Pasta with Kale in Lemon-Cashew Sauce

When life hands you lemons... make pasta!  Seriously, it's going to make you feel way better about yourself and life in general than lemonade.  Unless there's vodka in that lemonade.  Then it's a toss up...

My favorite- and simultaneously unfavorite- thing that people ask me when they discover that I'm vegan is, "What do you eat???"  Well, everything!  As long as it isn't made from animals!  Honestly, I have tried more new foods since going veg than I ever did before.  Quinoa, mango, beets, jicama, tempeh, parsnips, collard greens, papaya, couscous, arborio rice, Brussels sprouts, polenta, dates, to name a few.  But, most importantly, I have been introduced to kale.

Kale is like the super hero of the produce department.  That stuff can save lives.  And you probably aren't eating enough of it.  I know I'm not.  During my first year of navigating the vegetarian life, I ran across a recipe in a magazine for spaghetti with kale, and I remember thinking, "Hey, that looks easy.  I don't know if I like kale, but I could give it a shot."  And then I immediately forgot where I had read the recipe and never tried it and actually hadn't even thought about it again until just now.  So, yeah.  Moving on...

You may remember that I made a skillet salad with kale a while back.  The tofu was marinated in lemon juice and other stuff.  So I thought I'd take a shot at making a pasta dish with kale and lemon.  And I did.  And it was good.  REAL good.  In fact, I've just stuffed myself with three helpings of it [and kind of regretting that last serving].  But it's so awesome/delicious/flavorful/magical/addictive!!!

The sauce is creamy, but doesn't have any milk or cheese or anything of the sort.  As with the last post, I soaked cashews for the creaminess.  I was afraid that 1/2 cup of lemon juice would be too much, but I'd say the sauce came out perfect.  In fact, the whole thing pretty much rocks.  But don't just take my word for it- try it out yourself and let me know what you think!

Ingredients:
1 box whole wheat pasta (I used penne)
1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked*
3 cups vegetable broth
Juice of 2 lemons (I got about 1/2 cup)
1 tsp dried basil
3 Tbsp cornstarch
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 cup diced onion
3 large cloves garlic, minced
1 cup sliced baby carrots
 A lot of kale- I have no idea how much I used, it was just over half the bunch.  Maybe 5 cups? stems removed and torn into small pieces
Salt and pepper

Directions:
*Cashew soaking: To quick soak, put the cashews in a microwave-safe bowl and cover with water.  Nuke for 2 minutes and set aside to cool.

For the sauce: In a high-speed blender or food processor, combine broth, lemon juice, basil, cornstarch, and oil.  Drain the cashews and add those as well.  Blend on high, until creamy.  
Fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil.  Cook pasta according to directions on package.   Reserve about 2 cups of the water.
In another big pan, saute onions on medium heat for about 5 min.  Add garlic and cook 1 min more.  Now throw in the carrots and cook those babies for a minute as well.  Give the sauce a quick blend, since it has likely separated a little.  Pour the sauce over the veggies and simmer for a minute to thicken.  At this point, it looked like the sauce was going to be too thick, so I stirred in about 2 cups of the pasta water to thin it out a little.  Throw in the kale and stir to cover with the sauce.  Allow the kale to cook for about 5 min, until it has wilted a little but is still bright green.
If you have not yet done so, drain the pasta, and then add that to the saucy veggies.  Stir to combine and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Enjoy!  In moderation.  You'll thank me later.


UPDATE:
I won!!!   :)

 

Roasted Red Pepper Scalloped Potatoes

Because third times a charm!

OK, this is the last potato recipe I'm posting for quite some time, I promise (although, I did make a potato soup last night that has lots of potential...).  The potato-themed recipe contest has officially come to an end, but I managed to throw this little number together just before it closed.

