Day three of MoFo and all is well……. Well, sort of.
Zucchetti with Sun Dried Tomato Marinara Sauce
I was browsing around the internet, soaking in all the wonderful vegan posts, and wham, go attacked by a computer virus. Basically the virus attached a secret encryption to all my files and the only way to get my files back was to go to a website and pay to get the secret code…………..I think not……. fortunately I do regular back ups, so a quick loading of the original dvd’s that came with the computer, everything is wiped off and reloaded. Thank goodness for external hard drives and backups. A little inconvenient but nothing too serious.
Zucchetti with Sun Dried Tomato Marinara Sauce
Continuing on with the theme of quick and easy (didn’t take too much time or effort to restore my computer) and delicious, todays recipe is for Zucchetti with Sundried Tomato Marinara Sauce. You could sub out they zucchetti (spiralized zucchini) with a pasta of your choice if you prefer.
This meal can be totally raw or if you like (as I did) you can add in fried mushrooms.
Enjoy,
Zucchetti with Sun Dried Tomato Marinara Sauce
Serves 2
2 or 3 zucchini spiralized (or 2 cups of cooked pasta of choice)
1 Cup sun dried tomato’s soaked in 1/2 cups hot water for 10 mins (reserve water)
1 Tblspn olive oil
2 plum tomato’s
1 handful fresh basil
1 garlic clove
Sauteed mushrooms and nutritional yeast if desired to garnish
Place spiralized zucchini on paper towels to absorb excess moisture.
Combine drained sun dried tomato’s, olive oil, plum tomato’s, basil and garlic in a blender or food processor. Process until fairly smooth. Add reserved tomato soaking water a tablespoon at a time until you reach the desired consistency.
Place zucchini on two plates. Spoon marinara sauce over top and sprinkle with sautéed mushrooms and nutritional yeast if using.
You may also gently heat the marinara sauce in a small pot before serving if you prefer a cooked sauce.
I like the sauce “raw” and it avoids one more pot to clean, adding to the “quick and easy” part of the recipe…….and it truly is delicious.
Well, it is hard to believe it is already the second last day of MoFo. Time has really flown by. I have enjoyed reading all the new blogs I have discovered and have a list a mile long of recipes I want to try.
I am ending the traditional soup recipes with a vegan version of a favourite of my children. When they were young, my son and daughter loved Hamburger Soup. This soup was filled with tasty vegetables, barley and ground meat.
This vegan version is equally tasty with finely diced mushrooms replacing the ground meat. The soft pretzels are fantastic. They are soft and light with a slightly sweet taste. Perfect for dipping in the soup.
My last post for September tomorrow will be a dessert. Strawberry Champagne Pearl Soup with Cashew Creme and Palmiers. A fitting finale for this years Vegan MoFo.
Enjoy,
Mushroom-burger Soup with Soft Pretzels
Mushroom-Burger Soup
Makes 6
1 Tblspn olive
1 Tblsp vegan butter
750g white mushrooms finely diced
1 onion, minced
2 carrots, diced
2 celery ribs, thinly diced
1/2 cup barley
1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes
2 cups water
3 cups vegetable broth
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed tomato soup
1 bay leaf
1 Tblspn parsley
1 tspn minced garlic
1/2 tspn dried thyme
ground black pepper, to taste
Heat olive oil and butter in large soup pot over medium-high heat, add mushrooms. Cook stirring until the mushrooms have softened and released their liquid.
Stir in the onion, carrots, celery, and barley. Pour in diced tomatoes, water, broth, and tomato soup. Season with bay leaf, parsley, garlic, thyme, and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and cover; simmer for 1 hour, stirring frequently. Remove bay leaf before serving.
