Pasta Shells with Spicy Marinara and Veggies

This was amazingly good! Tomato sauces are always better the next day.

With just a bit of planning you can have truly tasty home cooked meals. So much better than take out or frozen food! Whenever I make a pasta meal I prepare extra sauce and sautéed vegetables for a quick pizza the next day. All you need to do is make the dough. (And if you make the Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day dough, it’s sitting in your refrigerator, ready to go!) This recipe makes about 2-3 servings of pasta.

Spicy Marinara Sauce
Adapted from allrecipes.com; makes about 2 cups sauce. If you’re going to make a pizza first with the sauce, try to make ahead of time so it has time to cool in refrigerator. Use half of the sauce for pasta meal and the other half for a pizza.

Ingredients
2 tsp olive oil
2-3 TB finely diced onion
-----
1 (14.5 ounce) can stewed tomatoes
3 TB tomato paste
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley or 2 tsp dried
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
-----
1/4 cup white wine
1 TB low sodium Tamari
1/4 tsp Ume Plum vinegar
1/4 tsp dried pepper flakes
1/2 tsp unrefined sugar
-----
4 ounces whole wheat pasta shells*

Directions
In a food processor place stewed tomatoes, tomato paste, chopped parsley, minced garlic, oregano, salt, and pepper. Blend until smooth.

In a large skillet over medium heat sauté the finely chopped onion in olive oil for 2 minutes. Add the blended tomato sauce, white wine, Tamari, vinegar, red pepper flakes, and sugar. Simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed. Reserve half of sauce for pizza.

Sautéed Vegetables 
Be sure to save half for a pizza the next day.

Ingredients
2 tsp avocado or virgin olive oil
6-8 mushrooms, chopped
1-2 garlic cloves, minced
1-2 heads of broccoli, finely chopped
salt, pepper to taste
1/4 cup white wine
1 cup or so of fresh spinach
1/2 zucchini, chopped

Directions
Add oil and mushrooms to sauté pan and cook until mushrooms begin to release moisture. Add garlic and broccoli, spices and wine and cook for a couple of minutes. Add spinach and zucchini and cook until spinach is limp. (Do not overcook. The broccoli should still be crisp and spaghetti and zucchini just barely limp.) Dump into strainer to cool and drain. Reserve half of veggies for the pizza that is in your near future.

Cook pasta according to box directions. Drain and add to reserved marinara sauce. Add sautéed vegetables to pasta and sauce. Heat gently and serve.

*If you are not using half the ingredients for pizza, cook 8 ounces or more of pasta.

Penne Pasta with Creamy Asparagus Sauce

Another pasta dish without the cheese! This was rather elegant and tasty with some surprise ingredients. It is a slightly altered version of the recipe in 1,000 Vegan Recipes. 1,000 Vegan Recipes is an amazing book because it really does have 1,000 recipes. The original recipe calls for 1 pound of pasta which I halved to 8 ounces so I had LOTS of sauce which is the way I like it. Four Stars!

Ingredients
1 pound asparagus, trim off tough ends
-----
1 TB olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
3 garlic cloves
1/4 cup white wine
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cayenne
1 cup cooked or canned Great Northern white beans
plain soy sauce
1/2 pound penne pasta
fresh basil, amount to your taste, chopped

Directions
Steam asparagus until just tender, about 3 minutes. Rinse under cold water, drain and chop into 1/2 inch pieces. Set aside.

Get a large pot of water started and boil your pasta (about 10 minutes until al dente) while you make the sauce.

In large skillet heat oil and cook onion until wilted. Add garlic and cook for about 1 minute or two until just starting to brown. Stir in the wine, basil, salt and cayenne and simmer, for about 2 minutes. Add HALF the chopped asparagus and beans and stir to combine.

Transfer the asparagus and bean mixture to a food processor or blender and puree until smooth adding soy milk to thin to desired consistency. Add back to skillet, and keep warm over a very low heat.

When your pasta is cooked al dente, drain, add back to pot, add cream sauce and fresh basil. Stir well, adjust salt & pepper seasoning and serve.

Macaroni & Cheeze

I'm always scouting around for a new mac & cheeze recipe to try out. I came across this one at VegNews.com and it's pretty good. There is no nutritional yeast which some folks would consider an added plus. It's thickened with the addition of cooked potatoes and carrots. The only reworking I'll do when I make this again is to half the bread crumb topping and add something green like cooked broccoli, asparagus or even some spinach. Three stars.


Ingredients
macaroni
4 quarts water
1 tablespoon sea salt
8 ounces macaroni
-----
topping
4 slices of bread, torn into large pieces
2 tablespoons non-hydrogenated margarine
-----
sauce
2 tablespoons shallots, peeled and chopped
1 cup red or yellow potatoes, peeled and chopped
1/4 cup carrots, peeled and chopped
1/3 cup non-hydrogenated margarine1 cup water
1/4 cup raw cashews
2 teaspoons sea salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon lemon juice, freshly squeezed
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 teaspoon paprika

Directions
In a large pot, bring the water and salt to a boil. Add macaroni and cook until al dente. In a colander, drain pasta and rinse with cold water. Set aside.

In a food processor, make breadcrumbs by pulverizing the bread and 2 tablespoons margarine to a medium-fine texture. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a saucepan, add shallots, potatoes, carrots, and water, and bring to a boil. Cover the pan and simmer for 15 minutes, or until vegetables are very soft.

In a blender, process the cashews, salt, garlic, margarine, mustard, lemon juice, black pepper, and cayenne. Add softened vegetables and cooking water to the blender and process until perfectly smooth.

In a large bowl, toss the cooked pasta and blended cheese sauce until completely coated. Spread mixture into a 9 x 12 casserole dish, sprinkle with prepared breadcrumbs, and dust with paprika. Bake for 30 minutes or until the cheese sauce is bubbling and the top has turned golden brown.

Spaghetti Bowl with Veggies for One

The July/August 2010 issue of Vegetarian Times has a recipe for Rice Noodle Bowl with Broccoli and Bell Peppers. It's in a group of recipes geared towards one person servings. I didn't have any rice noodles but I did have some organic gluten-free rice, potato & soy spaghetti by Bionaturae that I truly love. The recipe instructions said to break the noodles into 1-inch pieces before cooking. I really like how that turned out and will do this again in the future. I am not a "pasta person" but this was seriously good. Dinner was ready in less than 30 minutes.

Rated four stars = really liked it and will make again!

Ingredients
1-1/2 ounce rice, potato & soy spaghetti, broken into 1 inch pieces
-----
1/4 cup water
1 TB shoyu sauce
2 tsp rice vinegar
1 tsp. sugar
1 TB chile sauce (more or less, to taste)
-----
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 cup thinly sliced red bell pepper
1/2 cup broccoli florets

Directions
Fill a small pan with water and bring to boil. Add spaghetti pieces and cook for 6 minutes or until al dente. Meanwhile mix together the water, soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, and chile sauce; set aside. Heat up pan and lightly oil. Add onion, saute until limp. Add garlic, saute a minute or so. Add bell pepper, broccoli and sauce. Cook down until broccoli is crisp tender. Add cooked, drained spaghetti and mix. Viola - dinner is served!