Vegan Chili (composed of Veracruz Sauce, Tomato sauce, and toppings together)

How to read this recipe:

– Look at all ingredients for Veracruz Sauce, Tomato Sauce, and prepare them all as dictated before starting.

– Ensure that you have 1 large stock pot, a blender or a hand-blender, and one sauce pan.

– Follow the order as written.

– If you need more salt, add more miso, soy sauce, or salt before serving.

Veracruz Sauce

Needs: Stovetop burner

8 Roma tomatoes (optional) sliced in half with cores removed

2 Red Bell peppers – Deseed and cut into large halves

2-3 Jalapenos – Deseed if you don’t want this too be too spicy

1 large yellow onion (or 2 small ones) – Cut in half

Instructions

– On your stove top burners, place the jalapenos, tomatoes (optional), onions, and red bell peppers over the flame.

– Place until relatively charred and blistered then rotate. Repeat until there is decent blistering over each ingredient.

– Reserve the veggies on the side

– Gentle note: Please open your windows and allow the air ventilation to prevent your home from becoming too smoky.

Tomato Sauce
Needs: One large stock pot for chili, one sautee pan for garlic

– 1 large can of crushed tomatoes/whole peeled tomatoes/diced tomatoes

– 1 spoonful of tomato puree

– 6 – 8 cloves of garlic crushed and minced

– 3 – 5 tablespoons of olive oil (enough to coat the bottom but not drown ingredients in 2 pots)

3 – 5 large spoonfuls of miso paste

2-3 Bay leaves

Instructions: Stockpot

– Pour some of the olive oil into a stockpot.

– Pour in the reserved ingredients from the Veracruz sauce into your stockpot.

– Add a spoonful of tomato puree

– Cook for 5 – 10 minutes on high heat. Mix the veggies

– Add the large can of tomatoes. Then place a lid on top of the stockpot.

– When it starts to bubble, mix and lower to medium heat

– Add your 3-5 spoonfuls of miso (Remember, if you want more salt, you can always add more miso later)

– Set aside your pot off the burner onto a stable platform. Place a mitten to prevent the hot pot from damaging your surface. Please be careful with your pot.

Instructions: Sautee pan (Do this while waiting for those 5 – 10 minutes)

– Add some olive oil into a pan and place on medium heat

– Add your garlic

– Wait until the garlic is browned (1-3 minutes

– Pour the olive oil and browned garlic into the stock pot

Blend the soup
Instructions:

Needs: hand blender or blender

– When the sauce is HOT, move the entire pot onto a stable surface.

– Use a hand blender to blend the ingredients in the pot (you can pour the ingredients into a blender too). Please hold onto the handle of the stock pot to prevent the pot from flying out

– Return the pot to the stovetop and heat on medium heat.

– Add your bay leaves.

Toppings:

– 1-2 small cans of black beans (washed with cold water until it runs clear)

– 1-2 small cans of pinto beans (washed and dried)
–
Optional: 4 Diced dried tofu (dou gan) blocks

Instructions:

– Add all ingredients into Pot One. Then place on medium high heat. When bubbly, reduce to low to medium-low.

– Stir and scrape the bottom to prevent burning.

– Cook and reduce for about 30 minutes to 1 ½ hours.

– Taste repeatedly to see if the salt levels are correct. If it needs more
– salt, add salt or miso. If it needs less salt, add a touch of water.

– Serve

With the holiday season approaching soon, we’re sure that you’ll be looking forward to eating a delicious meal with your friends and family. But what about dealing with the scraps and leftovers after friends and family are gone?

Instead of throwing your hard earned meal into the trash can, follow these recipes from Grades of Green Mentor and former chef, Jordan, to create new delicious dishes and memories.

Post-Holiday Soup

Soup is a versatile dish that can be used for many things. Soup can be eaten as-is, used as a base for noodles, it can be used to cook rice in a rice cooker, and it can be used to make risotto as well. Use it to make a ramen, pasta, or rice dish!

1 set of Turkey or Chicken Bones and poultry leftovers

Salt

Water

Any combination of the following leftovers you may have:

– 1 – 8 Celery stalks

– 1 – 4 Potatoes

– 1 – 4 Carrots

– 1 – 3 Onions

– 4 – 8 Cloves of Garlic

– 1 – 3 Large Tomatoes

– Up to 8 Sage leaves

Steps

– Optional: Roast the turkey bones at 400 F or 200 C for 30 minutes for more intense flavors

– Place bones and poultry leftovers into a large stock pot

– Place any leftovers into the pot

– Fill the pot with water ¾ of the way full or until you are satisfied. Do not fill above ¾ of the stock pot.

– Place the heat on high and boil the pot.

– Once the pot reaches a boil, place a lid on the pot and reduce the heat to low.

– Simmer for at least 30 minutes. You can continue simmering for as long as there is enough water to prevent burning.

– Optional: Skim scum off of the top of the soup with a ladle or a wooden spoon during this time to create a clearer broth.


