Traditional Childhood Classic Updated

It was raining all day yesterday, so knowing I was going to be off work today, I prepared to make soup...but wouldn't you know it? It ended up being sunny and 80+ degrees today. Still, I was determined to enjoy some home made soup.

I decided on Roasted Tomato and Garlic Basil. Served up with it's natural companion, a grilled cheese. (I promised I wouldn't post about Daiya anymore, so let's just concentrate on that soup, 'kay?)



To make the soup, I preheated my oven to 350 degrees F. I sliced about 10 roma tomatoes in half and placed them cut side up in a single layer on a cookie sheet lined with a Silpat. I liberally drizzled olive oil all over them and then sprinkled on about 2 tablepoons of dried basil, and salt and pepper. I also added about 12 whole cloves of garlic to the mix, and baked them, uncovered, for about 40 minutes. I transferred the roasted tomatoes and garlic to a pot along with any of the remaining oil left on the Silpat. I added 1 cup of veggie broth and 1, 14 ounce can of diced tomatoes along with their juice to the pot. I brought it all to a boil, reduced it to a simmer, and simmered for about 10 minutes. I used my immersion blender to puree the whole pot and it was done!

Orecchiette Rigate in a Quick Garlic Cream Sauce

Pasta. Me and pasta have been good friends for a very, very long time. Be it an elbow, linguine, lasagne, soba, cous cous, or even plain ol' spaghetti. A bowl of pasta can be as simple as tossed in a little olive oil, or complicated with a slow cooked home made marinara. However it's served up, pasta gives me comfort. Let's me know that whatever the day has challenged me with...well...it's all gonna be okay.



Orecchiette Rigate in a Quick Garlic Cream Sauce

1 pound pasta of choice (in this case Orecchiette Rigate)
1 stick nondairy butter (like Earth Balance)
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1-2 cups unsweetened nondairy milk
1 tablespoon dried basil (optional)
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts (optional)
sea salt and frersh cracked pepper to taste

Prepare pasta according to package directions. In a pot, melt butter over medium high heat. Add garlic and saute for about 2 minutes, stirring constantly to prevent browning. Add in flour and stir vigorously to form a roux. Continue to stir until mixture is a thick paste and turns a lovely golden color. Add in 1 cup of the milk. Reduce heat to low and stir until thickened. If you like a very thick sauce, that's it. Add in the basil, pine nuts (if using), salt and pepper and you're done. If you prefer a thinner sauce add in additional milk until the desired consistncy is reached. Immediately pour over pasta and enjoy.

You want some of this?

You know you do. Come down and see us tomorrow in front of Locali for the Worldwide Vegan Bakesale!

I will be bringing the following:

Recipe HERE


Recipe HERE


Recipe BELOW! (A teaser from 500 Vegan Recipes)

Garlic Flatbread Rounds

1 (1/4 ounce, 7 g) packet active dry yeast
1 tablespoon (13 g) granulated sugar or 1 tablespoon (21 g) agave
1 cup (235 ml) warm water
3 cups (375 g) all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup (60 ml) extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon (15 g) minced garlic
1 tablespoon (2 g) dried parsley or 3 tablespoons (12 g) fresh, chopped

Mix together yeast, sugar and warm water. Let stand ten minutes. In a mixing bowl, add the flour and salt. Add the olive oil, garlic and parsley to the yeast mixture. Add the wet to the dry and knead until a nice dough ball is formed. Lightly oil and cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise for one hour. Punch down dough and divide into 16 equal pieces. Heat a dry, nonstick frying pan or skillet to high heat. Roll out each piece of dough to 1/8 inch-thick (3 mm) rounds. Place in frying pan, 2 to 3 at a time, and cook for about 2 to 3 minutes per side.

Yield: 16 pieces

VeganMofo and Roasted Butternut Squash with Fennel, Onions and Garlic

So, it seems as though October has brought out the squash in all of us! So many folks have already posted about their yummy roasted squashes...I shall simply add to the rest!



Ingredients
1 butternut squash, Skinned, cored and cubed
2 medium yellow onions, roughly chopped
1 full head of garlic, peeled and each clove cut in half
1 bulb of fennel, roughly chopped
Salt & Pepper
Olive oil to drizzle

Directions
Preheat oven to 350. Prep all produce and toss together in a baking dish or pan. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil. Bake for about an hour, or until fork tender, tossing half way through.

Here they are ready to go into the oven:

My first home made meal in the country!

Finally deciding to tackle something other than pasta on that electric stove, I made some Garlicky Roasted Reds and Garlicky Ranch Potato Patties for dinner tonight. These are testers for the burger book, but it's been so long, I thought I'd share the garlicky potato love!

These are carb-o-licious...If you are looking for low carb, or low cal...don't make these. They work well for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Furthermore, they don't even need a bun!

Serving Suggestion
No bun, just a schmear of good old fashioned ketchup. If your having them for breakfast, serve with a nice tofu scramble. For lunch or dinner, try to serve with a nice green vegetable to balance out the carb-o-load. Or go crazy and serve with a nice side of Garlicky Roasted Reds (see below) and run a marathon the next day.

Before cooking.

Ready to eat!

Ingredients (makes 4 patties)
2 cups of grated/shredded potatoes (tightly packed)
2 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp dried parsley flakes
1 tsp paprika
Sea Salt and pepper to taste
1 cup panko bread crumbs
1/2 cup all purpose flour
2 tbsp ground flax, mixed with 3 tbsp water
1/3 cup canola oil
additional oil for frying

Directions
In a mixing bowl, mix together potatoes, garlic, paprika, salt and pepper. Mix until all of the potatoes are well coated. Add in the panko, flour, flax mixture, and oil. Mix well, using your hands until a nice dough forms. Divide into 4 equal pieces and form intopatties. Preheat a generous amount of oil in a skillet and pan fry about 3-5 minutes per side until golden and crispy.

Garlicky Reds
No real recipe here. You all know how to roast potatoes. For these, I cut up a bag of baby reds into bite sized chunks, spread them into a single layer on a foil lined cookie sheet, with the skins down, sprinkle with salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder, parsley, and fresh minced garlic. Then I drizzle a bit of olive oil over the whole thing and bake at 350 for about 30 minutes.

VeganMoFo and Petits Pains Lail et au Persil

All I can say about tonight, is that when I saw this, I couldn't NOT make it! So yum, so easy, so perfect! The way she describes it just made me swoon. And the way she talks about the goodness and equally the badness of garlic bread just spoke to me. Besides, I had all of the ingredients to make it. (Remember that I cannot buy any groceries until the week of Thanksgiving.)

We decided to make this tonight. I, as I cannot follow directions, did not follow her folding directions. Everything else was followed to a "T."

For the shapes I used, I called unto my past. When I was in highschool, I worked at Subway. It was there that I learned the fine art of "braiding" bread. I surprised even myself when I pulled this long lost talent right out of my behind.


The "knots" are inspired by the garlic knots served up by the local pizza delivery joint, Zitos. They have parm on them, and therefore I cannot eat them. So I made my own. The spirals? Why not?


Today I worked. I forgot to pack a lunch (I had to be at work by 6am so my brain wasn't quite awake yet) and therefore had to buy lunch. I am not sure this counts as a violation of the great grocery experiment or not. I drank some coffee for breakfast with some vanilla soy creamer. For lunch it was a "Gardener's Wrap" and Have'a Chips from Wild Oats, and for dinner I had the above mentioned garlic bread. Yes, I had garlic bread for dinner. In conjunction with some soymilk and generic Kahlua. Lots of it. Sue me. Geez. It is Saturday night, and I've had a helluva week.