Vegan MoFo Day 30: Comfort Food

I made it! I made it I made it I made it! 30 days of blogging! Sort of on a holiday theme the entire time. A few diversions anyway, but hey, I posted every day and that's what counts. I decided to end November with a typical easy cleaning-out-the-fridge comfort dinner we enjoy at Casa Megatarian. It can best be described as Pasta Primavera, as it is veggies and noodles, though we just go with the simple "vegetable pasta." It's quick, it's easy, it's delicious, and it will take whatever you've got around the house to toss in! I'll write up what I tossed in tonight, but it's just a suggestion. The important part is to have at least as many veggies as you've got pasta!


Vegetable Pasta
12 oz wholegrain pasta
1 large broccoli crown
1/4 head of cauliflower
1 15oz can fire roasted diced tomatoes
2 cups frozen peas
2 cups frozen spinach
3 cloves garlic
2 tbsp olive oil
Handful of fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

1. Prepare the pasta according to package directions.

2. Meanwhile... cut the veggies into bite sized pieces and dice the garlic. Heat the oil in a large skillet (I use a wok) and sautee the garlic until it is fragrant but don't let it brown. Add the veggies and sautee the whole lot until they've reached desired tenderness. Add bits of water here and there if the pan is getting too dry.

3. Drain the pasta, toss with the veggies, fresh parsley, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve with your Parmesan cheese substitute of choice!

And now, since I may not blog again for Blog knows how long, I leave you with a cruddy picture of my Christmas tree, and Laser Cats.

Tomato Sauce and What it Became

I grew up in an omni household, but not one that ate the Standard American Diet (SAD). My father rejected all things convenience food (though my mom was able to sneak in Rice-a-Roni type things) and insisted on having at least one fresh (not canned, not frozen) lightly cooked vegetable at dinner every night. We also ate tofu on a regular basis, only we called it "bean curd" and even my brother's guy friends got all excited if they were over for dinner on bean curd night. It was certainly not your average household, but it set me up well for vegetarianism. One thing that we made at home probably at least once a week was a big vat of Tomato Sauce. I knew how to make the sauce before I was a teenager and would often be assigned the task. We never measured anything, just dumped it what looked right. Now as an adult I'm like "pfft whatever" most of the time. If I'm making spaghetti in tomato sauce, then it's because I'm feeling lazy and would rather just open a jar of sauce than make it from scratch. Tonight's dinner, however, was rather convenience-foody for us, so I decided to make the sauce from scratch. It's really pretty simple, and I tried to measure as I go so this could be replicated by other people who want to make really easy tomato sauce at home. My favorite canned tomatoes for the task are Muir Glen Organics. They are really delicious and fresh tasting. They aren't cheap though, so I try to stock up when they're on sale. (They also make jarred tomato sauces, but I don't really like them, oddly)

"Oh hey Megan, don't you think you should have taken the picture before you started using the sauce?"

Tomato Sauce
2 tbsp olive oil
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 28-oz can of crushed tomatoes
1 28-oz can diced tomatoes
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried parsley
1/2 tsp sugar
Salt & Pepper to taste

1. In a 3 quart saucepan, heat the oil and garlic over medium-low heat until the garlic starts to sizzle and becomes fragrant. (DO NOT let the garlic brown! It will be bitter and you'll have to wash your pan and start over)

2. Add everything else. (Didn't I say easy?) Simmer over medium heat for about 45 minutes to an hour. Use, however you want to use it. If you like a smoother sauce, either use 2 cans of crushed tomatoes or puree it a bit with your immersion blender.

I used it in this:
Pizza baked ziti!! It's a pound of pasta, the tomato sauce, a batch of tofu-ricotta, a block of Follow Your Heart Mozzarella, and a package of Veggie-Pepperoni. It was also supposed to have roasted red peppers but I couldn't get the jar open. Now if I were making this for JUST ME and not the boy as well, it would also have mushrooms, olives, and artichoke hearts. Mmm pizza toppings in ziti.

