Cauliflower Walnut Bolognese

As if this Cannibal Stew classic wasn't proof enough you can do an awesomely hearty vegan pasta sauce, here's another one, swapping in cauliflower & walnuts for chickpeas.

Recipe

• ~1 lb cauliflower (most of a head?) chopped into florets
• ~1/2 c walnuts (was doing some metric conversions here...)
• 1/4 c nutritional yeast
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• salt & pepper
• 3 carrots, chopped
• 1 celery stalk, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1/2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 28 oz can whole peeled tomatoes
• 1 c water
• 1 tsp sugar

Get your food processor out, and chop up your cauliflower, then add walnuts, then seasoning (nutritional yeast, garlic powder, onion powder, salt & pepper). Lay out on a baking sheet, drizzle with oil, and roast at 400 for at least 20 minutes, mixing up partway through.

Heat some oil in a big saucepan and add onions. Once they're looking good, add the other veggies, and cook 10 minutes or more.

Prob start your pasta in here.

Add the other seasonings to the saucepan along with the cauliflower mixture, and stir up. Mash in the tomatoes, along with the water and sugar. Simmer ~20 minutes.

OK maybe start the pasta now instead. Combine and serve!

Notes

This one came out really well! Despite a healthy appetizer of whiskey that may have resulted in some struggles with said metric conversions, and forgotten ingredients like water and sugar... Main note is, it seemed way less tomato-ey than expected, so we added an extra can of diced tomatoes and prob could have done more. Worth playing around with!

Vegan Swedish Meatballs

What caught my attention about this recipe - aside from vegan Swedish meatballs - was the "One Pot" promise. More on that below...

Recipe

Meatballs

• 8 oz cremini mushrooms, finely chopped
• 1 15 oz can cannellini beans, drained & rinsed
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 1/4 c panko bread crumbs
• 1/2 c parsley, finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp dried rosemary
• 1 tsp vegan worcestershire
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp liquid smoke
• salt & pepper

Gravy

• 3 tbsp canola oil
• 3 c vegetable broth
• 1 14 oz can coconut milk
• 1 tbsp vegan worcestershire
• 1/4 c flour
• salt & pepper

Pasta

• Recommended 4 c bowties

Combine the "meat" ingredients together, mashing the beans up. Heat up the oil in a large pot over medium-high. Roll the meatballs - they recommend about golf ball size. Cook in the pot a minute or so per side to brown. Add the gravy ingredients, stir together, and bring to a boil.

Here, they recommend adding the pasta and letting it cook in the gravy. Our experience, backed up by internet stranger comments, was that doesn't work great. The pasta took forever to get to an edible level, and in the meantime the rest of the recipe becomes a bit of a goop with no clear dividing lines between meat and gravy. The flavors killed! But I'd likely start the pasta separately, and just finish it in the pot. Will test that out soon, hopefully resulting in a more photogenic end product!

Pancakes VII: Banana Pancakes

This breakfast recipe comes with a soundtrack!

And after some research this seemed like the best recipe option...

Recipe

• 1 1/4 c flour
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 large ripe banana, mashed (~1/2 c)
• 1 tbsp coconut oil
• 3/4 c non-dairy milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Sift the flour and add the other dry ingredients. Mash together the banana and oil separately, and mix into the batter with the milk and vanilla. Cook up the pancakes as usual! 

Vegan Orange "Chicken"

Another online find for an easy but delicious vegan meal: link

Recipe

• 1 package extra firm tofu
• 3/4 c orange juice
• 1/4 c sugar
• 1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 1/2 tbsp rice (or other) vinegar
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 inch ginger, minced
• 1 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
• 1/6 c water (sorry, halving the recipe...)
• 1/2 tbsp orange zest
• 1/4 tsp chili flakes

Cube your tofu and bake at 425 about 25 minutes, flipping partway through.

Heat a skillet medium high and add your garlic & ginger, plus a tbsp of water or so. Next mix in the OJ, sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, and chili flakes, and heat up. Meanwhile mix the cornstarch and water separately, then whisk into the sauce. Stir until it thickens up, lowering heat if it gets bubbly. Add in the tofu once it's done and coat it up nice and good, along with the orange zest.

Serve over rice!

Notes

First time, I went a little overboard with the crushed red pepper. My B! Definitely worth trying again for a nice sweet & spicy, not to difficult meal.

White Bean Pasta

Gave this one a try from Budget Bytes via social media...