Mushroom-burger Soup with Soft Pretzels
Soft Pretzels
Makes 6
1 cup non dairy milk
1 package active dry yeast
3 Tblspns packed light brown sugar
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for kneading
2 Tblspns vegan butter, plus more for greasing
1 rspn fine salt
1/3 cup baking soda
2 tablespoons coarse salt
Warm the milk in a saucepan until it’s about 110 degrees; pour into a medium bowl and sprinkle in the yeast. Let the yeast soften, about 2 minutes; stir in the brown sugar and 1 cup flour with a wooden spoon. Dice 2 tablespoons butter and soften; stir into the mix. Add the remaining 1 1/4 cups flour and the fine salt to make a sticky dough. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead, adding more flour if needed, until smooth but still slightly tacky, about 5 minutes. Shape into a ball, place in a lightly greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 450 and grease a large baking sheet. Punch the dough to deflate it, then turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into 6 pieces. Roll and stretch each piece with the palms of your hands into a 30-inch rope, holding the ends and slapping the middle of the rope on the counter as you stretch. Form each rope into a pretzel shape.
Dissolve the baking soda in 3 cups warm water in a shallow baking dish. Gently dip each pretzel in the soda solution, then arrange on the prepared baking sheet and sprinkle with the coarse salt. Bake until golden, 10 to 12 minutes.
Spaghetti (squash) with Roasted Tomato Sauce and Meatballs
Wow, it is amazing that we are already closing in on the end of Vegan MoFo. Here is recipe #19 with just one more to go.
This was an easy one for me. Sometimes it is hard to decide what to make, but this was a natural.
When I opened up our CSA share this week, there was a huge spaghetti squash. This was perfect timing as last weekend I had picked up three big bags of perfectly ripe Ontario field tomato’s. They had just been put on the “reduced” rack at the store. Home they went, to be roughly chopped together with onions, garlic, red peppers some olive oil and salt and pepper and then into the oven to slow roast for an hour or so. I then pureed this into a tomato sauce. I froze this in freezer bags holding approx 2 cups each. I now have about a dozen packages of sauce in the freezer to use in the winter when fresh tomato’s are less than prime and totally overpriced, One bag came out for the spaghetti squash. Now all that was missing was a fantastic meatball.
I have tried a number of different approaches to the humble meatball to find a nice tasty solid version. I was toying with using my “beets meat” recipe but I have posted that twice recently, so went to another old favourite. This meatball has a nice texture and is very easy to make. They also freeze well.
The best part about this recipe is that by using the squash as the pasta, you can go back for seconds (or, in my case thirds) without feeling guilty.
Recipe # 20 is next, and as I mentioned earlier, it is to be a Grand Finale. Stay tuned and get ready for a sweet ending to Vegan MoFo.
Enjoy,
Spaghetti (squash) with Roasted Tomato Sauce and Meatballs
Spaghetti (squash) with Roasted Tomato Sauce and Meatballs
Serves 6
1 large spaghetti squash
1 whole head of garlic plus 6 cloves
2 tblspns olive oil
sea salt and black pepper
1/2 cup chickpea flour
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 onion, finely diced
1/2 tspn fennel seeds
1/4 tspn smoked paprika
1/4 tspn red pepper flakes
2 tblspns lemon juice
handful fresh basil
1/2 tspn dried oregano
1/2 tspn dried parsley
1/2 tspn dried sage
2 tspns nutritional yeast, plus extra for topping
1/4 cup water
4 large ripe tomato’s roughly chopped
2 medium onions roughly chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 large red pepper, seeded and roughly chopped
Extra olive oil
Preheat oven to 375
Cut spaghetti squash in half lengthwise. Remove seeds.
Grate one head of garlic and mix into 2 tblspns olive oil. Place squash cut side up on baking sheet. Cover with garlic oil mixture. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake uncovered for 40 mins. Remove from oven and let cool for at least 10 mins. Remove “spaghetti” strands from skin with a fork. Set aside.
Note: Depending on the size of your squash, you will need to adjust the cooking times. In this case, mine was huge (straight from the farm) and took closer to 1 1/2 hours to cook. Just keep checking by poking with a fork until it is tender.
Spaghetti Squash
Spaghetti Squash Cooked
Meatballs:
Preheat oven to 400
Combine chickpea flour, sunflower seeds, 1/2 onion, 2 cloves garlic, fennel seeds, paprika, red pepper flakes, lemon juice, basil, oregano, parsley, sage and nutritional yeast in food processor.
Process until almost smooth, adding water as necessary. Mixture should be thick enough to roll into balls.
