Vegan Manicotti

Manicotti

I made manicotti tonight instead of the Tamale Bites I had planned on…oh well, this looks great, too!  The first picture is what it looked like as I was covering the manicotti with sauce; I left two uncovered for the picture so you could see what they should look like.  I started out stuffing the pasta with a small spoon, but that was taking a lot of time, so I ended up using my fingers to stuff them.  It was easy and quick that way.

I looked at several recipes online and ended up making my own, loosely based on what I saw.

1 box firm Mori-Nu tofu
1 cup mashed potatoes
1/2 t. sea salt
1/2 t. freshly ground black pepper
1 t. dried and crushed basil
1/2 t. garlic powder
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 cup frozen spinach from a bag
1 box of 14 manicotti shells
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Sauce:
1 32 ounce can of tomato sauce
1 rounded teaspoon chopped garlic
1/4 cup red wine
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon oregano and basil mixed
Stir these together.
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Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350F.
Mash the first 8 ingredients and mix together well.  Then stuff into the uncooked manicotti shells.  Lay them in a 9X13 casserole dish.  Then pour the sauce on top of the stuffed shells.  Cover with foil or with a lid and bake in oven for about 45 minutes.  Check the pasta to see if it is finished; if so, sprinkle fresh parsley on top and serve.

Beans and Cornbread--Leftovers

Leftovers for lunch—still tastes good!  Bean soup over cornbread.

Bean and Spinach soup over Red Cargo Rice

 Dinner!  Bean and Spinach Soup over Red Cargo rice with fresh cornbread.

1 pound of beans of your choice
Put in pressure cooker with about 2 inches of water above the beans
1 onion cut in half or diced

Cook on pressure for 40 minutes.

Then add:
4 vegetable bouillon cubes
2 teaspoons chopped garlic
1 can diced tomatoes
1 bunch spinach or 1 box frozen spinach
2 teaspoons smoked paprika

Fish out the cut onion if you used one and throw it away.

Stir and heat everything until hot then serve over rice or eat as soup.  Enjoy!

I usually make this as Bean and Kale soup, but I am out of kale and had spinach, so that is what I used.  It tastes great!

Beans and Rice Storage and Cooking

I wanted to show people how I cook and store my beans and rice.  I put the rice into Mason jars and the beans are in the containers they came in from Whole Foods.  I don’t have enough jars yet for everything, but it is a good start.  I cook a lot in my pressure cooker and use my rice cooker several times each week.  They are both quick and easy.  Tonight’s dinner is going to be beans over red cargo rice with cornbread on the side.  You can see the beans in the pressure cooker and the red cargo rice in the rice cooker.

 Instead of pasta last night, we made chili and cornbread. I just put a piece of cornbread in the bottom of the bowl and a spoonful of chili on top. Yummy! 

When I was growing up, my mother used a cast iron frying pan to make cornbread in all the time. She grew up in Arkansas and sometimes just HAD to have beans, greens, and cornbread. A few years ago, she asked me if I wanted it. Yes! Now the girls and I pull out Mom's pan and bake cornbread in it. We found that oil is not necessary to get that really crunchy bottom--just pop the pan in the oven while it preheats and then put the batter in. Okay, it isn't quite as crunchy as with oil, but close enough for me to smile when I bite into it. I made two batches last night since the first one was almost inhaled by the girls; naturally, most of the second batch is still with us. Sooo, tonight will be beans and kale over red cargo rice with cornbread.

Split Pea Soup

Split Pea Soup

Today the weather actually got cold—it was 25F when I woke up around 8:30 this morning.  Very nice!  So I pulled out the cold weather food, finally.  Tonight we ate split pea soup with toasted ciabatta bread.  It was just the thing to warm everyone up.

Here is the recipe:

1 pound of dried split green peas
8 cups of water
3 vegetable bouillon cubes
1 bay leaf
1 large onion, diced
1 or 2 carrots sliced into rounds
1 spoonful of diced garlic (I use the kind in a jar)

Put everything into a pressure cooker, bring to pressure, and cook for 10 minutes.  Or use a pot on the stove top and cook for 1 hour.  A crock pot will work too, but cook for 2-3 hours on high.  (Every crock pot is different, so you will need to check on occasion to see how it is doing.  My old one would have cooked all day on low and the beans would have been perfect, but my new one would have boiled off the water and ruined the dinner if I cooked it for that long on low.)

After the beans are done and soft, add 1/8 teaspoon liquid smoke for that ham flavor.  Salt and pepper to taste and then serve.

Keep warm!

Potatoes and Mushrooms

Mmmmm—breakfast!  Or brunch.  I got up late this morning and decided to have leftovers from last night.  I cut up cold, boiled red potatoes, a few white button mushrooms, and added sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.  Cooked until hot in about 1/3 cup water.  I did throw a few shredded parsley leaves on top to make it look better.

This is so simple, but so very good.  The more I eat whole foods, plant-based foods, the more I find myself looking forward to foods like my leftover breakfast here.

Food Penpal Reveal Nov. 2012

Last month I signed up for Foodie Pen Pals, a food box swap, through Lindsay at The Lean Green Bean.  Each person who signs up gets assigned to send a box of foodie items to another person.  The items should cost no more than $15 and can include homemade things, gourmet, or just great local stuff.  I sent mine to Emily in Seattle and received a terrific box from Alli in Seattle.  Turns out they are neighbors and collaborated on my box.  No wonder it was so good!

The first picture shows everything laid out in front of the box.  The first item was Strawberry Pepper jam that Alli got at the Market in Seattle.  We cut slices of fresh baguette and ate the entire jar!  This jam is one of my top two now—so good.  The jam had a little hint of hot peppers in it, but was mild enough that my heat-hating family loved it.  Thanks, Alli!

I got several bags of Cinnamon Orange Tea, also from the Market.  I have not tried these yet, but have them at work to try, well, if the weather ever cools down.  She included honey stir sticks to go with the tea; I just love honey.

My family and I love this next item, Space Noodles.  The pasta shapes are just like the Space Needle in Seattle!  It isn’t just pretty to look at, it tasted good with homemade marinara sauce on top.

If you are interested in joining the Foodie Swap for January, go to The Lean Green Bean and sign up.

My teenagers and I enjoyed the anticipation of receiving the box.  The oldest is getting ready to head off to college soon and is saying that we need to get her on the list for a box.

The best part of the Foodie Box was the postcard of Seattle featuring the Space Needle.  What a beautiful city!

Have a great weekend, everyone!