Collard Green Pesto with Kalamata Olives

     Not your traditional pesto...but then again basil can be so expensive when it's not in season. So all the more reason to use collar greens — they're cheap and they'll last you a lot longer. I like this recipe because it's a good way to use up any greens that have been sitting in the fridge and have lost a bit too much of their luster. Blitz them up and no one will ever know that they were on their way to the compost bin, at least not after you add garlic, lemon juice, kalamata olives and some quality olive oil.

     Because this pesto is so much cheaper than a normal basil pesto, you don't feel so guilty having extra sauce, after all we've got to get our greens in somewhere.

Serves: 4-10 (makes about 750mL)

Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 small bunch of collard greens (about 600g with stems)
• 1/3 cup walnuts or pecans
• 1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives
• 2 cloves of garlic, inner leaf stem removed 
• 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
• 2 Tbsp lemon juice, about half a lemon, juiced
• 1/2 cup to 1 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup to 1 cup water
• salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

1. In a large pot of boiling water, blanch collards about 2 minutes, or until bright green.
2. Once blanched, cut away the stems, if not already done, and give the collards a rough chop.
3. Toss collards in a food processor with all the other ingredients (yes it's that easy!), starting with the lower quantities of oil and water.
4. Blend on low to begin, then transition to a higher speed as the pesto starts coming together.
5. Add more oil and water until desired texture is obtained.
6. Taste and season with salt and pepper.

3-Ingredient Fresh Vegan Pasta

     With school and work being as crazy as ever (or possibly crazier), I haven't had much time lately for experimenting in the kitchen, but I though it was about time I posted my fresh vegan pasta recipe. Making a good pasta is a bit tricky, especially seeing as most recipes call for eggs, but it is possible. I've been working on this pasta recipe on and off for over a year now and I've finally got the recipe near perfect. I say near perfect because changes in weather and humidity will affect the amount of water needed in this recipe. On more humid days, you'll probably need less water and on dry days more. So you really have to feel out what you're doing. But don't be scared, fresh pasta is delicious (especially stuffed with sauteed mushrooms or pesto...or both) and worth the risk! (Also, I'm still working on the new logo over here. Getting close to digitizing it!)

Serves: 3-5

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup semolina flour
• 1/2 to 1/2+1/8 cup warm water

Preparation

1. On a large clean surface or in a large mixing bowl, mix all-purpose and semolina flour.
2. Form a well out of the flour and poor the water into the well.
3. With a fork, slowly incorporate the water and flour, working from the center of the well and moving outwards. If all the water seems to be incorporated, but there is still excess flour, add the up to 1/8 cup more water. Likewise, if it seems a bit wet or sticky add a bit more all-purpose flour.
4. Once all the flour and water is incorporated, knead the dough on a lightly floured surface until it forms a smooth ball. Wrap the dough ball in plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature for 10-20 minutes. If you are not planning on cooking all the pasta, you can cut the ball in half, and wrap both halves, keeping the half you are planning to cook at room temperature and place the other half in the fridge. The dough will keep in the fridge for up to 2 to 3 days, but should be brought back to room temperature before working it.
5. When you are ready to form the pasta shapes, you can either roll it out manually on a floured surface or use a pasta roller machine, as per manufacturer’s instructions.
6. If you are stuffing you pasta, make sure to keep the dough covered when not working with it, otherwise let the pasta stand, uncovered for at least 30 minutes after it is formed. This will prevent the pasta from becoming mushy or sticking together while cooking.
7. When ready to cook the pasta, cook in a large pot of salted boiling water for 2-3 minutes or until tender. Strain and coat pasta in sauce or in oil before serving. 

    

Summer Swiss Chard Pasta

       Based on Grandpa Mark's pasta, this savoury dish is packed with one of my favourite veggies out of the garden, swiss chard. You can enjoy this dish year round, but it's best in the summer with greens and herbs from the garden or the market. I prefer using swiss chard, but you can also use spinach (like Grandpa Mark used to do) in this tasty pasta sauce.

