Today’s guest post is from the lovely Casey Barber of Good. Food. Stories. I love Casey because she’s whip-smart, cute as a button and just as passionate about food as I am. I wish she lived closer, but until we get to visit again, I’m stoked to feature here on Wasabimon! And I’ll be enjoying these tempura green beans while thinking of her.

For the most part, I don’t consider myself a trendy person. I love the classic shapes of LL Bean Boat & Tote bags, the modestly retro look of a granny cardigan, and the clean lines of Mission furniture. But I do like a well-designed buzz item or two (hello Liberty of London for Target) and I especially love to see the trickle-down effect of formerly outr√© trends. Who would have predicted that we’d be seeing Henry Rollins guest-judging on a show called RuPaul’s Drag Race, for which there are massive billboards throughout New York City? Gotta love progress.

In this spirit of trend democratization, I’m tickled pink to see that tempura-fried green beans, which have been a cult favorite on the menu at Manhattan bistro stalwart The Red Cat for, like, a decade, have somehow become the appetizer of choice at TGI Friday’s. No longer just a grazable secret for the gallery hoppers of Chelsea, now even my father-in-law can enjoy a handful of deep-fried veg with his pulled pork sandwich.

This recipe for green beans, modified from a Harold McGee adaptation of a Heston Blumenthal recipe (got that?), takes it one step further by making the dish a ten-minute throw-together snack. It calls for a cup of lager, like Yuengling or Dos Equis, to add flavor and‚ most crucially‚ bubbles to the batter, since the carbonation is what keeps things light and crispy. The beer is diluted by the cup of vodka you’re also throwing in there, but if you’re not comfortable adding it at all, just substitute plain seltzer.

Serve these green beans with your favorite dipping sauce‚ wasabi aioli for an extra layer of heat, honey mustard as a sweet counterpart to the salty veg, or just whip up some ranch dressing to cool everything down. Is there anyone on this earth who doesn’t love ranch dressing? I bet even Henry Rollins can’t resist.

Other posts you’ll like:

• Moroccan Green Bean Tagine (with video!)
• Heather’s Creamy Leek Potato Soup Recipe with Crispy Leek Rings
• Healthy Eating for the Weak and Weary: How to Cook Dried Beans
• Baked Falafel Balls

A while back I made potato kale enchilada recipe from Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero’s Veganomicon. I thought I would make it again, this time with their vegan cilantro sour cream and using rainbow chard instead of kale. I was serving a group of six and everyone was super stoked with the results. The general opinion was, “Wait – you mean we can have enchiladas without feeling bloated and crappy afterwards from gorging ourselves on a pound of cheese per person?” I love cheese as much as the next gal, but it’s just not happening for my physiology lately. Sometimes I lament the loss of the occasional cheesy grease ball, but with alternatives like this dish, I miss it a little less every day.

A few things about this enchilada recipe: first, it takes about two hours to prepare the whole thing, about twice the amount of time that the book calls for (Isa must be a mega-uber enchilada roller or something). Second, since the dish is baked, it has more of a casserole texture. The sauce soaks into the tortillas and you end up with what looks like a messy lasagna if you pack the enchiladas into the pan, so if you’re looking for a more schnazzy presentation, leave a little space between them so you can easily remove them one at a time.

Do you have a favorite enchilada recipe? I’d love to hear it, vegan or otherwise. I’m on a quest for the perfect enchilada!

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I’m excited to announce that I’ve been sponsored for the BlogHer Food ’09 conference by Nasoya Foods. I am honored to receive the invitation, since I’ve been a longtime fan of Nasoya products.

It’s really easy to get burnt out on soy products, especially if you live a vegan or vegetarian lifestyle. After trying a series of vegan condiments, I was stoked to find Nasoya’s Nayonaise, a completely vegan and gluten free mayo option that doesn’t pack the heaviness of other sandwich spreads. Perhaps the best thing about Nayonaise is that it doesn’t have that characteristic “beany” flavor that turns a lot of people off of soy products. Many of my anti-soy friends have really enjoyed this mayo-alternative and never realized it was made of soy.

