Fettucine with Three-Herb Pesto, Black Kale, and Oyster Mushrooms

                                       from the Veg Times

The first day I made this I was like, Meh. Yet another simple but somewhat boring recipe from the Veg Times.

But second day: scrumptious.

Point being, the flavors really need to meld on this one and really soak into that pasta in order for you to enjoy it in all its glory.

Also: I have no idea what the f- black kale is. I am cheap and lazy and not into obscure vegetables. So I just subbed in regular.

Oh, and I didn't use fresh rosemary/thyme. I'm including the measurements for the fresh stuff, but I think I subbed 1/4 t. dried rosemary and like 1 t. dried thyme. Or something.

Also, the whole "tossing shit into the water with the noodles"-deal, I kinda skipped that (except for the garlic) since I wasn't using fresh.

Also, I subbed in portabellas instead of oyster shroomies.

And I only used like 10 oz. of portabellas. So not nearly 1 1/4 lbs. But it still turned out just fine.

Let's see. What other changes can I toss at you?

Hmmm. Since I didn't have black kale, I used black water to boil the noodles in instead.

I also tossed some of your mom into the cooking water to lend it a bit more spice. BLAM!

Does that make it unvegan? I think not! No moms were actually harmed in the making of this pasta.

Also, and slightly unrelatedly: Greens have been battling it out on my palate lately, all in an effort to decide which is deserving of the position as my favorite green. And right now, collard greens have got kale up against the ropes, but kale could conceivably be pulling a bit of the ol' rope-a-dope, so stay tuned.

INGREDIENTS:

• 3/4 c. fresh parsley


• 1/4 c. walnuts


• 5 cloves garlic, divided


• 1 t. finely chopped fresh rosemary, plus 2 large sprigs, divided


• 1 T. fresh thyme leaves, plus 2 large sprigs, divided


• 4 T. olive oil, divided


• 8 oz. black kale (1 bunch), stemmed and coarsely chopped


• 12 oz. Fettucine


• 1 1/4 lb. oyster or other large mushrooms, halved (I used portabellas)


• 1 large onion, coarsely chopped (about 2 c.)


• 1 c. low-sodium veggie broth


• Vegan parmesan, to taste

DIRECTIONS

Blend parsley, walnuts, 3 garlic cloves, thyme and rosemary (minus the sprigs) in the food processor until finely chopped. Add 3 T. oil and blend until smooth.

Cook kale in a large pot of boiling water about 5 mins or until tender. Remove kale to drain but keep water. Bring to a boil again and add pasta, garlic, and remaining sprigs of thyme and rosemary, and cook according to pasta directions and drain.

Heat remaining 1 T. oil in a large pot. Add shrooms and onions and saute about 12 minutes or until tender and golden.

Add pesto and saute 2 minutes or until sauce begins to stick to bottom of pan and turn golden brown. Add broth and simmer 2 minutes or until liquid is reduced by half, scraping sauce from bottom of pan.

Add kale and pasta to the pot and toss to cook. You can stir in a tiny bit of water as well to moisten, if necessary.

Season with black pepper, vegan parm, and/or salt.

Serves 6.

(Recipe from the Feb. 2009 Veg Times, p. 45)

Hummus Soup

                                       from VeganYumYum

Holy crap, this soup was so fricking good. It tasted strangely reminiscent of broccoli cheese soup from days of yore. But it's healthier 'cause it's got ever-awesome and nutritional quinoa in it.

I did, however, make quite a few adjustments to the original recipe, mostly because I was suffering from a momentary measuring-deficiency the day I made it.

The soup calls for 2 cups hummus. I looked at my small can of chickpeas and was like, Hm--this has 2 cups of chickpeas in it. So it will make 2 cups of hummus.

Did it?

I remain unsure.

I suspect, however, that once you mash 2 cups of chickpeas into a mushy of hummus, it ends up being far less than 2 cups.

And when I used just that amount of hummus for the soup, it initially was INCREDIBLY thin soup, and the hummus wasn't powerfully flavorful.

So: I figured it probably WASN'T 2 cups of hummus after all. But I didn't want to take the time to make another batch of hummus. So instead took another small can of chickpeas, drained it, and mashed it up and tossed those in.

The end result: motherf-ing good!

I also don't have chipotle powder, so I just used some chipotles in adobo--about 1-1/2 minced.

I've asterisked all the parts I changed. If you want to see the original, the link's below.

Brilliant idea though. And seriously so very winter-weather yumtastic. So thanks, Melody!



INGREDIENTS:

• 2.5 T. olive oil*


• 1 onion, diced


• 1 red bell pepper, chopped finely*


• 8 cloves garlic, minced


• 1 t. dried basil


• several grates fresh nutmeg


• 1 to 2 chipotles in adobo, chopped finely*


• 16 oz frozen broccoli florets (or 1 pound fresh)


• 2 small cans of chickpeas, drained*


• 1.5 T. tahini*


• 2 T. water


• 2 T. lemon juice*


• 4 c. water/stock


• bouillon cube if using water


• 1/2 c. quinoa


• 1/4 c. nutritional yeast


• salt/pepper to taste


• 1 T umeboshi vinegar (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Toss 1.5 T. of your olive oil, 2 cloves garlic, 1 small can of chickpeas (drained), 1.5 T. tahini, 2 T. water, and 2 T. lemon juice into a food processor and process until smooth.