Serves: 3-6

Ingredients

3 Tbsp or 1/8 cup olive oilOne large white onion, cut into chunks4 cloves of garlic, minced1/8 tsp red chili flakes1 tsp dried basil or about 1/4 cup packed fresh basil leaves cut into strips1/2 tsp dried oragano1/4 tsp dried thymeHalf a large bunch or 300g Swiss Chard, stems and greens chopped2 cans chopped tomatoesOne can (514mL) chickpeas or white beans, drained and rinsed About 300g pasta

Preparation

1. In a large pan on medium heat, add olive oil, onions, garlic, chili flakes and herbs and sauté for 2 minutes.2. While the onions are sautéing, chop up the swiss chard stems and add them to the pan. Sauté the mixture for an additional 5-7 minutes or until the swiss chard stems begin to soften up.3. Add two cans of tomatoes and let simmer for 10-15 minutes. Meanwhile start a pot of salted boiling water for your pasta.4. Add the beans and the chopped swiss chard to the sauce. Cover and cook for an additional 10-15 minutes.5. Once the sauce is complete, you can add your pasta to the pot of boiling water and cook to al dente. Meanwhile remove your sauce from the heat, taste and season with salt and pepper as needed.6. When you pasta is finished, strain and spoon the pasta onto plates and cover with sauce. Any leftover pasta can be tossed in olive oil so that it does not stick.7. Garnish with fresh basil if desired and enjoy!

Low-Fat Vegan Manicotti

       Manicotti can normally be a very heavy and fattening dish, but a simple solution for that is to replace that non-vegan friendly cheese with tofu. If you've never tried cooking with tofu, but want to try lightening up you traditional manicotti, you will not be disappointed with this recipe.

Dad: "You can't tell it's not cheese, this stuff is white."

       I recently made this pasta dish for my parents. My mom's a vegetarian but my dad's a meat eater and although normally harder to please, both he and my mom loved by manicotti! And believe me, if my dad doesn't like something I make him, he isn't shy to say so. But my parents said that they would eat this manicotti recipe over cheese-based manicotti any day (my mom was very happy to hear this). 

Serves: 3-6

Ingredients 

8-12 manicotti shells

Pasta Sauce (alternatively, you can use 1-2 jars of your favourite spaghetti sauce)

1/8 cup (3 tbsp) olive oil

1/4 tsp chili flakes

1 large onion, sliced 3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tsp basil 

1 tsp thyme 

1/2 tsp parsley 

1/2 cup crimini mushrooms, sliced

1 jar diced tomatoes 

2 cup tomato purée  

1/4 tsp salt and pepper 

optional: handful kalamata olives, pitted or 1/3 cup marinated artichoke hearts 

1 brick regular or firm tofu

2 tbsp lemon juice 

2 tbsp nutritional yeast 

1 tbsp soy sauce

1/2 tsp tyme and basil or 1 tsp Italian herb mix

Salt and pepper to taste

Optional 1/4 cup vegan mayo (makes it extra creamy)

2 tbsp olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, minced 1 bag spinach (8-10oz), chopped 

Optional Daiya or vegan cheese

Preparation

Pasta sauce

1. In a large pan or medium sauce pot, on medium heat, warm olive oil and chili flakes. When warm, add the chopped onion, garlic and herbs and sauté until the onion is soft, about 5 minutes.

2. Toss you mushrooms into the pan and sauté for an additional 5 minutes before adding the tomatoes and tomato purée. 

3. Let simmer on medium-low for 15-20 minutes before tossing in the optional artichoke hearts or olives, and seasoning with salt and pepper.

4. Remove from the heat and set aside until ready to use.

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.

2. Put a large pot of salted water on the stove top on high and bring to a boil. When the water reaches a roaring boil add your pasta shapes. Cook until al dente, about 5 minutes, then drain and rinse with cold water.

