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!

Raw Pasta with tomato and basil sauce - and Nori Sushi

I won't lie to you, it takes patience to make that but it is so worth it!.

The recipes come straight from Sarma and Rod's books respectively.

Delicious raw oregano crackers

The picture shows the crackers as they are going into the dehydrator.  They turned out delicious.  The thinner you make them the more crispy and interesting.

I found that the oregano is what made them really tasty, so make sure to put a bunch of it.

Ingredients

1/2 cup of lentils, sprouted (soak for 6 hours then let them rest for 2 days, washing them twice a day)

1/2 cup wheat (soaked and sprouted)

1/2 cup  almonds 

1/4 cup lemon juice

1/2 cup olive oil

salt

pepper

1/4 cup of flax seeds

1/4 cup of sesame seeds

one bunch of fresh oregano cut thinly

a little rosemary

half a small shallot peeled and cut

half a garlic head peeled and sliced

a touch of agave nectar

Blend the lentils, almonds and wheat adding a little water to get a dough going.  Put in a separate bowl

Grind the sesame seeds and flax seeds, then add all the other ingredients and add to the bowl with the dough. Mix well.

Spread thinly on dehydrator sheets as one sheet or cut into shapes (rounds or squares), and put on the dehydrator.  Turn them around after about 4 hours, and let it continue drying for about 12 more hours (overnight).  

Raw Beet Ravioli

Inspired by the beet ravioli from the Living Raw Foods book today, I tried my own version, and they came out looking pretty.

I had some preconceptions about them, for example, I thought the beets could potentially be hard to digest, but nothing like that happened.  Actually because they are marinated and thinly cut, they were almost unrecognizable.  And even though they are still much crunchier than a ravioli pasta shell, they were manageable and blended well with the filling.

The filling was a pine nut cheese raw attempt.  And the sauce was the same paste, only I added some basil for taste.

I felt very satisfied and enjoyed it very much.  Not sure it is an every day recipe, more for a flashy occasion I would say.

The Shells (beets)

1 large beet (or two if you are serving more than two people)

1 lemon

1/2 cup olive oil

sea salt

use a mandoline to cut the beets very VERY thinly.  Then marinate for 1/2 to 1 hour in the oil with the lemon and salt.

The filling

1 cup of pine nuts soaked for one hour

zest of lemon

1/2 cup olive oil

a quarter of an onion

1/4 cup lemon juice

sea salt

ground pepper

Mix everything, that is your cheese.

The sauce

Separate half the filling and add basil to it, and blend.

To serve

Put four think beet slices on a plate, add a spoon full of the filling and cover with another beet shell.

Serve with a little of the basil sauce on the side.

Tasty.

Raw Burgers with Pesto Sauce... hmm

That is raw...  and it tastes delicious!

The recipe is a combination of what I read in  raw foods for real people and my own experimentation, i.e. I used yellow peppers instead of celery.

You need to plan ahead for this one, the dish takes 2.5 days to make (2 days sprouting 1/2 day dehydrating), which is great as you can plan ahead, way ahead!

I am experimenting with making bread but until I get it right I am using the Ezekiel brand which is organic and sprouted and live, or so they claim.  You can find it everywhere these days, I got it at Whole Foods.

The burgers are VERY easy to make but they require the dehydrator,  making them on the oven at low temperature is just not the same.

Bugers:
1 cup lentils sprouted
1/2 cup raw walnuts
1/2 cup raw hulled sunflower seeds
1 lemon peeled and cut into little pieces
1/2 cup olive oil
1 yellow pepper cut in little pieces
Oregano (I prefer fresh)
sun dried tomatoes (I tend to put a bunch, I like them, about 10)

Mix everything in a blender, dehydrate for a few hours 2, or 3, then turn around and dehydrate for 10 or 12 more hours.

For the pesto sauce:
1 cup basil
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup of those really expensive pine nuts, yes that is why my ratio is low for these guys, besides I found out that the sauce tastes better with not so many of these anyway....
1 lemon peeled and cut in little chunks
1 or 2 depending on how you like it heads of garlic
1 shallot
a little spinach if you want to

Blend everything

To serve
Brush the Ezekiel bread slices with the pesto, then paint the burgers too and put them inside.

Serve with a salad and place some more pesto on the side for added lubrication.

Enjoy!

Raw chocolate pudding

Are we going raw? maybe, maybe not, but this raw chocolate pudding made with avocado is the stuff of the Gods, seriously if you have not tasted it yet you have not had a real life experience! Not only is it delicious, it is also live food, all healthy and good for you.

I know that the container looks as if I bought it in a deli, but I did not, is just that this is the only safe enclosed container I had available for refrigeration... yes THAT is raw.

The recipe comes from reading various blogs, books and then trying it on my own.  This is what I found to work best:



Ingredients:
1 avocado ripped but not too soft, 1/4 cup of raw chocolate powder (good idea to get a good quality one), 1/2 cup agave syrup, pinch of sea salt and a little vanilla extract.

Blend everything making sure the texture is that of pudding (add a little water if necessary), refrigerate and enjoy. I dare you to eat only one portion, may not be possible!

