Vegetarian Cooking with MiChelle Franzen and Bonnie Goodman
First Session, Fifth Week: Nov. 1st - Thatzatalian
Make-your-own Pizzas with Daiya Mozzarella
Mediterranean Salad with Sun-Dried Tomato Vinaigrette
Make-Your-Own Pizzas
These are perfect for parties - and kids love them too!
- Pita Bread
- Olive Oil
- Sauce (try some pesto, or Muir Glen brand Pizza Sauce- yum!)
- Daiya Mozzarella shreds (available in the dairy section of Town and Country, and Foodworks)
- Assorted veggies: sliced mushrooms, olives, broccoli, onion, what ever you like!
Preheat oven to 425. Brush the top of the pita bread with a little olive oil. Add sauce, Daiya, and veggies of choice. Bake for 5 - 8 minutes, until the mozzarella is melted.
The Best Pesto
- 1 large bunch of basil (about 3 cups, loosely packed)
- 2-4 large cloves garlic, minced
- 1/3 cup toasted pine nuts or walnuts (or a combination of the two)
- 1/2 - 1 tsp salt, to taste
- 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
- 1 red bell pepper, chopped
In a small frying pan, heat the pine nuts or walnuts over medium heat, stirring often until they brown. (You don't have to add oil or anything, they just toast all by themselves!) Put all the ingredients in your food processor and blend until smooth and creamy. Serve over pasta or veggies, or use as a spread with bread or crackers.
Amy's Roasted Veggie Pizza
Available at Town and Country and Foodworks, we'll sample this delicious frozen pizza. It's topped with marinated organic shiitake mushrooms, roasted red peppers, sweet onions and marinated artichoke hearts. Non-dairy/no cholesterol.
Cashew Alfredo Sauce
- 1 1/4 cup RAW cashews (find them in the produce section of Albertsons, or in bulk at Co-op)
- 1 1/2 cups boiling water (best to use starchy pasta-cooking water)
- 1 1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice
- 4-6 garlic cloves, to taste
- 1 1/2 TBSP olive oil
- 3 TBSP nutritional yeast
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 3/4 tsp pepper
- Pinch of nutmeg
- 1 lb pasta
- Fresh veggies of your choice~ try broccoli, red peppers, mushrooms
1. Start to cook the pasta according to directions.
2. Place raw cashews in a blender and pulse until nuts are very fine.
3. Take boiling water from the pasta; add to the cashews and blend until smooth.
(Using starchy water helps the sauce to thicken.)
4. Add the remaining ingredients and blend for 2 minutes.
5. Adjust seasonings with salt and pepper, and serve over cooked pasta and veggies.
Tofu Alfredo Sauce
(You may want to double this recipe if you are cooking 1 pound of pasta plus veggies)
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 4 large cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 package soft silken tofu
- 2 TBSP nutritional yeast
- 4 green onions, chopped
- 1/4 cup fresh basil, finely chopped
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
- 1/2 tsp fresh black pepper
- 1 tsp salt
1. Lightly brown garlic in oil.
2. In a blender, combine tofu and cooled garlic/oil mixture and blend until smooth and creamy.
3. Put tofu mixture in saucepan, add green onions and heat on medium/low for 10 minutes.
Add water to adjust consistency, if desired.
4. Add basil, parsley, salt and pepper. Heat for another 3 minutes. Serve over your favorite pasta.
Parmie Cheese Topping
(This stuff doesn't melt, but it tastes great on top of pasta and veggies!)
- 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
- 1/2 cup sesame seeds, toasted
- 1/2 - 1 tsp salt (to taste)
Toast the sesame seeds in a dry skillet over medium heat, until lightly browned. Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor and pulse until seeds are chopped. Store in a shake-top spice jar, and keep refrigerated.
