Serious Soy Chorizo Shortage at Trader Joe's Leaves Me Peevish

UPDATE --------------------------------------------------------

Official latest word on the status of Trader Joe's beloved SOYRIZO from Corporate HQ.

"Dear Sara,
Thank you for your feedback.  Our Trader Joe's Soyrizo is currently out of stock in our warehouse and assure you it has not been discontinued. At this time there is no exact date on when it will be available for our stores to order.  We encourage you remain in contact with your local store's Captain or one of the Mate's for availability.

Thank you for shopping at Trader Joe's,
Amy
Customer Relations"

TLDR: Trader Joe's soy chorizo is still MIA with no ETA.

UPDATE --------------------------------------------------------

Originally posted 10/14/13 2:09 PM EST


I have been having a serious craving for soy chorizo from Trader Joe's, so much so that we made the 40 minute pilgrimage to the closest store, in Shrewsbury, MA.

The refrigerated tofu and fake meat section at Trader Joe's was filled with all manner of faux ground beef, "chicken" cutlets, sweet and sour "pork", Tofurkey, firm tofu, silken tofu, and seiten (SATAN!!). Not a speck of soy chorizo though, no matter how hard we looked or how many employees we asked, NOTHING.

I guess I'm going to have to learn how to make my own. Do I have to do everything myself??

Legume Visions and Cruciferous Wishes: Green Tomato Pickles (O Ye of Little Faith!)

Green Tomato Pickles, Before.

Green Tomato Pickles, After.

Don't they look like themselves?

I used much less sugar than the recipe calls for, and added red pepper flakes to give my first batch o pickles a little kick.

Comfort Food in the Form of Khichari (Hindi: खिचड़ी khicaṛī, Urdu: کھچڑی khicṛī) - Reprise

We have had Khichari many times since Winter set in, and today I cooked up a big pot of it to get through the storm.  I highly recommend it!

Red Lentil Khichari

1/3 cup brown rice
1/3 cup red lentils
2 cups water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 medium beet or 2 cups of chopped kale or any other green your little heart desires

Masala:
1 tablespoon grated ginger
2 whole cloves
4 whole black peppercorns
seeds of 1 black cardamom pod

* preheat oven to 450 degrees
* combine rice and lentils in a pan and soak in water (enough to cover) for one hour
* drain, wash, and rinse rice and lentils
* combine with water and salt
* cover and bring to boil over medium heat
* skim off and discard white foam that surfaces
* add beet or other vegetable and masala mixture
* stir and let return to a boil
* cover and simmer over low heat for 30 minutes
* place tightly covered pan of cooked khichari in oven, and turn off heat
* allow to sit for 5-10 minutes to absorb excess moisture
* serve topped with ghee (clarified butter) and 1/8 teaspoon roasted cumin seeds
* not big on butter? substitute bragg's amino acids or your favorite healthfully appropriate margarine to taste

Broccoli Stem Salad, Anyone?

Raj, who is an extremely accomplished cook, served me Broccoli Stem Salad once a few years ago, a delicacy of his own invention. I fell in lurve with the snap and spark of lime juice and black salt blended with an unexpected sweetness from the humble broccoli stems.

Raj's Broccoli Stem Salad

Ingredients

* Stems of one medium-to-largish broccoli, julienned
* Juice of 1 whole lime
* A generous pinch or two of Black Salt
* A dash or two of ground black pepper

Directions

1. Combine ingredients.
2. Taste.
3. Adjust ingredients to your palate.
4. Serve cold.

Legume Visions and Cruciferous Wishes: Cabbage

Long ago during my childhood and adolescence in Southern California's San Fernando Valley, our family would go to The Northwoods Inn in San Gabriel to celebrate some of our special occasions.  Kitsch was, in all probability, actually INVENTED at The Northwoods Inn; from the faux snow on the roof to the peanut shells and sawdust on the floor, "rusticity" abounds.

In spite - or perhaps because of - the tacky appearance of the place, the food at Northwoods is actually quite tasty. In fact there are two dishes from there that I remember with great gustatory fondness, and one of them has to do with cabbage. I've had plans for our first cabbage since their very first planting, and those plans were to recreate The Northwoods Inn Red Cabbage Salad.

Our First-born Cabbage, halved.

In order to do this I had to resort to finding a "Clone" recipe online; rather understandably, The Northwoods Inn does not make their recipes public.  However, thanks to an enterprising Internets Recipe Cloner, I came across this very, very excellent replica at homecooking.about.com.

"This is a clone recipe of the very popular sweet and sour cabbage slaw served at the popular North Woods Inn California restaurant chain. Plan ahead. This salad needs a long marination time. It's good after 48 hours, but even better after 4 or 5 days. This is the perfect make-ahead salad."

