Once or twice a year I pull out the lame tights.

Lame, pronounced with an ‘a’ at the end. Not stupid tights. There is nothing stupid about these tights.

My old roommate has a plethora of lame, which is somewhat confusing unless you know Patty. She is a roller derby girl. She has Hollywood hair. She was a Mexican wrestler for Halloween. She loves comic books and nerding out with her boyfriend, yet looks like a model. Hipster glasses and all.

She has lame in all shapes, sizes and colors.

I have used the tights, booty shorts and the gold bikini top for a smattering of events ranging from Halloween to Rocky Horror and, most importantly, the Pride Parade.

There is something so wonderful about seeing hoards of people gather in the streets of Seattle to celebrate diversity, tolerance and love. This year, the city expected 150,000 people. When 500,000 people showed up, records were broken, and the people celebrated with dancing, nudity and so much love you felt it if you came within a mile of the city.

To march with my co-workers for a hospital that proudly supports ALL families was overwhelmingly awesome. I was filled with giddiness about marriage equality in my state and the potential for it to spread nationwide.

I spent the day marching, shaking my groove thing and collecting a stash of buttons, sunglasses and beads. I can’t say no to free things—I even took a rainbow striped rubber duck (just what I need after giving eight boxes of stuff to the goodwill… woops)

Needless to say my weekend was epic, which I made even more epic by whipping up an unusual tomatillo chile and jalapeno cornbread. All of this deliciousness came from Veganomicon—a cookbook I am growing to love more and more. The recipes can appear somewhat daunting with their two page lists of ingredients, but they have always turned out really tasty. They also have an awesome index in the back of the book with menu plans, and they give nice tutorials on the basics of vegan cooking. Sometimes it is nice to have a cookbook that tells you how to correctly cook bulgar, you know?

The two authors seem like really cool ladies. They seem like the kind of gals that intimidate you with their hipness and then woo you over with their warm heartedness and mad skills in the kitchen. You should probably check out all of their amazing recipes. 

Vegan Chili Verde with Jalapeno Cornbread

I recommend getting all of the chili going and then making the cornbread while the soup simmers and the flavors start to tango—the longer the simmering, the tastier the soup.

Adapted from Veganomicon

Chili Verde

1 tbsp olive/coconut oil

1 medium yellow onion, minced

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp salt (more to taste if you would like)

¼ cup dry white wine

1 lbs tomatillos, paper removed, washed and diced

3 cloves of garlic, diced

3 jalapeno peppers, de-seeded and diced

2 Pablano peppers, de-seeded and diced

¼ cup green onion, diced

2 granny smith apples, cored, and cut into chunks

1/3 cup cilantro

2 cups veggie stock (add more depending on what kind of consistency you want for the soup)

½ lbs of small, white potatoes

1 can of small white beans (I used cannellini)

Jalapeno Cornbread

2 tsp olive oil

3 jalapeno peppers, de-seeded and diced

1 small yellow onion (which I forgot, and used a small shallot—worked well), diced

2 cups corn meal

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

2 tsp baking powder

¼ cup sugar

1 tsp salt

1/3 cup oil

2 cups soy milk

2 tsp apple cider vinegar

1 cup frozen corn (optional: I love having bits and pieces of corn mixed in. Surprise!)

• Start the potatoes: add chopped potatoes to a pot, fill the pot with water to cover the potatoes, bring the water to a boil, reduce heat to med and cook for 20ish minutes until the potatoes are soft.
• Heat one tbsp of oil in your soup pot on med/high heat. Saute onions, jalapenos and pablanos for 5 minutes until the onions get that mouth watering smell and start to soften. Add in the cumin and salt.
• Add in garlic, green onions, cilantro and tomatillos and saute for another 3-5 minutes, than add the white wine. Let everything saute for a few more minutes.
• Add in the veggie stock and the apples. Turn heat to medium/low and let simmer for 20 minutes, this is when you start on the corn bread.

CORN BREAD BREAK

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
• Mix the soy milk and apple cider vinegar together and set aside to let it curdle (yum).
• Saute cut up shallot/onion and jalapenos in the oil. I did mine in my cast iron, and then you don’t have to wash it—as you bake the corn bread in there too! Winning!
• While those are sauteing, sift together all the dry ingredients. Stir together and then make a well in the middle to pour the soy milk mixture into.
• Mix together and add in the oil.
• If you haven’t removed the sauteed onions/jalapenos, do so now and then add the batter into the warm and oiled cast iron. You can either top the corn bread with the onions/jalapenos or you can mix it into the batter before you pour it all back into the cast iron.
• Pop the cornbread into the oven for 30 minutes, or until the toothpick comes out clean.

BACK TO CHILI!

• Now that everything is all delish, whip out the old immersion blender. For those that don’t have this tool (you should probably get one), transfer batches of the soup into a blender or food processor and blend until mixed. I left some chunks. I like things a bit chunky.
• After you have reached your perfect consistency, add in the beans and the boiled potatoes and let everything warm up and mingle until the corn bread is done.
• The ladies recommend adding in a tablespoon or so of sugar into the chili if the tomatillos are too bitter, I added just a dash and it was perfect.
• Let the cornbread cool just a bit, smear some honey on that bad boy, top off your chili with some avocado and cilantro and then dig on. OH HOW DELICIOUS!!

All of that chili in my belly, all that support and rallying around love, so many smiles… it was a good weekend.

Make love legal, people. Make love legal.