Pasta Salad

You know it! I am a big fan of pasta. So last weekend I set out to discover the best pasta salad I could create, by mixing and matching my Italian heritage with a few recipes I found on the internet.  The best tip? Add at least three different vegetables to the pasta.

INGREDIENTS:
Pasta of your choice, I like rotini, boiled and buttered/salted.  Broccoli, carrots, cherry tomatoes, onions, garlic, spices, one can of cut tomatoes.

PREPARATION:
Early in the morning boil the carrots with a vegetable stock cube and steam the broccoli with olive oil and salt on top of it so they are ready.

When they are ready, saute the onions and garlic on olive oil, add the tomatoes, the can of cut tomatoes, and let it steam for a little bit.  Add a spoonful of sugar, salt and spices.

Add the veggies and the pasta. Mix and voila!

Delicious Vegetarian Meat Mashed Lasagna

Why mashed lasagna? well, it you ever cooked a lasagna you know how time consuming it is, separating the sheets of pasta, ensuring they are properly boiled, not breaking them as you take them out, avoiding getting burned as you manipulate them.  Too much work!

Delicious texture

So yes, you heard that right 'mashed' lasagna, with vegetarian meat substitute, it can be done I decided it could, and I even gave it a name, why not?

Here is the recipe that serves three hungry yogis:

Ingredients (including the secret one)
Half a box of rotini pasta (I prefer the colored ones). One box of Smart Ground meat substitute. One jar of Basil Tomato Sauce by Newman. Onions, garlic and ginger, quarter cup of Mazola vegetable oil, oregano, rosemary, basil (either fresh or powder), pepper and salt to taste, one cube of vegetable stock (I use the vegan version from the health food store when possible or Knor). Cherry tomatoes cut in halves, one box.  Parmesan cheese up to you, if you like it! and finally the secret ingredient: one spoon of sugar.

Works pretty good for this dish

Preparation

1. In a hot non stick pan pour oil and chopped onions, wait a little till they brown and add the chopped garlic and chopped ginger.  I like to use quite a bit of ginger (about two spoon fulls)
2. In a separate pot bring water to boil and put the pasta which will be done in about 9 minutes.
3. Cut the cherry tomatoes in halves or quarters.
4. Back to the original non stick pan, when the onions are transparent and the power of the garlic not so strong, add the Smart Ground or other meat substitute.  If it was frozen you may need to keep it in the fire for a little while till it is no longer frozen and it looks like smashed meat rather than chunks of frozen meat. Add the cherry tomatoes. Lower the heat!
5. Add the Newman sauce and spread the spoon full of sugar (secret ingredient) all over. Add also the vegetable stock cube
6. Add spices, basil, oregano, rosemary, pepper salt.  Taste a little to see if it is coming along nice.
7. Take the pasta out and run it through a percolator, add olive oil to it and mix it all in.
8. Poor the pasta into the mix.
9. Let it sit at simmer fire for about 5 minutes
10. Let it cool down for 5 minutes and serve

OK, in a traditional lasagna there is oven involved, and some cheese or tofu, I prefer it without those ingredients and it feels fresher to me when it does not go in the oven.  

The texture is mouth watering sweet yet savory (with the cherry tomatoes), meaty yet soft (as you combine the soy meat and the pasta) and delish overall...

Enjoy!

Traditional Veggie Lasagna

That came out delish!

Got the  recipe by combining from a few sites on the internet.

Ingredients:
1 big eggplant cut in small (1/4 inch squares)
1 red 1 green pepper cut small
1 container of mashrooms cut small
2 zuccinis cut small
Oilive oil
garlic
spices to taste
1/2 package of tofu
1 of those cubes of veggie stocking - the secret ;-)
2 eggs
1 container of fresh pasta for lasagna
Fresh basil
One can of pasta sauce
Onions

1. Bake all the veggies at 400 for 30 minutes - make sure they are cut small.  I painted them with crushed garlic marinated in olive oil before I put them in the oven
2. Remove the zuccini and mashrooms keep baking the rest of the veggies 15 more minutes
3. Meanwhile... put the water to boil and when ready prepare the pasta for the lasgna
4. saute the onions in oil or butter till brown then spice to taste add pasta sauce and add the veggie stock cube, once boiling lower the fire and let it be there for a while, add spices you like, I use oregano, basil, rosemary, fresh parsely etc.  Salt and pepper too.
5. Mix the tofu (not a lot, I did it with half of one of those squares they serve, next time I will use a quarter) and eggs.
6. Cut the basil finely
7. When all is ready...
8. Put in a pre oiled container a bit of pasta sauce, then one layer of lasagna pasta, overlay the pasta so that it really covers every peace
9. Add one half of the veggies and one half of the eggs and tofu, top with chopped basil
10. a little more sauce
11. Another layer
12. finish the top with sauce
13. Bake for 40 or 50 minutes at 350

It is a bit of work but oh so worth it!