Recipe

• 8 oz pasta (a long type like spaghetti or linguine)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp butter
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 pint grape / cherry tomatoes
• 1/2 tsp dried basil
• salt & pepper
• 1 15 oz can cannellini beans, drained & rinsed
• 4 oz baby spinach
• parmesan

Start your pasta. Heat the olive oil & butter in a skillet, on the medium-lower heat side. Add the garlic, then tomatoes, salt & pepper, and basil. Saute until the tomatoes pop - fun! Then add the spinach and wilt it a bit, then add the beans. Heat through and get a nice thick sauce going. Then toss in the pasta! 

Sweet Potatoes With Noooooch Sauce

Vegans like myself are obsessed with Nooch (Nutritional Yeast) because it is SO TASTY but also is so healthy because it is packed full of B12 vitamins which give you energy. Most animals are injected with B12 so if you eat meat, you're getting it second hand. But why not just skip the middle man and join the nooch fan club :)

This recipe is from one of my favorite wellness authors Darin Olien (he has a show on Netflix with Zac Effron that is actually really awesome)

Nooch Sauce (You can use this with ANYTHING and it is so so so good)

*I can't quite remember the exact numbers but these are a place to start and i always add more of whatever to taste

2 cups of cashews
1/2 cup of Nutritional Yeast (Nooch)
3-4 cloves of garlic minced
4-5 Tbsp lemon juice
Some water or plant-based milk (I forget how much! Just eye it. Prob about a quarter cup. It should come out like a sauce)

(You could really add whatever you want to this sauce to spice it up. I've added Poblano Chipotle peppers, cilantro, whatever!)

1. Soak cashews for 30 mins

2. Put all ingredients in blender and blend! 

3. Salt, pepper, water and modify for taste

Whole-Roasted Sweet Potato Dinner

Sweet Potatoes
Coconut Oil
Can of Black Beans
Cherry tomatoes (sliced in half)
Garlic
Cilantro

1. Preheat oven to 425

2. Drizzle baking sheet with a little bit of Coconut Oil. Cut sweet potatoes in half and lay flat on pan. Roast for 40/45 mins until done

3. In a pan, drizzle some coconut oil, add the cherry tomatoes, and cook until it smells deliciousssss. Add the garlic and the beans and simmer low for 5/10 mins.

4. Take out Sweet Potatoes. Scoop out a small dent in each sweet potato (you can save the inside scoops for a yummy sweet potato mash later!). In each Sweet Potato hole, add a nice glob of the beans mixture. Top with the cilantro and NOOCH SAUCE and OMG ENJOY. 

In the pic I had done it with some roasted brussel sprouts but you could add any green side if you want more food.

Vegan Mixed Veggie Flatbreads

This pizza is from the Forks Over Knives Cookbook and it came out BOMB. I used an Almond Flour pizza dough from Whole Foods but I also just noticed they have it on Amazon. It was sooooo yummy.

Ingredients:

Simple Mills Almond Flour Pizza Dough Mix (I got it at Whole Foods but Amazon has it too)
Olive Oil
6 baby potatoes (or 3 regular)
8 brussel sprouts
1 medium carrot (or a few baby carrots)
1 medium shallot (or onion)
red wine vinegar
balsamic vinegar
1 can white beans/cannelini

himalayan crystal salt (or whatever salt- but the crystal salt is the least likely to be polluted and has the best minerals)
ground black pepper
fresh sage (i didn't have this and it was fine without- i just used some random other herbs like oregano)
microgreens (not necessary but nice)

Directions:

1. Preheat Oven to 425. Line a baking pan with foil/oil

2. Chop up all veggies and put on pan. Sprinkle with some red wine vinegar and salt and pepper (I went heavy on the red wine vinegar and it was gooooood)

3. Roast the veggies for like 15 mins.

4. While veggies cooking, make the dough according to package instructions. Take veggies out of oven, change temp to whatever it says on the pizza dough box. Put just the dough in for 10 mins/15 mins till lightly brown.

5. In a bowl, mash the cannelini beans and stir in sage or some other herbs and 2 tsp of water.

6. Take the pizza dough out. Spread the Cannelini bean mash on the pizza dough as if it was sauce. Then top with the veggies :) Put in oven for 20/25 minutes until the veggies are nice and roasted and the dough is done.

7. While flatbread is cooking, put 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar in a pan and heat to a boil then reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for about 6 mins until it becomes syruppy. 

8. When pizzas are done, drizzle the balsamic glaze over them and top with the micro greens or something green!