I don't have much of a story for this one, except that I was spacing out one day and thought, "Gee, I should combine roasted red peppers and potatoes.  I'll bet that hasn't been done before."  The sauce is a combination of several recipes I've used before, from hummus to "cheese" sauce.  I think it turned out fantastic!  In fact, a friend was visiting as I was putting it together, and between the two of us we polished off over half the pan.  Oh yeah, it is that good.  The sauce is creamy and satisfying, hinting at a cheese sauce, but just subtle and awesome.  If I change anything the next time I make this (oh yes, there will be a next time), it would be to add a little cayenne.  As it was, I ended up dumping a ton of pepper on it.  Of course, that doesn't mean much- I put pepper on everything.

I meant to bake this in my 2-quart casserole dish, but I was afraid that the veggies wouldn't fit or that the sauce would run over.  So I baked it in a 9x13 pan, which worked just fine.  Also, I didn't peel the potatoes, because I'm super lazy.  But also because the skin has lots of fiber.  Yay, fiber!

*The presentation is in thanks to my lovely sister, Mary, who graciously gifted me with some beautiful porcelain dishes to show off my recipes in the prettiest way possible.  Sisters are the best!

Ingredients:
Sauce:
1/3 cup raw cashews, soaked (we'll talk about that in a minute)
1/2 cup roasted red peppers (the kind that come in a jar), roughly chopped
1 1/2 cup nondairy milk
3 large cloves garlic, minced
3 Tbsp cornstarch
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp dried thyme
Salt and pepper, to taste

Stuff:
1 1/2 lb red-skinned potatoes, cut in 1/4 inch slices
1 medium onion, diced
1 large red bell pepper, diced

Directions:
Let's soak some cashews.  We're doing this because it softens them and makes them blend better.  Ta-da!
You can soak the cashews for a few hours or overnight, but come on, who's got time for that?  Instead, put cashews in a microwave-safe bowl and cover them with water and microwave on high for 2 minutes.  Set aside for a bit.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray.  Let it hang out for a sec.
Dump all of the sauce ingredients- except the cashews- into a high-speed blender or food processor.  Drain the cashews and then you can add them to the rest of the sauce stuff.  Blend on high speed until smooth.
Arrange the potatoes, onion, and pepper in the baking dish.  (You can make it look pretty, but I just kind of threw it all in and mixed it up.)  Pour the sauce over all of it evenly.  Bake for 45-50 minutes, until sauce is bubbly and potatoes are cooked through.  Let sit for 5 minutes before serving.

 

Creamy Tomato Primavera Soup

I had 45 minutes to cook, eat, and head back to campus.  Challenge accepted.

I find it hard to believe when people tell me that they don't have time to cook.  You have time, I promise.  But maybe you don't have the desire, the ingredients, the skill.  Or you have failed to prioritize eating.  Which I really can't understand, since eating is usually my highest priority.

It's all about having a few simple, super quick recipes in your repertoire.  Let me help you out with that.  You're welcome.

While fresh veggies have the best taste and all, they are super needy.  You can't buy them too far in advance before you want to use them.  You have to wash them, and chop them, and say sweet lovely things to them.  Ugh, no wonder you opted to grab food on the go.  But that doesn't have to be the case!  Enter frozen veggies. 

I've mentioned this before, but it's worth repeating.  (I have a habit of repeating myself a lot.  Just part of my charm.)  Frozen veggies are awesome because it takes maybe 2 seconds to open the bag and dump them into whatever you're making.  No planning ahead, washing, or chopping required!  [Although you really ought to wash your hands.]  I didn't time myself, but I'm pretty sure this soup was done in 20 minutes or less.  Prep time was maybe 5 minutes.  And I made it to school on time.  Yay, efficiency! 

                                         Eating by the light of the computer.  How romantic.

Ingredients:
1 cup frozen diced onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
28 oz can diced tomatoes
15 oz can great northern beans, drained and rinsed (or whatever you have on hand, that's cool too)
1 cup non-dairy milk
1 cup vegetable broth
1 lb bag frozen mixed veggies
1 tsp dried dill
1/3 cup nutritional yeast
Salt and pepper

Directions:
Heat a large soup pot on medium high heat.  Toss in the onion and garlic and cook 5 minutes, or until onions are soft.  Add the tomatoes, milk, and broth and stir to combine.  Throw in everything else, adding  salt and pepper to taste. Cook for about 12-15 minutes or until the veggies are heated through.
Ta-da!  Deliciousness in no time!
 

