Delicious Eggplant Garlic Pasta

I always love serving people food that's not noticeably vegan. What do I mean? I mean food that would be vegan anyway, even if it was made by non-vegans.

It's always nice, when dealing with skeptics over food, to serve things that would be vegan anyway, like this sort of pasta dish, as it lulls them into a false sense of security that nothing is changing... and that's when you can snag them to change their minds on veganism!

As a note, I half did this at the wedding, which was completely vegan, and put half dishes that would have been vegan anyway (veggie samosas, veggie sushi, etc) and then put in things that were more out there, but still delicious (spicy marinated tofu satay, vegan cheese sauce on nachos, etc) And I had several comments to the tune of "If I ate like this all the time, I could be vegan too, I think." To whit I'd reply "I do, and I am!"

But onto the recipe!

Eggplant Garlic Pasta

Ingredients:

3 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped fine

1 tbsp olive oil

1 small eggplant, cubed

1 cup mushrooms, sliced

1 tomato, diced

2 spring onions, sliced

1 serving of cooked pasta of your choice (I used quinoa pasta!)

White wine, salt, pepper (to taste)

Baby spinach leaves, for garnish/serving with (optional)

Directions:

Heat the oil in a frying pan. Add the garlic, and cook until fragrant. Add in the mushrooms, and continue to cook until they start to give off liquid. 

Add in the eggplant, frying until cooked through. Add a dash of white wine (optional, but so good!)

Add in the tomatoes and spring onions, cooking for about 1 minute to lose the raw taste. 

Finally, add in the pasta, tossing together, and add more white wine and the salt and pepper if desired. Cook until the wine liquid dissapates. 

Serve with baby spinach, or a salad, if you want (or are trying to impress someone!)

Creamy Cashew Pasta

I used to love fettucini alfredo. Love it. I think my prom date even made some for me before the prom, because I used to eat it like it was going out of style.

Since finding out that most of my health problems were caused by what I was eating, I could no longer indulge in the sweetness that is Fettucini Alfredo. This, however, does not mean that I can't have a similar, delicious foodstuff! BEHOLD!

Cashew Cream and White Wine Pasta
Ingredients:
1 Serving of pasta of your choice, cooked (I used rice vermicelli) 
5 stalks of asparagus, chopped into pieces, very ends discarded
a handful of sliced mushrooms
1 tsp olive oil

Sauce
1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked overnight
1/2 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp tamari
1 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp onion powder
1/3 cup nutritional yeast
1/2 cup white wine
Salt, Pepper, Basil
1/2-2 tsp cornstarch, depending on how thick you want it.
Water

Directions:
In a blender, blend together all of the sauce ingredients, adding a bit of water at a time, until it is smooth, thick, and creamy (the texture of heavy cream). Taste, and feel free to adjust the various ingredients to your liking.
Heat the olive oil in a saute pan or wok, and add the mushrooms, sauteing for a few minutes until browned. Add in the asperagus, and cook for about a minute, until they start to get bright and green.
Very quickly add in the sauce, mixing together with the veggies. Stir constantly (or it will stick to the pan and burn) until the sauce is bubbly and thickened.
Toss the sauce with the pasta, and serve, enjoying the tastesplosion of happiness!

Afternoon Asparagus Pasta

I love pasta. I love easy. I love delicious. So without Further Ado:

Mushroom Asparagus Spaghetti 
Ingredients
Enough Spaghetti to fill you up :) (I used Quinoa Pasta meself)
A few stalks of asparagus, chopped into pieces

a handful of mushrooms, chopped into pieces
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp olive oil
Basil, Salt, and Pepper (To taste)
A splash of white wine (no need to get good quality, I used a bottle I found on top of my fridge that was half empty.)

Directions
Cook the pasta. In the last minute, toss in the asparagus to cook it up. Drain in a colander.
Heat the oil in a skillet. Add the garlic and mushrooms, and cook until the mushrooms are browned.
Add in the pasta and asparagus, and begin to toss. Add the wine to deglaze, and sprinkle with the spices. Toss around to coat everything.
Then Eat. It's delicious. And That easy!

