Lasagna and Jam!

First things first, for the lasagna you'll start by making an Eggplant Bolognese, which goes like so:

1 cup dry red wine
1 medium onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium eggplant (about 1 pound), peeled and chopped
12 ounces button or cremini mushrooms, chopped
2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1 (28-ounce) can crushed or diced tomatoes
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2/3 cup plain unsweetened almond milk
3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil, divided
Salt to taste

Bring red wine to a simmer in a large pot over medium heat. Add onion, carrots, celery and garlic and cook , stirring frequently, until onion is translucent and very tender and most of the wine has evaporated, about 10 minutes. Add eggplant, mushrooms and rosemary and cook until vegetables are tender, about 5 to 10 minutes. Stir in tomato paste and cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add tomatoes, broth and pepper and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and stir in almond milk and 2 tablespoons chopped basil.

...

You can make it fresh the day you want to make your lasagna, or do what I did, which is to make a big pot of it when you've got the time, then portion into freezer bags and freeze until you need it.  For a 9x13-inch pan of lasagna, I used about half of the sauce.  To defrost it, I simply cut it out of the freezer bag while still frozen, put into a saucepan, covered with a lid and heated over medium-low heat until it was back to it's original "saucy" consistency.  The sauce is pretty thick, and I needed a bit more moisture (as I was using "no-boil" noodles), so I added a 14.5 oz. can of plain tomato sauce, about a 1/4 of a cup of Marsala wine, and more salt and pepper, to taste. 

Once the sauce was done, I sat it aside and got started on the bechamel.  I melted 4 tbsp. Earth Balance (or vegan margarine of your choice) over medium heat in a saucepan.  I whisked in 4 tablespoons of all-purpose flour and cooked for about a minute or so.  Then I slowly whisked in 2 cups of unsweetened soy milk.  Cook, whisking frequently, till sauce is slightly thickened.  Season with salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste.

Now you're ready for the assemblage! 

 Spray your pan with cooking spray, then ladle in a thin layer of the sauce to coat the bottom of the pan.  Layer in your uncooked pasta, then cover with a healthy amount of the sauce.  Drizzle over a layer (probably about 1/3) of the bechamel, and repeat till your pan is full (I got 3 total layers).  Cover tightly with foil, and bake at 375 degrees for about an hour.  Remove the foil and bake for an additional 5 minutes so that the top gets a little browned.  Allow to cool for about 15 minutes before serving.  Buon Appetito!

...

Now time for jam!  I had bought some fresh apricots awhile back which turned out to be almost inedibly sour. 

 Not wanting to waste them, I turned it into an opportunity to try out a ludicrously simple jam recipe I had gotten while watching Martha Stewart a few months back.  She got it from a French lady jam maker, whose name escapes me.  I altered the recipe slightly because I didn't have as much fruit as the original recipe calls for, but all was well.  The original recipe is as follows:

2 1/4 lbs. berries or other diced fruit

3 3/4 cups sugar

Juice of 1 small lemon

Combine all the ingredients in a pan over low heat. 

Cook until the sugar is dissolved.

 Remove from heat, cool, and refrigerate overnight.  The next day, bring the mixture to a boil and simmer until it reaches 221 degrees (this will take approx. 15-20 mins.).  Be patient and stir often so that the bottom doesn't scorch. 

Once cooled, pour into your sterilized jars and process them, or do what I did and just put it in the fridge.
  

 I was very pleasantly surprised with the results!  Oh, one side note, I had diced my apricots, and at the end of the second cooking process I mashed the fruit with a potato masher because it was still chunkier than I wanted.  Spread it on toast (or what have you) and enjoy!

I would also like to say that if you're using fruit with skin, you're going to probably want to peel it.  I had the idea to peel my apricots by dunking them in boiling water and then into ice water, assuming that the skins would slip right off like a tomato.

 It did not go well.  I got half way through peeling one and gave up, diced the fruit with the skins still on, and took my chances. It turned out fine, but you may want to try and peel the fruit anyway, just to be safe!

Tune in next time for Spinach Pesto Lasagna!