Fennel and Broccoli Stuffed Potatoes

I know, I know, I've been slacking.  But come on, procrastination takes a lot of work.  You know?

So, here's a funny story about this recipe.  The stuffing for these potatoes was never actually intended to be a stuffing for these potatoes.  In fact, the stuffing was the result of a hilarious attempt for my friend Nina and I to create our very own "My Drunk Kitchen."  If you're not familiar with MDK, check it out on YouTube.  Unless you're easily offended by swearing, drunkenness, or unsanitary food prep conditions (seriously, every episode she drops something on the floor and uses it any way!).

Our version of the show definitely included swearing and drunkenness, but I happen to know how to cook, so that makes my show pretty rad, right?  Starting this thing, I had no idea what we were going to make.  We just picked up some random produce from the store, and I basically made up the recipe on the fly.  Because I am awesome.  Anyhow, we were rolling the stuffing in phyllo dough and then baking it.  No biggie.  Except that when I tried one from the first batch, I LOVED it!  I hadn't expected them to taste so good!  Or even turn out right, since phyllo is the evilest ingredient ever to work with ever.

The next day, I woke up thinking about how awesome the phyllo triangles (or rhomboids, or octagons, I was having difficulty making shapes at that point) turned out, but I couldn't for the life of me remember what I put in them.  So I re-watched the video we took, laughed hysterically with myself for a while, and made a mental note to do this again some time.

Anyhow, the potato contest is still going on over at Taste of Home.  So for Easter last weekend, I used the filling to make stuffed baked potatoes.  It was a brilliant idea, though a little more time-consuming than I would have liked, and I got a little carried away with the mustard and vinegar (note to self: more is not better until you have actually tasted the food to gauge whether a half a cup of vinegar is necessary).  So below is the recipe with smaller amounts of the mustard and vinegar than what I used Sunday.  Add more as you see fit [taste it first, though!!!]

Also, the cheese looks weird in the pic because the store I went to didn't have any vegan cheddar, only pepper jack.  Which was cool, but not what I wanted.  I recommend sticking with cheddar, but hey, it's a free country.  You do what you want.

Ingredients:
 6 large baking potatoes
1 cup diced sweet onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup diced fennel bulb
1 1/2 cups finely chopped broccoli
1/3 cup Dijon mustard
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tsp dried dill
1/2 cup vegetable broth
8 oz shredded cheddar cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
 Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.  Scrub potatoes and poke them several times with a fork.  Place on a cookie sheet and bake in oven for 1 hour.
While the potatoes are baking, saute the diced onion in a large saute pan for about 5 minutes, until soft.  Add garlic and cook for 1 minute.  Add fennel and 1-2 Tbsp water, and saute 5 minutes, or until fennel is tender.  Add broccoli and cook for another 5 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Remove from heat.  Stir in mustard and vinegar and dill until well combined.  Set aside until potatoes are done.
When potatoes are cooked through, carefully cut each one in half, lengthwise.  Scoop out flesh, keeping shells in tact.  Place the potato in a medium mixing bowl and repeat with all potato halves.  Coarsely mash potatoes with vegetable broth.  Add the potato mix and cheese to the veggie mix, and stir to combine.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Stuff shells with mixture (shells will be very full but that's OK).  Place stuffed shells in a 9x13 baking dish.  Cover with foil and bake for 30-35 minutes, until potato mixture is cooked through.

So, this makes a lot of food.  If you're serving it as a side, you've got 12 servings.  As a main dish, you have 6 servings.  Yay, math!

A Little Bit of Everything Casserole

Because it's all about creativity.  And working with what you've got.  And procrastinating.


I didn't intend to make a blog-worthy meal tonight, but I'm just so awesome that it turns out my little experiment in the kitchen was a winner.

