Skinny Pasta Primavera

Yes, pasta primavera--if you veganly choose to omit any cholesterol-laden cow's milk cheese--is healthy to begin with. It's full of veggies, has olive oil to thank for its healthy fat, and if you choose a whole grain pasta, it can have that going for it, too.

But sometimes, I want to chow down on a whole mass of pasta...and I don't want to eat 600 calories in one sitting. Fortunately, by cheating a little (Hungry Girl style) and by skimping on the olive oil (healthy or no, a tablespoon still brings over 100 calories to the table), you can still do some serious nomming without feeling like a manatee.

This is a single-serving week-night recipe--specifically, this is the kind of thing I make when I get home from the gym at 9:30 at night and I still haven't eaten and G gave up and ate already so I really just need food, fast, and with lots of protein so yes, thanks, I will use processed food mmkay?

This picture is murky but behold the sheer quantity of foods.

Skinny Pasta Primavera:

-1 package shirataki noodles (packages contain two "servings" but fuhgeddabouddit)

-3 cloves garlic, chopped

-1 serving faux chicken (may I take a moment to extol the virtues of Gardein's new products--high protein and low sodium? I like the mediterranean filets for this dish), cut into bite-sized pieces

-1/2 T olive oil

-3 cloves garlic, minced

-1 yellow squash, peeled and sliced into half-moons

-1 zucchini, peeled and sliced into half-moons

-1 C cherry tomatoes, halved

-1/4 C sun dried tomatoes

1. Drain the shirataki noodles and rinse them thoroughly in a colander. Yes, they smell like fish at first. Just go with it.
2. Place the noodles in a pot and cover well with water; toss in the 3 cloves chopped garlic. Bring to a boil and cook for about 2 minutes, then turn off the heat. You can leave the noodles in the water until you're ready for them; they won't get soggy. (You can skip this step if you, for some reason, like that fishy smell.)
3. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute garlic in the oil for about 2 minutes, until fragrant but not burny. Add the zucchini and squash and cover, cooking until tender (about 5 minutes). Stir occasionally; if it starts to stick, add a few splashes of water (or vegetable broth, if you prefer).
4. Add the sun-dried and cherry tomatoes and cook until the cherry tomatoes are starting to get squishy. Then add the faux chicken and cook until heated through.
5. Drain the shirataki noodles and cut them into manageable pieces with kitchen shears or a carefully wielded knife. Add to the pasta and stir until the vegetables are evenly distributed. Plop into a big old bowl and hork it down. Nom.

Nutritional information:

-Gardein Chik'n Fillets: 140 calories, 4g fat, 6g carbs, 2g fiber, 22g protein

-Shirataki noodles: 40 calories, 0g fat, 6g carbs, 4g fiber, 2g protein

-Total: 366 calories, 12g fat, 40g carbs, 13g fiber, 30g protein

Totally boss.

Mother's Day White Chocolate Chip Cookies

Every time I order vitamins--which is about once a month--I can't help but order something for funsies, too. Usually it's nail polish and candy, but sometimes it's something even MORE exciting--like white chocolate chips! So when I got my white chocolate chips I thought, what goes well with white chocolate? Macadamia nuts, of course! And who loves macadamia nuts? My mom! So I saved them for Mother's Day.

The cookies at the left are the Chocolate Chocolate-Chip Walnut Cookies from Veganomicon, with the white chocolate chips and chopped macadamia nuts subbing in for the obvious. The cookies at the right are, again, Dreena's beloved Homestyle Chocolate Chip Cookies, with white chocolate chips subbed in and the addition of about a 1/2 C of chopped macadamia nuts.

Conclusion? They were both pretty yummy--but the vanilla version was absolutely out of this world. There's also a chance I may have ever so slightly overbaked the chocolate--only by a minute or so, but still--but in any case, the usually-amazing chocolate cookies just couldn't hold a candle to the vanilla.

Check them out, in their little boxes, just waiting to be UPS'd! My mom said they were delicious. But then again, she's my mom and that's her job.

Sweet Potato Quesadillas and Chili-Lime Tortilla Chips

Here are two recipes that I just can't...stop...making. Seriously. I'm making them again on Thursday, that's how much I love them.

This has become one of my go-to weeknight meals; including cooking the sweet potato, the whole sheboodle comes in at under 30 minutes--and on days like today, when I didn't get home until 8:30? Yes please. (Note--I didn't make these tonight, wah wah, I had leftover quinoa. Which I'll post soon.)

My take on VeganDad's Sweet Potato and Kale Quesadillas:

-1 large sweet potato, diced

-Several Ts water for sautéing*

-1 sm red onion, sliced thinly*

-2-3 cloves garlic, pressed*

-1 C canned black beans, rinsed and drained

-1/4 C hot salsa* (the one I used wasn't kidding around!)

-1 t chili powder

-1/2 t cumin

-1/4 t cinnamon*

-salt and pepper to taste

-1 bunch kale, stalks removed, torn into bite-size-ish pieces*

-2 Damascus Bakery flax roll-ups*

1. Place chopped sweet potato in a small pot and cover with water. Bring to bubbling, reduce heat, cover, and simmer for about 15 minutes, until potatoes are tender.
   
2. While potatoes cook, heat a few tablespoons of water over medium heat in a 2-quart saucepan.* Saute onions for 5-7 minutes, until starting to brown. Feel free to kick the heat up a notch if it's not doing it for you.
   
