Vegan/Lactose Free Manicotti

Every Wednesday I will be bringing you what I will be calling Cutting Board posts.  I will be creating and showing recipes that cut back costs and calories.  Healthy food does not have to be expensive!  So here we go...

In another desperate attempt to get my family to open up to the idea of tofu as an edible food option, I turned to my latest copy of Everyday with Rachel Ray, which was showing a vegan stuffed shells recipe in the early pages of the issue.  The recipe below is an adaptation of that recipe.  Believe it or not, this is actually cheaper to make than the cheese version!  The tofu cost $5.98, while the 4 cups of mozarella and the ricotta would normally run me approximately $9.00. The tofu is much lighter on the calories, and you also will not have the calories from the eggs, which normally get blended with the cheeses! 

I serve stuffed shells way too often, and my family knows the taste like the back of their hands, so I opted for manicotti, which I don't make too often - mostly because I hate filling them (there is a tip down in the recipe)! I figured they wouldn't notice the new flavor and will just think that I am seasoning them differently. 

I nearly got away with it this time.  They scarfed them down piping hot, and dad went back for seconds!  They later realized, I suppose upon reflection, that something was not "right" and forced the secret out of me, because, well, I am just a horrible liar!  What it comes down to, is that these were delicious, especially piping hot out of the oven!  My family would have loved them, and I could have made them again if they hadn't been so suspicious...oh well!

Vegan/Lactose Free Manicotti
Yields 5 - 6 servings

Ingredients 
2 pounds firm tofu
2 sprigs fresh oregano
4 medium garlic cloves, chopped
Juice of two lemons
Salt to taste
Black Pepper to taste
1 jar of meatless spaghetti sauce
1 package of manicotti noodles, cooked, drained, and run under cool water.
1 Ziploc bag with a corner cut off, or a piping bag


To Prepare the Manicotti
1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a food processor, puree 1 pound of tofu, the leaves of 1 sprig of oregano, 2 garlic cloves, and the juice of 1 lemon.
3. Repeat the process in step one with the remaining tofu, oregano, garlic, and lemon juice.
4. Combine both batches of tofu in a large bowl, and add salt and pepper to taste.
5. Pour half of the jar of spaghetti sauce into a large casserole dish, and spread it out evenly. 
6. Pour the tofu mixture into the Ziploc or piping bag, and squeeze the tofu into the manicotti.  The most effectively way to fill the manicotti is to fill the pasta half way from one side, and then fill in the other side.
7. Continue this step while laying them in the saucy casserole dish.
8. Once you have filled all of the manicotti, top them with the sauce.
9. Bake them for 20 - 30 minutes, or until they are bubbling and hot.
10. Sprinkle the entire casserole dish with some fresh oregano before serving!

Vegetarian Stew

Last night my grandmom had our family over for dinner.  We had a DELICIOUS enchilada casserole, and will be posting that recipe soon!  That being said, Meatless Monday had to be put off until tonight!  This week, for Meatless Monday, I made a vegetarian stew.  With my favorite produce store going out of business, I was forced to buy frozen vegetables.  When I am put in a bind like this, I always opt for frozen over canned.  Frozen veggies are a smidgen better for you and retain a good portion of their nutritional value!  If you are using frozen veggies for this recipe, be sure they are defrosted, and if you are using canned veggies, be sure to strain the excess liquid off of them before adding them to the pot! 

Vegetarian Stew 
Yields 6 generous servings


Ingredients 
1 small onion, peeled and diced
2 large potatoes, washed and cubed
1 carrot, washed and diced
8 ounces corn kernels
8 ounces green beans
8 ounces peas
28 ounces pureed tomatoes
3 cans water
8 ounces of whole wheat pasta (I used fusilli) 
Salt
Pepper
Paprika

To Prepare the Stew
1. In a large stew pot, add the onions, carrots, and potatoes.  Heat them over medium heat while constantly stirring. 
2. When the onions have started to become translucent, add the corn, green beans, and peas. 
3. Stir everything together well. 
4. Add the pureed tomatoes and 2 cans of water. 
5. Cook over medium heat.
6. When the liquid comes to a boil, season with the salt, pepper, and paprika to taste. 
7. Add the pasta. 
8. Add the last can of water as needed to make the stew as thick or runny as you prefer it to be.  
9. When the pasta has cooked through and the potatoes are soft, your stew is ready!

Chicken Marsala with Pappardelle

I'm baaaaaaack!  After a weekend filled with driving, friends, and food, I quickly found myself back in the kitchen.  It really has become my little nook in the house, except of course, when it is time to do the dishes!  I had intended to make a warm and simple dinner tonight, and was happy with the outcome. 

Earlier this week the squeals of joy could be heard throughout the neighborhood when my Rachel Ray subscription finally started and arrived in the mailbox!  I will admit that I am not a huge fan of Rach's shows, but I used to LOVE watching $40 a day when I was in college, and I love her magazine.  It is a fairly good mix of home, cooking, and travel. 

I found myself drooling and staring at the picture of her meat-free Mushroom-and-Marsala Pappardelle recipe.  Kudos to the food porn staff at her magazine, they won me over!  As I have mentioned over and over again, my sister refuses to eat mushrooms...ugh...problem.  I decided to twist the recipe around a little bit and accommodate her taste buds with chicken.  I think if I had served two vegetarian meals in a row, since tomorrow is Meatless Monday, my dad would be cringing in fear of another vegetarian week on the blog! 

