Pasta Alfredo ~ More Vegan Comfort Food

Just got the latest issue of VegNews Magazine. I really like it. I usually can't wait to get the pages messy as I try out three or four of the recipes the first weekend I have the issue.  That's about the best perk I get for being a NW Veg member.  I enjoy their events and educational opportunities, but most of the events are in Portland, a fifty mile drive one way.  This comes right to my house every other month.  I like them so much, I don't lend them out and I keep them up with the recipe books.  I carry around the annual food issue each year for quite awhile.  Last year I think it had 105 recipes.

This latest issue has a great article about the health risks of the food industry workers, Injustice for All, by Mark Hawthorne, author of Striking at the Roots.  Many of us are becoming more and more aware of where our food comes from, how it's produced, and who produced it such as a small organic farm or a large factory farm..  I wonder if many people think about the health of the farm and factory workers when it comes to choosing their food.  We buy organic for health reasons, we don't want herbicide residue in our bodies, we aren't sure what the long term effects of GMO foods are yet, (we do have an idea of the short and long term affects environmentally) but do many of us think about the effects these things have on the people who grow and harvest our food?  That's only a portion of the issues they face and it's a large portion.

The recipe I noticed first in this issue is another classic warm winter comfort dish veganized, Vegan Fettucine Alfredo.  Very nice and really easy. I had most the ingredients in the house except the Fettucine, I used some penne pasta and some wide pasta noodles, all whole grain and dairy free.  When I first learned to prepare vegan meals, I learned a semi raw dish similar to this..  This would probably be pretty good without cooking the sauce too for a cool summer pasta dish.  But with the quickly dropping temperature outside, I want something warm right now.

Vegan Pasta Alfredo

Amazing Alfredo
by Allison Rivers Samson

1 cup raw cashews
2 tablespoons raw pine nuts
1½ cups water
4 teaspoons fresh lemon jice
1 teaspoon minced garlic
dash ground nutmeg
1½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
4 cups cooked fettuccine
3 tablespoons feshly minced parsley

In a blender, grind cashews and pine nuts into a fine powder.  Add water, lemon juice, garlic, nutmeg, and salt.  Blend until completely smooth.

Transfer sauce to a small saucepan over medium heat and whisk as you bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to low and simmer for 7 minutes whisking regularly.  Stir in black pepper.

Server over hot pasta and garnish with parsley and freshly ground pepper to taste.

We completed the meal with what I call a TLT, a Tempeh, Lettuce or Greens, and Tomato sandwich with avocado.  The tempeh was marinated in garlic, herbs, and shoyu. I used fresh collard greens and some purple kale for the greens, organic tomato, and avocado, some of Dave's Killer Bread, Lite, a little flax oil veganaise, and a dash of dijon mustard.

Tepary Beans & Zucchini Orzo

One of my holiday gifts this year was a basket of heirloom beans. This weekend I cooked up the Tepary beans. Tepary Beans are a little larger than a lentil, but plump up like a bean.  I just made a simple bean pot. Sauteed garlic, onions, chopped red bell pepper, simmered in low sodium vegetable broth.  I think I threw in some thyme, basil, a couple tablespoons raspberry balsamic vinegar, and a tablespoon of pumpkin honey.

The Orzo is a variation of a recipe in a book I've been reading this year, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. There are recipes at the end of many chapters and lots of good gardening and food preserving information in it.  There's even a whole day planned out canning chutney, barbecue sauce, relish, and tomato sauce.  The directions even tell you to invite a friend for that day.  Heads up Morgaine.  The chutney and relish recipes look good. I was looking for a recipe I'd tried last summer and came across this easy Zucchini and orzo.  I've had half a box of orzo sitting on my counter looking for a home for about a month.

They talk about the end of the summer when the gardens are overflowing with zucchini. People who don't ordinarily lock their doors make sure they are locked because someone might drop off a bag of vegetables it they don't.  That didn't happen this year in our area, hope it's better this year. They have lots of recipes to hide the zucchini so the family doesn't know how much they are eating. This my version of one called "Disappearing Zucchini Orzo". 

Prepare 8 oz. Orzo
1 chopped red onion
1 red bell pepper, diced
3 cloves chopped garlic, or to taste
2 large zucchini, grated (I used a couple very large yellow zucchini)
2 large carrots, grated
Olive oil for saute
Thyme
Oregano
1/4 cup vegan cheddar cheese
1/4 cup vegan mozzarella cheese

Saute zucchini, pepper, and carrots briefly with chopped onion and garlic until lightly golden.  Add spices to zucchini mixtue, stir thoroughly and remove from heat.  Combine with cheese and cooked orzo, salt and pepper to taste.  Serve warm or cold.

Rotini with Edamame & Greens

Springtime Penne becomes Springtime Rotini with Edamame & Greens

This kind of a healthier version of Alfredo. I really re-worked the original recipe that was sent to me. I didn't have a lot of the ingredients, but I did have good substitutions. I used Rotini pasta instead of Penne, frozen edamame beans instead of peas, and a variety of greens I had in the freezer from last year's garden instead of spinach: chopped beet greens, collard greens, kale, mustard greens, and some carrot tops. The recipe also called for 1/4 cup heavy cream. I used the cream from the top of a can of chilled coconut milk instead of dairy cream. It also called for a couple tablespoons of butter at the end of the cooking and I just left that out. The only other seasonings I used were sea salt and freshly ground pepper.

I sauteed garlic in some olive oil and then added two cups of organic vegetable stock (low sodium). Brought the stock to a boil then added the beans, greens, and coconut cream. I just simmered this over a high heat for a bit until the sauce thickened and all the greens were wilted. I removed it from the heat and added about a half cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese to the mixture. This is a vegetarian dish, but made the way I made it without the Parmesan cheese, it would be considered vegan.