Spaghetti & vegan meatballs

As promised, here is the perfect dish over which to serve last entry’s perfect marinara sauce. I used A Vegan For Dinner’s TVP meatball recipe, tweaking it here and there to make it my own. Both times I’ve made these, I’ve eaten them with spaghetti, but you could even ditch the pasta and serve them cocktail-meatball style, with toothpicks and a side of sauce for dipping.

1 cup hot water
2 Tbsp vegan bouillon
2 Tbsp soy sauce or Bragg’s Liquid Aminos
1 1/2 Tbsp ketchup
1 tsp red or brown miso
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
3/4 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp black pepper
3/4 cup texturized vegetable protein
1 Tbsp ground flaxseed
3 Tbsp warm water
2 Tbsp cornmeal
1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
1/2 cup quick-cooking oats
1/4 cup cooked couscous (or more oats)
2 Tbsp whole wheat pastry flour
3 Tbsp vital wheat gluten

1 batch perfect marinara sauce, to serve
Hot cooked whole-grain spaghetti, to serve

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and grease a large baking sheet. In a large bowl, combine the first ten ingredients (through black pepper).



Stir in the TVP and set aside to cool. In a small bowl, whisk the flax and warm water; set aside. In a medium bowl, combine the cornmeal, breadcrumbs, oats, couscous (or additional oats), flour, and wheat gluten.



Mix well, kneading the dough until combined.



Roll the dough into 36 meatballs. (To make this easier, divide the dough into quarters, and then shape each quarter into 9 balls.) Arrange the meatballs on the prepared baking sheet so that they do not touch.



Mist the tops with cooking spray and bake for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly before serving.



Since they contain so many grains, these aren’t very meaty-tasting (call them "wheatballs" if you must), but they definitely have the well-seasoned flavor and satisfying chew of their namesake. Buon appetito!



Yield: 36 meatballs. Per serving (6 meatballs): 154 calories, 2.2g fat (trace sat), 23.6g carbs, 4g fiber, 10g protein.

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Spaghetti with raw tomato sauce
Tofu parmigiana alla marinara
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Perfect marinara sauce

Here’s a blast from the past for you: my second-ever blog entry. Cute, right? When I first started this thing almost two years ago, I had no idea what I was doing with it. If anything, I figured it’d be my food diary, a place where I'd record my daily noshings as well as my random thoughts, ideas, or curiosities about food. Within a few short months, I’d begun posting recipes with step-by-step photos accompanying the instructions, interspersed with posts about eating out or road tripping. It evolved very organically (no pun intended), and though it’s become so much more than I expected initially, I’m nothing but proud of how far I’ve come and how much I’ve grown as a home cook, vegan, and food blogger in general.

Anyway, back to that second entry. In it, I mentioned growing up eating Ragu Old World Style marinara sauce on all my [nutrient-stripped white] pasta. During and after college, I tried every other jarred marinara on the market, and cooked dozens of my own, but none of them satisfied me like smooth, salty, overprocessed Ragu. Thankfully, I’ve come a long way since I wrote that post, and haven’t cracked open a jar of Ragu in well over a year. Despite numerous hopeful attempts, however, I had yet to find a suitably flavorful, yet fast and easy, recipe for homemade marinara—until now. This sweet, herby, garlicky sauce is a mélange of so many other recipes and techniques that I can only call it my own. So without further ado, I present to you...my quick-and-perfect marinara sauce.

2 Tbsp olive oil
2 large onions, roughly chopped
10-12 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
2 28-oz. cans crushed tomatoes
1 6-oz. can tomato paste
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tsp ground oregano
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp fennel seed
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp sea salt (or to taste)
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper (optional)
1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic cloves and sauté, stirring often, until softened (about 6-8 minutes). They should be golden and translucent, but not browned. Transfer the mixture to a blender or food processor.



Add all remaining ingredients except the parsley. (Variation: if you have an open bottle, try replacing the balsamic vinegar with 1/4 cup of fruity red wine!)



Purée until smooth. Add the parsley and pulse until just incorporated. Taste for seasoning, and if the sauce seems a little acidic, feel free to add a tablespoon of agave nectar.



Perfetta! Use immediately, or transfer to a large container and refrigerate for up to a week, or freeze for up to 2 months. Ladle it over any kind of pasta, put it in lasagna, or just use it as a dip for crusty bread. Better yet, make a batch this weekend, stick it in the fridge, and then check back here Monday for the perfect dish to serve it with!