– Salt to taste

– Strain the bones and vegetables and place the soup into containers. Do not place the lid on while the soup is hot.

– When the soup is not radiating heat through the containers, you may place a lid on the containers and refrigerate or freeze.

– Please use or freeze the soup within 5 days.

Stuffing With Leftovers

Leftover Stuffing is a tasty way to get rid of your leftovers. By mixing leftover ingredients like pulled turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans, into your stuffing, you can easily rebake another few meals.

– 1-2 quarts of leftover stuffing OR 2 loaves of bread cut into small cubes

– 1 cup of stock or water

– ½ stick of butter OR 6-7 tablespoons of olive oil

– ½ – 1 quart total of any of the following:

Turkey (pulled into small bite sized pieces)

Chopped Sausage

Vegetables

Mashed potatoes

Steps

– Preheat an oven to 350 F or 176 C

– Use ½ stick of butter or olive oil to coat a baking pan. Thoroughly grease the pan.

– Mix leftover stuffing OR cubed bread with leftover ingredients and stock. Place food in the baking pan and cover with a lid or aluminum foil.

– Bake for 30 – 40 minutes.

– Serve!

Vegan Demi-glace

Save your food scraps! Vegetable peels, ends, stems, skins, and washed roots are all used by chefs to create savory stocks to make risottos, sauces, and soup bases, among other things. So save your vegetable leftovers in containers in the fridge or freeze your leftovers until you have enough. These scraps can be used to create a Demi glace or jus- a savory, thick sauce that can act as a gravy that coats roasted vegetables, steaks, pastas, breads, mashed potatoes, or whatever you’d like. Traditionally, demi glaces and jus take a lot of space, time to reduce, and loads of meat. Vegetarian Demi Glace has the ability to impart as much flavor (and possibly even more) as a traditional demi glace because of the sheer amount of different umami compounds from different vegetable scraps without taking loads of space. With a little xanthan gum, pectin, or cornstarch, you can create the same texture as a gravy or slow cooked sauce in an instant.

– 4-5 quarts of veggie scraps (NOTE: mushrooms, eggplants, broccoli, garlic, celery, cauliflower are the best scraps to use for this. Please limit beets, carrots, onions, parsnips, beets to 2 quarts out of the 4-5 quarts to prevent the glace from being too sweet)

– 6 inches of dried kombu (thick dried seaweed)

– 1 tablespoon of tomato puree

– 6-7 tablespoons of olive oil

– 2 ½ quarts of water (or until the veggies in tray are covered)

– 1 teaspoons of pectin OR xanthan gum OR cornstarch*
(If using cornstarch, boil 1 cup of water and add 1 teaspoon of cornstarch before using).

– Salt

Steps

– Heat oven to 300 F or 149 C

– Mix all the veggie scraps, tomato puree, olive oil, and kombu very well in a tall baking tray. Spread out the veggies as well as you can for even cooking.

– Place the baking tray into the oven for 40 – 60 minutes. Check and stir the scraps every 20 minutes.

– Once the scraps look heavily browned or blackened. Place 2 1/2 quarts of water into the baking tray. Be careful and do not burn yourself.

– Roast the tray again for 30 – 40 minutes

– While the tray is roasting, mix your xanthan gum/pectin and salt. Stir well. *If using cornstarch, mix the cornstarch slushie with salt. Stir well.

– Remove the tray from the oven.
– Strain the sauce from the container into a pot. Use a ladle, pour, or a sieve. Please don’t burn yourself. The leftover vegetables can then be composted.

– On medium heat, reduce the sauce for 20 minutes.

– Add your xanthan gum/pectin/cornstarch and water mixture. Please only use one option here.

– Salt to taste and stir well. The sauce should be thick enough to coat a spoon.

– Pour the sauce over your favorite foods and enjoy!

Sustainable Summer Recipes

Did you know that the choices that you make in the kitchen can help you be more eco friendly? Some foods use up more water and energy to produce and some foods are obtained through unsustainable means. Fret not! Ex-chef and Program Advisor Jordan has ways to help YOU make environmentally conscious choices with summer’s best ingredients! So try these summer recipes without guilt to impress your friends and fellow environmentalists! Let’s get cooking!

Corn Salsa

2 pounds of diced tomatoes

1/2 a red onion, diced

1 jalapeno de-seeded and membranes removed

1 bunch of cilantro, finely chopped

Salt

Juice from 1 lime

1 – 2 corn cobs or 1 cup of frozen corn

Instructions:

-Bring a pot of water to a boil and boil the corn cobs for about 10 minutes. Remove the cobs from the pot with tongs and use a sharp knife to cut the kernels off the cob. Reserve in a bowl. If using frozen corn instead of fresh corn, simply microwave a bowl with frozen corn for 2-3 minutes. Reserve for later

– EITHER blend the tomatoes, onions, jalapenos, lime juice in a blender for a few seconds and place in a bowl OR finely chop the tomatoes, red onion, jalapeno, and cilantro and place the ingredients in a bowl

– add corn, cilantro, and lime juice to the salsa mixture. Then add salt to your desired taste.