Country Bread

I have been looking at many recipes for bread and settled on the authors that suggest less work and more efficiency. It takes a long time to make but there is no work, it is very easy and delicious.

The flour is Gold Medal "Better for Bread".  I have also tried mixing it with whole wheat and it comes delicious.
Many books recommend using bread flour, so why not?




Ingredients:
3 cups of flour
2 cups of water
1 tea spoon of salt
1 tea spoon of active yeast

Preparation
Mix flour salt and yeast, then add the water.  Mix it for 20 seconds, no need to get fancy.  Then cover it and leave it for 18 hours.  I know... a long time.

After that, take it out, it will have probably double in size, and place it over a surface on which you sprinkled a little more flour, but do not add any to the mix and work it so that the flour is nice all over it, make it into a ball.  Then on a table cloth put some flour and seeds of your choice (I like flax and sunflower), and place the mix there, cover it and leave it for 2 more hours.

At about 1.5 hours turn the oven on at 475 degrees.  At two hours, when the oven is hopefully pre-heated, take the mix and put it in an over safe container.  Bake for 30 minutes, then take the cover off and bake for 15 to 20 more minutes.

Enjoy!

Crepes ... delicious for a winter afternoon

I love late afternoon dessert in the winter, and aparently so does BF who complimented it many, many times, and called it a "great restaurant-style crepe"  extra points for me!.

I noticed that many crepe recipes out there call for a lot of flour, but I learned the secrets from the an italian cook at a Soho coffee shop where I used to work in a previous life, so hear me out.



Ingredients:
2 large eggs
half a small cup of white all purpose flour
two table spoons of cannola oil
half a small cup of milk
For the filling you can add fruit jam (I chose peach) OR go all out and put Nutella

Preparation:
Beat the eggs until they are very well mixed, add the milk and the oil and then the flour little by little. You want a "liquid" rather than a batter. Think fluid, as if it was something to drink.

Then put the pan on the fire until it is VERY hot, add a little butter and then poor a little of the liquid. move the pan around and let it spill forming an outer circle, you want to think "very thin crepes"

leave the fire high, but not so high that it burns things, you will know when it is time to turn the crepe around because it will be easy to use the spatula to turn it over (see video above)

Once you turn it around leave it for about a minute or two, then turn it around again, and spread the jam or nutella

Then just fold it, and serve it with a little sugar powder and some fresh mint...Enjoy!

Brussels Sprouts and Veggies

108 yoga recipes - Brussels Sprouts from ClaudiaYoga on Vimeo.

This recipe comes courtesy of my Miami friend Martin. I never knew that Brussels Sprouts could be sauted, but they can...

By the way, this time I include a video... it is 2010 and we are going all out.

Ingredients:
20 Brussels Sprouts (a little container)
Olive oil,
salt pepper to tasteCilantro (half a bunch)
2 Carrots peeled and shredded
1 Zucchini
1 medium Onion
a few garlic heads
Any other vegetables you feel may go well with it

Cooking:
Cut the Brussels Sprouts in half. Set up a nice pot or frying pan, a cooking pot is better, then add olive oil until is heated (or butter if you prefer), and place the sprouts in it, then the onions (the idea is to start with the vegetables that take longer to cook). Let it simmer for about 5 minutes at a slow fire.

Keep it covered so that a "steaming" effect can take place.

Then add the carrots and the garlic, and let it stay for 7 minutes or so. After a few minutes add the zucchini cut in squares or slices, then at the last minute the cilantro. If the pan gets to dry add more oil or a little (tiny bit) of hot water.

In total it should be cooking for about 20 minutes so that the sprouts break and they are soft. Add the salt and peper as it is cooking and to taste.

Serve with rice or couscous.

Enjoy

Steamed Broccoli with soy protein no meat, meat.

Steamed broccoli and soy protein meat scramble is one of my most delicious winter dishes.

The broccoli must be steamed for about 15 minutes, you can do it for longer if you want to but I prefer a shorter cooking time so that it retains most of its nutrition value.  I add olive oil and salt while it is steaming, and it comes out delicious.

As per the soy protein, I buy one from Quorn, and then used sauted onlions, peppers, and lots of olive oil.  Then add the soy and for a few minutes, mostly to warm it up, then at the last minute one egg.

Delicious

Healthiest Winter Quinoa with Veggies

I have been feeling sick and was craving something hearthy... enter the Healthiest Winter Dish.
Known to the Mayans as the mother of all grains, Quinoa is said to have a high level of protein, hence an excellent addition to any vegetarian diet.

I learned that it [quinoa] needs to be soaked for 15 minutes and then cooked for 15 minutes.  It feels a little like cooking couscous, only it takes a bit longer. Worth it.

The Veggies part was done as follows:

Steam brocoli, carrots, red peppers and potatoes (I used one of each, except for the carrots (2))

Separatedly soak and cook beans of your choice, I used faba beans and soy beans (soaked overnight and cooked with vegetable stocking for flavor)

Once everything is ready, fry one onion with red peppers and dill, a little basil, plenty of olive oil.  When the onions are close to transparent, add the veggies and the beans.