Veggie-full Pasta Salad

This pasta salad has been a while in the making. I picked up the really cute tri-color ABC pasta at Trader Joe's last time I was visiting my parents and it's been lying in wait in the pantry for a pasta salad occasion. The occasion came about when we were invited to an omni BBQ and Bonfire! For occasions such as these, I try to make a side that could work as a light meal, but doesn't seem like I'm bringing an entree. This salad has a lot of nice bright veggies in an olive oil and tahini dressing, as I'm not a fan of mayo salads. If you wanted to make it even hardier, you could add in a can of drained and rinsed beans of your choice.

I'm realizing more and more what crappy macro shots my camera takes. My old camera did a much better job. This new one can't deal with light, no matter if it's natural, artificial, or flash and everything just comes out looking not nearly as good as it does in person.

Veggie-Full Pasta Salad
8 oz pasta, cooked and rinsed in cool water
1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed
1 ear of fresh corn, kernels cut off the cob (or 1/2 cup canned or frozen/thawed)
1 carrot, peeled and finely diced
1/2 bell pepper, finely diced
1 cup cherry tomatoes, quartered
2 tbsp parsley, chopped
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup tahini
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt and pepper to taste

1. In a large bowl, mix together the pasta and all the cut up veggies and parsley.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together the oil, tahini, lemon juice, and salt and pepper. Depending on the size of your lemon you may want to start with half, taste, and then add more for extra zing.

3. Fold the dressing into the pasta and veggie mixture. Chill until you're ready to serve.

Cold Sesame Noodles

This entry started as a part of the potstickers entry... but that one just went on and on so I thought I'd give it it's own post so one doesn't have to endlessly scroll to get to information on sesame noodles!

I paired the potstickers with cold sesame noodles because have I mentioned the heat thing? Somehow I underestimated the fact that to make cold noodles, you still have to boil water, but now they're in the fridge and I can munch on them chilled as needed. I got the recipe for the noodles off of cooks.com, but then altered it to my liking. I topped it with some julienned cucumber from the garden, and toasted sesame seeds. Scallions also go really well if you've got them around.

For a veggie with this meal (only a veg*n would not consider a meal with cucumbers in noodles and carrots, celery, and mushrooms in potstickers a meal without vegetables!) I made green (and purple and striped) beans sauteed in sesame oil and soy sauce with some toasted sesame seeds. I only sauteed them for a few minutes so they were still crisp and the purple ones held their color a bit. No real recipe there though, just beans sauteed in about 1 tsp each of canola and sesame oil, a clove of minced garlic, a few tbsp of toasted sesame seeds, and a few splashes of soy sauce!


Cold Sesame Noodles
8 oz of Soba or thin whole grain spaghetti noodles
1/4 cup + 1 tbsp brewed black tea
2 tbsp tahini
2 tbsp creamy peanut butter
1 tbsp + 2 tsp soy sauce
2 tsp toasted sesame oil
2 tsp rice wine vinegar
2 tsp sweetener of your choice
1/8 tsp garlic powder
Optional:
2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
1 small cucumber, julienned (cut into thin strips)
Scallions, sliced

1. Cook the noodles according to the package directions.

2. While the noodles cook, mix together everything but the optional ingredients. I used my immersion blender, but a whisk and a bowl would work just as well.

3. When the noodles are done cooking, rinse them well under cool water, then toss them with the sauce and any optional ingredients you've chosen. Enjoy chilled!

Tortellini with Pesto

It's BASIL SEASON! I bought a massive bunch of basil at the coop two weekends ago, as my own efforts to grow massive bunches of basil have been thwarted by the cool weather and excessive rain. I needed a wee bit to make the Quinoa, Pineapple, and Cashew stir fry from Veganomicon, and then I used the rest to make a batch of pesto. Being the genius that I am, I didn't write down what I put in the pesto... It was basically a massive bunch of basil pureed with some olive oil, garlic powder, lemon juice, toasted pine nuts, and salt.