3. Add garlic and saute for 2 minutes. Add beans and mix well. Add salsa and spices, and season to taste with salt and pepper. (I only needed a dash of each--with maybe a bit more pepper--but I'm not a big salt person.)
   
4. Drain potatoes and roughly mash. Add to pan and mix. Cram your abundance of kale into the pan and cover--they should steam down in about 4 minutes or so.* Mix well, and keep an eye on it so that the beans don't stick to the pan. There should be enough water on your kale that this shouldn't be a problem, but just in case. Adjust seasonings to taste, and remove from heat.
   
5. Heat a frying pan over medium heat. If it's good and non-stick, you're good to go; if it needs some encouragement, spray lightly with cooking spray. Divide the filling in two and plop one section onto half of a roll-up. Fold it over and carefully transfer it into the pan (I use the spatula and my hand for this). Once it's heated up a bit, it should be sturdy enough on the bottom to allow you to flip with a spatula. Repeat for the other quesadilla. Once they've cooled and solidified up a bit, cut them  into triangles (I usually do about 4).
   

*What all did I change? I eliminated the oil, because it's what I do (and similarly, added more garlic and WAY more greens; I am a garlic and kale fiend). I also left out the corn, pointless vegetable that it is, changed to red onion for the pop of it, and took down the cinnamon a notch--with the kind of salsa I was using, the full amount of cinnamon was overwhelming. Similarly, the salsa I used was fiery enough that I was able to leave out the jalapeno and hot sauce completely.

As for the flax roll-ups, I cannot stress to you how miraculous they are. I'll post the nutritional info below, but these things are a powerhouse. They have, and this may be a slight exaggeration, a zillion grams of protein and fiber. You may notice on the Damascus website that they contain the suspicious dough conditioner L-Cysteine--but fear not! These bad boys are assuredly vegan. Quoth their QA Manager in an email to me: "The L-Cysteine is derived by our vender from a vegetable source." Rock on.

Nutritional info:

-Filling: 212.3 calories, 1.6 g fat, 45.6 g carbs, 12.5 g fiber, 11.9 g protein

-Flax wrap: 110 calories, 3 g fat, 15 g carbs, 9 g fiber, 12.0 g protein

Total: 322.3 calories, 4.6 g fat, 60.6 g carbs, 21.5 g fiber, 23.9 g protein

Bam!

I love to eat these with SusanV's Baked Chili-Lime Tortilla Chips, which I prepare pretty much as she's written, except that I use bottled lime juice (lazy!) and bake for 10 minutes on the first side and 7-8 on the second (I like my chips slightly burny). These store pretty well--I've had a bunch that I made last week stored in a sealed baggie and they're still fine. I know because I snuck one earlier, tra la.

The nutritional info for these varies on whichever type of corn tortillas you start with! Mine come in at about 113.4 calories for 8 chips, which ain't so bad, really. Also, they're delicious--I often find that just 4 is plenty satisfying.

Josh's Monstrous Birthday Cupcakes

What are those ridiculous confections in the header? you may be asking. Those are cookie monster cupcakes--or, you might say, monstrous birthday cupcakes, which I made for Josh's 25th. (Josh is old.)

Components:

-1 batch Sexy Low-Fat Vanilla Cupcakes (from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World)

-1/2 batch Fluffy Buttercream Frosting (also from VCTOW)

-1 batch Dreena's Homestyle Chocolate Chip Cookies

-24 extra chocolate chips

I first baked the cupcakes; while those were cooling, I baked the cookies and then mixed up the frosting. For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to try to mix the frosting in the food processor--this was the first and only time I attempted to do this. Fortunately, for these cupcakes, I didn't need particularly fluffy frosting, so it worked out all right--and I learned a valuable lesson.

Note about the cookies--Dreena's recipe usually makes 8 big cookies. I made 16 smallish ones, and they were still a little too big for the cupcakes. If I were to do this over, I would've shot for maybe 20 or so--I really felt like I was cramming these cookies into the poor Cookie Monsters' maws.

I separated out a big glob of frosting to set aside (for the eyeballs), and then mixed a few drops of blue food coloring into the rest and mixed until I achieved an appropriate color. Once the cupcakes had cooled, I used a big soup spoon to gouge out little mouths in each cupcake--that way, they were smiley!--and then shoved a cookie into each mouth, as I tried not to think about violent force-feeding.

Using a #21 star tip, I piped blue frosting onto the cupcakes using short little upwards motions and being very careful around the cookies. As I did these, I popped them into the fridge to allow the blue frosting to set. After furring all the cupcakes, I washed out my frosting gun and equipped it with the white frosting I'd set aside. Using a round tip, I piped little swirly eyeballs on the cupcakes and dropped a chocolate chip pupil into each, set in off directions because Cookie Monster appears to have a lazy eye problem.

Naturally, these were so adorable that they were a big hit! As for taste, they probably would have been richer if I'd gone with the butter-based golden vanilla cupcake, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I wanted to eat a cupcake, after all! (Full disclosure--I ate one without frosting. Nyah nyah.)

Nutritional info:

-Cupcake base: 139.5 calories, 3.7 g fat, 25.3 g carbs, .8 g fiber, 1.6 g protein.

-Frosting: 142.8 calories, 8.1 g fat, 17.7 carbs, 0 fiber, .1 g protein

-Cookie: 93.2 calories, 3.9 g fat, 14.2 carbs, .3 g fiber, .8 g protein

Total: 375.5 calories, 15.7 g fat, 57.2 carbs, 1.1 g fiber, 2.5 g protein.

And that, mes amis, is why I ate mine without the frosting.