Add salt and spices to taste.




One tip is that I never go easy on the olive oil, I want things to be tasty :)

Serve hot with the quinoa on the side and enjoy!

This dish made me feel healthy when I ate it.

Delicious "Bombones" from Argentina

This is MY FAVORITE dessert in all of Argentina.  while growing up I made it all the time.   There is noooothing like it... it is delicious!  and they are "bombones"  which google cannot translate, so let your palad do the transliteration.   

What you will need.

2 packs of galletitas Chocolinas  (picture credit).  Now I am aware these are not readily available at the Whole Foods or at the local super market, so I did some research and it turns out they sell them online!

I highly recomend you get them, you can try with other chocolate cookies but not sure if the effect will be so glorious, if you do however, do let me know how they turn out.

1 pint of dulce de leche (picture credit) which you can probably find at the supermarket in any Latino area, or, order online

1 bag of shredded coconut

Here is what to do:

Mash the chocolinas until they are like a powder.  I have fun with this part and usually enlist the help of whoever is around

Mix the dulce de leche in until you have a paste, then grab bits of it and make them into little balls, about one inch in diameter.  Yes your fingers will get dirty, but you wont mind, believe me.

Pass the balls through the shredded coconut

REFRIGERATE, THIS IS THE MAIN SECRET, for at least 30 minutes.

I know it will be hard not to start eating, but it is the refrigeration (freezer better) , that makes them hard and VERY TASTY

Enjoy responsibly, I'm not kidding

Lasagna, deliciosa!

This is a fantastic winter dish, but I must warn you, it is difficult to have only one portion...

Ingredients:
A box of lasagna pasta (I prefer Whole Wheat)
One box of extra firm tofu
mashrooms (1 container as per the supermarket)
1 onion
1 tomato sauce for pasta of your preference (Newman's own is good)
Spieces to your taste, I like oregano and fresh rosemary


First, the most amazing secret that I learned from the movie adorable movie Mostly Martha and makes me hungry just to think about it, heat the oil and drop the fresh rosemary on it... nice!

I do this in two separate pans, one will be used to saute the onions, the other one to saute the mashrooms.



As per the mashrooms, I leanred this from the other adorable movie "Julie and Julia", make sure the mashrooms have enough room in between each other... oh yes!

I use half the tofu, and put it in the blender, then add the mashrooms (once they are sort of golden), and the sautee onions.  I also add salt, pepper and oregano at this point. Then blend.... hmmmm





Boil the pasta as per package instructions, be careful with the whole wheat ones, you may need to leave them a few minutes longer as I have found out.
Then layer and put the paste in the middle

Top with Tomato Pasta Sauce  (main top picture)

Bake at low temperature (no more than 300) mostly to dry a little, and enjoy!

Empanadas made from scratch, yes, even the shells

I noticed how incredibly hard it is to find empanada shells in Manhattan, so I decided to take things into my own hands, and make the shells myself. The pictures on this blogpost belong to empanadas made with whole weat flour, that is why they look dark, normally they are made with white flour, up to you!

And if you want to try them but dont dare make the shells I know a lady who makes them (for a decent fee), email me and I will put you in touch.

Enjoy.

SHELL INGREDIENTS

1 pack of flour (whole weat, white, whatever you prefer, white does indeed work better)

half a pack of butter, or 125 grams)

pintch of salt

1 cup or a little more of warm water

one egg

SHELL PREPARATION

Make a circle with the flour and put the egg in the middle. Melt the butter until is liquid and put it in the middle too. Then with your hands (be careful it may be hot!) start pushing the batter until it begins to form little grums, then add warm water little by little until it forms an homogeneous mix.

Let it rest in a plate for about 20 minutes

After 20 minutes the mix will expand. That is good.

Begin grabing little pieces of it, make a circle and then use the rolling pin to stretch it thin, to about 2 milimiters.

TIP: when you stretch it, think four directions, northeast, northwest, southeast and southwest. That way you will expand it a rectangular sort and it will give you more opportunities to draw more shells out of it.

I use a little more flour and spread it on the table to make the spreading of the batter easier.

Then with a circle cookie cutter begin cutting them in circles. I stack them up using waxed paper in between them so they dont get glued to each other

FILLING INGREDIENTS & PREPARATION

1 onion

1 red pepper

soy protein mix (or grounded meat if you eat meat)

3 table spoons of raisins

the grains of 3 corns

Saute the onions and peppers in oil or in butter. Make sure to cut them very small.

Add the soy protein, the raisins and the corn.

Let it warm up, it does not need to cook for very long, 10 minutes at low fire will do.

MAKING THE EMPANADAS

Put a little (a spoonfull) in the middle of each round shell, then use the yellow of an egg, dip your fingers on it, and pass it around the bottom half of the empanada, then flip the top part and glue it in by pressing gently. Make sure they are very glued, otherwise they will open in the oven.

I paint the top of them with the yellow of the egg too for shine effect.

Put in the oven at 350 for about half an hour. Let cool and enjoy.