Zucchini Pasta with Pesto Sauce

Zucchini made into "pasta" = the best. It is water rich, alkaline and nutrient rich. I have been on a serious pesto kick lately, pureeing just about any leafy green and nut that I can get my hands on. 

Based off of Pesto Pasta in Raw: The Uncook Book. This is a much more allaborate recipe than my typical one

For Pasta:

1 zucchini, cut lengthwise into pasta-like strips

1/4 of a red pepper, thinly sliced

1/4 c of marinated onions*

1/2 tomato, diced

5 basil leaves, chopped

leaves from 1 sprig of oregano

leaves from 1 sprig of rosemary, chopped

8 sun-dried tomatoes, soaked in warm water for at least 10 minutes, chopped

1/4 jalapeno, chopped

1 garlic clove, chopped

juice from 1/2 lemon

Pre sauce

Mix together and set aside.

*1 onion thinly sliced and marinated in 2/3 c tamari for 10 minutes - 8 hrs

For Sauce: (This makes more than you need for the pasta so add as much as you desire!)

3 cloves garlic, chopped

2 handfuls of walnuts

1/4 c basil leaves

2 handfuls of baby spinach (MI spinach is finally in season!!)

1 heaping T miso

2 T olive oil

1 t salt

8 sun-dried tomatoes, soaked in warm water for at least 10 minutes

Blend sauce ingredients in a food processor or blender until smooth.

Add water to reach desired consistency (I used 1/2 c).

Pour as much as you want onto the pasta and refrigerate the rest.

Remember how I actually eat my food? Pasta curled up on my couch with my laptop ;)

This is not an all local recipe but all ingredients can be bought trash free. For Ann Arbor residents:

-Herbs can be bought unpackaged at Sparrow Market.
-All vegetables can be purchased packaging free.
-Tamari, sun-dried tomatoes, walnuts, miso, salt, olive oil can all be bought in bulk at the People's Food Co-op.

Kale-Almond Pesto

Traditional pesto is made with basil and pine nuts but boy, is that expensive! The day that I learned that just about any leafy green and just about any nut can be combined to make a stellar pesto was a pretty life changing one indeed.

Ingredients:
1 bunch kale (or other leafy green)
1/3 c almonds (or other nut)
3 cloves roasted garlic (directions below!)*
1/2 t salt
2 T lemon juice (juice of 1 lemon)
1 T olive oil
1 pinch red pepper flakes

Directions:

Steam kale for a few minutes until bright green.

Toast almonds in a dry skillet until fragrant BUT NOT BURNT, about 10 minutes.

Pulse kale in a food processor until finely chopped.

Add in almonds and roasted garlic and do the same.

Add in the rest of the ingredients and process until desired consistency is reached.

*How to quickly roast garlic:

Roasted garlic is the best. You can roast whole heads in the oven (shown here) but if you are faced with a time crunch, a skillet works just as well!

Directions:

Separate cloves from head and remove papery skin, leaving the immediate layer of skin as a protective barrier between the clove and the skillet.

Drop garlic into skillet over medium heat and allow to roast for about 10-15 minutes.

Move the cloves around every so often as to prevent burning.

Remove from heat when the innards feel mushy inside their skins.

Squish out the garlicky goodness and use to your heart's content!

<3

This is in preparation for a cooking demonstration that the Michigan Sustainable Foods Initiative is having on Wednesday! I was asked to be the "demonstrator" and, needless to say, I am more than excited.

The menu I have concocted is as follows:
Sweet Potato and Caramelized Onion Pizza with Garlic and Fresh Thyme
Spicy Roasted Tomato Pizza with Kale-Almond Pesto
Cinnamon Apple Dessert Pizza

I have never made any of these before so Wednesday will be quite the experimentation. Wish me luck!