Muffins and a day with my mama

So Sunday, I decided, was muffin day.  We don't go to work until 1 o'clock on Sundays, so I almost always have time to fix a little something for breakfast.  Usually it's pancakes, but this Sunday I decided on muffins.  I just took my old stand-by blueberry muffin recipe, omitted the blueberries (Blake always says I ruin lots of perfectly good baked items by putting fruit in them) and tweaked 'em to be vegan.  They were deee-licious and kind of reminiscent of little individual coffee cakes.  The recipe goes as follows:

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tbsp. baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp. ground flax seed mixed with 3 tbsp. water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup soy or almond milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
 Cinnamon sugar for topping

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together the flax with the water in a small bowl and let it sit while you gather the rest of your ingredients.

 Combine your dry ingredients (including the 1 tsp. cinnamon) in a large mixing bowl, then mix in your flax mixture, oil, milk and vanilla.

Mix together with a wooden spoon, being careful not to overwork the batter.  The batter will be thick. Fill muffin tins (sprayed with cooking spray or lined with paper liners) about 3/4 of the way full.  Sprinkle the top of each muffin with about 1/4 tsp. or so of cinnamon sugar. Bake for about 20 minutes.  Cool in pan for a few minutes before removing from pan to cool on a rack.  This should get you exactly 12 muffins with about 150 calories and 5 g of fat each.

I split mine in half and topped with some fresh berries.

We were off on Monday so I spent most of the day at my mom's house.  The majority of the morning we spent on the back porch, drinking coffee and admiring the backyard which is in all of it's late spring/early summer glory...

 We were also kept company by my mom's cat, Stinky, seen peering over the table at me here...

 I decided to make us a vegan lunch as I had a recipe I wanted to try that I knew my mom would probably appreciate (even though she's not vegan).  Piedmontese peppers were the dish, and they go like so:

Slice 2 yellow, orange or red bell peppers (or combination thereof) in half from top to bottom.  Pull out the seeds and ribs being careful not to destroy the peppers.  Lay them on a baking sheet and salt and pepper the cavities.  Dice up (not too finely) 4 cloves of garlic and sprinkle evenly into the peppers.  Slice about a cup or so of cherry or grape tomatoes in half and fill each pepper with the tomatoes (cut sides of the tomatoes up).  Sprinkle with salt and pepper and drizzle each pepper with about a teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil.  They should look something like this:

 Put them into a preheated 425 degree oven and roast for about 30 minutes.  Then lower the oven to 350 degrees and continue to roast for 45 minutes to 1 hour.  Once they're done they should look like this:

 I also sauteed some sliced garlic in olive oil, added about 4 cups fresh spinach, cooked it down and tossed with bowtie pasta for an easy side.

 We ate the whole lot with some of my mom's homemade bread to sop up all of the yummy, oily pepper juices.  Yuuu-uuuum!

 Coming up tomorrow, my adventure in jam-making, and a fantastic vegan lasagna!

Pizza, pizza, pizza!

Total crapfest at work today, so I thought Blake and I deserved some pizza!  I started off by gathering up all the ingredients for my toppings...

I decided to make a spinach pesto pizza, so I threw 2 cups of fresh spinach in the food processor along with a handful of fresh basil, 2 small cloves of garlic, 2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper, and blended till mostly smooth (yields about a 1/2 cup of pesto).

Next up, potato and sage pizza.  I microwaved two red potatoes for about 2 minutes, then sliced them fairly thin and picked some fresh sage.

Cherry tomato pizza with fresh basil, extra virgin olive oil and salt and pepper.

For Blake's favorite pizza I just needed about 1 small onion, very thinly sliced, 5 cloves of garlic, also thinly sliced, about 2 cups shredded cheese (I used monterey jack 'cause that's what I had on hand), some dried Mediterranean basil, and crushed red pepper flakes.  Yes, yes, I know it's not vegan, but it's vegetarian and it's his favorite!