I still haven't gone grocery shopping, even though I'm out of almost everything.  I'm putting it off until this weekend when I have more time.  In the meantime, I had started daydreaming earlier today about how to come up with a healthy, tasty  meal using what I already had at home.  Staples, if you will.  Now, my staples are most likely different than yours.  My staples are ingredients that I usually have on hand because I like to put them in everything (like canned beans and frozen veggies).  However, some of my "staples" are still in my pantry, because I rarely use them and they never go bad (like brown rice).

So today's "throw everything in the pot" recipe includes frozen veggies, beans, rice, homemade cheese sauce, and love.  I wish I could say that this is a one pot meal, but sadly, it's not.  I actually dirtied up enough dishes to fill the dishwasher and run it.  Now that's accomplishment!

If you have cooked brown rice on hand, this comes together pretty fast- very little prep, you just have to wait for it to bake.  If you don't have already-cooked rice on hand, well, then you're going to have to cook it yourself, like I did.  (Which added to my pan count.)  Once again, the ingredients are more of a suggestion than a hard rule.  Use whatever variety of rice and veggies you have on hand, or whatever you like best.  I would have liked to have used corn in this dish, but I didn't have any.  It's whatever.

Ingredients:
2 cups cooked brown rice

Cheese sauce:
2 cups non-dairy milk, unsweetened
3 Tbsp cornstarch
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp chipotle chili powder
1/2 tsp oregano
1 tsp prepared mustard
Salt and pepper, to taste

Everything else:
1 cup diced onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
15 oz can sliced mushrooms
15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 lb frozen veggies, your choice (yay freedom!)
1/2 cup leftover salsa (make sure there's no mold)
a few dashes of Tabasco sauce, because I just remembered I bought it when I made bloody mary's a month ago but never opened it

Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.  Spray a 2-quart casserole dish with cooking spray and set aside for a minute.
In a medium-sized mixing bowl, throw in all of the sauce ingredients, and whisk to mix well.  Set this aside for a minute also.
In a large saucepan, saute the onion and garlic on medium-high heat for about 5 minutes.  Add mushrooms and cook for another minute.  Add veggies, beans, salsa, and Tabasco, if using, and stir to mix well.  Cook in pan for 6-8 minutes, until frozen veggies are less frozen (we're baking this, too, so they don't have to be hot all the way through).
Pack the rice into a nice layer on the bottom of your prepared casserole dish.  Dump the casserole filling on top of that and pat it down to make it look pretty.  Give your sauce a quick whisk and then pour it all over the casserole.
Bake in oven for 35-40 minutes, until sauce is bubbly and not runny-looking in the middle.  Let sit for 2 minutes (that's all the longer I could wait- this stuff smelled amazing!) and serve hot.  With extra Tabasco, if you want.  Or extra salsa, if you had more than 1/2 cup in the jar you found in the fridge, hiding behind the almond butter.

 *If you're wondering what in the heck my casserole is sitting on in this pic (it looks scary, doesn't it?), that would be my very old, well-loved cookie sheet.  I wasn't sure if the cheese sauce would bubble over, and rather than have to scrub out the oven later, I baked the casserole with the cookie sheet under it to catch any stray sauce.  Because I'm clever like that.  Also, I hate to clean.  I suggest you do the same.  Because I care.

St. Paddy's Day Stir-Fry

Because better late than never, right?


I was really looking forward to spending a lot of time in the kitchen this weekend, whipping up an old "Irish" recipe, maybe coming up with a new one, baking bread, and making some kind of festive dessert.  But, life happened.  I actually ate Indian food yesterday during my early St. Pat's celebration.  Fitting, eh?

So here's the recipe I wanted to make.  Not that any of you will be reading this with enough time to make it for your own St. Patrick's day feast, since the day is almost over.  But, if you, like me, will be planning a St. Pat's make-up holiday for next weekend (since this weekend was practically stolen from me), then here's a great dish to incorporate!