While I enjoy the original spread, these days my favorite is their dijon style mayo. Their fat free version is wonderful as well, with no added oils.

Thanks, Nasoya, both for the sponsorship and your great spreads!

Ever heard of using zucchini in a hummus recipe? It’s amazing what you’ll come up with when you’ve got fifty zucchinis lying around the house. Anyone with a zucchini plant in their garden probably knows exactly what I’m talking about.

Tonight I was looking for a light summer snack, and I just wasn’t feeling plain greens or carrot sticks. How could I dress them and still adhere to this healthy, somewhat raw diet I’m curious about? Never fear, Gone Raw is here! I did a search for dip, and found several hummus recipes would fit the bill. I frankensteined together a dish from a few they listed, and wow – you almost wouldn’t know that it wasn’t made of chickpeas.

Since it’s made from zucchini, this hummus recipe is very light and fluffy. It’s a perfect summer dip, and if you like, you can cut back on the oil to be a little nicer to your cardiovascular system. It’s perfect for carrots, celery, sliced peppers… you name it!

Here are more great uses for those prolific zukes:
Zucchini Risotto
Sauté of Zucchini, Almonds, and Pecorino
Herbed Zucchini and Feta Quiche with a Brown Rice Crust

Here’s another peachy post for Summer Fest. This week’s theme is stonefruits, and I’ve certainly been eating a lot of them!

It’s nothing new that I love peaches, which I think embody everything that’s good and right about summertime. I usually love them on their own and unadulterated, though occasionally I feel the need to mix it up a little bit. Part of the beauty of peaches is that they go so well with so many things.

I’ve been on a jam kick lately since peaches are the perfect thing to “put up” for winter. When making peach preserves last week, I had an idea – why not add a flavored syrup to the mix? A few days prior I’d cooked up some elderberry syrup for drinks and pancakes, and when combined with peaches, they make for a really sweet, interesting flavor combination. I’ve got all sorts of ideas for this jam, but you’ll have to wait for future posts to see what I’ve got planned!

Making jam is really easy. If you’re not ready for heat canning, this recipe could easily be made into freezer jam, though the consistency won’t be as thick as regular jam.

This isn’t a canning primer – if you need to know how to make preserves, I highly recommend Ball’s Blue Book of Canning, a cheap and exhaustive guide. There are also many awesome Internet resources on making preserves that you can check out. I highly recommend that you familiarize yourself with the basics of heat canning before you undertake a project like this. It’s an easy process, but there are some basic guidelines you need to understand, for your safety and all the folks you’ll be feeding!

I use Pomona’s Universal Pectin when I make preserves, and this recipe is based on the needs of this specific brand. If you’re using something else, you might need to alter the recipe a bit to make sure there’s enough sugar to set your jam. Every brand of pectin is a little different, so make sure you’ve got your measurements right. I like Pomona’s because you don’t have to use a lot of sugar (you could even use honey or agave nectar, if you like), while some brands require that you use more sugar than you do fruit. Ick.

Note: Pomona’s will also let you use Splenda, if you like, but not all brands will. Check your the label on your pectin package before picking a sweetener.

Here you go!

As you’ve probably noticed, I’m obsessed with baking lately. Being gluten free has actually fueled my desire, since it presents more of a challenge than conventional baking – at least in the respect that standard rules don’t always seem to apply. I’ve been reading many books on the subject, and these two are the ones I’ve found to be most helpful for your average home baker:

• Gluten Free Baking Classics by Annalise G. Roberts
• Gluten Free Baking by Rebecca Reilly

Thankfully, both of these books use the same gluten-free flour mixture recipe, as do a few other allergy-friendly baking books, like Allergen-Free Baker’s Handbook by Cybelle Pascal. So, I’m going to continue basing most of my baking experiments off of that. Here it is, in all its glory.