Once I had my toppings ready, I got started with the crust.  I LOVE this recipe.  It's really simple and turns out great.  You'll need:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 tbsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning

1/2 tsp. garlic salt

1 (12 oz.) beer (I used Shiner Bock)

Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl and add beer.  Stir till combined.  That's it!!  You can either grease up your hands and press it onto cookie sheets or pizza pans, or knead with a little extra all-purpose flour and roll it out with a rolling pin.  I went with that option tonight because I wanted the crusts extra thin, but I've done it both ways and it turns out great either way.

For the tomato pizza, I just drizzled the rolled out dough with olive oil, then smooshed a handful of cherry tomatoes right on top (careful not to squirt the juice all over yourself/kitchen like I did).  Top with fresh basil sprigs and salt and pepper.  For the pesto one, I simply slathered it with my prepared pesto.  I baked them at 475 degrees for 12-15 minutes.  

For the potato/sage pizza, I put the sliced potatoes right on the dough, tore on the fresh sage, drizzled with extra virgin olive oil, and sprinkled with salt and pepper.

  

 Finally, to make Blake's favorite, I drizzled the rolled out dough with extra virgin olive oil, topped with sliced onions, sliced garlic, the shredded cheese and a sprinkling of Mediterranean basil and crushed red pepper flakes.  Baked for about the same length as the others, and voila!  Actually, I forgot to take a pic of the finished product and it's long gone now, so here it is before being baked!

Everything was great, but it was kind of a mess to clean up.  I am therefore exhausted now, so that's gonna be it for tonight.  Go make some pizza!

Back on track

Starting to get settled back into the whole vegan lifestyle once again.  I've been stressing out about a lot of things going on right now, so I bought myself some flowers the other day to cheer myself up...

I think they must have aggravated my allergies though, because I woke up this morning with my right eye all puffed up.  Being a vegan, you'd think I would have had a cucumber lying around that I could have cut a slice off of to take care of it, but, no such luck.  I've got some zucchini, but not sure that would work.  Anywho, been cooking a lot again (something of a necessity for a vegan).  Packing healthy vegan lunches for Blake while he's working at another store this week.  Made a really good chickpea salad stuffed pita the other day.  I'm planning on making it again soon, so I'll post the recipe with some pics at that time.  I made some crockpot pinto beans for dinner Wednesday.  It was a recipe I stole from my sister-in-law's blog (http://www.jotted-journal.blogspot.com/).  I think it would have been really good, but I substituted rosemary for the thyme the original recipe called for.  It did not go well.  Planning on trying it again as well, sans rosemary. Made some couscous taboulleh for myself yesterday.

Simply prepare 2 servings of couscous according to the package directions, add 1/2 a cup of quartered cherry tomatoes, 2 sliced green onions, 1 clove minced garlic, the juice of half a lemon, 2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste.  I also added some fresh basil and flat-leaf parsley.  Let it sit in the fridge for a couple hours and enjoy it on it's own or stuffed into a pita pocket (like I did). You can also add some diced cucumber or sliced black olives if ya like.

Tonight I made a dish I've been wanting to try for a week or so now.  Peperonata di patate, or pepper and potato stew.  I got the recipe from my latest cooking show obsession, "Extra Virgin." It turned out great, and definitely earned a spot in my vegan favorites hall of fame.  If you want to try it, gather together the following:

2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, diced
5 cloves garlic, sliced
1 green bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
1 orange bell pepper
1 lb. red potatoes
1 (14 oz.) can diced tomatoes
1/2 cup water or vegetable broth
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat olive oil over medium heat in a large pot.  Add the onions and cook till softened.  Add the garlic and cook for a minute or two.  While the onions and garlic are cooking, de-seed peppers and cut into large chunks (about 1-inch pieces).  Add to the pot. 

Cover partially and cook for about 10 minutes.  Cut your potatoes into chunks about the size of your peppers, and process the tomatoes (with juice) in blender or food processor till smooth. 

Add potatoes and tomatoes to the pot.  Add 1/2 cup water.  Lower heat to medium-low and cook, partially covered for about an hour.  Add salt and pepper to taste. 

We ate it with some crusty bread to sop up the juices.  Yummy!

Also made myself some fruit salad tonight to eat for breakfast tomorrow.  Look at the size of these damn strawberries!

I don't have the tiniest of hands, but damn!  Just about fills up my whole palm!