Jennie (the Officer) actually went to Ireland with her fiance for a week last summer, so I have it on good her authority that the components of this stir-fry are authentic Irish ingredients.  Sausage, potatoes, cabbage, carrots, beer.  Yep, sounds Irish to me!  The bad news: Guinness is not vegan.  Let me clarify- there are no animal products in the beer, but some animal by-products are used in the manufacturing process.  I'm going to be honest, I have no idea what that means.  I did use Guinness for this recipe, but if you want a good alternative, check out barnivore for a comprehensive list of vegan beers.  I'm going to weed through the list before making this next weekend, and I'll add an update to this post when I decide which beer to use instead.

Guinness or no Guinness, this Irish gal is a huge fan of this Irish-Asian fusion meal, and is definitely looking forward to tearing it up next weekend.  Serve it with rice, or noodles, or more potatoes! 

Ingredients:
 Sauce:
2 cups Guinness (or other, vegan beer)
6 Tbsp soy sauce
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup honey
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 1/2 tsp ground fennel
2 tsp cumin
2 Tbsp cornstarch

Stir-fry:
1 tsp olive oil
4 vegan beer brats (I used Tofurkey brand), sliced
Large onion, cut in half and sliced
3 large cloves garlic, minced
Large green pepper, sliced
2 cups yellow flesh potatoes, cubed
2 cups green cabbage, shredded
1 cup shredded carrots
Salt and pepper, to taste


Directions:
 In a medium-sized bowl, add all sauce ingredients.  Whisk to mix well.

In a large wok, heat olive oil over medium high heat.  Add sausages and cook until browned.  Remove sausages from pan and cover to keep warm.  Return pan to stove and add onion and garlic, cooking for about 5 min.  Add pepper and potatoes and cook for about 5 min.  Add cabbage, carrots, and beer sauce.  Turn heat to high to allow sauce to bubble.  Reduce heat to medium and cook for 10 minutes, or until potatoes soften. Add sausages and salt and pepper to taste. Allow to cook for about 5 more minutes.  Serve hot over rice or soda bread.

Cooking for Sustenance: Chili

Because eating isn't just fun; it's essential.

Today's recipe isn't fancy.  It won't be submitted to a contest.  It probably won't impress you.  But it's delicious, made about 20 servings, and was done in 20 minutes.  Oh yeah.

I wish I had the time and the resources to do recipe testing every day.  It's one of my favorite things to do ever.  But sometimes you just need food because you have to eat.  And sometimes you need cheap food because you're a jobless hobo.  During the week, I'm rarely home before 8:00 pm, so having leftovers is super convenient.  I like to make a large pot of soup or something on Sunday or Monday, and then eat it for dinner (or lunch or breakfast) throughout the week.  So maybe I didn't sit down for dinner until 9:00 pm tonight. At least I have food for the rest of the week!

I don't usually get fancy with soups during the week.  I really just check my pantry for ingredients and then throw a bunch of stuff in a pot.  Today, my ingredients told me to make chili.  I rarely make chili the same way twice, but I do have a sort of "chili system" that I follow.  It goes like this:
*onion
*diced tomatoes
*beans
*veggies
*other stuff, as I see fit

This really is a lazy recipe, but it's also tasty and satisfying.  I didn't even chop my own veggies!  [Ahh, the joy of frozen vegetables.]  You can use any mixed veggies you have on hand.  I had two bags of what was called "Mexican blend," which consisted of broccoli, cauliflower, peppers, and corn.  But use whatever you like.  Or have.  Or whatever.  Frozen veggies, canned tomatoes and beans, and a little bit of time is all it takes to make a tasty treat!

Ingredients:
1 cup diced onion
15 oz can refried beans
28 oz can diced tomatoes
2 cups water
15 oz can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
2 lbs frozen mixed vegetables of your choosing
2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp chipotle chili powder
1 tsp dried cilantro

Directions:
In a large soup pot, saute onion over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes, or until soft.  Add the refried beans and mix with the onions for about a minute.  Add the tomatoes and water and stir to mix well.  Toss in the veggies, beans, and seasonings.  Let chili come to a boil then turn down heat and simmer for about 10 minutes, or until all veggies are cooked through.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.


It's just that easy!  Way better than fast food.  ;)