Yield: Half gallon (12 servings). Per serving (about 2/3 cup): 92 calories, 2.8g fat (trace sat), 16.5g carbs, 4g fiber, 3.3g protein.

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Rotini with walnut sauce (×2)
Spaghetti with raw tomato sauce
Tofu parmigiana alla marinara

Vegan Italian Valentine feast

Here's a peek at the dinner I made for my Valentine...

Spaghetti with vodka marinara sauce (which I will remake and blog about at some point), steamed broccoli, from-scratch garlic flatbread, and a Piemonte Barbera red wine. Pretty perfect.



Hannah Kaminsky (a.k.a. Bittersweet)'s famous Mocha Devastation Cake. Absolute fattiest and most caloric thing I have ever made in my life. Needless to say, it was a hit.



Mocha Devastation Cake = two layers of dense chocolate cake sandwiching a rich coffee buttercream frosting, enrobed in a thick dark chocolate ganache and ringed with crushed chocolate-covered espresso beans. Life is good.



Happy V-Day, everyone!

Rotini with walnut sauce (×2)

The first recipe I wanted to make when I bought Giada de Laurentiis’s third book, Everyday Pasta, was her rotelli with walnut sauce. As I was compiling a shopping list before leaving work one day, I googled the recipe so that I could pick up the goods on the way home. In my search, I came across Mark Bittman’s recipe for pasta with walnut sauce, from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian (which I also have at home). The two recipes were the same idea, but there were some subtle differences in ingredients and technique. I decided to play a little game—I would make a half batch of each sauce, and see how the two compare. Giada vs. Bittman! (My vegan interpretations of each, that is.)

One note before we begin: I cooked up a single box (13.25 oz.) of rotini and split it between the two sauces. I ended up wishing I’d cooked two boxes. These are half batches of sauce, but they made WAY more than was needed to coat the pasta. Maybe it’s just me—I guess when it comes to rich and creamy-ish sauces, a lot of people like their pasta swimming in it. I, being averse to most rich and creamy-ish things, do not, and it was just too cloying to me. I loved the flavor, but couldn’t handle that much of it. I’m sad to report that I ended up putting about 1/3 of the noodles in a colander, rinsing them clean, then mixing them back in, just to cut down on the heaviness. Such a waste! Unless you want walnut sauce with pasta instead of pasta with walnut sauce, make a full box of pasta for each half batch of sauce.

For Giada’s recipe:
1 box (13-16 oz.) whole wheat rotini
2/3 cup walnut halves, toasted
1T Earth Balance
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2T nutritional yeast
2T dry breadcrumbs
1/4 cup plain soymilk
1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley



Bring a large pot of salted water to boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook according to package directions. Drain, reserving a cup of the pasta water. Meanwhile, combine the walnuts, Earth Balance, salt, and pepper in a food processor and pulse to combine.



With the machine running, drizzle in the olive oil in a steady steam. Once incorporated, pulse in the nutritional yeast and breadcrumbs. With the machine running, drizzle in the soymilk in a steady steam. Once incorporated, transfer the mixture to a large bowl.



Pretty, um...weird-looking, huh? Instead of adding the pasta followed by the pasta water, I put in about 1/2 cup of the water first so that I could smooth it out (and make it a little more appetizing/attractive).



Muuuch better. Add the hot cooked pasta and stir to distribute the sauce. Add the reserved pasta water, 1/4 cup at a time, until the sauce completely coats the pasta, using only as much as is needed (I didn’t need much extra, having thinned it out before). Sprinkle with parsley, toss and serve.

For Bittman’s recipe:
1 box (13-16 oz.) whole wheat rotini
1 small slice Italian bread
1/4 cup plain soymilk
1/2 cup walnut halves, toasted
1 clove garlic
2T nutritional yeast
2T dry breadcrumbs
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and black pepper to taste

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook according to package directions. Drain, reserving a cup of the pasta water. Soak the bread in the soymilk.



