Thursday, March 5, 2009

Tamale Casserole and Creamy Mac and Cheeze

Since I didn't have a pictures of the Black Bean Tamales from Parker's party, I'll share the tamale casserole I made the next day. I haven't made this in a very long time, but it is great for leftover refried beans. I have to add here canned beans can't come close to dried beans, soaked, slow cooked, etc. (and then some chipotle chillies added), but use canned if that is all you have on hand. Basically, you take some prepared polenta and slice it and cover the bottom of a casserole dish, add a layer of refried beans, and top with your favorite salsa (I used Desert Pepper Peach Mango to add some sweet to the spicy beans). Cook at around 400 for 30 to 45 minutes. Easy peasy and yum. With a big helping of garlicky kale it is a meal. The kids couldn't get enough of the kale. It hit the spot after the weekend party food.I haven't made Vegan Dad's Creamy Mac and Cheeze for a while and I know I've blogged about it before, but I was reminded once again how wonderful it is, especially with steamed broccoli. I had to actually make more broccoli before we finished dinner because Dema requested more. It would be a great sauce to serve on top of broccoli if you don't want to do pasta. I subbed walnuts for the cashews and almonds for the pine nuts (I don't think I've ever actually used pine nuts in this recipe now that I think of it, but any combo of nuts I've used has been great). I served it with a green smoothie (not shone because my kids inhaled it so quickly I couldn't take a picture, but it had kale, frozen mangos, soy yogurt, and coconut milk) because it is finally warm enough for me to feel like making smoothies. Spring really is on the way.

2 comments:

MeloMeals said...

Isn't it great when kids love veggies so much? To this day, broccoli is on the top 5 of my kids favorite foods.. and I think kale is addictive.

VeganLinda said...

It is great! They remind me that I don't need to make anything fancy for them to like it. They are happy with steamed veggies, beans, and fruit. Kale is addictive. I can't believe I never ate it as a kid. I was so missing out!!