Roll into balls and place on baking sheet, lined with parchment paper.
Bake for 15 – 20 mins or until starting to brown. Remove from oven and let sit for 5 mins before serving.
Tomato Sauce:
Preheat oven to 375
Combine tomato’s, roughly chopped onions, 4 minced garlic cloves and roughly chopped red pepper with enough olive oil to coat. Add salt and pepper to taste. Bake uncovered for at least 1 hour, stirring occasionally. The longer you bake this the better, you want the onions to caramalize.
Tomato, onion, garlic and olive oil
Roasted tomato onion and garlic
Remove from oven, allow to cool slightly then puree in food processor in batches.
To serve, place a nest of spaghetti squash on plate, top with 4 – 6 meatballs, ladle tomato sauce over the top and sprinkle with extra nutritional yeast if desired.
Spaghetti (squash) with Roasted Tomato Sauce and Meatballs
Zucchini Lasagna with Oven Rosted Tomato Garlic Sauce
Yay, officially half way to the 20 posts this month. Also, another big (for me anyway) milestone, my blog just passed the first 1,000 hits, thank you everyone who has stopped by. Next stop, the first million (gotta think big 🙂
Well, the weather is really chilly today, a high of only 10 degrees, and the geese are starting to gather which is never a good sign (they gather then fly south ahead of the snow arriving)
Fortunately, I have a lovely fall recipe here for a vegetable lasagna that is stuffed full of veggies. You can easily sub out any of the veggies for whatever you have around. I had lots of zucchini and brocoli and patty pan squash, so that is what I used.
The tomato sauce part is a repeat of my go to recipe. Slow roasting the tomato’s, garlic and onions in the oven draws out and magnifies all their wonderful flavours. Adding lentils give the sauce a real “meaty” texture and tons of protein. (Note: I always cook more lentils than I need and freeze the rest in freezer bags. That way they are on hand and ready when you are)
The “cheese” sauce can be made with a head of cauliflower if you do not want to use the tofu. Just steam a head of cauliflower florets until soft and then use in place of the tofu.
Enjoy,
Zucchini Lasagna with Oven Rosted Tomato Garlic Sauce
Zucchini lasagna with Oven Roasted Tomato Sauce
Serves 8
4 large ripe tomato’s coarsely chopped (I used a combo of tomato’s I had in the fridge, any kind will do, just have about 3 – 4 cups total)
2 large onions coarsely chopped
6 cloves garlic coarsely chopped
2 Tblspns olive oil
2 cups cooked lentils
I head brocoli, chopped
2 cups chopped vegetable of choice (I used Patty Pan Squash as they were in the fridge and needed using up. )
3 tblspns fresh basil chopped
1 block silken tofu
6 tblspns Nutritional Yeast
juice of half a lemon
pinch sea salt
2 large zucchini
1 medium sweet potato
Preheat oven to 375 F
Combine chopped tomato’s, onions, garlic and olive oil in baking dish. Bake for 40 mins. Remove from heat and stir in cooked lentils,
Zucchini Lasagna with Oven Rosted Tomato Garlic Sauce
Place mixture in food processor and process 4 or 5 times to combine but still leave lumps. Set aside.
Place brocoli and other vegetable of choice in pan with either a little olive oil or water. Gently saute for 5 mins until vegetables are just starting to soften. Remove from heat and set aside.
Combine Tofu, nutritional yeast, lemon juice and sea salt in food processor. Process until totally smooth and creamy. Set aside.
Slice zucchini and sweet potato into long thin strips. I used a mandolin for the zucchini and a wide vegetable peeler for the sweet potato.
Zucchini Lasagna with Oven Rosted Tomato Garlic Sauce
Grease large baking dish on bottom and sides.
Place 1/3 of the zucchini in layer on the bottom of the baking dish.
Zucchini Lasagna with Oven Rosted Tomato Garlic Sauce
Top with 1/3 of the sweet potato slices.
Zucchini Lasagna with Oven Rosted Tomato Garlic Sauce
Spread 1/2 of the tomato mixture on top.
Zucchini Lasagna with Oven Rosted Tomato Garlic Sauce
Spread 1/2 of the brocoli mixture on top.
