Fettuccine with Basil-Pea Cream

Fettuccine with Basil-Pea Cream from Vegan Italiano

My second recipe I tried from the cookbook Vegan Italiano looked pretty but other than that it was not much of a success.

I was expecting the dish to be a slightly sweeter version of pesto. But instead of the intense garlic or the herby burst of basil normally found in a pesto - all of the flavors ended up being a bit dull and muddied.

And I am beginning to wonder if the recipes in this vegan cookbook depend heavily on salt in order to make the flavors pop.

 
But, do not fear, I am not ready to throw in the towel quite yet.

I am going to try find a recipe in the book that does not require much salt and see how that one turns out.

I hope everyone is having a great Thursday!

 

A new turn on eggs

Scrambled eggs with spaghetti squash and basil.

Note to self: When you cook spaghetti squash you end up with tons of leftovers. And by a lot I mean that I still have about 5 cups still sitting in the fridge.

I predict the dogs will be enjoying many spaghetti squash snacks over the next couple of days.

I decided to use a bit of it today in my breakfast.

While the eggs, spaghetti squash and basil were delicious on their own, I decided to punch it up a notch.

I ended up drizzling some marinara sauce on top and then adding a dusting of Parmesan.

This was an incredibly delicious breakfast. If you go for eggs and the savory - this is definitely one you will love.

Happy Sunday!

Basil cashew pesto

Basil cashew pesto over mashed potatoes.

 

I had a craving for pesto the other day. I picked up a big bunch of basil at the store and completely forgot to pick up some pine nuts.

Doh!!

I did find a container of cashews in my cupboard. 

And so basil cashew pesto was born.

It turned out creamy and packed a great basil punch and the cashews added just a hint of sweetness that I loved.

The pesto made another appearance at lunch.

Steamed green beans and sauteed mushrooms.

The mushrooms came out perfectly browned.

And then I smothered everything with pesto!

Basil cashew pesto

Ingredients:

2 large bunches of basil
1 Tbsp of olive oil
1/4 cup of cashews
2 Tbsp of water
2 cloves of garlic
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

Place all the ingredients into a blender, food processor or use an immersion blender and blend until you have a thick paste.

Enjoy!

Eggplant Parmesan for one

Eggplant Parmesan with a side of quinoa.

For the record, I love Eggplant Parmesan. I usually stay away from it in restaurants because it is usually heavy on the fat content.

Now, I am not saying this is a low fat recipe but it is lower in fat than most. I found this great recipe here. I did a bit of tweaking and it turned out amazing!

I sliced up one small Italian eggplant, dipped the slices in whipped egg whites and then coated them with bread crumbs. 

I also made a simple tomato sauce using canned tomatoes, basil, oregano, garlic and onion powder.

When the eggplant came out of the oven I started with the assembly:

A little bit of sauce.

The first layer of eggplant.

Some more sauce.

A layer of mini-mozzarella balls, sliced.

The last of the eggplant slices.

And this last step is the reason why I love my micro plane grater - I get to eat what looks likes 3 cups of shredded Parmesan but is really only about 3 Tbsp.

The dish was complete after a sprinkle of dried parsley and some black pepper.

What I liked most about this recipe is that it was heavy on eggplant and sauce and fairly light on fat and cheese. 

And while my last eggplant dish turned out to be a watery mess (yup, I didn't bother to tell you about that one) - the eggplant in this dish was perfect - it had a nice meaty texture while still being tender.

And since this dish contained 1 eggplant and was made in a 6" round Pyrex dish - you could eat the whole thing without too much guilt.

And, yes, I did eat the whole thing:-)

Oh, and my first attempt at mantu will be up later today...


Eggplant Parmesan for one

Serves 1-2 (depending on serving size)

Ingredients:

1 Italian eggplant, peeled and sliced about 1/4" thick
2 egg whites, whipped
1/2 cup of bread crumbs seasoned with black pepper
2 tsp of olive oil
1 14.5 oz. can of diced tomatoes
4 mini-mozzarella balls, sliced
1/2 tsp of sugar
1/2 tsp of dried basil
1/2 tsp of oregano
1/4 tsp of garlic powder
1/4 tsp of onion powder
3 Tbsp of finely shredded Parmesan
2 pinches of salt
1 cup of chicken broth

Instructions: 

Put the tomatoes, chicken broth, basil, oregano, onion, garlic and sugar into a sauce pan and let that simmer while you continue with the eggplant.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Peel the eggplant and slice into 1/4" rounds. Line a sheet pan with tinfoil and brush with the olive oil. Dredge each slice in the egg whites and then into the bread crumbs (be careful to shake off any excess bread crumbs).

