Pasta with oven-roasted squash, capers and garlic

Another Goodveg recipe! Such a good site/resource for delicious veg recipes :)  This one can be found here.  http://goodveg.squidoo.com/recipes/entrees/macaroni-with-oven-roasted-squash-capers-and-garlic  All credit to them!

Changes I made -  added a whole chopped tomato towards the end at the same time as the capers. 
Also, we didn't have macaroni, so I think I used rotini.  And I couldn't find pattypan squash, so I think I just doubled up the zucchini (I had been looking for a recipe to use a bunch) or another type of squash. 

Result: delicious.  Sorry I don't have a photo at the moment but I made this back in August or September. Will add a picture next time I make it...and there will be a next time!

2 large zucchini and 3 medium pattypan squash – sliced into ¼ inch slices, lengthwise, using a mandolin. (You should have long ribbons)
2 large cloves of garlic – minced (I probably used three)
1 small bunch of curly parsley – no stems – finely chopped
1 small bunch of fresh oregano – leaves only – roughly chopped
Handful of fresh chives – finely minced
½ cup Parmesan cheese – freshly grated
4 Tbsp capers in brine – drained
16 oz pasta– uncooked
Olive oil
Red chili flakes
Pasta water

Slice squash into ¼ inch long ribbons using a mandolin. Line a sheet pan with foil, and coat foil with olive oil. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Mix a few of your favorite spices in a mortar and pestle, or use a pre-made spice mix. Mine had dill weed, paprika, coarse salt, pepper, and Teriyaki seasoning. (from original recipe - I used traditional italian seasonings in mine!)
Lay slices on sheet pan close together – don’t overlap or they will steam, not roast. Brush with more olive oil, sprinkle with seasoning mix, and roast for 20 minutes. Check them after 15 minutes, the slices should be translucent and slightly toasted. Take slices off pan to a plate, and repeat.
Put a pot of salted water on to boil. Take roasted zucchini and chop into 1 inch pieces…until you have about 3 cups. Chop the herbs and garlic.
Just before macaroni is cooked, remove approximately 1 cup of water from the pot, and set aside.
Drain the pasta, and in the same pot, add enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the pot. Turn heat off. Add garlic, and red pepper flakes and stir for a minute. Add the capers (tomatoes if using), and the fresh herbs, and stir for 30 seconds. Add ½ the pasta water, and return the macaroni to the pot. Add the roasted zucchini, the Parmesan cheese, and the remaining pasta water, and stir until combined. Serve immediately.

Spinach Lasagna

You know it's fall when I start craving lasagna! And yes, I'll be the first to admit I use real cheese in this recipe instead of a vegan substitute, though that is certainly an option.  It is WORTH it to buy farm-fresh cheese from a supplier you know if you want it and are going to eat cheese anyway.

And on a related topic, more than a few people asked me if I would start eating meat when I got pregnant (???) - I'm not sure if they assumed I would have "cravings" that would overcome my ethics or if they honestly just think being vegetarian is one thing for yourself, another to "inflict" upon an unborn baby ;)  Lol - whatever, I've been eating great, I will NOT "revert" back to eating meat, my child will be raised vegetarian, and that's that.

This is a recipe I've made many times, and it can be subtly adjusted in many different ways every time....last night's was actually my best yet, and I think it's because I made it in a long pan (8x12...or 14??) instead of a square pan as I usually do, where it usually turns out a bit too "saucy" for me.

SAUCE - feel free to buy pre-made...I always make my own.  Feel free to adjust the measurements here to suit YOUR tastes...my measurements are inexact.

1 large can regular tomato sauce or Italian flavoured
1 large can regular diced tomatoes
1 onion, diced small
2-4 cloves minced garlic, to your tastes
diced mushrooms (optional)
1 cup rehydrated texturized veg protein (TVP) or veggie ground round  (Also optional...just if you want a bit more protein)
.5 cup red wine
splash balsamic vinegar
oregano, basil, salt to taste
approx 1 tsp sugar

Sautee onions and garlic for a few minutes in olive oil, add TVP or ground round at this point if you're using.  Then, throw in everything else and simmer for at least a half an hour, tasting until it's "right".

