Spaghetti with Pinto Grigio & Seafood April 27, 2009

The following recipe from Giada De Laurentiis was super easy and quite yummy! All the flavors melded beautifully together (don’t skip the arugula!!). It was a perfectly light pasta for a lovely spring evening. The only revision I made (and true foodies out there please don’t shudder…) was that instead of fresh clams I used 1 can of drained chopped clams. In general cooking fresh clams makes me nervous plus it was kind of a budget decision. So put me on a food time out, I used canned clams!  

Recipe Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/spaghetti-with-pinot-grigio-and-seafood-recipe/index.html

(If the link doesn’t work, just copy and paste into your browser)

White Cheddar Shells with Peas and Baked Tofu November 12, 2008

I have written about Annie’s Homegrown Organic Macaroni & Cheese before ( http://www.annies.com/organicmacandcheese#jump131 ). I buy it at Trader Joe’s and I use it every now and then as a side dish. But last night when the desire to make a labor intensive meal escaped me I created a dish that I think turned out really tasty and is super flexible. I used frozen peas but you could add a plethora of other veggies; peas are just what I had on hand.

 

Prepare the pasta per the instructions on the box. When there is one minute left to cook the pasta, add 1 cup of frozen peas. Although there is already organic cheese in the dish, I used reduced fat coconut milk instead of regular milk and I used vegan margarine instead of butter mixed with the sauce packet. Drain the pasta and peas and mix with 1/2 package of savory baked tofu sliced into 1/2 inch cubes. And there you have it. Super quick, super easy and super yummy.

Orange Ginger Tofu w/ Whole Wheat Veggie Lo Mein November 3, 2008

The Orange Ginger Baked Tofu is a recipe that I found on The Post Punk Kitchen Website (one of my favy-favs!) I LOVE ginger. Seriously love it; to me… the more the better. So this tofu dish was a must make recipe. It turned out so super yummy and I will definitely make it again. I put  the tofu under the broiler per the recipe recommendation and I would recommend that as well. http://www.theppk.com/recipes/dbrecipes/index.php?RecipeID=144

 Recipe Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I decided to wing it on a Veggie Lo Mein and it actually turned out super good. You could add a ton of other veggies but the following are what I had on hand.

Ingredients:

- 4 tsp. Soy Sauce

- 4 tsp. White Wine Vinegar

- 4 tsp. Crushed Ginger

- 4 tsp. Ken’s Asian Sesame Salad Dressing w/ Ginger and Soy

- 2 tsp. Thai Peanut Sauce

- 1 tsp. Sesame Oil

- 8 oz. whole wheat spaghetti, cooked according to package directions

- 1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and sliced into strips

- 1 orange bell pepper, seeded and sliced into strips

- 1 1/2 cups cooked broccoli, chopped

- 2 cups snow peas, chopped into 1 inch pieces

- 8 oz. Water chestnuts, drained and chopped

- 2 green onions, chopped on diagonal

Directions:

1. Combine the first six ingredients to make the marinade and whisk together well in a small bowl. Set aside.

2. Heat some vegetable oil on high in a large skillet or wok. When the oil starts to ripple add the chopped bell peppers. Cook for 2 minutes.

3. Add the snow peas and cooked broccoli. Cook for 3 minutes.

4. Add the water chestnuts and cook for 5 minutes.

5. Add the marinade to the veggie stir fry and cook for 5 minutes 

6. Combine the stir fry with the noodles and toss. Top with a few (3) slices of the baked orange ginger tofu and top with a sprinkle of chopped green onion.

 

YUMMY Yum YUMMY!!!

Meatless Tacos & A Better than Bolognese Sauce October 3, 2008

Day Three of Goin’ Vegan…

Yesterday I made two more tasty vegan meals.

For lunch I made the most yummy vegan tacos using Yves Meatless Ground “Meat” http://www.yvesveggie.com/products/detail.php/meatless-ground-round-original

I cooked the meatless ground meat in a saute pan and added 1 cup of frozen corn, 1 can of drained black beans and 1 cup of fresh pico de gallo.

I served the mixture in vegan tortillas topped with freshly chopped cabbage, avocado, soy cheese and pico de gallo. They were SOOOOOOO GOOD! The best part was that after eating them, I still felt great. Full but not ugh (You know what I am talking about by “ugh”, right?)

 

 

For dinner I made pasta but not your every day pasta; my sauce was so full of vegetable goodness!

My Sauce

- 1 onion chopped and 2 finely chopped cloves of garlic sauteed in a skillet with 1- 2 tbsp. olive oil until the onion is translucent.