Indian tips for the perfect chai

Once upon a time I visited a tailor in India, he was to make me the most beautiful pants for the most incredible price, but his services did not end at that, he actually gave me a bigger present when he shared with me how his wife made chai, here is what he told me:

Get together the usual ingredients:
Cinnamon sticks
Ginger (better if fresh)
Pepper corns
Cardamon (better if you can find the whole seeds rather than the powder)
Bay leaves
Black tea (Darjeleen works very well)
and Cloves.

Put some water and all the ingredients and let them boil, just forget about them for 20 or 30 minutes so that the full flavor of all the spices is released.

Let them boil boil boil...

Then after the 20/30 minutes of that, bring milk in a separate container, to a boil.







Then, and here is the nice tip, do this number (see video), where you mix them together and pass them from one container to another.



Add more suggar than you could possibly want and ENJOY!

You may have difficulty sleeping if you drink this after 5 PM, or so I have found.

Sandwiches de Miga Argentinean Style

The picture (left) comes from an amazing Argentinean blog of a woman that started cooking for family and friends, got some compliments, and now shares her culinary art through a blog.

Depicted you can see an Argentinean delicacy, they are called sandwiches de miga, which means sandwiches made out of the white of the bread (no borders).

They are so delicious (and expensive), that they belong in every argentinean party that prides itself in food delights.

I decided to try a more "yogic" approach and use bread from the farmers market in Cold Spring.  HB found this seven grain that called his attention and we tried it.

The thing with Sandwichitos is that they are moist, even though the bread is dry, and the trick relies in getting the balance between moisture and dryness just right.

So I cut away the borders and then chopped fresh ingredients for the inside:
Tomatoes
Eggs
a little mayo
fresh oregano
fresh dill
a touch of garlic

Then I put olive oil on the pieces of bread.  I am lucky to have brought some Argentinean olive oil in my last trip, but any good quality one will do.

I made sure to dry the mix before i placed it on the bread.  I actually put a paper towel around the mix.

If I would do them again (which I will) I think I would put a little more olive oil.  I would say about two soup spoonfuls per slice.  At least for this type of bread which is much thicker than the Argentinean style.

These are the first two that came out.  I know, I must put them under more light for next time, but let me tell you, they are delicious!

Enjoy!

Raw Falafel

After trying recipes from two books I can say that this is definitely the best recipe, it tastes like the real thing and it only takes 4 hours to dehydrate instead of overnight, so right there there is a plus.

I also like that this recipe includes veggies and not just nuts and spices.  It is delicious and very nutritious.

I served it with my favorite salad which includes pieces of oranges (now that they are a plenty), tomatoes and cucumbers.

Based on Sarma's book, with my own measurements


Falafel:
1/2 cup pistachios, almonds, sunflower seeds, raw.
1 portobelo mushroom cap, cut in squares
2 carrots shredded
2 lemons
1 bunch of parsley (big bunch)
salt and pepper
olive oil
1/2 cup sesame seeds raw
1/2 cup flax seeds

Place the carrots and mushrooms in a bowl and poor olive oil on them, then dehydrate for one hour.

Separately place all the nuts in a blender and blend till smooth.  Set aside

Blend the carrots and mushrooms with the juice of one lemon, all the parsley and 1/4 cup of olive oil, add salt and pepper.

Then mix the blended vegetables with the nuts, and shape them into falafel balls.

Grind the sesame and flax seeds in a coffee grinder.  Roll the falafel on the grinded seeds to cover them up.

Dehydrate for 3 hours, and serve with raw tahini and salad.

Enjoy!

Raw meatloaf with bbq sauce

This one is for Tony who was in search of some raw "meat" :-)

You see the bite taken out of the meatloaf? well I could not wait! I based the recipe on ideas from the Juliano's book, but I also added my own spices

Meatloaf:
1/3 cup sesame seeds/walnuts/sprouted lentils
1/3 cup olive oil
1 red pepper
1 carrot grated
little garlic and onion
fresh oregano, rosemary and dill to taste
Salt and pepper to taste
one or two big spoons of agave syrup

Blend and dehydrate basically forever... OK, maybe for like a day or two, I let it dry for 26 hours, within a cake container, that is why it came so roundy and pretty.

BBQ sauce
2 tomatoes
1/2  cup sun dried tomatoes
1 head of garlic
1/2 onion
1/2 cup nori sauce
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup olive oil

Blend it and once the meatloaf is ready, on the day you are to eat it, put the sauce on top and dehydrate for a good 3 hours.  It will be slightly warm by serving

Compliment with a salad

Enjoy!