Once pesto was achieved, it raised the more important question... what do I DO with all this pesto? I suddenly got a mad craving for tortellini -- but I've never actually seen vegan tortellini before! Rising Moon Organics and Soyboy both make vegan ravioli, but it's just not the same thing! You know what came next right? I broke out the pasta maker, a round cookie cutter and made my own. I made a whole wheat and semolina dough and filled it with cashew ricotta from Veganomicon. Tonight I had them for dinner with the pesto I'd frozen and it was delicious! I served it with some snap peas and beans from the garden and a zucchini I had in the fridge sauteed in some olive oil with garlic and rosemary from the garden. It was really incredably delicious.

So barring the things I winged (pesto, veggies) and the recipe I stole (cashew ricotta), here is the recipe I used for pasta dough, and a pictoral on how to make your own tortellini!


Pasta Dough
1 cup white whole wheat flour
2/3 cup semolina flour
1/2 cup chickpea flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil
2/3 cup water

** I do all of this in my Kitchenaid. It certainly could be done by hand as well.

1. Mix together the flours and salt in a large mixing bowl.

2. Mix the water and oil together in a measuring cup (i.e. a pyrex), then add it to the dry ingredients.

3. Stir the wet and dry ingredients together until it forms a ball. If the dough is too sticky, add a little more flour, if it's too dry, add a little more water. Pastas pretty forgiving and you can go back and forth with this for a while.

4. Knead the dough, by hand or machine, for about 10 minutes until it is a nice smooth ball. Leave the dough to rest, covered with plastic, for at least 15 minutes (though if it'll be a long while, stick it in the fridge).

5. After it rests you can use according to your pasta machine's instructions.... or grab a rolling pin and roll it out really, really thin.

Folding Tortellini

I used about a 2.5 or 3 inch round cookie cutter for the circles.

Place about 1/2 tsp of filling just below the middle of your pasta circle in a line

Dampen the edges with water using your finger, then fold over, pressing around the sides of the filling out to get rid of the air


Roll the pasta into a little cigar shape from the bigger side to the smaller side

Now you can either press the two ends together like hands praying
Or fold on end in on the other, like the tortellini is hugging itself.

Once you've made your tortellini either cook them immediately (boil water, then reduce the heat to a high simmer, carefully add the tortellini and simmer until they float -- about 2-3 minutes) place them on a cookie sheet on some waxed paper sprinkled with corn meal and put them in the freezer. Once they are frozen, you can put them in another container or bag together and they won't (* shouldn't) stick together. To cook them from frozen, do the exact same thing as from fresh, only it'll probably take another minute.

Broccoli Pasta

"Broccoli Pasta" is what we have for dinner around here when we can't decide what to have for dinner around here. Both the boy and I are perfectly happy with this simple and fast dish, though I prefer it jazzed up with some diced Kalamata olives (these are on his no list). I recently got the Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook and made some sesame seed-miso-salt-nutritional yeast "parma sprinkles" and while it doesn't taste like cheese, it makes a really yummy addition to a pasta dish.Broccoli Pasta
10 oz pasta (whole grain on this end, of course)
2 tbsp olive oil
2+ cloves of garlic (put in as much as you like!)
1 bunch of broccoli, cut into bite sized florets, stem peeled and diced
1 handful fresh parsley, chopped
Kalamata olives, chopped (optional)

1. Prepare pasta according to package directions.

2. While pasta is cooking, heat 2 tbsp of oil in large sautee pan. Add the broccoli and the garlic and sautee on high for a minute or two, then add about 1/2 cup of water, cover, and turn the heat down to medium. Cook for 7-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the broccoli is fork-tender.

3. Drain the pasta, toss with broccoli, parsley, and olives, if using

Pasta with Chickpeas, Spinach, and Sundried Tomatoes

This recipe takes me back again to my favorite quick cookbook, Vegetarian Express by Nava Atlas. They're really great for nights when I just don't feel like going through a whole song and dance to get a balanced dinner on the table. This recipe appealed to me because I love all the things in the title, so what could be bad? Well, it was mostly successful. The boy and I both agreed that the chickpeas felt a little out of place. I think next time I'd go for a white bean, or maybe even an Italian style baked tofu, cubed. Even so, it was very yummy, and I would definitely make it again, just switching out the protein. I served it with some Rosemary Foccacia I made.

