Shamelessly Brazen

We've been cleaning out our deep freeze recently, which has meant eating a lot of meat. Chilis, burgers, loaves- all forms of ground beef. Needing some vegetarian intervention (it was actually Reg's suggestion), I went to my source for all things vegetarian- The Brazen Kitchen. My friend Leah is a local chef, food blogger, Jamie Oliver Food Revolution ambassador, and all around great cooking & nutrition reference (not to mention awesome lady and fellow working mama!).

How was my test drive on the brazen side? AMAZING!!!

First- lentil chili with chocolate
I couldnt make this one with as many chipotles as the recipe called for because Mathilda's palate can't handle the spice yet (and, ok, mine isn't so great either), and I think it was missing something without the kick. You don't even really taste the chocolate, it just gives it an earthy sort of mellow flavor. I could eat this for days! And good thing because I made about 25-30 cups of it! (about 18 cups were exchanged to the food co-op, the rest eaten for lunches and dinners this week or frozen in single serve containers for later).


Second- Spanakopita
I'm in love. Rarely can I say the word love when it comes to tofu. Tofu to me (haha) is this necessary vegetarian evil. But frankly, unless its deep fried and covered in some sort of sauce (+MSG), I never think it's that great. These spinach hand pies have tons of crumbled tofu, plus tomatoes, pine nuts, and lemon. DO NOT omit the nuts or the lemon! This recipe is really fantastic! I have to hold myself back from devouring multiple pies per meal. And Mathilda loved them as well- she ate an entire pie for dinner and asked for more! The best part is that they are very simple to make, about 45 min total, and 20 of that is baking. We did it with store bought pie crusts. No, I don't make my own. Come on! Cut me a bit of slack! I make my own baguettes and pizza dough. I draw the line at pie crusts cause a) I like to draw lines; and b) mine are never that good. I prefer Pilsbury brand or generic Pilsbury in the red box. Nope, none of those organic ones, nor the Trader Joe's brand will cut it. Sorry. Did I mention how great these pies were??

filling

finished product!