Vegan Cabbage Rolls and a Holiday Review

        It seems that the minute I got back in Toronto I haven't stopped. I know what you're thinking: school has just begun, how can you already be swamped? Well let me assure you, it isn't difficult. As much as I always look forward to going back to school, there is something ominous about the first week back. Teachers read out the syllabi, and you feverishly write down everything you have to do in your agenda. Well the first week has come to a close, and I feel that I am already behind, mind you I've been working my butt off. 

     So, for a break, I bring to you my delicious cabbage rolls and a review of my holidays in the Bay. I'll start with the cabbage rolls, which I served at New Year's Day dinner. Vegan cabbage rolls are a great dish to bring to pot lucks because they can easily be made ahead and they please veg-heads and meat-eater alike. After eating a couple servings of these bad boys, one of my cousins told me that she had no idea what was in them — knowing that it couldn't be meat if the Boileau's brought them — but that they were delicious. My mother and I then went on to explain TVP to the whole family (there was just under 30 of us at the dinner table).

     TVP or textured vegetable protein is a soy product used in simulated meat products and as a substitute for ground meat for vegetarians. TVP is made by removing the fat from soy flour, and the byproduct of soybean oil extraction. It comes in small granules in its classic form but can also be bought at health food stores or in the natural food isle as soy chunks. Because TVP is a dry protect, it absorbs the flavour of anything you throw at it, which makes it a very versatile ingredient. 

     Shown above is the results of a double batch, which can be accomplished with one large head of cabbage. This recipe freezes well, so go ahead and double up on all the other ingredients if you want to make enough to last a while and use up the whole cabbage.

Serves: 8-12

Ingredients

• 1 large cabbage, frozen and defrosted
• 2/3 cup dry long or medium grain white rice and 1 1/3 cup water (or 2 cups prepared rice)
• 3/4 cup dry TVP
• 3/4 cup low sodium vegetable broth

Sauce:

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/8 tsp red chili flakes, or to taste
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1/4 cup red wine
• 2 18oz cans of tomatoes 
• 3/4 cup vegetable stock

Filling:

• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 large onion, diced roughly 
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 1 5.5 oz can of tomato paste
• 1/8 cup red wine
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley, or 1 Tbsp dry
• 1/4 tsp cumin
• 1/4 tsp coriander
• salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