Take your other can of drained chickpeas and mash (with a potato-masher or whatever else suits you) until none of the chickpeas are whole any longer. (They don't have to be perfectly smashed into nothingness, so don't stress over that. But make sure they're all somewhat mashed.)

Saute the onion, pepper, remaining garlic, basil, nutmeg and chipotles until the onion is soft. Add the broccoli, hummus (as prepared above), mashed chickpeas, and stock. Bring to a boil for several minutes.

Turn heat down to low and add the quinoa. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes.

Turn off heat and stir in the nutritional yeast and umeboshi vinegar (if using) then season with salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper.

(Original recipe from Melomeals)

Crumb Cake

                                       from VeganYumYum


N/A didn't put Bac-os on this. So: TWO THUMBS UP!!

Ha.

But even though N/A and I were on the same page about the Bac-os for once, I *DO* think this recipe needed something more.

Does that mean this recipe is a bad one?

Heck no.

The problem is that I can't really be too objective when:

1. I like chocolate.


2. This did not have chocolate.


3. I like cakes with tons of frosting.


4. This cake had no frosting.


5. Though I love vanilla in things, I do not like things whose core flavor is "vanilla."


6. I associate anything that's "Vanilla" in title to be "absent of flavor." Vanilla ice cream? Ice cream that has not yet been flavored.


7. This is essentially a "vanilla cake."


8. Somehow, despite the fact that the crumb topping is an all-out fucktastic sugar-fest, it wasn't sugary enough for me.


9. Or crumb-cake-y-topping-ish enough for me.


10. Or something.


11. It mostly just tasted a little bit floury.


12. Then again I did not use molasses. I followed the original (asterisked) directions.


13. E = MC[2]


14. My crumbs were not as moist.


15. They were also not as pretty and sexy and caramel-esque-looking as Lo Lo's.


16. Which reminds me: Sidenote--yesterday I ate this apple THAT TOTALLY SMELLED LIKE A CARAMEL APPLE but wasn't caramel at all. I kept sniffing it. And thinking: damn you smell like a caramel apple. And then I'd eat it and imagine it as a caramel apple, and it almost DID taste like one. But it wasn't!!!!


17. This cake is easy.


18. Not easy like a Phi Delta Kappa sorority girl, but like: simple.


19. That was nice.


20. It's also pretty.


21. And vanilla-y.


22. Your mom is simple.


23. And vanilla-y.


24. Touche.

So yes: this probably is a really good cake recipe. But it just may not be my kind of cake.

INGREDIENTS:

Crumb Topping

• 8 T. (1/2 c.) Earth Balance Margarine, melted


• 2/3 c. granulated sugar*


• 1 t. molasses


• 3/4 t. cinnamon


• 1 pinch salt


• 1-3/4 c. flour (cake flour or all-purpose)


*The original recipe calls for 1/3 cup granulated sugar and 1/3 cup brown sugar. I was out of brown sugar, so I used only granulated sugar with added molasses. Afterall, that's how brown sugar is made commercially-they simply add molasses back into the sugar after processing.

Cake

• 1-1/4 c. flour


• 1/2 c. granulated sugar


• 1/2 t. baking powder


• 1/4 t. salt


• 1/3 c. canola oil (or 6 T. Earth Balance Margarine, softened)


• 1/3 c. soymilk + 1 t. apple cider vinegar (or lemon juice)


• 1 T. cornstarch mixed with 1/4 c. water


• 1-2 t. vanilla extract


• Powdered sugar, for dusting

DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Whisk the still-warm melted earth balance with the sugar, molasses, cinnamon and salt. Mix in the flour with a spoon, or your hands, until a thick dough forms, similar to the texture of cookie dough. Let sit to cool for about 10 minutes. It should be ready when after you've put together the batter for the cake.

Line an 8x8 pan with aluminum foil (two sheets in a cross formation, leaving excess draped over the edges to help you remove the cake later). Spray with vegetable oil. Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add oil, soymilk mixture, cornstarch mixture and vanilla extract. Whisk until smooth, but do not overmix.

Add the batter to the lined pan. Begin to break apart the crumb mixture into smaller, pea sized pieces. Cover the batter evenly with all the crumb mixture. It will seem like a lot! Use it all, as the cake will expand and the crumb mixture is tasty.

Bake for 40-50 minutes at 350F, or until the crumbs are slightly browned and a toothpick in the center of the cake comes out clean. Use the toothpick to push over a crumb or two in the middle an make sure the top doesn't look gooey (I went the whole 50 minutes).

Grab the aluminum foil and gently lift the cake out to cool for 20-30 minutes on a cooling rack. Give it a nice dusting of powdered sugar, slice and serve.

Serves 9.

(Recipe from VeganYum Yum)