Garlic and Greens Soup

I have a hard time making recipes more than once because I always want to try something new (maybe this is some sort of weird subconscious worry that that I am missing out on something amazing...) but the recipes I have made lately may change my mind! I have been unabashedly devouring the Millet Bake, Carrot-Zucchini Bread, and Red Lentil Soup.

This soup is absolutely no exception. Just exceptionally tasty.

(Adapted from The Vegan Table)

Ingredients:
2 bunches of kale (any leafy green will do!)
1 head of garlic, peeled and minced
4 sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 T umeboshi plum vinegar (or rice vinegar)
8 c water
1/4 c tamari (or soy sauce)
2 T oil (I used coconut oil)

Directions:
Destem kale, tear into bite-size pieces and chop stems.
Heat the oil over medium high heat in a large pot.
Add onion and stir until softened.
Add the water, sweet potatoes, chopped stems, tamari, and garlic and bring to a boil.
Lower the heat, cover, and simmer for about 20-25 minutes until the potatoes are cooked.
Remove from heat and stir in greens.
Cover for a few minutes to allow greens to wilt.
Add vinegar and salt/pepper to taste.

I was curious about the nutritional information of this recipe because it has some powerhouses in it (i.e. sweet potatoes, kale and garlic) so after crunching some numbers, here's the break down:

Per serving (1 cup):
Calories: 165
Calcium: 12% of recommended daily intake
Vitamin C: 138% (No scurvy, hurray!)
Vitamin A: 500% (This is why sweet potatoes are rockstars.)
Iron: 10%
Fiber: 5g
Fat: 3.5g

Purple Kale Salad with Roasted Delicata Squash

Now that finals are over, I can catch up on some past meals. Introducing: Pre-final Posts Series.

Pre-final Post 1:

So one major negative that I have come to find in squash is dealing with removing the skin. Easy thing if you are roasting it whole and scooping out the innards but if you want to roast cubes of the meat, you have to peel the thing first. BIG hassle.

Enter Delicata squash. These little beauties have a thin enough skin that peeling is not necessary! This unfortunately means that they will most likely not grow in Michigan late into the winter. But I do appreciate their deliciousness now!

Purple Kale Salad with Roasted Delicata Squash

The way this salad is constructed cooks the kale without actually cooking it! Therefore perfect for raw kale haters. Plus the sweet squash is the absolute best texture/taste/whole package of goodness.

Ingredients:
1 Delicata squash, halved and seeded (1)
2 t oil (2)
1 T balsamic vinegar (2)
1 T maple syrup (3)
a few leaves of purple (or regular) kale, de-stemmed and cut into bit sized pieces (4)
1 small onion, finely chopped (1)
1 garlic clove, minced (4)
1 T red wine vinegar (2)
salt and pepper (2)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400F
Cut squashes into 1/2" semicircles.
Toss with 1 T oil and place on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
Bake until tender, about 15 minutes.
Whisk together balsamic vinegar and maple syrup.
Brush mixture onto squash slices, reserving extra liquid.
Bake squash for 5 more minutes.
Turn on the broiler and broil for a few minutes to add color.

Place kale in a large bowl.
Heat remaining 1 t oil in a small saucepan over medium heat.
Add onion and garlic and cook until softened, about 4 minutes.
Add red wine vinegar and the reserved balsamic-maple syrup mixture and bring to a boil.
Immediately pour the hot dressing over the kale.
Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.
Cover bowl of kale with something that will keep in the steam (I used a large plate).
Leave be for 5 minutes.
Toss kale to cover leaves with dressing.
Serve with squash slices.

(1) Some farm stand at the AA Farmers Market, my fail for not noting the name...
(2) Bulk section at the People's Food Co-op
(3) Curry's Maple Syrup
(4) Tantre Farm

Spaghetti Squash Soup

Spaghetti Squash Soup
Based off of Vegan Yum Yum recipe.