A simple pasta for guests

You may have noticed that I always say to make pasta for guests. This may seem redundant. It's not. People love pasta, and it's really hard to screw it up. Really hard. Especially when it has few ingredients, and an easy method to make. It also looks really pretty!

Easy Fancy Sundried Tomato Mushroom Pasta
Ingredients:
Enough pasta for each person you're serving.
Per person:
1/2  cup sliced mushrooms
1/3 cup diced sundried tomatoes
1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp minced garlic
1/3 cup white wine (not anything fancy, do the cheap stuff, no one will notice!)
A few shakes basil, salt, pepper.

Directions:
Cook your pasta up the way you normally do it. Drain and etc.
In a frying pan, sautee the garlic and mushrooms in the olive oil. After the mushrooms have released their moisture and are getting nice and cooked up, add in the sundried tomatoes and white wine. Continue to sautee until most of the wine has been absorbed into the mushrooms and tomatoes.
Toss the pasta and the sauteed mixture in a bowl together. Season with the basil, salt and pepper.
Eat and enjoy the fanciness :)

Nom nom nom!

I'm Back!

I know, I've been away, but trust me when I say that it was NOT MY FAULT.

Last weekend, Matthew started feeling poorly, he had a bad stomach ache. It was bad enough to wake him up from sleep at 7am, which let me tell you, is painful. (He can sleep through a hurricane!) He thought it would go away, so got up and tried to watch 24 until it went away.

It got worse.

So we went to the hospital in concern, and it turns out he had to have emergency gallbladder removal surgery! We've been sort of recovering from the whole thing, though Matthew is in good spirits!

I however have been stressed and exhausted beyond belief (which I think is understandable!)

So my recipe for returning to the blogging world is a fairly simple one.

Fairly Simple Sweet Pea and Carrot Pasta Salad
Ingredients:
2 cups gluten free pasta (I used Quinoa Fusilli) cooked
1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed

1 medium carrot, finely grated
1/3 cup non-dairy milk
1 tbsp agave nectar
1 1/2 tbsp mochiko flour (Sweet glutinous rice flour- does not contain gluten!)
1/3 cup vegannaise
Salt and Pepper, freshly ground to taste
Any of your favorite spices, to taste (Optional)

Directions
Mix together the pasta, peas and carrot, tossing so they're all combined.
Next, in a microwaveable bowl, mix together the mochiko flour, agave, and non-dairy milk. Combine well!
Microwave at 15 second intervals, stirring between each interval, until it's thick and goopy.
Mix the milk mixture with the vegannaise, combining well.
Season with the salt and pepper, until it reaches the right taste.
If using any other spices add them now, tasting as you go. Oregano and Basil work well together, especially if you also add some cherry tomatoes to your pasta salad!
Take your sauce mixture, and add it to the pasta, stirring well to distribute. Eat right away, or refrigerate for guests, or picnics, or lunches, whatever!

As an aside, the mochico flour mixture, if you play with the amount of liquid vs flour can work as a condensed milk substitute! :)

Fancy Mac and Cheese

Ever need something fancy to prove to non-vegans that your food isn't tasteless mush? When I first 'came-out' as vegan as it was often difficult to explain to people that I wasn't eating just lentils and brown rice, or other brown tasteless mushes just to keep me sustained. Apparently vegans used to eat that back in the day. Poor people!

Luckily, in the current age there's all sorts of things Vegans eat! Taking out meat really hasn't slowed any of us down, has it? However, every once in a while you still need that little helping hand, a dish that really makes the stubborn go "Oooh, yum!"

And I have this dish!