Red Cabbage Salad

Ingredients:

* 1/2 head red cabbage
* 1/2 cup vegetable oil
* 1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
* 3 Tbsp sugar
* 2 tsp salt [I omitted this ingredient]
* 1 tsp Lawry's Seasoned Salt
* 1/4 tsp black pepper
* 3/4 tsp onion powder

Directions:

1. Shred half of the cabbage finely and the other half coarsely. Place in a large bowl.
2. Whisk together vegetable oil, red wine vinegar, sugar, salt, seasoned salt, black pepper, and onion powder.
3. Toss the dressing with the cabbage. Scrape the salad with the dressing into a zip-top bag or covered container and refrigerate at least 48 hours or until cabbage turns deep red, softens a bit, and flavors meld. It's even better after 4 or 5 days.

I let our salad sit in the 'fridge in a zip bag for just about 36 hours before serving and it was D.E.L.I.C.I.O.U.S.

Not much left after the meal!

Legume Visions and Cruciferous Wishes: Beets

I am not particularly fond of beets. They have an earthy flavor that is a little too dirt-y for my taste. However. I dearly LOVE beet GREENS and will even go so far as to say that beet greens are my favorite of all the greens we typically consume, and in point of fact I planted the beets specifically for those coveted greens.

However. I cannot in good conscience simply dispose of the Poor Beets, who after all were kind enough to 'bloom' for me when (and where) I planted them. And, when I discovered that beets have medicinal properties and are so particularly good us, I could only move forward with making them more appealing to my palate.

Most fortuitously I came upon this recipe in the New York Times for Grated Raw Beet Salad that began with the following bragotry new word: "People who swear they hate beets love this salad."

Oh ... really? Well, SHOW ME THE YUMMY! :)

I adapted the New York Times recipe for Grated Raw Beet Salad rather liberally; my adapted recipe version is below.

 Mine.

Ingredients

* 2 or 3 medium-to-largish beets
* 3/4 cup orange juice
* Juice of one lime
* Dash onion powder
* 1 tablespoon olive or canola oil
* 1 handful roughly chopped walnuts
* 1 tablespoon crumbled Gorgonzola cheese

Directions

1. Admire the densely packed beet insides, the wave patterns that display layers of carmine and carnelian, sangria and merlot as they twine themselves into heart-ish shapes.
2. Remove the greens and put aside for furture use.
3. Grate or finely chop beets.
4. Combine all ingredients.
5. Taste.
6. Adjust ingredients to your personal liking.
7. Serve straight (as one might serve cranberry sauce or relish) or perched delicately on a romaine lettuce leaf (as one might if one were a NYT Food writer Stylist with a great photographer).

Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times

Legume Visions & Cruciferous Wishes: Beans

Our bean plants have remained unusually small although happily they are quite prolific bean bearers.

I have learned to make Crunchy Crispy Green Beans With Crunchy Peanut Sauce this summer, using variations of random recipes from the Internets; this one, based on a recipe from Food.com, turns out quite nicely. The original recipe called for tofu to make a full-on stir-fry; i prefer to leave the tofu out of it - or serve it separately. Below adaptation is all about the green beans.

Ingredients:

Beans

* 1 cup peanuts, roasted or raw
* 2 tablespoons peanut oil or canola oil
* 2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
* 1 clove minced garlic
* Juice from 1/2 fresh lime
* 1 lb fresh green beans, trimmed and cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
* red pepper flakes

PEANUT SAUCE

* 1/2 cup peanut butter
* 1/2 cup hot water
* 1 generous squirt of Bragg's Amino Acids (a must-have in our kitchen)
* 1 clove minced garlic
* 1 tablespoon seasoned rice vinegar or juice from 1/2 fresh lime
* 1 handful roughly chopped cilantro

Directions:

1. Put a wok or skillet on heat until it gets very hot. Add tablespoon of oil. When the oil is hot, add the peanuts. (The pan should sizzle when they hit.) Reduce heat and stir constantly until peanuts begin to look toasty. Raw peanuts take longer but the wait is very worth it. After the peanuts have achieved toastiness, put them aside.
2. Return the wok or skillet to high heat and add the ginger, garlic, lime juice, and green beans. (Again, the pan should sizzle when they hit.) Stir-fry over high heat for about 5 minutes, then give it a squirt of Bragg's Amino Acids and add red pepper flakes to taste.
3. Using anything that works for you (mortar and pestle, hammer and chisel, your bare hands), crush the peanuts and add them to the skillet.
4. Stir-fry just a few minutes longer, or until the beans are divinely tender-crisp (mostly crisp, but just tender enough).
5. For the peanut sauce, combine peanut butter and water in a bowl; mash and mix until uniform. Add remaining ingredients, and stir until combined. Add a little more water it you prefer it thinner.
6. Add peanut mixture to beans and toss together.
7. Serve over rice or noodles or rice noodles.