Maybe I was Italian in another life. I live my life as an Irish&Polish American proudly. I take an extra shot of Jameson for Grandma and Grandpa and pour one out for my DziaDzio, wherever he may be. I like to embrace my heritage, mostly because it helps shape who I am, but also because I can't change it. So if you don't embrace it, then what else do you do? Ignore it? Anyways I'm trying to talk about how I'm not Italian, but find some sort of affinity with Italian food. I know the flavors really well, I know the methods and the traditional concepts, and really, when I'm craving something, it almost always has pasta to do with it. Maybe I just love American food that's influenced by Italian food. Okay, maybe I don't really know what affinity means.

Italian Wedding Soup

I have heard of and even seen red quinoa at the store and wanted to be adventurous and try it sometime soon, but stumbled across black quinoa in the bulk bins, and danced on the dangerous side and bought a few cups of it, you know, to live on the wild side, cut loose, spice things up.. etc.
So I had my suspicions about black grains. This may not or may be due to this time 5 years ago or something when I made wild rice and had the same silly ideas about getting amped to eat healthy food, thinking it was gonna be great with little effort or gameplan. And it was really just horrible. It took me about 4 more years to give even brown rice another shot after that. But now that brown rice and I are friends, I bought some black quinoa under the same delusions I once labored the day I made wild rice for the first time. I really love plain quinoa just as is, with some salt, pepper, olive oil and paprika or whatever. So I figured I would start the same way with the black quinoa. It has a funny smell that regular quinoa doesn't have and I tasted it first, pre-seasoning, and didn't like it at all. I threw in some onion, garic, red vinegar, and agave with a ton of salt and pepper, but it still wasn't great.
How do you make something that just isn't very good taste good? Guacamole of course.
Alongside is italian-y seitan with breadcrumbs and kale covered in garlicky creamy cashew sauce. I just realized that I get myself to eat healthy food by dousing it in stuff that's bad for me. Though if the worst things for me that I eat are guacamole and cashews, then I suppose I could be doing much, much worse.
That's my rationalization and Im sticking to it :)

It looks a little murky to be green, but green is the color of mostly all of the ingredients! This is chock full of good stuff for you, and hey, if you wanted to eat this 4 times a week, you could do much much worse. The broth is super spicy, because spicy chili is the bees knees. Or.. something.

Tempeh Green Chili

2 8oz packages of tempeh
1 head of green kale
4 cups baby spinach
3 carrots, peeled and diced
1 1lb tomatillos
2 jalapeño chiles
2 poblano peppers
3 leeks
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 onion, Diced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 lb mushrooms, quartered
5 cups homemade vegetable broth
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon corriander
1/4 cup tamari or soy sauce
1 can canellini beans, rinsed and drained
1 can navy beans, rinsed and drained
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/4 cup chopped parsely
1 avocado, diced, optional but warranted

Cut leeks lengthwise and chop off the tough dark green ends. Discard tough ends and slice the leeks into half moons. Separate chopped layers of leeks and place in a bowl. Fill bowl with water and slosh the leeks around so that the dirt and grit falls to the bottom of the bowl.
Heat olive oil in a large soup pot and add leeks, onion, mushrooms, carrots, and garlic and sauté. Rip the kale off the tough veins and rinse. Tear into bite-sized pieces and add to pot. Wilt kale for 2 minutes and add spinach. Wilt for about 5 minutes.
Peel tomatillos and rinse under water. Preheat the broiler. Place tomatillos, jalapeños and poblanos in a cast-iron skillet and broil for 8-9 minutes or until all tomatillos and chiles have split or blistered. Remove and let cool. Peel away the burnt skin and puree in a food processor. Pour mix into soup.
Tear tempeh into bite-sized chunks and place in a large skillet. Cover tempeh pieces with water and simmer about 10 minutes. Drain away excess water and heat tempeh over medium high heat. pour tamari over tempeh and stir. Cook 1 minute and turn off heat.
Now add corriander, cumin, oregano, salt, pepper, and paprika to soup and stir. Add broth and bring to boil. Reduce to simmer and add beans. Cook 15 minutes, covered. Add tempeh and stir. Cook for 3 minutes and turn off heat. Ladle into bowls and top with chopped parsley and diced avocado.