Ingredients:
1 Spaghetti squash, halved (1)
1 kabocha squash, peeled and cubed (2)
1 head of garlic (1)
1 small onion, chopped (3)
3 c vegetable broth
oil
salt
1 t dried thyme
cayenne pepper and ground ginger
Garnish
1/4 c spaghetti squash
a handful of roasted squash seeds

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450F
Place spaghetti squash cut side down in a baking dish.
Fill dish with about 1 inch of water.
Make an envelope/pocket-like holder out of aluminum foil and dump in kabocha squash cubes.
Cut off the top of the head of garlic, drizzle with oil and wrap in aluminum foil.
Put squashes and garlic in the oven and roast until soft, about 45 minutes.
Scoop spaghetti squash and squeeze garlic from their skins.
Reserve about 1/4 c of spaghetti squash for garnish.

Heat 1 T oil over medium heat and saute onion until soft.
Add in veggie stock and bring to a boil.
Reduce to a simmer and add in roasted veggies.
Simmer for another 5-10 minutes.
Puree soup in a blender or food processor in batches (so that it doesn't overflow)
Salt and season to taste.

Here's the fun part: garnish time!
Heat 2 T oil over medium heat in a saute pan.
separate strands of reserved spaghetti squash and drop into pan.
Fry until golden brown, stirring constantly.*
Transfer to a dish towel to drain excess oil.
Place on top of individual bowls of soup along with squash seeds.

I fried at too high of heat so mine ended up a liiittle too brown for my liking... But they still tasted good (what fried thing doesn't taste good though?) and looked pretty.

(1) Tantre Farms
(2) From the Ann Arbor Farmer's Market but I didn't catch the name of the vendors :(

Pumpkin Ravioli and Garlic Bread

Pumpkin Ravioli
I found out how to (start using) my cooked pumpkin. However this was definitely my attempt 1 at pumpkin ravioli. The pumpkin filling turned out mouth watering but the pasta part was sub-par. It tasted fine but it did not serve it's purpose of holding the filling inside of itself! Fail.

Ingredients:

Filling

1 c roasted pumpkin

2 t oil (I used almond in this recipe)

1/4 t nutmeg

1/4 t cinnamon

1/4 t cumin

dash of pepper

1/2 t salt

1/4 cup ground walnuts (or nuts of your choice)

Pasta

2 c whole wheat flour

1/2 t salt

2 T fresh thyme (or herb of your choice)

1/2 c water

1 t olive oil

Directions:

For filling:

Heat oil over medium heat in a saucepan.

Add nutmeg, cinnamon, cumin, pepper, salt and ground walnuts.

Stir in pumpkin and stir until the mixture is fragrant and the consistency of creamy mashed potatoes.

Turn off heat and set aside.

For pasta:

Mix together the wet ingredients.

Add in the dry ingredients.

Knead until a stiff dough forms.

Start heating water to a boil in a large pot, adding a dash of salt and a dollop of oil to the water.

Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface as thin as possible (working with half portions at a time).

Cut dough into similarly sized squares, around 2.5 inches each.

Spoon about 1 t of filling into the middle of a square, placing another square on top of the first and pushing edges to seal.

Gently drop ravioli into the boiling water.

Cook for 15 minutes and carefully drain.

Serve with the sauce of your choice. I mixed together olive oil, minced garlic, salt, pepper, and crushed toasted walnuts.

Garlic Bread

I bought a whole wheat baguette from Cafe Japon at the farmer's market this passed weekend for this exact purpose. Hands down best thing everrrr

Ingredients:

1 whole wheat baguette, cut into 1 inch slices

oil

1 head of roasted garlic (recipe below)

salt and pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400F

Brush slices with oil and place on baking pan.

Cook until golden brown and crispy.

Mash roasted garlic with salt and pepper.

Spread slices of bread with garlic mixture.

Enjoy!

Roasted Garlic

Preheat oven to 400F
Cut off a third of each garlic head to expose the cloves.

Drizzle with 1 t oil.

Wrap head with aluminum foil and place in muffin tin.

Bake for 30-35 minutes, until the garlic is soft and tender.