Filling

1-2 packages frozen spinach, thawed or one large package fresh baby spinach, chopped
1 large-ish container ricotta cheese (not the small one)
mozzarella cheese
lasagna noodles
parmesan cheese

Cook lasagna noodles.  If you're using fresh spinach, sautee it in a pan for a few minutes with a few drops of water until it's wilted. Drain water. Drain water from thawed frozen spinach, if using.  Mix spinach and ricotta together in a bowl.

Assembly

Spoon a bit of the sauce over the bottom of your pan to keep the noodles from sticking and ensure sauce saturation.  Put in a layer of noodles (I use bits of cooked noodle to make sure the layer is complete as the noodles aren't quite long enough to cover the bottom), then cover that layer with sauce.  Cover that sauce layer with half the spinach & ricotta mixture as evenly as possible.  Grate a fine layer of parmesan over the spinach/ricotta layer, then cover that with just over 1/3 of the grated mozzarella.  Repeat those layers: noodles, sauce, spinach/ricotta, parmesan, mozzarella.  Finish with noodles (three layers total), the remaining bits of sauce and some mozzarella.

Bake in preheated oven at 350F for 30 minutes covered with tin foil, then remove tinfoil and continue to bake, uncovered for another 15 minutes. Let stand about 5 minutes before slicing. 

Sorry for the crappy picture - I already ate an entire piece before I remembered to take a picture, so my plate is kinda messy ;)

Pasta "Bolognese"

Another meal not cooked by me, but I had to share :)  Last night we had dinner at my girlfriend's place, and she made us another meal using Yves Ground Round, as in the post previous to this.  THIS time, however, we played a little trick on one of her boyfriend's friends, who joined us for dinner.  A self-professed carnivore, we wanted to know if he would have any idea the "meat sauce" wasn't made with actual meat.

Long story short, he didn't. In fact, he devoured his plate, had seconds, and kept telling my girlfriend how good it was.  After he was stuffed, she told him, and he took it very well and was impressed. The point? Trick your relatives. Just kidding. The point is that we need to move past the idea that your friends and family "won't like" what you make if it's vegetarian.  There's simply no need for people to feel as if they will somehow be "deprived" without meat. On the contrary, I've discovered so many more textures and flavours since becoming a vegetarian. Not once have I ever felt deprived.

No particular recipe required for this.  Make your regular spaghetti sauce as per usual, but substitute with ground round. You may want to add a veggie "beef stock" bouillon cube or two to really get that beefy flavour. We ate this on rigatoni with bread and an amazing salad whipped up by my boyfriend.  Other than the dressing which had some feta in it, the entire meal was vegan.

Tonight is my three year anniversary with my boyfriend, and we searched high and low for a restaurant with sufficient vegetarian options, and settled on Wild Rice, which looks amazing :)  Will give a full report on Monday - hopefully the restaurant is bright enough inside that I can take some pictures, too!
http://www.wildricevancouver.com/
Have a great weekend!

Clean Out The Fridge Pasta Salad

Argh! I keep forgetting to post my meals and take pictures! Sorry for falling behind, but will definitely endeavour to improve my posting regularity.   Anyway, we didn't have much in the way of ingredients last night and we were too lazy to go shopping, so we decided to finally cook up that bulk quinoa pasta we found in Save-On-Foods and throw in the rest of the veggies we had in the fridge to make a simple pasta salad.  I think I had two stalks of celery, two handfuls of parsley, one tomato (seeded of course, yuck!), one orange pepper and one zucchini.  I also threw in a half can of chick peas and tossed with our favourite oil and vinegar-based salad dressing.  This would be really good with a feta and oregano dressing, for the cheese eaters!