Spinach Lasagna with Tofu Ricotta
- 1 pound firm tofu
- 1/4 cup non-dairy milk
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 3 tsp dried basil
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 TBSP fresh lemon juice
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 small red onion, chopped
- 4 cups fresh spinach, chopped
- 45 oz jar of veggie spaghetti sauce
- 1 box of lasagna noodles
- 1 package of Daiya Mozzarella cheese shreds
Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a food processor, blend the tofu, milk, spices, lemon juice, garlic and chopped onion, until the mixture is the consistency of cottage cheese. Stir in the spinach. Drizzle the bottom of a lasagna pan (9 x 13") with a layer of spaghetti sauce, then place a layer of uncooked noodles on top. Sprinkle with half of the tofu mixture and 1/3 of the Daiya cheese. Add another layer of noodles, then sauce. Sprinkle with the remaining tofu mix, another 1/3 of the cheese, then more sauce. Add one more layer of noodles, and top with the remaining sauce. Cover the pan with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes. Sprinkle the last of the Daiya on top, and bake for another 15 minutes, uncovered. Remove from oven and let sit for 10 minutes before serving.
Mediterranean Salad with Sun-Dried Tomato Vinaigrette
(from "The V - Word" blog by Rhea Parsons)
- 4 sun-dried tomatoes, chopped (or 2 TBSP sun-dried tomato paste)
- 1 TBSP red wine vinegar
- 2-3 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- Zest and juice of 1 lemon
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Put the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.
- For the Salad:
- 4 cups arugula
- 1 small red onion, thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup roasted red peppers, chopped
- 3-4 ribs of celery with leaves, chopped
- 1-15 oz. can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 1/2 cup Kalamata or black pitted olives, halved
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Drizzle with dressing.
Pignoli Almond Cookies
From Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar & the Post Punk Kitchen blog
Makes 2 dozen
You may simply know these as "pignoli," the rice almond buttery cookie with the dense, chewy center and a smattering of pine nuts. I've been missing Brooklyn a lot lately, especially around autumn, and these cookies are an Italian (and Jewish) bakery staple.
The bakeries in Brooklyn are different from the kind of hoity-toity-4-dollar-cookie bakeries we find across the country these days. For one thing, you could buy cookies by the pound. And for another, the cases were overflowing. It wasn't about buying one cookie to nibble on while you pretended to work on your laptop. It was buying a box, tied up with red string, to bring and share wherever you were going.
It wasn't a birthday party (or a funeral) if it didn't end with a big cardboard box of colorful, chewy, chunky, crispy, crumbly cookies.
Pingolis were a staple in that box. If you know what I'm talking about you're probably already in the kitchen unwrapping your almond paste. If you don't, well, try these heavenly bites and join us.
Note: These cookies are super-soft right out of the oven, so be sure to allow them a full five minutes to firm up on the cookie sheet before transferring to racks to complete cooling.
- 7 ounces almond paste, sliced into1 inch cubes (not marzipan)
- Pinch of salt
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup Earth Balance margarine, softened
- 1/2 tsp almond extract
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup pine nuts
- 2 to 3 TBSP almond milk for dipping
Preheat oven to 325°F. Line a medium sized baking sheet with parchment paper. Pulse almond paste, salt, baking powder and 1/3 cup sugar in a food processor until mixture is crumbly, about 1 minute. In a large bowl cream together margarine and remaining 1/3 cup sugar with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add almond paste mixture and almond extract and beat until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Sift in flour and beat until a slightly crumbly yet soft dough forms. Dough should form a soft mass when pressed together. Pour pine nuts into a shallow bowl and pour 2 TBSP of almond milk into a small saucer. For each cookie, roll 1 tablespoon of dough in palms to form into a ball, dip one end in almond milk and press moistened end into pine nuts. If necessary, press pine nuts into surface of ball. Place dough balls, pine nut side up, on baking sheet at least 2 inches apart. Bake for 14 minutes until cookies have puffed and spread a little, and nuts are just slightly toasted. Remove from oven and allow to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes to firm up before carefully transferring to cooling rack. Store in a tightly covered container.