Garlic Shells

For Easter I had created a wonderful garlic sauce for some scrambled tofu. We didn't use all the sauce so I got creative. There was no real recipe here but it went something like this.

Garlic Shells with Broccoli:
1 cup soaked cashews
4 cloves garlic sauted in olive oil for 1 minute
Enough soy milk to make it smooth in the blender.

Mix the shells, sauce, and broccoli and eat right away or bake for 15-20 minutes.
We had extra faux sausages left over from the Sunday brunch so I threw those in, just to use them up.

I guess this qualifies for a cassarol - a great way to use up ingredients.

Mr. Bolsh Cooks Again!

I updated the Apple Spice Cake recipe to include my working recipe. I think it still needs some work though. I made it again last night and it sank about 1/4 in the middle after the oven. Try it and let me know what you think.

I overheard Mr. Bolsh talking with his grandmother on the phone. She was inquiring why I wasn't washing the dishes and he was. He replied saying that I cook and he does the dishes - if he didn't do the dishes he'd be eating spaghetti every night.

That's right Mr. Bolsh's specialty is spaghetti! Pasta from a bag, sauce from a can and neat-balls from the freezer.

Ratatoulie

I watched Ratatoulie a few weeks ago. I didn't know what it was and decided to replicate a cartoon dish without look at any recipes. This is what I came up with:

I thought it would be thinly sliced squash with the same sized round pasta cooked in a tomato sauce.

Sliced two different kinds of summer squash with dehydrated soy curls. I thought it would look pretty alternating them.
I sprinkled the rows of squash/soy curls with garlic and soy cheese.
I then filled in the gaps between rows with cooked round pasta and smothered it with pasta sauce, more garlic and soy cheese on top. I cooked it for about 20 minutes.
Served with fresh cracked pepper. It didn't look as great as I wanted it to when I put it on my fork, but it tasted great!

One thing I really enjoyed about the movie was this hard, tough as nails, food critic melting at the idea of being served a dish he grew up with. Food is so emotional and it brings up memories of all sorts - something that VeganMoFo is good for. I love the simple flavors of dishes - vegetables and herbs are my usual way to go. This cooked pasta dish was much better than the normal boiled pasta with wet sauce poured over. Baking the dish really helped absorb the flavors.

(One thing I didn't like about the movie was the female chef mentioning that it's hard for females to get ahead in the field unless they are with a male head chef. (I do like they addressed this issue in the movie.) Even with the character mentioning this, she still went ahead and hung herself on the arm of this rising male chef (who couldn't really cook).)

In other news: I've taken photos of waffles, risottos, rice, salads and random other foods which Mr. Bolsh's camera just isn't capable of taking photos of the awesomeness. I don't know if I can wait until the insurance money kicks in to replace my camera. What type of camera should I get? What do you have? What do you wish you had? I loved my Panasonic with the Lumix lens so I am thinking of getting, basically, the same camera.

Creamy Tomato Pasta

I've moved onto fall, but I still have some summer produce in my kitchen. This recipe makes a nice sauce as well as having some firm vegetables in it.

Creamy Tomato Pasta:
2 tomatoes (one yellow and one red, for color)
1 zucchini
1 Tablespoon Wildwood garlic Aoli
1 Tablespoon fresh chives
1 Tablespoon fresh oregano
Salt and pepper to taste

Cook the pasta as normal.
Saute the chopped tomatoes and zucchini in olive oil for about 7 minutes.
Add the aoli and fresh spices and let cook 3-5 minutes or until tender.
Pour over the cooked pasta.

Kitchen Gadgets

The following meals feature dishes made from new kitchen gadgets.

First the Panini Grill:
I love grill lines on my food. I can't wait until the day we have a backyard grill to include the smoky flavor. The Panini grill is great because it's larger than a George Foreman Grill and the lines are closer together.
I wanted a quick meal so I threw on a cut of cabbage, onion and some quickly miso-marinaded tofu. I sprayed the cabbage with soy sauce and sprayed the onion with olive oil before sprinkling on some kelp powder before grilling. I walked away and when I came back there was hot, grilled food waiting for me. I stacked them on top of each other and called it a meal.


Rocket Blender or "The Magic Bullet":
The Magic Bullet is a tool I've heard people rave about for a long time and I ignored it because I have my dear food processor to fulfill all my desires for chopping, blending, shedding. The Bullet seemed like the Vita Mix people who are just loyal.
When I broke our blender I went out and bought a Rocker Blender, just to try it. I had no idea the world I was about to step into!