Fancy Mac and Cheese (Serves 3-4)
Ingredients:
1 cup dry macaroni noodles
1/2 zucchini, sliced thin
2 smallish tomatoes, sliced thin
3 Spring onions, the white bits chopped up and put aside, and then the stalks chopped up and put separately.
a few sprigs of basil, chopped (and more for garnishing if desired)
1 tbsp of olive oil
1/3 cup non-dairy milk
1 1/2 cups Daiya Mozzarella

Freshly ground Salt and Pepper

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350.
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Cook up the macaroni. Drain and place in a casserole dish. Set aside.
Next, in a frying pan or wok, heat the olive oil on medium high. Add in the zucchini and white bits of the spring onions. Saute for a few minutes.
Once the zucchini are mostly cooked, add in the tomatoes, basil, and onion tops. Saute for about 1 minute.
Toss with the macaroni.
Feel free to use the same pan for the following steps- heat up the milk until it just boils. Add in the cheese, and stir until melted. Season with salt and pepper.
Pour the cheese over the noodles, and stir slightly to get the cheese mixed to everywhere.
Bake for 30 minutes, until the top is bubbly and slightly crispy.
Serve with some basil as a garnish if you're being super fancy! Then wait for expression of happiness on your skeptical omnivore friend's face!

Beginning Vegan- Cream Sauce Spaghetti

One of the most common (and annoying) things you will get asked when you become a vegan is the following sentence (or variation thereof):

"But... if you don't eat meat, where do you get your protein?"

It will get old REAL fast, trust me. However, the best way to deal with it is have a recipe on hand that has an overload of yummy plant based proteins to have a visual and nommable response to the question. 

This is such a dish. 

As a note, this does have 2 ingredients which may not be common to a new vegan, but should definitely be bought/ordered: Nutritional Yeast and Tempeh. I buy both of mine at the health food store, and I know that nutritional yeast can be ordered online. (Nutritional yeast looks like yellow flakes, and has a lot of Vitamin B12 in it, which is good for you!) 

Tempeh is fermented soy beans pressed into a patty, and is found in the frozen section. Don't fret if you can't find it, you can use Tofu as well, which is much easier to find! (Though Tempeh is so tasty!)

In addition, this recipe has a lot of ingredients, but is very very simple to make! Be not daunted!

Cream Sauce Spaghetti with "bacon" chunks

Serves 2

Ingredients:

1/4 cup tempeh (or tofu) chopped into little chunks. (if you aren't GF, you can use storebought vegan bacon, and not have to make the marinade with the following ingredients!)

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp liquid smoke

1 tbsp maple syrup

1 tsp Tamari or Soy Sauce

2 servings of spaghetti noodles (I tend to use either corn or brown rice noodles)

1 box silken tofu

1/2 tbsp corn starch

Soy Milk (a few tbsps)

Nutritional Yeast (to taste)

Freshly Ground Salt and Pepper

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tbsp olive oil

2 cups mushrooms, sliced

1 cup frozen peas

All the different parts cooking at once!

Directions:

In a small bowl, mix together the tempeh, 1 tbsp olive oil, liquid smoke, maple syrup, and Tamari. 

Add the tempeh/Tofu, and toss to coat. Set aside for a few minutes. 

Place a pot of salted water on the stove, and bring to a boil. Add in your spaghetti to cook while you prepare the sauce. 

In a blender, blend the tofu and cornstarch, adding in a bit of soy milk to get a nice creamy smooth texture. 

Add in nutritional yeast,  tasting every tbsp until it has a flavor you like. 

Season with salt and pepper. 

In a small frying pan, dump the tempeh mixture (even the marinade!) and turn the heat to medium. Fry, stirring every few minutes, until they're nice and crispy and brown. (Do this while making the sauce, which is the next instruction down!)  (same goes if you use Tofu. If you're using storebought vegan bacon, nuke a few strips, and then cut into chunks!) 

In a wok or high-sided frying pan, sautee the olive oil, garlic, and mushrooms, until garlic is fragrant, and mushrooms have turned brown and it looks quite yummy. 

Dump in the tofu blended mixture, and the cup of peas. Bring to a bubble, and simmer until the pasta is cooked. 

Drain the pasta, and add it to the sauce mixture, stirring to combine. 

Divide between 2 bowls/plates, and top with some more freshly ground salt and pepper, as well as the tempeh. 