Cook the eggplant for 10 minutes then carefully turn them over and cook for another 8-10 minutes.

When the eggplant is golden brown on each side - remove it from the oven and set aside to cool.

At this point the tomato sauce should have reduced a bit. Remove the sauce from the heat and using an immersion blender or regular blender - puree the sauce. Make sure to allow the sauce to cool a bit before blending and be very careful about any splatter.

Ladle some sauce into the bottom of a 6" Pyrex bowl.  The layering should be done in the following order: sauce, eggplant slices, sauce, mozzarella, sauce, eggplant slices, Parmesan cheese.

You can alter the order of the layers to include more mozzarella cheese if you prefer.

Place the dish into a 400 degree oven and cook for 15 - 20 minutes. The cooking time will vary depending on the size of the eggplant slices. Mine were pretty small so I ended up cooking the dish for 15 minutes.

Enjoy!

Mini frittatas

I am still working on getting enough protein everyday.

So, this morning I decided to make mini frittatas.

This is a super easy recipe. You just mix all the ingredients together and then pour into the muffin tin.

They went into a 375 degree oven for 14 minutes. Your oven time may be different just keep an eye on them and take them out of the oven when they are puffed up and set in the middle.

They do deflate when they come out of the oven.

I ate two for breakfast and I put the rest into Ziploc bags and popped them in the freezer. Now I will have a handy protein snack to munch on anytime!



Mini Frittatas

Makes 6-8 mini frittatas

Ingredients:

2 whole eggs
4 egg whites
1 Tbsp of fresh chopped basil
1/2 Tbsp of dried parsley (fresh chopped would be better)
1/3 cup of shredded Parmesan
a pinch of salt and black pepper

Instructions:

Combine all of the ingredients and whisk until well combined. Fill each muffin well almost to the top.
Bake in a 375 degree oven till set. Check after 10 minutes and take them out when they have puffed up and are set in the middle.

Enjoy!

Low fat vegan tomato soup and a new find

This morning I enjoyed a super simple homemade tomato and basil soup.

This soup was simple because I used canned tomatoes and it was also super creamy because I added pureed Yukon gold potatoes.

Check out the recipe below. My recommendation? Take advantage of all of the nice, ripe tomatoes that are in the stores and at the farmer's market at this time of year and make this soup!

But on to my new find:

I found these cute little tins at Whole Foods. They are a bit on the pricey side but I decided to try them out because they are produced locally.

I opened the can of tuna for a side dish of protein with my soup. 

I really liked this tuna. Instead of being the smaller bits of fish that other manufacturers seem to use for their tuna, this one looked like it was one large chunk of a filet. 

Low fat vegan tomato and basil soup

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 15oz can of chopped tomatoes

1 cup of water

1 small Yukon gold potato, cubed

1 shallot, minced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

2 tsp of sun-dried tomato paste 

1 Tbsp of nutritional yeast

1/8 tsp of olive oil

1/2 tsp of dried basil

1/2 tsp of dried parsley

1/4 tsp of dried oregano

1/2 tsp of raw honey*

3 basil leaves torn into small pieces

Instructions:

Place a sauce pan on medium low heat and add in the olive oil and chopped shallots. Let it cook until the shallots become translucent. Add in the chopped garlic and stir for another minute. Add in the basil, parsley and oregano and continue to stir until fragrant. 

Next, add in the rest of the ingredients (except the fresh basil leaves) and bring up to a simmer. When the soup comes to a simmer, turn down the heat to low and cover the pot. Let simmer for 15 - 20 minutes or until the potatoes are tender. 

Pull the pan off the heat and fish out the pieces of potato. There is no need to be fussy at this point, you just want to leave enough of the tomatoes in the pan so that the soup is a little bit chunky in the end. 