Zucchini Lasagna with Oven Rosted Tomato Garlic Sauce
Spread 1/2 the tofu mixture on top.
Zucchini Lasagna with Oven Rosted Tomato Garlic Sauce
Place 1/2 of the remaining zucchini on top.Place 1/2 remaining sweet potato on topPlace remaining tomato mixture on top.
Place remaining brocoli mixture on top
Place remaining zucchini on top.
Place remaining sweet potato on top.
Cover with remaining Tofu mixture.
Sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper.
Bake covered for 45 mins at 375 F. Remove cover and return to oven, bake additional 20 mins uncovered.
Allow to sit for at least 15 mins before slicing and serving.
Zucchini Lasagna with Oven Rosted Tomato Garlic Sauce
What a wonderful week. Hot sunny weather, the summer is in full swing.
I really enjoy being outside during the summer. I love pottering around in my garden or sitting on my back deck just watching and listening to everything around me.
Robins taking a dip in the birdbath, “Charlie” the chipmunk coming to get his peanuts, the tiny chickadees flitting to and from the birdfeeder and the squirrels chasing each other through the trees. There is a whole community living out there.
This year I have not planted many vegetables as I am receiving my weekly CSA basket, but I still have my cherry tomato plant. There is nothing like picking a juicy red cherry tomato off the plant and popping it into my mouth. The tomato’s never make it into my kitchen, let alone onto a salad. I eat them right off the plant as soon as they are ripe.
Nothing beats fresh produce. This week we received our third CSA basket filled with kohlrabi, lettuce, field greens, basil, parsley, cilantro, spring onions, broccoli leaves and radish, all from our wonderful farmers, Ryan and Isabelle from Field Good Farms.
CSA Week Three
All that was left from last week’s supply was one kohlrabi, a few basil leaves and some of the tomato BBQ sauce I made.
For the kohlrabi, I decided to make fries.
Kohlrabi Fries with Tomato BBQ Sauce
There is no formal “recipe” for this, I just peel the kohlrabi then slice into fry size pieces. Toss in a little olive oil and herbs of choice (I used oregano) then bake in a hot oven for 15 – 20 mins, turning halfway. Serve with tomato bbq sauce.
The crust is from a recipe from Richa’s blog, veganricha. A mixture of soaked brown rice and brown lentils make a nice base with good texture.
When I looked in my fridge, I had a tomato, a portabello mushroom and some olives. Perfect toppings for pizza. I then made my “cheese” to finish off. The end result was delicious.
Enjoy,
Tracy 🙂
Brown Rice and Lentil Pizza Crust Makes 3 individual pizza crusts
½ cup uncooked brown basmati rice
¼ cup uncooked brown lentils
½ cup water
Italian herbs
¼ tspn garlic powder
¾ tspn salt
¾ tspn active yeast
Generous pinch baking powder
Soak rice and lentils overnight in warm water
Drain rice and lentils and rinse. Blend with water into a smooth batter. You may need to add a little more water. Add salt, herbs and spices and mix well.
Add yeast and baking powder and mix well.
Cover and let sit in a warm place for an hour until batter gets bubbly.
Ladle onto parchment covered baking sheets. Spread out to approx. 7 inch diameter. Keep thickness similar to a pancake.
Bake in oven for 5 mins.
Remove from oven and add toppings.
Return to oven for another 5.- 6 mins. Remove from oven, allow to cool for a min before removing from parchment paper. Slice and serve.
Toppings:
1 tomato sliced
1 portabella mushroom sliced
12 fresh basil leaves
12 black olives sliced
¾ cup tomato BBQ Sauce
¾ cup coco-mozzarella
Coco-mozzarella
Makes approx. 1 cup
1 cup coconut milk
1 tspn Guar Gum
Pinch salt
1 tspn apple cider vinegar
½ tspn lemon juice
1 Tblspn cornstarch
1 Tblspn brown rice flour
¼ cup nutritional yeast
Heat coconut milk in pot over med heat until just hot. In separate bowl mix all dry ingredients. Add vinegar and lemon juice to coco nut milk. Very slowly ( ½ tspn at a time) add dry ingredients to wet over low to med heat, whisking continually. Cook for 3 – 5 mins until thickened.