And HEY! Check out the pics from the new camera! :D

Pasta with Chickpeas, Spinach and Sundried Tomatoes
1/2 lbs rotini (I used whole wheat, of course)
2 tbsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 bell pepper, cut into strips
10 oz frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed
15 oz can diced tomatoes
15 oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup oil-cured sundried tomatoes, chopped (about 8 tomatoes)
1 tsp dried oregano
salt and peper to taste

1. Cook the pasta according to package directions.

2. While the pasta cooks, heat the olive oil in a large skillet. Add the garlic, oregano, and bell pepper and sautee over medium heat for about 3-4 minutes until the peppers start to soften -- watch it so you don't burn the garlic!

3. Add everything else, stir together, and simmer on low for about 10 minutes.

4. When the pasta is finished cooking, drain, and toss with the veggie mixture.

5. Nope, that was it. Easy!

Bonus Foccacia!

Ravioli with Quick Tomato Sauce

This isn't a recipe as much as a serving suggestion. I was alone for dinner, and threw something together from things I had around the house. In the freezer I had a package of Rising Moon Organic Creamy Artichoke and Kalamata ravioli, which is reserved for just such an occasion, as the boy won't eat olives. On the counter I had my last big orange heirloom tomato from the garden. Certainly this was enough to base dinner off of.

While the water was heating to boil the ravioli, I diced the tomato (it was 1lbs + of tomato!) and sauteed it in a small pan with some olive oil and salt, and simmered it on low while the ravioli cooked. Once the ravioli was cooked, I tossed it with the fresh tomato sauce, and some fresh basil. It was fast, delicious, and looked good to boot!

I'm planning more complex culinary adventures for tomorrow!

Peanut Butter Pasta and Peas

I love this recipe for a quick and easy weeknight dinner. It's from Vegetarian Express by Nava Atlas, which I believe is no longer in print. It's got a lot of great, easy, fast recipes though, and they're mostly vegan or easily veganized. The creamy peanut butter sauce is a nice balance of sweet and savory, and I like peas in just about anything. The suggested side is cinnamon-apple glazed baby carrots, which are delicious but I think a bit too sweet, so I've served it with some cauliflower and carrots sauteed in olive oil with garlic and vegetable broth.


Peanut Butter Pasta with Peas

10 oz rotini pasta (I use whole wheat)
1/2 cup peanut butter (I use all natural crunchy)
3/4 cup vegetable stock (hot works best to help melt the peanut butter)
3 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp honey, or rice syrup, or agave
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 1/2 cups frozen green peas

1. Cook the pasta according to package directions. Add the frozen peas in the last minute of cooking.

2. While the pasta was cooking, put all other ingredients in the blender or food processor and blend together until smooth.

3. Drain the pasta and peas, and toss with the peanut butter sauce. The sauce will thicken as it cools, so it will stick to the pasta better if you let it sit a few minutes before serving.

Pesto Pasta with Baked Pesto Tofu

I bought a huge bunch of basil recently for a recipe and I had a bunch left over, so I thought I'd make some pesto with the rest of it. I mentioned it to the boy and he said there was some chicken pesto monstrosity that he enjoyed from a deli, and wanted to know if I could do pesto seitan or tofu or something. I decided on tofu since I thought it would adapt better to pesto that seitan. I think of seitan as more of an alfredo protein. All the pesto recipes I found called for tons of oil and more basil than I had, so I kind of winged it with what I had around the house. It came out REALLY yummy and the whole dish was delicious, though it doesn't photograph so well!



Pesto Pasta with Baked Pesto Tofu, Roasted Cauliflower, and Zucchini

The Pesto
2 cups basil, packed
3 tbsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 cup vegetable broth
3 tbsp pine nuts, toasted
Juice of 1/2 lemon
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
salt/pepper to taste

1. In a small saucepan, heat the oil on low with the crushed garlic. Turn the garlic occasionally until it's light brown and fragrant. *

2. Put the basil, garlic infused olive oil, as much garlic as you want from it, broth, pine nuts, lemon juice, and nutritional yeast in a blender and blend until smooth. Taste, adjust seasoning, blend, taste again, until desired flavor is reached. Refrigerate or freeze until you're ready to use it.

