Recipe Makeover

My folder of bookmarks in Firefox is getting once again stuffed to the gills with recipe links I'd like to try when the time is right. The time, right now, is not right for most of them because it's damn hot and turning on the oven for any length of time or doing a lot of work with the stove is just not appealing. So as the bookmarks build up, some of the recipes that would be suitable for this appalling time of year (which lasts here in Central Texas well into October) get lost in the shuffle until I get ambitious and try to sort them out.

Take this recipe for vegan fajitas, Gentle Reader. It probably sat amongst dozens of other bookmarked links for half a dozen or more weeks until I rediscovered it late last week. (Yes, Gentle Reader, here's my mea culpa: I'm just now getting around to posting about this culinary misadventure. So sue me. It'll be like getting blood from a turnip.) Or, I suppose, another way of looking at this situation is this: It was just waiting for me for when I had all the ingredients I needed, particularly the yellow horn squash and zuccs, along with the red bell pepper.

Well, however you want to view this opportunity, last Friday I decided the husband and I would have fish tacos, and I wanted some veggies to go along with. The vegan fajitas recipe could finally make its debut...sort of.

Vegan Fajitas1/4 C olive oil
1/4 C red wine vinegar
1 t dried oregano
1 t chili powder
1 t white sugar
Garlic salt to taste
Salt and pepper to taste
2 small zucchini squash, julienned
2 medium small yellow squash, julienned
1 large onion, sliced
1 green bell pepper, cut into thin strips
1 red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
2 T olive oil
1 8.75-oz. can whole kernel corn, drained
1 15-oz. can black beans, drained

1. In a large bowl, combine the quarter-cup of olive oil, vinegar, oregano, chili powder, garlic salt, salt, pepper and sugar.
   
2. To the marinade add the zucchini, yellow squash, onion, green pepper and red pepper.
   
3. Marinate the vegetables in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, but not more than 24 hours.
   
4. Heat the 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
5. Drain the marinating vegetables, and saute them until tender, about 10-15 min.
   
6. Stir in the corn and beans.
   
7. Increase the heat to high for 5 min. to brown vegetables.

Yield: 6 servings of undetermined size/quantity

Nutritional Info
Calories: 262
Fat: 14.6g
Sodium: 544 mg
Carbs: 29.5 g
Fiber: 8.6 g
Protein: 7.2 g

The Faudie's Futzings
Here's the thing about the recipes posted to AllRecipes.com: I don't trust them completely at first glance. Since anyone can upload recipes, as evidenced by the angel food cupcakes recipe, a person never knows if a recipe is going to turn out well or if it's utter shit.

That's why, Gentle Reader, I take a few moments to browse the comments and reviews. Granted, most of them are very unhelpful notes such as "Wow, this was great! We'll definitely have it again!" or "My husband ate every bite--and he's a picky eater!" (with assorted misspellings and grammar errors, of course). Other reviewers have noted how they plan to change the recipe "next time" or note how they did change the recipe when they prepared it. I pay particular attention to those reviews because they'll often note why the changes were made, such as not enough of a particular expected flavor or too much of a flavor; complaints about overly dense, oily or other final textures that challenged the food item's palatability, along with the occasional out-of-left field futzings note, such as this one:

just made this for supper -it was so easy. i did make quite a few changes, mrs dash instead of the oregano, added some leftover chicken, served it in tortillas with sliced avocado and dressing inside (mayo, ketchup,chili powder & garlic powder).

Hey, let's take a vegan recipe and add some chicken! That's really priceless, but what makes this review even more precious is the parenthetical explanation of the dressing used. Mmmm...mayo and ketchup. Nothing says authentic Tex-Mex like two of the four primary components of Thousand Island dressing, aka McD's "secret sauce"! (Sugar and relish are, in my book, the other two primary ingredients.)

As f'in hilarious as this particular review is, I did take a few hints from some of the more helpful ones and made over the recipe to some degree. Here it is:

The Faudie's Futzed Vegan Fajitas
or
The Faudie's Marinated Veggies for Fajitas, Tacos or Whatever1 T olive oil
Juice of half of a large lemon
1/2 t dried oregano
1/2 t red chili powder
1/2 t cinnamon
1/2 t cumin
1/2 t garlic paste
3/4 t minced fresh cilantro
1 packet PureVida stevia (equal to 2 t of sugar)
1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded and sliced into strips*
1 yellow horn squash, sliced*

1. In a large bowl, combine the olive oil, spices, garlic paste, stevia, lemon juice and cilantro, whisking lightly.
   
2. To the marinade add the yellow squash and red bell pepper, tossing lightly to coat.
   
3. Marinate the vegetables in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, but not more than 24 hours.
   
4. Fifteen to 20 minutes before mealtime, heat a skillet or wok over medium-high heat.
   
5. Pour the contents of the large bowl carefully into the wok or skillet, then saute until all the veggies are tender.
   
6. Turn off the heat and allow the diners to serve themselves from the skillet or wok using tongs, a slotted serving spoon or their fingers (at their own peril).

The serving yield will depend on how thinly or thickly you slice your veggies and, of course, the size of those veggies to start and, naturally, how piggie your diners are. I'm lucky because the squash slices are all mine! The husband and I shared the bell pepper slices.

I will say this, Gentle Reader, about my made-over recipe: I'd probably reduce the cinnamon to a quarter-teaspoon next time. But if you really like cinnamon (as the husband did), you can keep it at a half-teaspoon, but then I'd recommend increasing the amount of heat-giving spices or replacing the red chili powder with cayenne. Just a thought.

Oh, here's another note: If you don't have garlic paste, just throw in a teaspoon or two cloves' worth of minced garlic. I just happen to have garlic paste that I wanted to use, and I thought it might combine better into the marinade than minced garlic.

*You could also include green bell peppers--or bell peppers of any color--as well as a zucchini, as the original recipe does. Since just the husband and I were dining on fish tacos and veggies that night, I only used a yellow horn and a red bell.