3. Drain and rinse the tofu. Squeeze any excess liquid out of the tofu, then finely crumble into a medium mixing bowl.

4. Add the lemon juice, nutritional yeast, soy sauce and seasoning to the crumbled tofu and mix well.

5. In a large pan on medium heat, heat up a couple tbsp of olive oil and sauté onions and garlic, 5-7 minutes.

6. Once the onion has softened up, toss in the chopped spinach, in batches. You want to cook down the spinach, so cover the pot between batches and stir frequently.

7. Once the spinach is wilted and dark green, add it directly into you tofu mixture. Mix well and add salt and pepper if necessary.

8. Put a thin layer of pasta sauce down in your Pyrex dish (9"x13")

9. Fill your manicotti pasta shells with the tofu mixture and arrange on top of the sauce. 

10. Pour the remainder of the tomato sauce on top of the pasta. Sprinkle with cheese if using. 

11. Cover with tin foil and poke a hole in the center with a fork to let steam vent out.

12. Bake at 350°F covered for 25 minutes and uncovered for an additional 5-10 minutes until bubbling. 

13. Let cool 5-10 minutes before serving.

Fresh Pasta Sauce

        With more beautiful weather on the way we are stepping away from heavy hot meals and embracing lighter fresh dinners. This fresh pasta is perfect for summer, especially as seasonal tomatoes are popping up in markets.

        Because all ingredients in this recipe are raw, it is important to choose quality ingredients. When choosing an olive oil, the best quality indicator is the farm or area the olives are grown. If the bottle doesn't state where the olives are grown, it is most likely a mixed olive oil. Mixed olive oils tend to be lack lustre. The flavours are muddled and unimpressive. Try to choose an extra virgin or virgin olive oil, these oils are less acidic and higher quality than other olive oils. A decent olive oil might set you back $25 for a litre, but this product will give raw dishes like this fresh pasta sauce a great flavour. 

All the ingredients I need to make a delicious fresh pasta sauce

Serves: 2-3

Ingredients

4 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil, and to taste

1 large clove or garlic, minced

1/8 tsp red chili flakes

About 8 kalamata olives, or to taste

450g rip tomatoes, about 4 medium or 8 medium-small (cocktail size) tomatoes

1/2 small bunch of basil (about 20g), leaves torn 

Salt and pepper to taste 

Sauce is all done, all we have to do now is make the pasta

Preparation

1. In a medium mixing bowl combine olive oil, chili flakes and minced garlic. Let marinate for 20 minutes to one hour. 

2. Cut the tomatoes over the bowl of olive oil to preserve all the liquid. With a paring knife, cut the tomatoes into 4 wedges and then cut each wedge in half. 

3. De-pit the olives, rip or cut in half and add to the tomatoes and olive oil.

4. Tear the basil leaves and add to the fresh sauce and season with salt and pepper.

5. Let sit for at least 20 minutes while you prepare the pasta as to the package instructions. 

6. When cooked, drain the pasta and add directly to the fresh sauce. Add more olive oil, salt or pepper if necessary.

Southern Comfort Food

I absolutely love comfort food! A few nights ago, we whipped up a batch of mac 'n' cheese with some garlic collard greens, sweet potato mash, vegetarian chicken fingers (store bought) and some tasty biscuits.
We've made mac 'n' cheese many times, however the recipe below is are go-to. It's rich and creamy, and really easy to make. As for the collard greens, the trick, as we've found, is to steam them, then quickly sautée in warm oil with garlic.
This meal is perfect for when you're having a craving for southern dinner food. All the goodness, but without all the animal products and butter! Yum!

Mac 'n' Cheese

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

1 pound or 450g of pasta, cooked al dente

1 1/2 cup water

3/4 cup plain soy milk, or dairy-free milk

3/4 cup nutritional yeast

3 tbsp cornstarch

1 tbsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp salt + more to taste

1/8 tsp garlic powder

1/8 tsp onion powder

1 tsp turmeric powder

ground black pepper to taste

Preparation

Put all ingredients in the blender and pulse until smooth.