The Tofu Part
1 lbs tofu, drained, pressed, cubed
3-4 tbsp pesto

1. Toss the tofu with the pesto and refrigerate, covered, overnight to marinate.

2. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Bake the tofu on a non-stick spray sprayed baking sheet for 30 minutes, turning several times, until it begins to tan.

The Veggie Part
1/2 head cauliflower cut into bite sized pieces
1 zucchini, cut into half moons.
1 tsp olive oil

1. Lightly spray the cauliflower pieces with olive oil and place on a baking sheet.

2. Bake in a 425 degree oven until soft and beginning to brown, about 20 minutes. Turn halfway through.

3. Heat the olive oil in a small skillet and sautee zucchini until just tender. About 3 minutes.

The Pasta Part
8 oz fettucini or the pasta of your choice

1. Prepare pasta according to package directions.

The Assembly

1. Toss cooked pasta with another 3-4 tbsp of pesto... or more or less depending on your taste. Fold in the tofu and veggies. Nom.



* I cook the garlic because raw garlic doesn't agree with me. If you like raw garlic, or are indifferent or lazy, you can skip this step.

Pasta with Snap Peas, Canadian Facon, and Sundried Tomatoes

Garden excess is the mother of recipe invention. Last summer was my first bumper crop of sugar snap peas in my very own garden. I was picking between 1 and 2 pounds of peas a week for at least 8 weeks, and while they are absolutely divine to munch on raw, I needed to find other uses for them. I made this recipe up last summer and now that we're back in sugar snap pea season, it's made its way back onto our plates. It features a rare fake meat (that I didn't make myself) component! The combination of sweet snap peas, salty smoky Canadian Facon, and tangy tart sundried tomatoes is perfect. The entire meal takes about as long as it takes to cook the pasta too. Just another reason it's great in the summer!



Pasta with Snap Peas, Canadian Facon, and Sundried Tomatoes

1/2 lbs pasta (I used the remainder of two boxes in that picture, hence the blend)
12 oz or about 4 cups of sugar snap peas, strings removed
1 package Yves veggie Canadian Bacon, diced
10 sundried tomatoes, rehydrated and chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, diced
Handful of fresh basil chiffonade (rolled up and cut into strips)

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and prepare pasta according to package directions.

2. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat and add the diced Facon. Fry the facon until it begins to brown.

3. Add the snap peas and garlic and cook for about 3 minutes or until the snap peas are bright and just tender. DO NOT OVERCOOK! You still want them crisp, just not crunchy.

4. Toss in the sundried tomatoes and basil and toss with pasta. You can add a little of the sundried tomato soaking liquid if it seems too dry.

What's for Lunch?

I decided to take a picture of my lunch box today while I was photographing other foodstuffs in the kitchen. This is fairly typical for a lunch for me. I use a Laptop Lunchbox because I like the portion controlling and because I don't have to waste a lot of baggies and things. I usually fill one large container with a "main dish" which generally has some sort of whole grain, protein, and veggies (usually dinner leftovers), one small container with raw veggies, the closed container with fruit, and the last small container with dessert. This is slightly different since I didn't have a protein in the large container, so I put one in one of the small ones.


Clockwise from top left:
Cantaloupe, strawberries and blueberries
Blueberry Lemon Bread
Browned tofu and crimini mushrooms
Pasta salad

I made the pasta salad specifically to bring for lunches this week. I don't have a recipe since I sort of winged it as I went along, but this is about what I used...

1/4 lbs dilatini pasta, cooked and drained, tossed with...
1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed
1/4 cup corn
1/2 large stalk celery, diced
6 baby carrots, diced
1/4 red bell pepper, diced
6 black olives, diced
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp tahini
1 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 tsp dry basil
Salt and pepper

I would have put in some garlic powder but I was fresh out. It's really yummy. I had to put it away as soon as I was done making it because I was going to keep nibbling, and I wanted to save it for lunches!

