Pizza and beans! With Chef Bab!

That's right! We made cajun-spiced (read: SPICED. Just spice it up. Do whatever you want.) blackened string beans (recipe --> here) with a side of Vegenaise. Such a great dipper. Then...

Pizza! P I Z Z A! Used the "naan" recipe to make the dough, topped with cashew cream sauce

(add 1 c. raw cashews, 2 cloves garlic to a measuring cup, fill up with warm water to 1 1/2 c mark, soak for an hr, add 1 Tb of olive oil and pinch o' salt. Yarggh. Blend till smooth.)

Then put some dang veggies on top! Bake on preheated pizza stone at 450F until the crust looks done.

(So nice.)

spinachy fettucini alfredo

This dinner came out yummmmmmmy!!! Sometimes I get really excited about pasta, this was one of those dinners :) This recipe is a combination of a recipe I found on vegweb.com and a little of this, and a little of that.. Super healthy, filling and tasty! Here's what I did:

ingredients:
1 cup raw cashews
3 Tb nutritional yeast
1/2 large onion- chopped
2 cloves garlic- pressed
1 Tb earth balance (butter)
squeeze fresh lemon juice
1 tsp chickpea miso
salt and pepper
1 package frozen chopped spinach
1 lb. whole wheat fettucini
1 cup starchy pasta cooking water

-process cashews in food processor until cashews are in fine pieces, almost to a powder
-cook onions and garlic on stovetop in the earth balance, until slightly tender
-thaw frozen spinach
-add onion, garlic, thawed spinach, nooch, miso, and the pasta water to food processor.
-process until it becomes a thick creamy sauce, season with salt, pepper and a squeeze of lemon
-stir into pasta, and serve with vegan parmesan

holy yum yum yum

mac n' pepper-cheese

I convinced the hubby to buy me a copy of The Uncheese Cookbook when we were at the NY Vegetarian Expo a couple weeks back. This is the first recipe I tried from the cookbook. The recipe is for Baked Macaroni and Cheeze. I didn't quite follow the recipe exactly, I used more roasted red peppers than the recipe called for, and I didn't have a lemon, so no juice. The sauce consisted mostly of roasted red peppers, raw cashews, nooch and spices--all blended up. I used whole wheat rotini, and sprinkled homemade breadcrumbs on the top. Then it baked til bubbly and golden. I was surprised how orange and cheesey the sauce turned.

This was a very healthy recipe with barely any fat in the sauce. I think it came out quite yummy, not as cheesey-greasy tasting as my usual Vegan Mac recipe. I would definitely make it again. I think I just won't make this when I want comfort food. I admit.. I added some earth balance to the top when I ate the leftovers, I think I like my mac and cheese a lil greasey :) Cool cookbook though! I can't wait to try one of the firmer cheeze recipes.

pretty baked mac and cheeze

adzuki chili w/ cheese sauce!!

This was a cozy weekend dinner :) A couple weeks ago I bought some bulk adzuki beans, I've never cooked with them before. So I made a big batch not really knowing what I was gonna do with it. So early in the week, I made some adzuki bean hummus w/ marinated artichoke hearts in the mix, using my standard hummus procedure. The hummus came out quite delicious, but had a weird brown-grey color from using dark beans. I wanted to make something with adzuki beans that had a bit more visual appeal. I made this chili with carrots, fire-roasted canned tomatoes, roasted red peppers, some frozen corn and a bunch of spices. I let the chili simmer for about an hour, the flavor was wonderful and zippy. Our carni dinner guest said it was the best chili he'd ever eaten :) (thanks ritch!). I made a cheese sauce using this handy recipe to top the chili. We ate it topped with a lil kalamata/cilantro topping and frito chips :)

maple walnut 'cream cheese'

This cream cheese was my contribution to Father's Day brunch :) This is my version of a recipe I've seen many variations of. The cheese base is raw cashews and tofu. Tasted really good on toast and bagels

ingredients:
1 package firm tofu -water squeezed out
1/2 raw cashews
1 Tb extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/8-1/4 cup maple syrup
good dash cinnamon
fresh grated nutmeg
1/4 c. raisins
1/3 c. walnuts

-Using food processor, process tofu, cashews and olive oil until really smooth (this takes several minutes). The consistency should be really creamy and fluffy almost.
-Add in salt and spices, add maple syrup to taste/sweetness level
-Add in the raisins and walnuts, pulse several times until chunks are small, but still there.

I've made a similar cream cheese with added garlic, onion, herbs and veggies. yum yum!

sundried tomato alfredo over fettuccini, grilled asparagus and double-garlic bread

It was time for another "Lost" night dinner :) Leah brought over some nice wine and some really yummy garlic bread (the bread had whole cloves of garlic already baked in). I grilled some asparagus on the stove top on a grill pan, just tossed with a lil oil, salt and pepper.

I also made some fettucini alfredo, I cooked up a pound of whole wheat fettuccini, and tossed it with the sauce. Here's the recipe for the sauce:

Ingredients:
1 cup raw cashews
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 box silken tofu
2 Tb nutritional yeast
1 Tb earth balance butter
2 Tb soy milk
salt and pepper
1 chopped onion
2 cloves chopped garlic
2-3 Tb sun dried tomatoes

-In a food processor, place all of the cashews in, and pulse until the nuts are a fine powder. Add in lemon juice, tofu, nooch, butter, process until smooth. Add in the soymilk, process-- this should be a thick paste now (cream cheese texture)
-In small frying pan, cook up the onion and garlic in a little oil, until a little brown.
-Add onion, garlic and sun dried tomatoes into food processor, process again until smooth.
-Transfer sauce into small sauce pan
-While your pasta is cooking, add in some starchy pasta water into the sauce, and whisk until you get the consistency you want, I added about 2-2 1/2 cups of starchy water.
-Combine the pasta with the sauce (yum yum!)