Taste for seasoning.

In a large pan, on medium heat, add all the cooked pasta to the cheesey-cheeseless mixture.

Cook for 5 to 10 minutes until the mixture has thickened.

Serve immediately with fresh ground pepper and salt if needed.

Add the remaining uncooked sauce to any leftovers so that tomorrow's leftovers will be as creamy as tonight's.

Garlic Collard Greens

Serves: 3-4

Ingredients

1 large bunch of collard greens

olive oil, about 1/8 to 1/4cup, enough to well coat the bottom of your pan

4-5 cloves of garlic, minced or sliced

pinch of red chili flakes

salt to taste

1 tsp lemon juice

Preparation

In a large skillet, heat olive oil with the garlic and chili peppers on low heat for 10-15min.

Wash the collard greens and cut into 1" strips.

Steam all the collards in a steamer basket in a covered pot with an inch of water at the bottom.

Steam for about 5 minutes, until bright green then drain, trying to remove as much water as possible.

Toss the collards in the warm olive oil mixture and sautée on low for 3 minutes. 

Mix the collards with the lemon juice and serve.

Sweet Potato Mash

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

4 medium-large sweet potatoes or garnite yams

3 cloves of garlic

water

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup molasses, or to taste

pinch of allspice or asian 5-spice

1/2 tbsp paprika

scant 1/4 cup margarine

salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

In a large covered pot, bring salted water to a boil. 

Wash the sweet potatoes and cut into 1" chunks. Husk and remove the ends of the garlic, keeping the cloves whole. Add the garlic and the sweet potatoes to the boiling water.

Boil for about 10 minutes or until the potatoes are soft enough to mash.

Reserve about a cup of the cooking liquid, and drain the rest.

In the pot, mash the sweet potatoes adding the spices, and the margarine and cooking water until a smooth texture is obtained. You may also use an immersion blender to quicken the process.

Season with salt and pepper and serve along side your mac'n'cheese, collards and biscuits.

Vegetable Lasagna

Wow! Am I ever stuffed. This is the best lasagna. There is something very appealing about having a lasagna that is not dripping with cheesy grease, yuck. This was my first time making a vegan lasagna, although I've made many non-vegan lasagnas with my family as well as vegan cannelloni. I was actually planning on doing manicotti with a zucchini wrapper, but Ryan wanted lasagna, so here we are! 
This lasagna has a great structure. I was surprised when I picked it up with the spatula and it didn't fall to pieces like so many lasagnas do. The reason it's so sturdy is most likely because we used both lasagna pasta and strips of zucchini, which we laid perpendicular to one another. Because we only added cheese on top, there were also no greasy layers for the pasta to slip off of. This is definitely a healthy lasagna. Layered with vegetables and tofu, it's lower in saturated fats, as well as calories and sodium, although it's probably more filling than other (non-vegan) lasagnas.

If you are not vegan and want to make this cheesier, you would be able to replace half the tofu with ricotta, just mix it in after the kale has wilted down or you could replace the Daiya on top with a nice goat cheese (which complements the flavours of the lasagna well) or with one of your favourite cheeses.

Serves: 8
Bake at: 375°F

Ingredients

13-15 sheets oven-ready lasagna noodles (less than a full box)
1 zucchini, cut lengthwise thinly with a mandolin
~2/3 cup Daiya vegan cheese
1 large portabello mushroom, 1/4" slices (optional)

1 brick of tofu, rinsed
1-2 cloves minced garlic
olive oil for frying
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1/2 a bunch of kale (or 1 bag of baby spinach)
2/3 cup of water
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried basil
Salt and pepper to taste

1 large onion, medium dice
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium red pepper, large dice
6 crimini mushrooms, sliced 
1 16 oz can tomato chunks, in juice
1 jar (650ml, just less that 3 cups) of your favourite spaghetti sauce
salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

In a shallow frying pan, simmer garlic on medium-low heat in olive oil until fragrant. 
Crumble tofu into frying pan so that it resembles ricotta cheese, and season with soy sauce and herbs.
Stir as needed to not overly brown the tofu.