Then eat and enjoy the proteiny goodness!

It's much easier to make than it sounds! Trust me!

Fennel Zucchini Pasta

Once upon a time, I had an old blog, which is no longer online.

However, despite shutting it down all of those recipes I had are still existent, and they're pretty good! Due to this, I've decided that I'll have to add in a few of the old recipes here!

One of my favorites that I made back then was this recipe, for Fennel and Zucchini pasta.

The story behind this pasta is this: despite the fact I was never, even when I did eat meat (way back when!) a bacon fan, after becoming Vegan I started having this weird obsession with Rachel Ray.
I would make Matthew bring home her magazines, and pour over the recipes, thinking about how I could make them vegan.

This was was first attempt! And it turned out great!

Fennel & Zucchini Pasta
Ingredients:
Corn Fusilli pasta, cooked (about 4 cups, to serve 4 people!), a cup of the pasta water set aside.
1 large green zucchini, cut into pieces
1 small fennel bulb, stalks/fronds removed and set aside, bulb chopped into pieces
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup mozzarella style Vegan Cheese (I use Daiya!)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp lemon zest
1 tbsp lemon juice
Salt, Pepper, Red Pepper Flakes, dried basil to taste

Directions:
Add the lemon juice to the pasta water, and stir into the pasta, to impart a lemony flavor. Let the pasta sit in the lemon water for now.
Take the stalks of fennel, and remove the feathery bits, placing them into a bowl. Discard the stalks.
Heat the oil in a large frying pan, and fry the garlic for about 30 seconds (until it becomes nice and fragrant!)
Add the fennel bulb and zucchini to the pan, cooking until slightly softened (about a minute or two)
Spice your fennel and zucchini, as well as adding in the lemon zest.
Add in most of the feathery fronds from the fennel, reserving a few for garnishing. Stir to combine.
Drain the pasta, and quickly move to the next step.
Add in the pasta, tossing lightly to evenly mix pasta and veggies. Slowly add in cheese, stirring to melt evenly.
Serve, garnishing with the set aside fronds.
Enjoy!

Back home, and eating Ravioli!

I am finally back in MTL, with my extremely messy, crowded apartment. My friend's wedding was quite lovely, and a wonderful picture of myself and her brother, a good friend of mine from Highschool, (we were in the band together!) was taken and I think looks great! Oui oui?

I have that sort of post-visit malaise where everything is annoying me, so it was really lucky that the ravioli I made last night turned out. (I meant to post it yesterday, but I sat down to read for a bit at around 8, and then woke up this morning at 7, so that didn't happen!)

There was limited food in my kitchen upon my return (Matthew tends to just sort of snack and get takeout while I'm away, as he's not big on cooking) But I still had the buckwheat flour from the carrot cake I made, and a quick trip to the grocery store yielded a few veggies and a bag of daiya, so I whipped together this yummy (even though not the most aesthetically pleasing) dish. I was inspired to make the ravioli after reading this blog entry, but my recipe is pretty different, as I made it with what I had in my kitchen.

It's quite labour intensive! Keep this in mind, because you'll need quite a bit of time to get everything prepared!

Buckwheat Sundried Tomato Cheese Ravioli in Homemade Sauce
Ingredients:
Pasta:
3/4 cup buckwheat flour (plus more for dusting!)
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1 tbsp ground flax mixed in 3 tbsp room temperature water
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
Dash Salt
Water (for texture)

Filling:
1/2 cup mushrooms
1 cup baby spinach
1/4 cup sundried tomatoes
1/2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup Daiya Mozarella style shreds
1 tsp basil
1 tsp oregano
Salt and Pepper

Sauce:
4 medium sized tomatoes, cut into 4 pieces each
1 can tomato paste
1 tbsp olive oil
Water (about 1/4-1/2 cup, for desired consistancy)

Directions:
First, make the pasta. In a bowl, mix the buckwheat flour, cornstarch, xanthan gum, and spices, stirring with a whisk to sift together.
Add the flax mixture and olive oil, mixing with a spoon to combine.
Add in a bit of water, about a tablespoon at a time, until the mixture is well combined and slightly sticky.
Dust a surface (I used a plastic cutting board) with some buckwheat flour, and turn out the dough onto it, kneading it until slightly elastic with hands also dusted with flour.
When it is ready, divide into small portions, and flatten slightly, dusting each side with more flour. Roll is through your pasta machine. (Alternatively, you can use a rolling pin, but it probably won't get as thin, but it'll still work! Worry pas!)
Using a round cookie cutter, cut out as many circles a you can from the dough! Set them aside for now.