Let me pause for one moment here to tell you why I did what I did. Though I absolutely love bread, and am in fact a bit of a fiend for it, I almost never have it in my house. I’d say I buy, on average, 1-2 loaves of bread per year. Why? I just don’t use it IN things. I don’t eat sandwiches, so that nixes that. Though I love a good slice of bread toasted, drizzled with olive oil, and sprinkled with garlic salt, I get my fill of such things in restaurants, and I don’t want to have to eat a whole loaf of bread that way. As for recipes, I almost never make any that require bread. The last time I had bread in my fridge was for my white bean and broccoli pasta toss, which necessitated fresh breadcrumbs. And I struggled to use the rest of that loaf! So anyway, I generally don’t buy bread, and I certainly wasn’t going to buy any just to use one slice here. Instead, I did some off-the-cuff problem solving in the store, and grabbed three packets of these little Lance bread sticks off the salad bar. Since they were going to be soaked and ground, the texture difference didn’t really matter.

So, whatever kind of bread you have, soak it in the soymilk. Combine the nuts, garlic, nutritional yeast, and breadcrumbs in a food processor and pulse to combine. Then, with the machine running, add the oil gradually, using just enough so that the mixture forms a very thick paste. Add the bread-and-soymilk mixture...



...and just enough water to make a saucy mixture. Season with salt and pepper to taste.



Transfer to a large bowl and toss with the hot pasta. If the sauce appears too thick, thin it with the pasta water, a little at a time. Adjust seasoning to taste, and serve.

And now, the finished products, side by side:



Which is which, you ask? Well, I have a confession to make—I don’t exactly remember. I’m 75% sure that Giada’s is on the left and Bittman’s is on the right, but I can’t be certain. You know what, though? It doesn’t matter. They tasted nearly identical. Despite the extra 57 calories and 6.8g fat, Giada’s version was only marginally richer, and even that difference was barely detectable. Both were deliciously nutty and just barely creamy, with deep olive oil undertones and a hint of hearty "cheesiness" from the nutritional yeast. If I must pick a winner, I’d say the edge goes to Bittman, simply because his tasted just as decadent, but had fewer calories and less fat. Hooray for experimentation!

So after all that work of making two separate sauces, would you believe I ended up just mixing the batches together to pack up as leftovers?



Giada’s recipe—Yield: 6 servings. Per serving: 458 calories, 23.7g fat (3g sat), 54g carbs, 8g fiber, 13.2g protein.
Bittman’s recipe—Yield: 6 servings. Per serving: 401 calories, 16.9g fat (2g sat), 54.6g carbs, 7g fiber, 12.9g protein.

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Dreamy creamy tiramisu cupcakes

This is part II of the cupcake extravaganza of 5/23. I know, I held out on you for awhile, but I wanted to stagger my cupcake posts so you wouldn’t get bored. Not that anything about these could possibly bore you—cake! coffee! cream! chocolate! BOOZE! These cupcakes (also from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World) have it all. It amazed me just how much these taste like real tiramisu straight from an Italian restaurant kitchen. It actually wouldn’t be a bad idea to serve these little gems with forks. They're very caloric, but hey, it was a celebration!

For the cupcakes:
1 cup soymilk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
2T cornstarch
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup canola oil
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup strong brewed coffee
1/3 cup coffee liqueur (like Kahlúa)
1T cocoa powder

For the frosting:
1/4 cup Earth Balance
1/4 cup vegan cream cheese
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin tin or a 24-cup mini muffin tin with paper liners and coat with cooking spray. Combine the soymilk and vinegar in a large bowl and set aside for 5 minutes to curdle. Beat the oil, sugar, and vanilla into the soymilk. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.



Mix until no large lumps remain.



Fill muffin cups 2/3 full.



Bake for 20-22 minutes for regular cupcakes, or 15-16 minutes for minis. When done, let sit in the pan for a few minutes, then transfer the golden beauties to a wire rack to cool completely.



Meanwhile, make the frosting. Cream together the margarine and cream cheese with a hand mixer until just combined. Keep the mixer on low speed and add the powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time. Mix until smooth and creamy, then add the vanilla. Place in the fridge until a few minutes before you're ready to use it. I should have transferred it to a darker-colored bowl before photographing it; my bad.



In a measuring cup or small bowl, combine the coffee and Kahlúa. Use a small spoon, a paring knife, or (in my case) a melon baller to carve/scoop out a chunk in the center of each cupcake; set those aside. Spoon the Kahlúa mixture into the cavity of each cupcake, making sure that all sides are drenched. You'll use about 2T of the liquid for regular cupcakes and 1T for minis. In the pic below, on the right, you can see what they look like when disemboweled (hehe) and soaked with the liqueur mixture.

Spoon some of the frosting (again about 2T for regular cupcakes and 1T for minis) into the cavity and smooth off the top. Lightly dip the reserved chunks of cupcake into the remaining Kahlúa mixture, and pat back on top of the filling, as you can see on the left.