Meanwhile in a large sauce pan on medium heat, sautée onions in olive oil for 2 minutes, then add mushrooms and garlic, then sautée until the mushrooms begin to brown.
Next add diced red pepper and let sautée for an additional 5 minutes before adding the tomatoes and tomato sauce.
Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 10-20 minutes.
Taste and add pepper and salt if needed.

De-stem and wash kale, then dice. Add kale to tofu filling with about 2/3 of a cup of warm water. Cover and let steam. 
The water at this step is needed to help cook the oven-ready pasta noodles. Don't worry, the end product will not be watery.
When the kale is ready, uncover, and take off heat.

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

In a 9x13" pyrex dish, ladle in 1/2-1 cup sauce to cover bottom.
Layer in the first set of pasta noodles, make sure to not overlap them. 
Next add a layer of sliced zucchini, overlapping slightly. Lay the zucchini slices in the opposite direction of the pasta noodles, perpendicular to them. 
Ladle on a substantial amount of pasta sauce, about half of what is left, so that there is a thick layer of sauce.
Next, layer the second set of pasta noodles. 
On top of the noodles, add the entire tofu filling, evening it out.
Then add a second layer of zucchini slices, in the same manner as the first.
Add the third and final layer of pasta noodles.
If you have enough room, you can add another layer of zucchini here, if not skip this step.
Ladle on the rest of the sauce to cover the noodles or the zucchini.
Sprinkle on the cheese, adding more or less as desired.
Distribute the portabello slices on top of the cheeses (this will stop most of the cheese from sticking to the aluminum foil).
Cover the dish with aluminum foil, puncture a hole in the middle with a fork and form a tent in the foil.
Bake at 375°F for 40 minutes.
Remove foil, then bake for an additional 20-30 minutes.
Remove from oven and test pasta with a fork.
Let cool for 10 minutes before cutting and serving.
Serve with Ryan's No-Knead Bread.

Hope you enjoy! We did!

Balsamic Glazed Radicchio

This slightly bitter friend is a great accompaniment to pasta, especially pasta primavera, or served with tapas. The best method of preparing radicchio so that its bitterness does not over power you palate is to soak it, but then again adding a glaze helps too.

Ingredients

2 grapefruit sized heads of radicchio 
1 cup balsamic vinegar
1-2 Tbsp honey
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

Preparation

Wash outside of radicchio and cut each into eight wedges. Place radicchio in a large bowl and cover with cold water. Let soak a minimum of 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a anti-stick pan on medium-high heat, bring balsamic vinegar with honey to a boil, then reduce heat. 
Simmer on medium-low for around 15 minutes (or more) until the balsamic is reduced to a maple syrup like consistency. 
Remove from heat.
After radicchio has soaked, let dry on a cloth for 3-5 minutes.
Preheat grill.
When dry, brush wedges with olive oil. 
Put radicchio on the grill, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Be mindful not to overcrowd as the vegetable can become soggy. (If you don't want the tips burning, you can wrap the tops with tinfoil so that they are not on the direct heat.)
Grill for 5-10 minutes, such that the core is just soft.
Remove from heat and brush or pour on balsamic reduction.
Serve and enjoy!

Ravioli

Mushroom Ravioli

No time to make fresh pasta for your ravioli? An easy substitute is wonton wrappers. Fill with whatever filling you desire, fold in two or place top wrapper on, wet the edges and seal with your fingers before doing a final decorative seal with a fork. Boil for around 5 minutes, sauce and enjoy.