Vegetarian Bayou Jambalaya Recipe

Adapted from Rice and Spice by Robin Robertson (Harvard Common Press, 2000).

You won’t miss the meat or seafood in this glorious vegetarian version of the Creole classic. New Orleans fire and flavor along with colorful anti-oxidant nutrition and satisfying ease of preparation. Pure bayou bliss!

INGREDIENTS

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 small onion, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup coarsely chopped celery
1 green bell pepper, coarsely chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 16-ounce cans diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon file powder (look in your local gourmet food store)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 cups cooked or canned pinto beans, rinsed if canned
4 ounces tempeh, cubed
8 ounces vegetarian sausage links, cut into 1-inch pieces
6 cups hot cooked brown rice

1. In a large pot, heat 1 1/2 teaspoons of the oil over medium heat until hot. Add onion, celery, and bell pepper and saute for 5 minutes, or until the vegetables begin to soften. Add garlic, tomatoes, tomato paste, file powder, parsley, Tabasco sauce, salt, and water. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft. Stir in the pinto beans.

2. Meanwhile, heat the remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add tempeh and vegetarian sausage and cook until browned, about 5 minutes.

3. Add tempeh and sausage to tomato mixture and simmer about 5 minutes, until flavors are well blended. Adjust seasonings and serve over hot cooked rice.

Serves 4 to 6.

Sustainable Gardening .101: Small Spaces + Urban Planning

Do you avoid gardening due to a lack of space? Living with limited space should not prohibit you from reaping the benefits of homegrown fresh food. My previous post about kitchen gardens spoke about creating a home garden that is just steps away from your kitchen. Many of the same principles can be employed using a little creativity when growing plants in containers on patios, balconies, rooftops or windowsills.

I recently read, Fresh Food From Small Spaces: The Square Inch Gardener’s Guide to Year-Round Growing, Fermenting, and Sprouting, by R.J. Ruppenthal. He claims that it’s possible for a person to produce 20% of their own food in a small space. Ruppenthal, a California attorney and professor, has lived in city homes and feeds his family homegrown food 365 days per year. His book is a practical primer for urban food production grown in small spaces. It gives advice on many aspects of container gardening, from growing vegetable crops to making yogurt. The chapter on composting with worms gives a detailed account on how worms generate healthful fertilizer for plants. I knew worms were advantageous to composting, but I was fascinated to learn that using worms for composting will make plants stronger and more pest-resistant.

Here are some questions and answers adapted from an interview with R.J. Ruppenthal:

What if your home has no yard, no soil?

Get a container and fill it with good soil and organic fertilizer. Some low maintenance vegetables include: lettuce, tomatoes, spinach, carrots and beets. Depending on your climate and what you like to eat, you could grow fruit too.

What is a misconception about gardening in a small space?

Conventional wisdom holds that vegetable gardening requires 6-8 hours of direct sunlight per day. Some vegetables can be sprouted inside with space and light restrictions.

How can people who live in small spaces gain more control over what they eat and can they become more reliant?

Growing fresh food is a positive step toward sustainability. With rising food prices, you can save money and lessen your carbon footprint by rescuing the resources that are wasted on food production.

How about urban farmers markets?

Farmers markets are important. They support small farmers, who get a direct local outlet for their produce. City folk are attracted to farmers markets because the food is grown with great care and just picked and people like having a connection to something that is real.

Farm to table promotes sustainable, local agriculture, but backyard or container to table gardens are about as close to nature that your taste buds can get. Do you have a garden at your home? If not, here are 10 inspiring small gardens from Apartment Therapy’s, The Kitchen. Do you have a garden at your home?

Sustainable Gardening .101: Kitchen Gardens

Do you know where your food comes from? In the last few months there has been a flurry of books and articles on the subject of sustainable food. First Lady, Michelle Obama, helped break ground on a new White House organic “kitchen garden”. The White House kitchen garden will be the first working garden since Eleanor Roosevelt planted a so-called “victory garden” at the height of World War II. The Obamas’ garden with its proposed 55 varieties of vegetables sends a message about where they want their food to come from.

Home kitchen gardens can be one of the most sustainable food options for people who want to know where their food comes from. Kitchen gardens can provide a living tapestry of healthy vegetables and fruits, just steps away from your kitchen. My family's kitchen garden is an integral part of our home. It sits a stones throw from our kitchen out the back door. We know where to go when someone says, “I need chives for the soup” or, “Who wants to help with the salad?”

The French have been designing jardin potagers, or kitchen gardens, for centuries. Kitchen gardens serve as functional, practical and beautiful additions to many homes. These gardens are typically located outside of a kitchen and include herbs, vegetables and fruits. Some kitchen gardens contain medicinal plants and flowers. Having immediate access from the kitchen is optimal for harvesting while cooking. Kitchen gardens can be easier to tend because they have clearly defined beds and paths.

Creating a bountiful kitchen garden can be an economical and healthy addition your home. Planned kitchen gardens still have an element of trial and error, like all gardens, but worth the experimentation.

What you need:
• graph paper
• wooden dividers or an arrangement of pots
• watering supply
• trellises or stakes
• sunlight
• plants-vegetables, fruits, herbs, flowers

Here are some things to consider when planning a kitchen garden:
• Divide each bed into rectangles (or whatever shape will fit in your space).
• Plot out on graph paper the types and numbers of plants you think you’ll be able to fit into the space. Raised beds will allow for a more efficient use of space.
• It’s said that vegetables are like people, they thrive on companionship. Vegetables may yield up to twice as much when they are surrounded with companion plants. Here is an article about companion planting that outlines which vegetables are best friends.
• Think about combining plants that will create patterns of color and texture: a square of red leaf lettuce with deep green basil in the middle; the ferny fronds of fennel surrounding the bold leaves of cabbage.
• Plan for the spread and height of each vegetable, so the beds don’t get too overgrown, and so you’re able to find and reach the vegetables as they ripen.
• Plant intensively and close together so that there is little room for weeds and the plants shade each other.

I'll post some more next time for would-be gardener's with small spaces. (Urban planners? Have hope!)