When all are filled and lidded, top with a layer of the remaining frosting. Put the cocoa powder in a small strainer and dust it over the cakes. I also ended up topping each one with a tiny dollop of the leftover mousse from the hazelnut cupcakes; you could also use chocolate-covered espresso beans, or even just mini chocolate chips, to decorate.



Oh, how I wish I could have gotten a clearer picture! That said, I can quite easily forgive them for being so soft and melt-in-your-mouth. The light, creamy, and very sweet frosting oozes from inside and pairs superbly with the not-too-sugary cupcakes. The coffee-liqueur soak makes them so moist they almost-but-not-quite fall apart. And ooh baby, these are boozy! You can use all coffee if you’re not into that, but the mild bite from the Kahlúa really makes them memorable. I was both touched and thrilled to have multiple friends at that party tell me these were the absolute best thing I’ve ever baked. Wow!



Yield: 12 regular or 24 mini cupcakes. Per cupcake (regular): 312 calories, 11.6g fat (1g sat), 47.2g carbs, 1.4g fiber, 2.5g protein.
Per cupcake (mini): 156 calories, 5.8g fat (.5 sat), 23.6g carbs, .7g fiber, 1.3g protein.

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Hazelnut cupcakes w/chocolate mousse filling
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White bean & broccoli pasta toss

A little over a year ago, I ate at a swanky restaurant downtown called Seven. The dish that jumped out at me, orecchiette with broccoli rabe and cannellini beans, was delicious— simple and elegant Tuscan ingredients kissed with garlic and olive oil. Just a couple months later, I found a strikingly similar recipe in EatingWell magazine. I replaced the broccoli rabe with regular broccoli and omitted the cheese, but changed little else. The result is a light and lovely restaurant-quality meal at home. The breadcrumb topping is optional, but I highly recommend including it; the delightful crunch is a great foil to the creamy beans.

For the pasta:
8 oz. whole wheat shells, orecchiette, or chiocciole
1 bunch broccoli, cut into small pieces
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1T all-purpose flour
2T olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 can navy/cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
2T red wine vinegar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

For the breadcrumbs:
2 slices whole wheat bread, crusts trimmed
1T olive oil
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp garlic powder



Tear the bread into pieces and pulse in a food processor into coarse crumbs. In a small bowl, toss the crumbs with the olive oil, salt, and garlic powder. Cook and stir the crumbs in a skillet over medium heat until golden and crisp, about 3 to 5 minutes, then set aside.



Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil, and cook the pasta according to package directions. Add the broccoli during the last 2 to 3 minutes. Drain the mixture, and dry out the pot. Look at that beautiful bright green broccoli!



Whisk the broth and flour in a small bowl until smooth. Heat the oil in the pot over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the broth mixture and bring to a simmer, whisking constantly, until it thickens, 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in the beans, vinegar, salt, and pepper...



...then add the pasta and broccoli. Cook and stir until the pasta is thoroughly coated and the mixture is heated through, about 1 minute. I love the way the beans nestle into the shells.



Remove from the heat, top with the toasted breadcrumbs, and serve immediately. I like to dust on a little nutritional yeast too, and feel free to drizzle on some extra olive oil as well. You can change up the main vegetable if you want (I bet this would be great with asparagus), or add extra veggies (like an onion or a couple shallots). For me, this pasta provides a warm and welcome segway into spring.



Yield: 4 servings. Per serving: 442 calories, 11.5g fat (1.6g sat), 72.2g carbs, 14g fiber, 19.3g protein.

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Spaghetti with raw tomato sauce

I really admire people who eat a raw food diet. It sounds so cleansing and refreshing. I’d love to do it myself, even if just for a few days at a time, or for just a percentage of my intake. I have a few major problems, though. First of all, I hate leafy greens. That probably dooms me right there. Secondly, I don’t really like raw vegetables. I just don’t enjoy…the crunch (weird, I know). I prefer them warm and cooked. Last of all, there’s just no way I could let go of my precious beans and whole grains. I love them too much.

This dish combines, for me, the best of both worlds. (By the way, I got the idea from the unlikeliest of places—Rachael Ray’s magazine!) The pasta satisfies my complex-carb appetite, and the raw “sauce” is packed with flavor, a delightful combination of salty, savory, and sweet. This recipe is, in fact, one of the only ways I’ll eat raw tomatoes. Use your best oil and vinegar for this; since it’s a raw sauce, you’ll be able to taste all the subtle nuances in each.