- Add 10 oz. sliced mushrooms and cook for another 3 minutes.

- Add 1 jar of tomato basil marinara (I checked the label on mine, made sure it was organic and free of any ICK factors!)

- Add 1 cup pureed sweet potato and 1 cup pureed butternut squash (Quick tip! You can find at most stores now both sweet potatoes and butternut squash already peeled, cubed and in microwave safe bags. If you are in a hurry this can save a lot of time. Just cook the veggies per the directions, drop them into your food processor or blender, add a few tbsp. of water and puree)

- Add 1 jar drained artichokes that have been pulsed in the food processor but not pureed.

- Season with dried basil, dried oregano, crushed red bell pepper and garlic salt to taste.

- Let simmer, simmer, simmer. Good sauce takes time baby! 

 

I served this yummy sauce topped over vegan bow tie pasta, garnished it with some fresh basil and a side of fresh green beans. The dish is so hearty and rich you wont have even the slightest desire for meat or cheese on your plate. Seriously, it is almost decadent!

 

Recipe Ratings: 4 out 5 stars.

 

On a side note… my boyfriend and I are both feeling great (it’s actually day four as I blog). There is something to be said about only putting wholesome food into your body. It just feels… BETTER. My skin is looking great, my energy levels are up and not that I decided to do this to lose weight but I have lost 2 pounds this week. Hmmm… maybe there is more to this vegan lifestyle thing…

Penne with Beef & Arugula July 15, 2008

I just noticed that since I started this blog I haven’t made any recipes using beef. The main reason is that I don’t actually eat a lot of beef. Based on my body and my blood type I just don’t crave it very often. But every now and then when the feeling strikes my fancy I will prepare a little red meat. The following recipe caught my attention. The ingredients that Giada used reminded me of a wonderful Carpaccio appetizer that I had while I was in Italy. The bitterness of the arugula really complimented the dish so well. Make sure you buy a nice cut of meat and be sure not to overcook it; you want it cooked tender with a little pink inside. 

 

The following are my revisions;

I added 1 chopped green onion

I only used 1/2 lb. of penne instead of 1 lb. 

I added freshly shaved parmesan on top to garnish

I served this at room temp. 

 

The flavors worked so well together and I would definitely make this dish again. 

 

Recipe Rating: 4 out of 5 stars 

For some reason the link to this recipe will not activate on this blog entry so just copy and paste the URL into your web browser and it will come up. Sorry for the inconvenience. 

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/penne-with-beef-and-arugula-recipe/index.html

Orecchiette with Mini Chicken Meatballs June 30, 2008

My boyfriend and I saw this recipe on Everyday Italian on the Food Network. I think the only reason he will ever watch the show with me is because he has a big crush on Giada (who doesn’t, right??). This one particular dish caught his attention and I told him that I would give it a shot. I actually followed the recipe to a tee (quite unlike me but at least this way if he didn’t like it I could say “Well, that’s the way Giada does it!”). It was a very tasty dish but with that said, I would make some changes for next time (See below). Also I should note that this recipe serves 4-6 people which means lots of leftovers when you are only cooking for two!! ;)  Final note: If you are unfamiliar with orecchiette it is a type of pasta shell that means “ear” (orecchio) in Italian. I think that it looks more like a little bowl vs. a small ear but that is just me…

Changes I would make next time:

- Add garlic powder to the meatballs. She originally made the recipe for children so she was going easy on the spices. As an adult, I say, it needed a bit more spice.

- I would cut the amount of pasta. Orecchiette is very starchy. I thought that the meat to pasta ratio was off a bit and I would reduce the amount of pasta by 1/4.

-  Add a few tsp. of crushed red pepper to the skillet along with the tomatoes

- NOTE: When making the meatballs. Size does matter! The smaller the balls, the easier they cooked! My poor Italian relatives would be so disappointed in my meatballs, they looked more like meat plops. But HEY at least they tasted good. They were very moist and flavorful. I prepared all my meatballs at once and placed them on a sheet of waxed paper then cooked them in stages in the skillet.

- Finally I would have used less fresh mozarella. Usually I am ALL for the cheese. But I think I would probably cut the fresh bocconcini in half (4 oz. vs. 8 oz.) Make sure you add it as the recipe calls otherwise you end up with big mozarella globs at the bottom of your bowl. ; )

Recipe Rating: As is 3.5 out of 5 stars. With some changes… I’m guessing 4 out of 5.   

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_182015,00.html