I just couldn’t leave…

…so I’m moving back. Here are the pictures from what I thought was going to be my last night in town dinner. I made BBQ tofu, cornbread, quinoa jambalaya, stuffed mushrooms, and brownies. I started cooking a little after 5 and we were ready to eat at 8. There are pictures and info about the food I made after the jump.

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Isa’s Cornbread - Explains itself. It’s definitely not that sweet, rich cornbread that you might be used to, but it’s nice if you aren’t into that kind of thing. I will say that it needs a bit more moisture. I would make this recipe again if I was in a hurry, but I would probably prefer to find something a bit sweeter and moister. I’m from Mississippi, y’all.

Momma’s Stuffed Mushrooms - My mom made these when I still lived down South. I guess it isn’t a particularly Southern dish, but it’s a nice hor’dourves. And tasty to. Basically, stem some white mushrooms. Chop up the stems into little bitty bits. Then, heat on medium a pan with just a touch of oil or cooking spray and cook both sides of the mushroom caps until they release some juice. Remove the mushrooms from the pan, throw a bit more oil, some finely sliced onions (ooh - I bet it’d be good to caramelize them first if you have the time) garlic, the chopped stems and a bag of spinach in until it’s wilted/reduced & combined. Then just “stuff” the mushroom caps with the spinach mix. The mushrooms will probably have cooled off, so you can easily put the stuffed shrooms in a warm oven to heat them up before you serve them. My mom would top them with cheese — and I guess you could do that…if you’re into that kind of thing.

My Quinoa-Veggie Rainbow Jambalaya

I’m sure kittee — who has a new blog — or any other New Orleanian would never want to call this jambalaya. But I’m sick of rice. So I’ll make my “jambalaya” with quinoa if I damn well please, thank you. So for this I think made 2 cups of dry quinoa and ended up feeding like eight people. I sauteed up some onion, celery, red pepper, carrot, squash & zucchini (it’s also excellent with some Seitan O Greatness chunks). Then I threw in some tamari, some black pepper, a pinch of salt and a few shakes of Creole seasoning mix. I found it easier to stir the can of tomato paste in with the quinoa first, then add it to the veggies. But it’s your prerogative. It’s still damn good.

Easy BBQ Tofu

This was like the easiest dish ever, but only because I cheated and bought BBQ sauce. I drained, pressed and froze two blocks of tofu for about 3 hours. Then I layed them in this glass baking dish and covered them with a bottle of BBQ sauce and threw in some crushed cashews for good measure.