The salsa can be served cold with chips or heated up and served as a flavorful tomato sauce over pasta.

Pan Fried Summer Squash

2 pounds of any of the following squash: crookneck, scallop, straightneck, or zucchini (feel free to mix and match!).

2-4 table spoons of peanut oil or olive oil (depends on the size of your pan)

Salt

Instructions:

– Use a sharp knife to cube the squash. Cutting at a bias into 2 inch “diamonds” can create better grill marks due to more surface area touching a pan or a grill.

-Turn on your kitchen fan or open a window and heat a pan to medium-high and add oil until the surface of your pan is completely covered. Wait for about 30 seconds or until the oil starts to shimmer.

– Make sure that the squash is not wet and add your squash and be careful of oil splatter. Move around the pan until so that the squash is touching the pan on not stacked on top of each other. Then leave on the pan for 4 minutes WITHOUT MOVING. Look for golden grill marks.

– After 4 minutes, rotate the squash so that the un-cooked surface is now touching the pan. Cook for 2 more minutes. Smaller pieces will take less time to cook and larger pieces will require more time, so adjust cooking times accordingly

– Salt to taste and serve!

This dish is perfect with salads, bread, and charcutterie!

Summer Pickles

1 cup hot water

1/2 cup rice-wine vinegar

6 tbsp sugar

2 1/4 tsp coarse kosher salt

1 table spoon of lemon or orange zest

2 cups of any combination of the following ingredients chopped into bite-sized pieces: shallots, green beans, cucumbers, beets, watermelon rinds. Make sure that the ingredients can fit in your jar.

Instructions:

– In a pot, bring water to a boil in a pot and blanch the shallots and green beans for 1 minute. Do not blanch cucumbers if using. OPTIONAL: chill the ingredients in an ice bath after blanching for improved texture.

– In a clean jar, pack in the shallots, green beans, and cucumbers.

– Pour the rice-wine vinegar, hot water, salt, sugar, and lemon/orange zest into the jar of pickles. Cover the vegetables entirely with this brine

– Place a lid on the jar and refrigerate. Wait for 4 days before serving.

These pickles should last for at least 6 weeks in the refrigerator!

Stay tuned for more environmentally recipes in near future!

Elementary, middle, and high school students from Grades of Green schools in Santa Monica, together with community and environmental activists, made impassioned pleas to the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Board of Trustees this month to embrace sustainability throughout the district.  Seventy speakers were slated to testify about the necessity and benefits of long range sustainability planning.  Santa Monica High School students, some wearing “litter costumes”, shared data they collected while researching environmental concerns on their campus.  Waste, litter, plastic pollution, and water quality were some of the issues raised.  Even Grades of Green Youth Corps Eco-Leader Johanna J. joined the meeting to talk about her research on the environmental benefits of being vegan. Each speaker was allotted one minute to present their case. 

These students ROCKED the chamber.  Their voices were loud and their message was clear – include sustainability in the district’s mission, hire a sustainability officer, and establish a sustainability committee. 

These kids care about their planet and they stepped up to participate in the democratic process!  Want to learn ways that your school can care for the planet and implement an environmental activity like the Santa Monica Grades of Green students? Click here to register and unlock Grades of Green’s 40+ Activities. Interested in taking on an environmental activity of your own like Johanna? Click here to learn about Grades of Green’s Youth Corps Eco-Leadership program!

 

Grades of Green celebrated Earth Day by attending the 25th annual Earth Day Celebration at Polliwog Park in Manhattan Beach! The event featured booths with aquarium touch tanks, soy candles, and just about everything in between. Thanks to volunteers from the Manhattan-Hermosa Chapter of the National Charity League and Youth Corps Eco-Leadership students Rylee G., Noah S. Carter C., Elise Y., Nadia W., Johanna J., guests at the Grades of Green booth had the chance to either spin the Grades of Green Jeopardy Wheel and learn fun facts about the environment or take a pledge to help the environment.

Youth Corps Eco-Leadership students were even invited to give presentations on the Eco-Education stage! Johanna J. spoke about her research on vegan diets and how they impact the environment, Emily H. spoke about the Green King and Queen competition she set up at her school, Nathalie A. spoke about her earth hour event, Nadia W. spoke about her lesson on ocean pollution, and Elise Y. spoke about her work on installing a native garden on campus. To top it all off, Grades of Green Youth Corps Eco-Leadership students Allie K., Elise Y., and Maxine F. even received Environmental Hero awards from V.O.I.C.E.! Interested in becoming an eco-leader? Click here to learn more about Grades of Green’s Youth Corps Eco-Leadership program. Interested in keeping the spirit of Earth Day going all year long? Click here to register and unlock Grades of Green’s 40+ Activities to see ways you can make your school community more green!