Verdict? Quinoa pasta is great! It has a higher protein content than regular pasta, and for those avoiding gluten, it is gluten-free!  The flavour and texture is absolutely identical to regular pasta. I brought leftovers for lunch to work today and ended up eating it for breakfast. I must say the texture seemed to change a wee bit overnight - it "breaks apart" in the mouth as opposed to sticking together, but still good and after marinating overnight, the flavour is even better.

So, nothing earth-shattering here, just a quick note to say a healthy, veggie meal can be super easy to make!  I promise to make something a little more hearty soon :)  And will remember to take pictures!

Protein Packed Veggie Pasta & Sauce

This is really good.  A variation of this sauce (without the veggies) can be used in other recipes, such as a veggie lasagna, eggplant parmesan or just by itself on noodles.  I plan to post another protein-full sauce using TVP soon that works well with a veggie lasagna and easily tricks meat-eaters into thinking it's filled with ground beef.

I need to mention that this recipe is made of two parts - the sauce that you blend up cold and which fills the blender, and the veggies that you saute with garlic and onion. The sauce gets added to the veggies.  This recipe, as written, will make far too much sauce for the veggies.  We usually use about one third of what is in the blender to go with this amount of veggies, then freeze the leftover sauce for future meals and different veggie combinations.

The final sauce is a lovely rosé colour, with lots of flavour - beats any tomato cream sauce I've ever had!

1 16 ounce jar roasted red bell peppers (or roast your own! So easy! I use about three peppers)
9 ounces silken or soft tofu
1.5 tbsp tomato paste
2 cups veggie broth
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tsp Italian seasoning (or a tsp+ each of basil, oregano, etc.)
1/2 onion, chopped
10 spears asparagus, sliced on the diagonal
8 ounces fresh mushrooms (any), sliced
3 cloves minced garlic
1 (16) ounce can diced tomatoes
1/2 tsp hot chili sauce (sriracha or chili flakes to taste)
black pepper to taste
salt to taste
dash of red wine (optional)
parmesan cheese

Cook pasta in one pot to al dente.  In a blender/food processor, puree roasted peppers, tofu, tomato paste, broth, vinegar and Italian seasoning. Set aside. (This is the base sauce - Yummy and FULL of protein.) In separate pan, cook onion, garlic and asparagus in oil until desired tenderness (5 min). Add mushrooms and cook a few more minutes until mushrooms are soft.  Add in approximately one-third of the tofu sauce, tomatoes, salt, pepper and chili paste to desired amount with the vegetables. Reduce heat to low and simmer til heated through, adjusting seasonings to taste. I like to then add the pasta to the sauce and cook a bit longer to really distribute the sauce and cook the flavour in.  Serve with parmesan cheese.

We made this last night and have enough sauce left for at least two more meals. I'm going to make it with fresh spinach next week and more mushrooms, although the asparagus was REALLY good.  Apologies for the picture, there was a lot of steam rising off the dish so it looks kind of "dreamy" - and it was!

Greek Pasta with White Beans and Spinach

2 (14.5 ounce) cans Italian-style diced tomatoes
1 (19 ounce) can cannellini (white kidney) beans, drained and rinsed
10 ounces fresh spinach, washed and chopped (I use full leaves)
8 ounces penne or fusilli pasta
1/2 cup+ crumbled feta cheese
salt to taste
handful of chopped basil, chili flakes, oregano, at least two cloves garlic chopped
1/2 cup white wine into the sauce (optional but yummy)

Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until al dente. Meanwhile, combine tomatoes and beans in a large non-stick skillet. Add herbs and wine. Bring to a boil over medium high heat. Reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes. Add spinach to the sauce; cook for 2 minutes or until spinach wilts, stirring constantly. Serve sauce over pasta, and sprinkle with feta.

*I should add that we had some leftover cherry tomatoes in the fridge when I made this, so in they went!
*We just discovered quinoa pasta! Haven't tried it yet but we intend to try it this Thursday. A fantastic option for those seeking more protein in their pasta meals.