Vegetable Pasta

Ahhh vegetable pasta... the go to meal in my house. Whenever we don't know what to have, the answer is "vegetable pasta??" Great for cleaning out the fridge and using up bits of pasta in the pantry, this meal is versatile, light, comforting, and yummy. It makes great leftovers, and is always a little different. This is what I put in the vegetable pasta tonight, but really, whatever you have is super. This is more of a method, or an idea, than a recipe.


1/2 lbs whole wheat linguine
1 small zucchini, cut into strips
1 medium yellow squash, cut into strips
1 small red bell pepper, cut into strips
1 Asian eggplant, cut into strips
1 broccoli crown, cut into small florettes
5 canned artichoke hearts
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
1 handful each of fresh parsley and basil
Salt & Pepper to taste

1. Cook the noodles according to package directions, then drain

2. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the broccoli and peppers and cook, stirring frequently, for about 5 minutes.

3. Add the rest of the vegetables and the garlic. Add a few tbsp of water to the pan and cover. Cook for about another 5 minutes until all the veggies are tender-crisp.

4. Toss the veggies with the cooked pasta. Add in the fresh herbs. Salt and pepper to taste. My bowl, featured above, is also topped with a few quartered pitted Kalamata olives for an extra bit of zing.

Noodle Kaboodle!!

I recently got into Family Guy. Prior to just recently, I just didn't get it. It was too gross, and is the baby really talking? Do people understand him? Why is the dog walking upright? I had to give up on my reality perspective and I found out that while it still too gross sometimes, it is pretty damn funny. This dish is my Family Guy tribute. I have no recollection of what else is happening in the episode, but the family is sitting down to dinner and Brian compliments Lois' cooking and she replies something like "Oh Brian, it's just Noodle Kaboodle!!" Other than mentioning the potato chip topping, I have no idea what is in a Noodle Kaboodle -- nonetheless, I decided to make it happen. And so, here is my very own version of noodle kaboodle. It's fairly simple tasting and sort of reminiscent of a boxed noodleroni type dinner. It doesn't have a potato chip topping (you know what? I just can't. Feel free to though if you want!), but it's still a creamy and delicious comfort food!

Noodle Kaboodle
8 oz eggless egg noodles
1 tbsp olive oil
2 medium carrots, diced
1 large or 2 small broccoli crowns, cut into small bite-sized pieces
1 cup frozen peas
8 oz turkey style seitan, cut into cubes *
1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked for at least 30 minutes in hot water
12 oz soft silken tofu (1 box mori nu)
1 1/2 cups plain soymilk
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp poultry seasoning
3 tbsp all purpose flour
3 tbsp canola oil
Salt & Pepper to taste
Plain Breadcrumbs (ok, or crushed potato chips) for topping

1. Prepare the egg-less noodles according to package directions.

2. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil and sautee the broccoli and carrots until tender crisp. Add the frozen peas and stir to heat through.

3. In a blender or food processor, puree the (drained) cashews and the silken tofu together until smooth. Set aside.

4. In a large skillet or medium pot, heat the 3 tbsp of canola oil, then add the 3 tbsp flour. Whisk together over low heat until light brown and toasty smelling (for those in the know, make a roux). Slowly whisk in the soymilk. Most of it will thicken up right away. Add the tofu mixture, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, poultry seasoning, garlic powder, and salt and pepper to taste.

5. Mix everything together and pour it into a 9X13" baking dish. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs (yes, yes, or potato chips) and bake in a 350 degree oven for 15 - 20 minutes until the breadcrumbs are toasty.

Naked Kaboodle!! Pre-bread crumbs. You get a better view of the veggies and seitan and nice creamy sauce!

*I used 1/2 a loaf of Bryanna Clark Grogan's seitan turkey that I had in my freezer. Her seitan turkey and ham are really quite good, but it's a day long project to make them, so every now and then I'll spend an entire day and make about four loaves and cut them in half and freeze them to use when I need seitan meats. Chicken style seitan would work here too, as would Morningstar Chik'n Strips too, most likely.

