1 can fire roasted tomatoes, undrained
1 (7 ounce) jar roasted red peppers, undrained
1 (12 ounce) block soft silken tofu, drained (the shelf stable Mori Nu brand is fine)
1 tbsp. Ooohmami™
1 quart hot water
¼ teaspoon salt
1 chipolte pepper (or half if you want to tone down the spice, you can always add it back in—I always keep my chipotle peppers in the freezer once you open a can, you can freeze them in little ice cube trays for a convenient size, then nuke em for a few seconds in a coffee cup).

Puree all in a blender, heat to simmer in a saucepan, simmer 5 minutes, eat. (Start blending everything but the water, add water til you get almost to the top of the blender, then add the rest of the water to the saucepan you heat it in, so you don’t overflow the blender).

Boil the Ooohmami™ and water. Stir in the tvp, let sit for at least 10 minutes to reconstitute. In 2T canola or olive oil, sauté fennel seeds, garlic, rosemary, sage, red pepper flakes and olives for 2 minutes. Mix in the sugar or agave. Mix the sautéed spices and the tvp (I prefer a food processor for this, but you can just mix it by hand too.) Add approximately 2 cups flour until the sausage “grabs” together.

You can sauté patties in a little canola oil, (bring on the pancakes) bake crumbles for pizza, or sauté in links for sub sandwiches—anywhere you would normally use sausage—makes great jambalaya, or replace the sausage in a “Sausage Ball” appetizer recipe:

In a food processor start processing the garlic, then add the rest of the ingredients and process until smooth. It will keep for 2 weeks refrigerated.  It’s The Bomb!!

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
3 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
3 lbs chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 medium butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
3 1/4 cups OoohMami Broth (I used 2 tablespoons for 4 cups of water)
1 box whole wheat medium shell pasta
Salt & Pepper

Heat the oil in a heavy large nonstick frying pan over medium heat. Add onion and sauté until tender. Add the garlic and sauté for just a minute. Add the cubed chicken and cook through. Add squash, rosemary and sauté for 8 to 10 minutes. Add the broth and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Decrease the heat to medium-low and simmer until the squash is tender and the liquid is reduced by about half, stirring occasionally. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper.
Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring often. Drain pasta.
Toss the pasta and squash mixture in a large bowl until the liquid thickens slightly and coats the pasta.

Chef creates ‘yummy’ flavor booster

After Rachel Colvin left Artemisia as pastry chef, she opened Dolce, where she makes desserts and breads for restaurants and deli foods for Rainbow Blossom. She also got married and changed her name to Torres, and attended a food-science class at a Women Chefs and Restaurateurs National Conference.

It was there that she had one of those ah ha! moments, and learned about umami. Her discovery led her to launch a new product and to start spewing words such as “glutomatic nucleotides” with enthusiasm.

If you thought there were only four tastes — sweet, sour, salt and bitter — Torres will set you straight with zeal. Umami, which means savoriness (and loosely translates to “yummy” in Japanese), is now considered the fifth taste.

Umami can be found in MSG and several artificial additives. Because Torres eschews the use of chemicals, she began testing and tasting natural ingredients to create her own umami product.

“I found a synergistic combination, my own blend of dried kombu, which is a kind of seaweed, shiitake mushrooms, tomatoes and nutritional yeast,” she said. “It brings out intense flavors without the use of any animal or synthetic products and adds incredible taste to a wide range of foods, especially enhancing vegetarian dishes. It’s an exciting addition to a cook’s flavor toolbox.”

Mix 1 tablespoon of her Ooohmami! flavor enhancer, 1 teaspoon of salt and 4 cups of hot water for a delicious vegetable stock, Torres suggests. She also adds the powdered mixture to meatballs, sausage, veggie burgers, practically anything that needs a boost of flavor.

Ooohmami! is available at Rainbow Blossom, Lotsa Pasta, Paul’s Fruit Market, Amazing Grace and Foxhollow Farm. It’s $8.99 for 4.5 ounces.