1 lb whole wheat spaghetti
2 pints grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
1/3 cup olive oil
3T balsamic vinegar
2T soy sauce
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 bunch green onions, finely chopped
1/4 cup (packed) Italian parsley, minced



Cook the spaghetti according to package directions. Reserve at least 1 cup of pasta water (important!) when draining. Meanwhile, in a medium-size bowl, whisk together the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, and garlic.



Stir in the green onions and parsley.



Add the halved tomatoes and toss to coat.



Put the drained spaghetti back in the pot, and pour in the tomato mixture.



Toss everything together gently with tongs, adding pasta water a little bit at a time. You want it to thin the sauce just enough that it coats all the pasta, but not so much that it waters it down. I ended up using somewhere between 3/4 and 1 cup.



I like to top this with a sprinkle of nutritional yeast and a healthy dash of fresh-ground pepper. By the time you sit down to eat, the sauce and tomatoes will have cooled off the spaghetti, and the spaghetti will have just barely warmed up the sauce and tomatoes. The result is a room-temperature dish, which is the perfect way to showcase all the fresh ingredients. I love how the deeper flavors of the oil, vinegar, and soy sauce are brightened up by the springy green onions, lemony parsley, and sweet, juicy tomatoes. Try and get a little bit of everything in each forkful, and savor the way every bite bursts across your palate.



This makes six normal-size servings, but I like to stretch it out for the week’s lunches, so I divide it into eight. To bulk up the leftovers, I drain a can of (what else?) chickpeas and divide them among the containers. I also add a dash more pasta water to each, because the spaghetti will drink up the sauce as it sits. Feel free to add a drizzle more olive oil as well. I’ve eaten this cold straight out of the fridge and hot from the microwave, and it’s delicious both ways.



Yield: 6-8 servings. Per serving (6): 400 calories, 13g fat (2.2g sat), 63g carbs, 7.3g fiber, 12.1g protein.
Per serving (8): 300 calories, 9.8g fat (1.1g sat), 47.7 g carbs, 5.7g fiber, 9.3g protein.

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Tuscan white bean dip

Quite awhile back, I made a promise to someday post my favorite white bean dip recipe, and at long last, here it is. It’s from Giada de Laurentiis’ first cookbook, and it’s the first recipe I made when I got it. For all intents and purposes, it’s white bean hummus, so it’s no wonder I zeroed in on it. The ingredient list is short and sweet, and everything comes together so simply that you’ll be amazed at the depth of flavor it attains. Use your best olive oil for this, because you’ll taste it in every bite. I bet it would be even better made with fresh cooked beans; let me know if you try it that way.

1 can cannellini/navy beans, rinsed and drained
2-4 cloves garlic, peeled
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
2T lemon juice
1/4 cup (packed) fresh Italian parsley
1/4 cup olive oil
Pita chips, for serving



Place the beans, garlic, salt, pepper, and lemon juice in the bowl of a food processor. Adjust the garlic to your taste—I put in four cloves, and the garlic flavor in the finished product was über-powerful. That’s how I like it, but if you want it subtler, feel free to use just a clove or two.



Pulse the food processor until everything is roughly chopped and combined. Add the parsley and pulse that in as well.



Pause to scrape down the sides of the bowl, then turn it on full blast. Stream the olive oil in through the top until the dip looks smooth but still thick.



With the motor still running, stream in water until the dip looks just a little thinner than you’d like it—it’ll thicken as it sits. Let the food processor run for about 2 minutes to purée it thoroughly, scraping down the sides again if needed.

As you can see, I went the quick route and ate mine with storebought pita chips, but I’d highly recommend you cut up some fresh pita, brush with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and bake at 400 degrees for a few minutes until toasty.



Scrape the dip into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and place in the fridge for at least a couple hours to allow the flavors to meld and develop. When you take it out, you’ll be rewarded with an irrestistibly creamy and mouthwateringly aromatic snack. The buttery beans and the fruity olive oil lock together to form a supremely pleasing texture. Its mild green hue belies the zesty parsley essence within, and the garlic will kiss your every taste bud. Serve it with the pita chips, crackers, or vegetable crudités, or you can use it as a sandwich spread...but I won’t tell anyone if you sample some with a spoon.



Yield: about 8 servings. Per serving: 125 calories, 7g fat (1g sat), 12g carbs, 3g fiber, 4g protein.