Pasta & Kale

A long time ago in a kingdom far away -- my old apartment -- I was planning to go to the Troy Farmers Market. I invited the, then, "boy I was dating" (now "domestic partner") to come with me and he scoffed. I said "Oh, then I'll just bring you something back.. how about some KALE do you want some KALE??" "What the hell is Kale?" was he response. Foolish mortal. Kale is DELICIOUS and this is probably my favorite way of preparing it. The boy has learned to love Kale and good thing! This stuff is packed with as many vitamins and minerals as it is deliciousness. If you haven't tried it, you really should. Just a warning though -- if it's bitter, you got bad Kale -- don't blame all Kale for the shortcomings of that one bunch.

I serve the Kale over Pasta here, but it goes just as well over brown rice or barley or on baked pizza dough or crusty bread...


Pasta & Kale
1 Bunch Kale
2 cups diced or crushed tomatoes
1/2 cup vegetable broth
1 can white kidney beans (or whatever else you like in a canned bean)
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
Handful fresh basil, torn
1/2 lbs pasta (here we've got whole wheat)

1. Put on a large pot of water to boil for the pasta. Continue to prepare the pasta according to package directions, then drain it. Meanwhile...

2. Rinse off the Kale and cut or tear the leaf off of the tough stem as seen in the picture...

See the light green "backbone"? That's tough and needs to go!

3. Chop or tear the leaves into smallish pieces, as you would lettuce for a salad.

4. Heat oil in a large pan. Add the garlic and cook over medium-low until the garlic is fragrant (about 1-2 minutes). Add all your Kale and the vegetable broth. It will look like a crazy mountain of Kale, but it will cook down quite a bit. Put the lid on the pan, turn the heat up to medium-high and let it simmer for about 5 minutes until it shrinks down.

Kale Mountain!

5 Minutes Later -- Kale plains

5. Add the tomatoes and simmer for another 5 minutes. Then add the beans and toss to heat through. Remove from the heat and fold in the basil.

I used frozen garden tomatoes that I cooked down this fall so it's a little bit wetter than the canned kind.

6. Toss the Kale and Tomato and Bean mixture with your pasta. Enjoy!

Broccoli Polenta with Vegetable Ragu

This recipe is takes elements from several other recipes and combines them into one big knockout recipe. The base is the Broccoli Polenta recipe from Veganomicon, topped with a vegetable ragu that I stole and modified from Gourmet magazine. I think the polenta was too wet, but the topping was fantastic. I took the extra and tossed it with pasta and it was great like that too.



Broccoli Polenta
3 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup polenta
2 tbsp olive oil
4 cups of finely chopped broccoli

1. Bring the broth and salt to a boil in a medial saucepan.

2. Slowly add the polenta whisking the entire time.

3. Add the broccoli, and the olive oil, and reduce the heat to low.

4. Cover and cook for 15 minutes, stirring frequently. Make sure you scrape around the bottom and edges since it seems to set there first.

5. Remove from heat and leave covered for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

What I did at this point was poured it into two greased large tomato cans (28 oz) and let it rest in the fridge for about 4 hrs until it was cool and set. Then I shook it out of the cans, sliced it, misted with olive oil, and put the slices under the broiler for about 10 minutes. They didn't brown as well as I'd have liked though, and like I said, it was still pretty soft.

NEXT....

Vegetable Ragu
1 1/2 lbs Japanese eggplant (regular will do as well, but Japanese eggplant are sweeter and less seedy)
2 large portabello mushrooms
1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes
1/2 cup roasted red peppers
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 cup water
Handful each fresh parsley and basil, plus more for garnish

1. Dice the mushroom and eggplant to about equal size dice. It is going to seem like a ton, but it shrinks a lot. Heat the oil in a large pot and add the oregano, eggplant, and mushrooms. Cook, stirring frequently, for about 5-7 minutes or until the veggies are soft and have shrunk.