Peaches and Cream:
Smoothies have been a great way to fill me up while not having much time for a full home cooked meal.
1/2-1 cup raw cashews soaked in water for an hour or more (I have these soaking in the fridge these days)
1- 1 1/2 cup soy/rice milk
1- 1 1/2 cup frozen peaches or strawberries

Blend the cashews with a bit of soy milk.

You might need more soy milk or other liquid, so just blend until it's thick and creamy.

Add the frozen fruit and maybe more liquid. Blend until the consistency you desire.

Take off the blender attachment and add the drinking cap.

We've really enjoyed this kitchen gadget because it's quick and easy both in clean up and use.
The pros, beyond the clean up and user-friendly style, are how well it blends ice and how you don't have to push down or stir the items -you can just lift it up and shake! When it's ready to serve you just throw on a little drinking cap to cover up the threaded edge and drink away.
The cons to this toy is the annoyance of screwing and unscrewing the blender attachment. Blenders are great because you can continue to add items while blending, something you can't do here.

Creamy Potato Soup:
I've been pretty stuck on the cashew cream lately. I used it in a potato soup to make it creamier and a bit thicker. It was a hit.
Cashews, veggie broth, carrots, onion, potatoes, and basil.


Pesto Shells:
Here I was trying out the Bullet again while making pesto.
basil, olive oil, veggie broth (to cut the oil down), garlic, cashews, sun dried tomatoes.

The problem with using the Rocket here was that to dice the garlic small enough the pesto became soup-like it was so smooth. I prefer various sized basil pieces in my pesto over a pesto-soup. It still got the job done but I will be sticking to my food processor for pesto.

Grains

Since I haven't been to the farmers market in a few weeks the house has been lacking many vegetables. Below are some simple meals with mainly grains.

Garlic Israeli Cous Cous:
1 cup Israeli couscous
1 cup vegetable broth
4 cloves garlic
1/2 bunch garlic scapes

Cook couscous in broth until tender.
Saute 4 cloves of garlic for 1 minute before adding the small chopped garlic scapes.
Sprinkle with your favorite salt and serve warm.


Shells and Fresh Herbs:
Since visiting a great new Italian joint in my neighborhood I have been craving pasta - something I've stayed away from for years.
It also helps that my little herb garden is growing into a medium sized herb garden.
Here I used a similar mixture as I did with the popcorn, but with the special inclusion of garlic, and lots of it. Shells are easily my favorite pasta.


Roasted Corn and Rice:
1 cup rice, I used a mix of brown and black
2 cups water or vegetable broth
1 cup corn
1/2 cup frozen spinach
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tomato

Cook rice as normal.
Saute corn on high until it looks like it's burning a bit, just give it a good char. Add garlic and spinach and stir until the spinach is hot.
Mix the cooked rice and corn mixture. Add more powdered vegetable broth, pepper and salt to taste.
Serve warm with a side of tomatoes and sprinkling of salt and chopped parsley. This mixture held together really well and were almost like burgers so it went perfectly with the tomatoes.


Raspberry Lime Fruit Salad Dressing:
Juice of 2 limes
1/8 tsp guar gum
2 Tablespoons seedless raspberry jam/jelly
1/8 round of fresh ginger root, or to taste
1 teaspoon toasted poppy seeds

Juice the lime, add the minced ginger, guar gum (it acts as a thickener, if you don't have it, don't sweat it) and raspberry jam. Blend together until well combined. Add toasted poppy seeds and toss with the fruit.
I used grapes, cantelope, cherries and apples. This dressing was wonderfully tart, and spicy and a little bit smoky with the seeds. Enjoy this salad on your deck with good friends on a warm day.


My life no longer lacks a food processor. My kitchen feels complete. For the salad. I was able to use my food processor to juice the limes, mince the ginger and blend everything together. It was so quick and simple. I can't wait until I can whip up my favorite carrot salad in just a few minutes.

Pasta Salad

This pasta salad hit the spot and was worth the boiling of water on the hot day.


- 2 1/2 cups dry pasta
- One eared corn on the cob
- 1/3 medium yellow onion, chopped
- 10 baby carrots
- 12 oz. jar of marinated artichoke hearts, chopped (reserve the juice)
- 1 clove of garlic, minced
- 1 sprig fresh tarragon, chopped
- 1 sprig basil, chopped
- 1/4 cup sliced almonds, minced (optional)
- 1/4 cup dried tomatoes, chopped
- 1 Tbl. dark vinegar
- salt and pepper to taste

While the pasta is boil, chop the herbs and vegetables of your choice.
When the pasta is almost done, rinse with cold water.
Add the juice of marinated artichokes and all the other vegetables and spices to the cold pasta and mix together.
Chill and serve cold.