Manicotti: Vegan Cooking with Nadine

Vegan Manicotti

       My sister, who has no interest in any vegan choices, actually requests for me to make this when she comes over to my house. This easy to follow beginners recipe is simple, clean eating. I usually pair it with a garlic bread and some fresh fruit, along with a chocolate dessert.

       The recipe calls for tofu, and if you don't like tofu, you're in luck! The tofu is mashed up to make a cottage cheese and then mixed with spaghetti sauce, so you don't even process it as tofu!

      I gave myself a bit more than hour (maybe 90 minutes) to prepare this dish my first time, but after that, I got the hang of what would make this dish quicker: get water boiling before you start cutting your vegetables. This saved me about 15 minutes because the first time I made this recipe, I didn't read the instructions all the way through (oops!) and I ended up having to wait for the water to boil, then for the noodles to partially cook, and lastly waiting for the noodles to cool down enough that I could handle them. 

In short, learn from my mistakes and boil water first!

Serves: 6-8

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cook time: 40 minutes

Total time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

1/2 package of manicotti noodles (24 shells)

2 20oz jars of spaghetti sauce

1 recipe Vegan Cottage Cheese (see recipe below)

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1-2 Tablespoons oil

2 cloves garlic, crushed or finely chopped

1 onion chopped (1 1/2 cups)

1 pound spinach, chopped or whole

1 teaspoon basil

1/2 teaspoon oregano

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon Chicken Style Seasoning (found commonly in bulk seasonings).

Vegan Cottage Cheese:

1 pound extra firm Tofu

1/2 cup Vegenaise

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons lemon juice

• Mash tofu and mix in other ingredients.

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees
2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook pasta (to fill the pasta, it's easier if the noodles aren't fully cooked, and just a few minutes under cooked).
3. Sauté the last 8 ingredients above in the oil until onions and spinach are tender.
4. Add tofu cottage cheese and parsley to the saucepan and mix well.
5. Pour 1/2 a jar of spaghetti sauce into the bottom of a 9x13 inch casserole dish 
6. With a large spoon, fill pasta with the mixture from the saucepan. Place the shells in the tomato sauce.
7. Pour the remaining sauce over the shells. Make sure the shells are covered with the sauce, otherwise when they're done cooking, the exposed parts will turn hard.
8. Cover with foil and place in preheated oven for 40 minutes.

Sauteed Veggies

Sauteing works well to not only add a vegetables to a meal but also to add flavor. It's simple to do and they can go on top of many dishes. I enjoy adding sauteed zucchini to grain based dishes like pasta and the mushrooms and onions are delicious on meat like steak and burgers. I also have but it on top of bakes potatoes to add a more savory element.

Can be browned more if desired

Zucchini: Melt butter in a saute pan place peeled and sliced zucchini into melted butter, sprinkle with garlic. flip once browned and repeat. Add more butter as needed. Some  may burn more than other due to burning butter.

Mushrooms: Similarly, melt butter in  a saute pan and add washed, and sliced mushrooms. I recommend removing the stems. Saute until browned and to desired softness.

Mushrooms before cooking down

Onions (and mushrooms): Melt butter and add finely chopped onion. Saute until softened and add mushrooms, if desired. Continue cooking until onions are caramelized.

Farmers Market

I'm so excited for this weather to get better! Happily within the next month or so my favorite farmers markets are opening up. One of my favorite ways to start my weekend is to go and see all of the fresh produce and vendors. It's a great way to stock up on high quality ingredients. Here are my finds from today:

Carrots, hazelnut brownies, spinach and kale mix, and spinach starters. All for $10!

New Ingredients Part 1

While at the store not long ago I noticed produce I had never heard and some I just didn't know much about.  I decided to look into them to see what they are, what to do with them, and if I want to try and use them.

 Chayote Squash
Mild flavor and texture
From tropical farms so they are available all year round
Buy:small firm fruits that feel heavy
Store: for several weeks, in the crisper or in a paper bag
Eat: Most of the time it's cooked but it can be eaten raw. Can be cooked using any method like grilling, baking, and steaming.


 Tamarind:
African spice, used in Worcestershire sauce.
Buy: Can be found in a variety of forms. I just happened to find whole beans
Store:In processed forms it can last almost forever
Eat: Use the dried forms for rubs, marinades, and other spice combinations

Persimmons:
A Mediterranean fruit with a sweet taste. There are two varieties; the American and the Japanese or Oriental variety.
Buy: Available later in the year. choose fruits that are rich in color, blemish free, and plump. Make sure the leaves are intact.
Store: Ripen on paper bag and refrigerate once ripened. Eat quickly. Can be frozen in a puree or whole.
Eat:You can eat them raw just remove the pulp. Add to smoothies and salads. The can be poached and preserved in to puree or preserves.
***These are what I'll be trying once they come back in season this winter***

Let me know if you have any suggestions!
Bonus: Look at these HUGE avocados I found. They were larger that my fist.

Sorry it's blurry

Bacon Grilled Cheese

I had leftover bacon and needed to eat it so I decided to make a bacon grilled cheese. Is was delicious. So here's my how-to make any grilled cheese. It may take practice to get the bread a golden brown color but the practice is well worth the reward.

What you need:
Butter
Bread
Cheese- thinly sliced
Bacon (2-3 slices)


In a pan over medium heat place butter and allow to melt. While melting cut cheese thinly and arrange on bread. Place bacon on top next and top with the second slice of bread.  Place uncooked sandwich on to melted butter and cook. Using a spatula to check for coloring. Flip to brown the other side. Remove from pan, cut, and enjoy.

Notes:
Thinly sliced cheese will melt better the thick slices, so for a cheesy sandwich do multiple layers.
This method works for any type of grilled cheese that requires heating. I would recommend adding veggies like lettuce and avocado afterwards if you want to make a more sandwich like grilled cheese.

Recipe: Sugar Cookies

I typically make these around Christmas but the pastel mints work perfectly for Easter as well. These sugar cookies are delicious with the simple frosting and the mints. They are  my mom's favorite holiday cookie and she was very excited to have them around the house. They are  also easy to make and  a hit.

Cookies:

1 ½ cup powdered sugar
1 cup butter
1 egg

1 tsp vanilla
½ tsp almond extract
2 ½ cups flour
1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cream of tartar

Mix together everything except the flour, soda, and cream of tartar. Then add the final three ingredients. Cover and refrigerate for at least two hours.

Roll out a flour board to cut the cookies and bake at 375 for 7-8 minutes. Once cooled frost.

Frosting:

~3 ½ cups sifted powdered sugar

½ cup butter

¼ cup 4% milk

1 tsp vanilla

Food coloring (Optional)

Shaved pastel mints (Optional but recommended)

Mix together adding the powdered sugar gradually until a good taste is made. Add food coloring if desired,  sprinkle on the pastel mints.

Spread icing on to cooled cookies and then cover in shaved pastel mints. Enjoy!

Building a Smoothie

Bannana-Berry

Smoothies are delicious. I love making one after class to enjoy as a snack. I have been making myself smoothies for awhile but I always managed to make too much and smoothies don't remix very well in my experience.

2 cups fruit

1 container yogurt (~1 cup)

1+ cup milk

~2 inch piece banana

Blend together and enjoy!

Notes:

If it's not mixing well add more milk. That's typically the problem, an air bubble forms at the bottom of the blender and the best way to prevent that and get better smoothing is to add more liquid.

You can also add a handful of vegetables to boost the nutritional value .