2. Meanwhile ... quarter the tomatoes and chop the roasted red peppers. When the eggplant and mushrooms have softened, add the tomatoes, peppers and garlic and cook for about 10 minutes, adding water if the mixture seems too dry.

3. Chop the parsley and basil and add at the very end just before serving. Top with more fresh herbs for a bright garnish.

Ye Big Old Pot of Ragu
(Ragu means "Sauce" in Italian)

Uh oh! More Ragu than you've got Polenta??

It is absolutely delicious on some crusty bread with a drizzle of olive oil, or you could toss it with some cooked pasta. Heck, you could scrap the Polenta all together and save yourself a bunch of work and just make it with pasta. It's dern good.

Macaroni and Cheeze

Mmm.. what could be better than a nice hot bowl of creamy macaroni and cheeze after a long hard day?

Two nice hot bowls of creamy macaroni and cheeze!

This recipe evolved from two different recipes. One is from The Vegetarian Family Cookbook by Nava Atlas and the second is an Alton Brown recipe from the Food Network. The end result is a beautiful baked mac & cheese with broccoli and a panko bread crumb topping! Divine!



Megan's Mac & Cheeze Hybrid
12 oz elbow macaroni.. or whatever other noodles you've got around
One 12.3 oz package of silken tofu (i.e. Nasoya Silken Tofu)
2 tbsp margarine (Earth Balance!)
1 cup packed cheddar style soy cheeze
1 cup packed monterey jack style soy cheeze
1 bay leaf
1 tsp ground mustard
1/2 tsp paprika
2 cups steamed broccoli florettes [steam until still a bit crisp.. will soften more in oven]

1 cup panko
3 tbsp margarine

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Prepare the noodles according to package directions.

3. While the noodles are doing their thing, puree the tofu in a blender.

4. In a 2 qt saucepan (medium sized), melt the 1 tbsp margarine. Add the tofu, bayleaf, mustard, and paprika and stir. Once the spices are mixed in, add the cheeze and cook over low heat, stirring frequently, until the cheeze sauce is smooth. Keep the sauce simmering, stirring frequently, until the noodles are ready for it.

5. Once all your components are ready, carefully fish the bay leaf out of the cheeze sauce, then mix together the cheeze sauce, the broccoli and the noodles. Pour it all into a casserole dish (I find an 8 inch square dish usually fits just right)

6. Melt the last 3 tbsp of margarine and toss with the panko, then top your noodles with the panko mixture.

7. Bake in the preheated oven for about 30 minutes or until the panko is toasty.

Side shot of the mac & cheeze goodness:

Sweet Potato Gnocchi

I love sweet potatoes. I love Gnocchi. Together, there is much happiness! It took a while before I figured out a recipe that yielded these lovely, fluffy, sweet potato pillows of joy. The fork marks take a while to master, so feel free to just cut them into bite sized pieces before tossing them into the boiling water.

Sweet Potato Gnocchi
1 lbs sweet potato
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup pureed silken tofu
1/2 tsp salt
pinch nutmeg
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

Bake the sweet potato in the oven until it's soft. (350 degrees for 30-60 minutes or more depending on whether you've got a bunch of small potatoes or one huge one) Once it's cool, peel it and mash it. Stir in the olive oil and tofu until thoroughly combined, then add the dry ingredients and mix until a soft dough forms.

Using well floured hands and (CLEAN) countertop, roll the dough into snakes about the thickness of your thumb. Cut the snake into 1 inch segments and roll them along the back of a fork, if desired, to produce ribs.

Gently put your gnocchi in a very large pot of boiling water and cook for about 5 minutes or until all the gnocchi are floating. Yields about 2 lbs of gnocchi.
If you don't want 2 lbs of gnocchi right now, lay them out in one layer on a cookie sheet covered with a sheet of wax paper and sprinkling of cornstarch. Put the cookie sheet in the freezer and then transfer them to a ziplock bag or freezer container once frozen. Cook frozen the same way you would at room temperature!

Here is my Gnocchi served with Sugar Snap Peas that have been sauteed in a few tbsp of olive oil with a few tbsp of chopped fresh rosemary and two cloves of chopped garlic.