1. Prepare your rice as per package directions, either in a pot on the stove or in a ice cooker.
2. Hydrate TVP with equal amounts of boiling low-sodium vegetable broth (alternatively, can use half broth, half water). Just pour the broth on top of the TVP in a medium bowl, mix quickly with a fork, then cover with plastic wrap and let steam.
3. Start preparing the sauce by warming a medium sauce pot over medium heat with olive oil. Sauté garlic and herbs until fragrant, about 2 minutes.
4. Add the wine to the sauce, and let simmer for a couple of minutes to burn off the alcohol before adding the tomatoes and the vegetable stock. Let simmer for 10-15 minutes before removing from heat. The end sauce should be waterier than a typical pasta sauce to keep the cabbage rolls moist in the oven. No one likes dry rolls.
5. In your largest stock pot, or whichever pot fits your cabbage, fill with water until the water covers the cabbage (if possible, you may need to roll your cabbage in the water later if your pot isn't big enough) then remove the cabbage and set aside, bring cabbage-less water to a boil.
6. Start the cabbage roll filling: in a large sauté pan or wok on medium heat, heat up some olive oil, and sauté onions and garlic for 5 minutes, or until onions are translucent. 
7. Whisk in the tomato paste, red wine, soy sauce, parsley, coriander and cumin, along with 1/2 cup of the prepared sauce. 
8. Into the base of the filling, fold in the rice and TVP. Mix well and remove from heat.
9. With a paring knife, remove the hard core of the cabbage. place the cabbage in the boiling water and let boil for a couple minutes, or until the leaves start falling off a bit. As the leaves loosen up, remove from the head with a pair of tongues and set aside. Repeat this step until you feel that you have enough leaves, at least 12 but it's better to cook a few extra or leave the water on until all the rolls are rolled.
10. Meanwhile, prepare your 9x13" (or larger) baking dish by ladling in a couple spoonfuls of the sauce, enough so that there is a thin layer of sauce coating the bottom of the pan to prevent the cabbage rolls from sticking.
11. When enough cabbage leaves have been harvested and are cool enough to handle, remove any large veins or hard chunks. (These can be used in a soup of for a vegetable stock.) As you get to the center of the cabbage, more and more of the leaf will be hard, so you may want to overlap a couple of leaves if need be, or adjust the amount of filling accordingly.
12. When you are ready to roll, layout the cabbage leaf with the space where the vein used to be facing you. Overlap the two sides of the leaves so that there is no hole where you are about to spoon on the filling.
13. Spoon on about 1/3-1/2 cup of the filling into the middle of the cabbage leaves, making sure not to overfill the leaves to avoid spillage. Roll the filling up like a burrito: fold in the ends and hold with your outer fingers while you use your thumbs and inner fingers to fold the side closest you over the filling and roll tightly away from you to close. Place the cabbage rolls, seam face down, in the sauced baking dish.
14. Continue to roll your cabbage rolls until all the filling is used up and pack tightly in the baking dish so that your rolls stay together.
15. Poor the remainder of the tomato sauce over your beautiful cabbage rolls.
16. You can now refrigerated your cabbage rolls  for up to 3 days until you are ready to bake them or bake them immediately in a preheated 350°F oven for one (1) hour covered with aluminum foil.
17. Let cool for 20 minutes before serving.

Our Holidays

     I always love going home for the holidays. What's not to love: food, drink, family and sleep? I'm a fan of it all!

Christmas Brunch at the Boileau's

Christmas Dinner with Ryan's Family

Boxing Dinner at the Boileau's

New Year's Eve Games

New Year's Day Dinner 

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.

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!

Minestrone Soup

A great minestrone that anyone can appreciate. This Italian classic is very versatile and can include any of your favourite vegetables, beans or pasta noodles. This recipe goes well with fresh bread or biscuits. But beware, will all these vegetables, this soup is quite filling.

Serves: 8-10

For this batch, we didn't add the extra cup of  water at the end,
but in hindsight, we should have. Also, The pasta continues to
absorb the liquid while in the fridge, so you may have to add
more liquid and a bit more salt and pepper when reheating.
.... Also, we forgot the celery. Woops.

Ingredients

3 Tbsp olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

4-5 cloves garlic, minced

1 large carrot, diced

1 lg celery stalk, diced

1 zucchini, quartered lengthwise and cut into 1" pieces

1 large red potato, cubed

1 cup fresh (or frozen) green beans, cut into 1" segments 

2 cups roughly chopped kale

1 28oz can diced tomatoes

2 cups tomato purée (if not available, use more broth)

2 cups vegetable broth

2 cups boiling water

1 16ox can mixed beans, with liquid

1 1/2 cup large shells, or 1 cup medium shells or other noodles

1 tsp dried oregano

2 tsp dried basil

Salt and pepper, to taste

Preparation

Heat olive oil in a large pot on medium heat. 

Add onion, garlic, celery, carrot and potato.While cooking add the dried spices. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until lightly browned and quite possibly starting to stick to the bottom of the pot.  

Add tomatoes, tomato purée, broth and half of the water. 

Turn heat to high, stir then bring to a boil. 

Add canned beans, green beans and zucchini and reduce to a simmer. Then, stir in pasta noodles and simmer for an additional 20-30 minutes until all vegetables and noodles are tender. (If the pasta is a bit al dente, its all right,it will continue to cook off the heat.) 

Taste and season with salt and pepper.

Remove from heat. 

Let cool 5 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!