Puree the potatoes and whatever bits of the soup came along for the ride with an immersion blender. I used the tall cylinder that came with my immersion blender - the taller the better to avoid any splashing. You can also use a blender if that is what you have on hand just be careful to not overfill it.

Add the pureed potatoes back into the pan and stir till everything is combined. 

Ladle the soup into bowls and tear the basil leaves and add them on top.

Enjoy!

 

*Note: if you are using fresh tomatoes that are very sweet you may want to omit the honey all together.

The apples and eggs connection

What do apples have to do with eggs?

Ta da!

An egg coddler with pretty pictures of green apples.

My sister is moving soon and she is clearing out her kitchen. When I was over visiting the other day she offered me a couple of egg coddlers. 

Since coddled eggs was on my re-make list, I said, "Yes!"

I like my coddled eggs extra cheesy and extra herby (I am officially making that a word, if it isn't already).

First, I put in some mozzarella and a pinch of chopped fresh basil and chopped fresh parsley.

Then one egg went into the coddler.

This is when I realized that my old egg coddler must have been a small size because one egg would fill it up all the way. So, the coddlers my sister gave me were definitely medium sized - that or somehow I managed to buy the teeniest, tiniest eggs on the planet...

So, in went egg number 2.

A little more mozzarella and herb mixture on top.

This is the point where most cooks add in cream but I just whisked together 1tsp of unsweetened soy milk, 1tsp. of Tofutti cream cheese and 1/2 tsp. of Tofutti sour cream. I added in a pinch of the herb mixture and a dash of salt.

With this much 'cream' added the eggs, the eggs will have more of a loose custard-like texture. If you like your eggs more set add less of the soymilk mixture.

I screwed the lid on the coddler and set it in a pan of boiling water (covered) for 6 1/2 minutes. Leave it in for 7-8 minutes if you like your eggs more set.

This dish was outstanding!!

The white stuff running over the yolk - that is not egg white - that is melted mozzarella - Yum!

 I also grabbed one of the tortillas from the leftover taco and crisped it up in a skillet and then dusted it with Parmesan.

You can either scoop out the eggs with a spoon

Or use the tortilla strips for dunking and scooping

Five minutes later it looked like this:

All gone!

I always like to enjoy some kind of fruit with my breakfast so this morning I ate this succulent beauty.

A juicy red pear.

 Happy Saturday everyone!

Insalata Caprese

Insalata Caprese.

This lunch time I had this bunch of ingredients to work with:

An heirloom tomato, fresh mozzarella, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, basil and a roma tomato.

So, of course, I made a caprese salad!

This salad is so easy, you just chop the tomatoes, slice the mozzarella, arrange the basil and drizzle with the olive oil and the balsamic.

The tomatoes were incredibly sweet. 

And they must have smelled wonderful because Connor was standing beside me and drooling the entire time I was assembling this salad.

It is one of the greatest salads to enjoy on a hot summer day.

Connor is one of those strange dogs that LOVES tomatoes. I made sure he got to enjoy all the of slices that didn't look perfect :-)

Oh, and how is the green bean recipe coming? It is still a work in progress. But you can take a peak at what the second attempt looked like.

Sauteed green beans with ground pork and sriracha sauce.

Now I am off to tackle the vegan scalloped potatoes. Wish me luck!

Pasta with goat cheese brie and basil

Pasta with goat cheese brie and basil.

The only time I eat brie is usually at gatherings. This is a setting where I fear the social censure of shoving the whole round of brie into my mouth in one go. 

But I found this at the store the other day.

A small round of goat cheese brie.

And as is my habit recently,  I was up at 4am and just started writing.

Then at 7am I was incredibly hungry.

And so entered my breakfast. I boiled up one serving of spaghetti and put it in a pan with a big wedge of goat cheese brie, a bunch of torn basil (fresh) and some salt and pepper.

When the basil was wilted and the brie melted I added in one whole egg for protein. I kept it on low heat and just kept stirring and the whole dish became incredibly glossy and creamy.

Oh-my-yum.


I definitely recommend.

I am going to get some sleep.


Happy Thursday!!