Linguine With Mushroom Sauce

Linguine With Mushroom Sauce

1.  Prepare 1 lb. linguine.

2.  In a skillet saute mushrooms in vegan butter and season with salt and pepper. 

3.  Add fresh chopped parsley.  Set aside.

4.  In LG pan add 2 c faux beef broth.  Add oregano & a small amount soy sauce to taste and for a bit of color. 

5.  Thicken with 3 TB corn starch dissolved in 1/4 c cold water. 

6.  Add sauce and mushrooms to pasta.

Curried Potatoes & Veggies

Today felt like Fall for the first time this season--cold rain, dropping temperatures, and feeling under the weather prompted me to make this simple, satisfying curry comfort food.  It's amazing how the savory curry aroma brings people into the kitchen.

Ingredients

1 lb potatoes, peeled & sliced into wedges

1 lb cauliflower

2 c frozen peas

2 carrots sliced into diagonal coins

1 small onion or flaked equivalent

2 garlic cloves or granulated equivalent

2.5 TB curry powder

3 TB olive oil

1/2 TB sea salt

2 tsp lemon juice

1.  Boil salted water.  Add potatoes and cook for about 10 mins, or until almost tender.

2.  Add carrots and cauliflower. 

3.  While veggies are cooking preheat a large pan on low medium.  Add oil, onion, garlic, curry.  Keep the pan on low because singed garlic STINKS and your kitchen will hold onto that smell forever (trust me, I've been there!).   

3.  When the carrots are almost tender add peas & remove from heat.  Drain. 

4.  Add veggies to pot.  Add about a cup of water to help the seasonings adhere to your veggies (not too much or it will get soupy, so just add a little at a time).  Season with salt and lemon juice, stir to combine. 

Cream of Celery Soup & Garlic Crisps

The weather is getting more crisp and Autumn-like already, and nothing is more comforting than a delicious, creamy soup.  Several years ago I started perfecting my recipe for a classic favorite that my mom used to make for me:  Cream of Celery soup.  It's easy, too--the hardest part is chopping the celery because you have to watch your fingers LOL.

The great thing about this soup is that it is great as itself, and also as an ingredient in many casseroles.  You'll never have to eat those nasty canned soups again!  I don't even consider those food.  I always triple this recipe and freeze multiple portions for casseroles.

Cindy's Cream of Celery Soup

8 stalks of celery, chopped
Vegan margarine (Smart Balance Light is great)
8 c water
8 c vegan stock
1 TB dried minced onion or fresh equivalent
3 c soy or almond milk
Flour
Salt & pepper to taste

1.  Rinse & chop celery into small cubes. 

2.  Saute celery and onion in 3-4 TB and a few splashes of stock margarine until soft.  Season with salt and pepper.  Set aside. 

3.  Add water & remainder of stock to a seperate stock pot.

4.  In batches, blend celery mixture in blender with enough of the soymilk to cream the celery.  Add to pot.

5.  Bring soup to a low boil and whisk in flour 2 TB at a time until you reach the desired thickness.  Taste it often and season accordingly.  Reduce heat to a simmer and serve.

Garlic Crisps

I served this soup with basil garlic crisps.  These take 5 minutes to make and 10 to bake.  They are the perfect crunchy accompaniment to any soup (if you can keep your significant other from eating them ALL before soup is served.  Yes, Jeff I am talking about YOU!).

1.  Slice a vegan sub roll.  

2.  Slathered it with vegan margarine & place on cookie sheet. 

3.  Sprinkled it with granulated garlic and basil. 

4.  Baked at 375 until golden (about 12  minutes).

The Sauce That Will CHANGE Your Life!

Ok, so maybe not, but this one comes pretty close for me! I'm such a pastaholic with a penchant for yummy alternatives to traditional marinara, so this sauce has been a hit that leaves no family or friend going hungry:

Cappellini in Fresh Tomato Cream:

Ingredients28 ounces of quartered tomatoes (you can also use a 28 oz can, I use Nature's Promise Organic or Muir Glen Organic). If you wanna be really lazy you can just use a jarred ready-made sauce; hey, we all have those days!
1 tsp salt
1 tsp Oregano (I add more to taste, and fresh is best, if using fresh double your amount. I love LOTS of it!)
6TB cream cheese (I like Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese)
2 TB margarine or butter
2 TB nutritional yeast (depending on where you live you may need to buy this from a health food store)
3-4 cloves of garlic

1. Heat salted water for your pasta. I like capellini or linguine fini.

2. In blender, blend tomatoes smooth. Add the rest of the ingredients and reblend until combined. It will be a beautiful blush color.

3. Add sauce to large skillet that will accomodate pasta too & simmer for about 10-12 mins. on medium low until bubbling. 

4. Cook pasta while sauce cooks, then toss it into sauce.

This is so simple and you won't believe how yummy it is! It works great as a bread dipper too. Trust me--enjoy this while you can because you won't have any leftovers!

Buon Appetito!

Casserole Time

Because Fall is the best time to make comforting casseroles, I made the classic Campbell’s Cheesy Chicken and Rice Casserole (except I used the chicken style Boca patties, Daiya cheddar in the interest of making the casserole vegan, & I used my own homemade cream of celery soup as a base since I really don’t care for canned soup--but hey in a pinch use what you’ve got). I had to make this since Jeff loves casserole. Any casserole. In fact, he calls everything I make Cindy's Kickasserole :-)

I wanted to try out my new baking dishes made by Temptations Presentable Ovenware. I bought them because you can do everything with them--prep, bake, and freeze food—and they are microwave and dishwasher safe. You gotta love that! You don't have to worry about dirtying so many dishes just to get a meal on the table. ONE dish. That's it. They're really a time saver and make clean-up easy (even the baked on cheese came off with ease). They are also quite pretty so you feel good sitting them right on the table after baking. I know I’ll get a lot of use out of these.

I would recommend them highly to anyone in the market for anything like this. Here's where I bought 'em:

http://www.qvc.com/qic/qvcapp.aspx/view.2/app.detail/params.item.K24801.desc.Temptations-Magnolia-11piece-Square-Ovento-Table-Set

And this is what they look like with my casserole in it:

Caramel Hot Fudge Cheesecake. What could be better? Mmmmm!

So I cheated and used a store-bought grahm crust, but the rest is from scratch. Use your favorite cheesecake recipe and make the sauces (which you will find infinite yummy uses for other than to drizzle over your cake).

I got the recipe from one of my favorite websites:
http://www.meettheshannons.net/2010/04/betty-crocker-project-turtle-cheesecake.html

Tofu Kabobs & Vegan Hot Fudge Sundae

 I made a light dinner tonight: Marinated Tofu & Veggie Shishkabobs.   I served them with a side of mixed greens and my own balsamic vinaigrette.

Here's how I marinated the tofu cubes:
In a dish I mixed 1 c chicken style broth, 2 TB Braggs Liquid Aminos, a few dashes of regular soy sauce, 3-4 dashes of hot sauce, sprinkling of garlic, oregano, and pepper. You really can't mess this marinade up--just add flavors until it tastes good to you. I let the tofu soak up the flavor for a few hours and then threaded them on skewers with veggies. I like cherry tomatoes and colored peppers.

It's good to eat light when you have a heavy dessert. There's nothing better than a banana split with homemade hot fudge & caramel sauces.

 

Yeah, it was better than it looks. The ice cream got all melty under that rich layer of hot fudge.