in the World”, allrecipes.com)

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1/2 medium onion, chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 can (28 fl oz/796 mL) no-salt added diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 Tbsp. dried oregano
• 1 can (19 fl oz/540 mL) no-salt added red kidney beans, rinsed
• 1 can (19 fl oz/540 mL) no-salt added mixed bean medley (white kidney beans, chickpeas, romano beans), rinsed
• 1-1/2 cups peeled, chopped butternut squash
• 1 tsp. paprika
• 1/2 Tbsp. crushed red pepper/chili flakes
• 1-1/2 cups water
• 1 can (12 fl oz/341 mL) corn kernels

Directions

1. Heat olive oil in large, deep nonstick skillet on medium heat.  Stir in onion and garlic; cook 3 min. or until onion is tender.  Add tomatoes and oregano; cook 5 min., stirring occasionally.
2. Add beans, butternut squash and spices; stir until evenly combined.  Add water, bring to a boil.
3. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer 25 min.
4. Stir in corn, cook 5 min.  Serve with hummus or avocado.

A Look at This Summer’s First Tasty Thursday at Nathan Phillips Square – Channa and Rice!

As much as I would love to go to Tasty Thursday tomorrow, there is just no way I can.  Tomorrow is expected to be the hottest day of the summer and even though I love my food, even I have limits!  I don’t know how many Tasty Thursdays I’ll be able to attend this summer, but rest assured I’ll make the effort to eat my way through one or two more.  Last Thursday kicked off the first Tasty Thursday of the summer at Nathan Phillips Square and I have the goods to show you all!  I took a bunch of photos of the outdoor food fest’s first day last week and it was great seeing this foodie event get off to such a busy, bustling start.  By 11:30am, there were lines curving around the picnic tables!  I got to Nathan Phillips Square at 11am sharp and got to work snapping pictures and eating 😀

I wasn’t sure what the arrangement would be this year.  Would all of the participating restaurants be there every week?  Would they take turns?  Not all of the participating vendors were present last Thursday, so I’m assuming this just means that the vendors are operating on a rotating basis where some will be there every other week, as opposed to every week, during the duration of the event.  If you’re dead set on grabbing lunch from one particular vendor, this set-up may not make it easier for you, but I actually really like it as it ensures that there’s a different combination of eats every week.  It was really fun jogging from booth to booth seeing the metal trays and bowls being filled with food, snapping photos of said mountains of food (a thank you to everyone who let me snap away!), and hearing the sizzling sounds of grills being fired up. 

There were Caribbean jerk chicken sandwiches, Chinese pork and beef ball skewers, dumplings, Thai mango salad and vegetarian pad thai, Indian butter chicken, and a host of other dishes.  If you’re looking for vegetarian options there are certainly a number of meals to choose from, but I’d say that the options might feel a bit limited depending on which vendors are there during a particular week.  Most of the vendors have one or two vegetarian options, so even though the choices aren’t exactly endless, I’d give the event a look-see regardless.  I sure enjoyed my vegetarian meal of channa and rice last week and I’m curious to see what the other restaurants have to offer.  I’ll definitely write out a list of veggie options and report back the next time I go.

I know with so many options it can feel a little overwhelming, but after giving the vendors a quick once-over, you start narrowing down your choices really quickly.  It boils down to what you feel like at that moment and how hungry you are and for me, these feelings change on a regular basis so I never rule out a specific vendor for the entire summer.  So, onto my process of elimination!  I rarely eat burgers now, so I automatically eliminated that route.  I didn’t feel like anything particularly meaty, so I passed on the Caribbean jerk meat and the Greek souvlaki, pork, and gyros.  My tummy wasn’t craving anything  Chinese or Thai that day and although the Peruvian food was calling my name, I wanted to try something I hadn’t already tried last summer.  After some careful consideration and a lot of running back and forth between vendors, I chose the channa and rice meal with salad from Kathmandu’s as my first Tasty Thursday meal of the summer.  And I’m really glad I did!

Their channa and rice meal was priced at $5 and I got bang for my buck with this one!  I was given a large square container with basmati rice, a green salad with lettuce, cucumber, carrots, and green bell pepper, and heaping spoonfuls of hot chickpeas smothered in sauce that tasted like a mixture of tomato, cream, and spices.  I’m not sure what the combination of spices were in the channa, but I’ll find out the next time I go.  The channa wasn’t overly spicy and the level of heat was perfect.  There was just enough kick to make it really yummy and even my brother, who has a low tolerance for spicy food, really liked it when I gave him some to try.  I really wouldn’t worry about the spiciness with this meal as they give you plenty of rice and salad to tame the existing heat and to mop up any extra sauce.  The chickpeas were tender, the rice was soft and fluffy, and I even thoroughly enjoyed my salad (I know, it’s just salad!) which was fresh and crunchy.

Even though I lamented at the fact that they raised the maximum price point for certain items from $5 to $7 this summer, this was definitely a great kick-off and I’m really looking forward to trying out a bunch of other dishes!

*****

Nathan Phillips Square is located at 100 Queen St. West at the intersection of Queen and Bay St.  Tasty Thursdays takes place every Thursday from 11am-2pm from July 14th-September 1st, 2011.  All food items are $7 or less.  For more information on which restaurants and vendors are participating this summer, click here.

Weekly Feature: The Grad Lounge – Chickpea, Quinoa, and Red Pepper Stew

Yet another great healthy meal dished out by The Grad Lounge!  A warm vegetable stew of chickpeas, quinoa, and roasted red peppers served over rice with a side spring mix green salad.  It was the first time I had seen it on their daily specials menu and you know me and new things; I pounced on it!  Sometimes it really amazes me how many new things I’ve integrated into my diet over the past four years and how I can’t imagine my life without them now.  Lentils, falafel, avocado, okra, kale – I love them all, and I’m so glad that I’ve added quinoa to this list too! 

Pronounced “keen-wah”, it’s a great high protein, gluten-free alternative to wheat grains.  It’s a fantastic food for those who follow a plant-based diet and you eat it much the same way you would rice, corn, and cous cous.  When cooked, quinoa is fluffy in texture with a beady kind of bite to it.  It’s tiny-tiny like cous cous and is pale and a bit translucent.  The first time I ate quinoa was at Kale Eatery last September, with portobello mushrooms.  To me it tastes like cous cous, only a tiny bit chewier and fluffier 🙂  Although I enjoy rice, I really love eating other grains too and I’m excited to try other dishes with it and to use it in some breakfast yogurt!

*****

The Grad Lounge is located at 166 South Ross at the York University Keele campus.  Starting today (Monday, April 11th), The Grad Lounge will be changing their hours to summer hours until September.  Summer operating hours are from 12pm-6:30pm, Monday to Friday.