Remove from heat and pour into greased container to set. Refrigerate for at least one hour.
To achieve a more “cheddar” like cheese, add herbs of choice, garlic powder, additional nutritional yeast and a pinch of turmeric before setting.
Coco-mozzarella or Cheddar
Assemble Pizza
Spread 1/3 tomato bbq sauce on each pizza base
Top with 4 slices tomato, four slices mushroom, four basil leaves and four sliced olives per pizza.
Drizzle 1/3 cup coco-mozzarella cheese over each pizza
With the summer in full swing and the weather finally cooperating, it is time for all kinds of outdoor feasting, and with that, we need condiments.
Fresh Summer Condiments
After picking up my CSA veggies this weeek, I thought a great way to use up some cilantro, garlic scapes and kohlrabi would be to make Tomato BBQ Sauce (garlic scapes) Garlic Scape Bean Dip and Mango Cilantro Salsa (cilantro and kohlrabi).
Enjoy,
Tracy 🙂
First the Mango Cilantro Salsa. This is a wonderful salsa that is hot, cool, spicy and sweet all at the same time. It is truly an explosion of taste.
On the point of cilatro, this is a herb that you either love or hate. I have never met anyone who did not have a very strong opinion on cilantro. I am on the “love” side of the camp. If you truley hate the taste, you could substitute parsley.
Mango Cilantro Salsa
Mango Cilantro Salsa
Mango Cilantro Salsa Makes 2 cups
1 ripe mango, peeled and diced into small cubes
½ red onion, finely diced
1 jalapeno chili, minced (including seeds)
1 kohlrabi, diced into small cubes (or ½ medium cucumber)
½ red pepper, finely diced
½ small bunch cilantro, chopped fine
Juice of 2 limes
Salt and black pepper to taste
Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Place in fridge and let sit at least one hour for flavours to develop, or overnight if possible.
Note: the mango, kohlrabi, onion and red pepper need to be diced very finely.
If you find the salsa too hot, you can add some diced avocado to “cool” it down.
Next is the Tomato BBQ Sauce.
This recipe is meant to be a “ketcup”, but I find the taste a little more on the BBQ side. Either way, it is delicious.
Tomato BBQ Sauce
Tomato BBQ Sauce
Tomatoe BBQ Sauce Makes 2 cups
1 tblspn olive oil
2 cloves , chopped
½ onion, chopped
2 lbs tomatoes, chopped
¼ cup red wine vinegar
½ tspn sea salt
¼ tspn allspice
½ tspn fresh ground pepper
¼ tspn cayenne pepper
¼ tspn ground ginger
¼ cup coconut palm sugar (or brown sugar)
Heat oil in pot over medium heat. Add onions and cook about 3 mins till soft. Add garlic and cook for one additional minute.
Add tomatoes, vinegar, salt, black pepper, allspice, cayenne and ginger. Cook at low simmer until tomate’s are soft, about 20 – 30 mins.
When cooked, allow to cool, then transfer to a blender and blend until smooth.
If necessary, return to pot and simmer again until sauce thickens.
Bottle, and store in refrigerator.
And, finally, Garlic Scape Bean Dip. Perfect to serve with a platter of fresh cut veggies, or to use as a topping on a veggie burger.
Garlic Scape Bean Dip
Garlic Scape Bean Dip
Garlic Scape White Bean Dip Makes 2 cups
½ cup garlic scapes, sliced into 1 inch pieces
2 Tblspns lemon juice
½ tspn sea salt
Ground black pepper to taste
1 can (15oz) white beans (cannelloni, navy, kidney etc) rinsed
¼ cup olive oil
Add garlic scapes, lemon juice, salt and pepper to food processor. Process until finely chopped. You will need to scrape down the sides a few times.
Add beans and process until roughly pureed, again you will need to scrape down sides.
While processing, gradually add in the olive oil. Process until smooth.
If you find the mixture too thick, continue to process and add some water, 1 tblspn at a time until a “dip” consistency is reached.
stairway to vegan 