Next, we need to make the filling.
In a frying pan, sautee the mushrooms in the olive oil. When they change color and start to shrink (about 5 minutes or so of sauteeing) add in the spinach, and cook until wilted, about 1 minute.
Put that, as well as the sundried tomato, into a food processor and blend until smooth.
Pour into a bowl, and add in the Daiya and spices. Stir well to combine.

Lay out a ravioli circle, and top with about a tsp of filling. (you need to leave a bit of space around the edges for sealing!)
Top the circle with another circle, and using the tines of a fork, press around the edges to seal. (You may have to add a bit of water between the layers if they aren't sticking!)
Do this for all of your circles. (You can also put less filling onto one, and fold it in half if you so desire!)
You will have filling leftover, but worry pas! We are going to use it in the sauce!

Bring a pot of water to boil, and cook the ravioli for about 5-10 minutes.
While those are cooking, make your sauce.
Place the tomatoes in your food processor (no need to even clean it between steps!) and blend the tomatoes smooth.
Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, and olive oil to a saucepot, and slowly add in water to the desired consistency.
Bring to a boil, and turn to low.
Add in the remaining filling mixture, and stir until the cheese shreds are mostly melted.

Drain your ravioli, top with sauce, and enjoy!

If you have sauce leftover, don't worry! You can freeze it, or use it on other pasta! 

I made me a lightbox (with a quick pasta recipe!)

I like my new apartment, I really do. It's the perfect size for Matthew and myself, it's right next to the building laundry room, and the kitchen is HUGE (If lacking in as much cupboard space as I'm used to)

However, my building doesn't have the greatest light, because the windows are small and high on the walls (basement apartment you know), so I have been very frustrated with my food pictures as of late, because they aren't as nice as they used to be. (Such a perfectionist!)

So I built a lightbox!

Luckily we had quite a few boxes left over from the move, and Matthew went out and bought me two desk lamps (due to my whining about inadequate light), so all I needed was some tissue paper and tape (Which I had due to packing!)

It's very simple. Take a box with 2 sides open, cut large square holes in either side, tape some tissue paper over them, line the back with some material/paper of your choice (I will be getting non-folded backgrounds soon!) and shine lights on either side.

And you take pictures like this:

That's my example model, a little wooden elephant. It looks pretty nice, eh? So I tried it with a bowl of leftover rice:

Not bad! It looks almost professional for something I juryrigged together in 15 minutes...

So then I tried out the first recipe with it, even adding a nice little purple background!

Super Easy Cheesy Pasta with Tomatoes 
Ingredients: (Serves 1 hungry person)
1 1/2 cups cooked pasta (any shape will do, even spaghetti if you want!
1/3 cup diced tomatoes
1 tbsp vegan margarine (I use becel vegan) or vegetable oil
1/4 cup non-dairy milk of your choosing
1/2 cup vegan cheddar (I use Daiya Cheddar- so good!)
1 tsp cornstarch mixed with 1 tbsp cold water.
Dash of Salt and Pepper

Directions:
Melt the margarine in a small sauce pan, and add in the tomatoes, stewing for a few minutes.
Stir in the non-dairy milk, salt, and pepper, and bring to just a boil.
Add in the cheese, and stir until melted.
Quickly pour in the cornstarch mixture and stir to combine, removing from heat.
Mix in the pasta, pour into a bowl, and eat up right away, because it's going to satisfy your hunger big time!

As a note, this also works with frozen peas in it (So good!)