So, with all of that being said, I have typed up Rachel's recipe below and added my notes in italics!  It was really delicious, filling, and there was plenty to go around...twice!  Be sure to read the recipe all the way through before cooking so you don't encounter any surprises along the way!


Mushroom and Marsala Pappardelle
Source: Every Day with Rachel Ray - February 2011
Yields 6 generous servings

Ingredients 
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
A handful of dried mushrooms, such as procini
Salt and Pepper
1 pound of pappardelle or other wide, long-cut pasta
4 tablespoons butter
3/4 pound cremini or portobello mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 large fresh bay leaf
1 small bunch tuscan kale or swiss chard, stemmed and very thinly sliced
4 shallots, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Freshly grated nutmeg. to taste
About 3/4 cup marsala wine
1 cup heavy cream
Afew sprigs fresh sage, very thinly sliced
Grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese

Right off the bat I can tell you that I eliminated all of the mushrooms from above, as well as the parmigiano-reggiano and sage.  I also replaced the marsala with red cooking wine that I already had in the house!  You will also need approximately 1 pound of thinly sliced skinless, boneless chicken and a teaspoon of either flour or cornstarch.  

To Prepare

Place the stock and dried mushrooms in a saucepan and bring to a low boil.  Lower the heat and reconstitute.  Remove the mushrooms with a slotted spoon and chop. 

Since I was not using mushrooms, I completely skipped this step.  Instead, I started heating the butter in a frying pan with the sliced chicken and bay leaf.  

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, salt it, add the pasta and cook until al dente.  Drain, reserving a little of the pasta cooking water. 

I could not find pappardelle at my grocery store, so I replaced it with paccheri.  Paccheri is essentially HUGE, ridge free, ziti! 

While the pasta is working, heat the butter in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add the cremini (or portobello) mushrooms and bay leaf and increase the heat to medium-high.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms darken, 7 to 8 minutes. 

Again, I used this step to prepare the chicken.  Of course, the cooking time was a little longer since I was working with raw chicken!  Be sure to cook the chicken until it has turned white and its juices run clear. 

Add the kale (or swiss chard), shallots, and garlic; season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg. 

I used swiss chard and cut it down into strips that were approximately a 1/2 inch wide.  The size worked nicely for the dish - the chard was present without being lost or overwhelming!  Rachel's recipe also calls for freshly grated nutmeg, which is great, but I used pre-ground from my spice rack! 
  
Cooking for about 7 minutes longer, then stir in the wine.  Add the chopped reconstituted mushrooms and all but 1/4 cup of the mushroom infused stock (the grit settles to the bottom of the pan as the mushrooms reconstitute). 

I added 1 3/4 cup of vegetable stock (approximately 1 can).  
 
Stir in the cream and cook to reduce and thicken.  Toss the pasta with the sauce, adding the reserved pasta cooking water if the sauce is too thick to coat the pasta nicely.  Garnish with the sage and serve with the cheese. 

I had a little problem with the sauce thickening.  Despite following her fluid amounts in the recipe, it would not thicken!  I cooked it for a while and had no results, so I added it to the pasta pan and turned on medium heat in the hopes that some of the sauce would be absorbed by the pasta and would help it thicken.  I ended up pulling a little of the sauce out of the pan and mixing it with a teaspoon of cornstarch, made a paste, and added it back to the pan.  The sauce thickened within a minute of me adding the cornstarch and sauce paste!  If you don't have cornstarch, flour will have the same effect!  Also, to help my novice chefs along, 1 cup of heavy cream is the 1/2 pint sized container at the grocery store!  

 

Balsamic Glazed Pasta Primavera

This dish brings back fond memories of the two months I managed to survive living in Brooklyn without a job or income!  During the summer of 2007, my friend Alex and I decided we were moving to New York City.  Luckily for him, he was able to transfer his job, but I was coming out of a contract at the college I was working at and was struggling with the NYC job market.  We decided to stick to our guns with the hope that I would find work when we got there.  No such luck!

Alex and I circa December 2006 at Elmira College's Relay For Life!

In need of cheap meals so we could spend our money on more important things (like bar hoping and Broadway shows hehe), I started to get a little creative in the kitchen.  There is nothing like a trip to a bodega or city grocery store to heighten one's creative and money saving senses!  Vegetables were beyond cheap, and a box of pasta cost pennies!  The apartment we were subletting came with a stocked kitchen that the owners told us was fair game while they were away.  Fortunately for Alex and me, they were both artistic, and that seemed to translate in their kitchen.  There were spices I had never even heard of before then, fresh garlic, wines, vinegars, and lots of basics like salt, flour, and pepper. 

So, unto us, Balsamic Glazed Pasta Primavera was born! I know this is a somewhat loose interpretation of primavera, especially since it is sans any cream or cheese.  It is, though, much lower in calories, and much cheaper to make!  Dairy products rack up some serious cash at the register!

Balsamic Glazed Pasta Primavera
Yields 6 servings


To Prepare the Primavera
1. Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Place parchment paper on a baking sheet to cook your tomatoes.  You will see in the picture below why a little parchment will go a long way.  I used approximately 15 cherry tomatoes.  Cut them in half and spread them out on the cookie sheet.  Sprinkle them with some sea salt and put them in the oven to cook!

I was out of parchment - and am now out a baking sheet. Sigh.

3. Put on a pot of salt water to boil, which will later be used to cook the pasta.   I usually use a tablespoonish amount of salt. 
4. In a large saute pan, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over low heat.
5. While your oil is heating, start breaking spinach leaves off of their stems right at the base of the leaf.  You will need approximately 1 pound of spinach.  This will look like a lot when you get it at the store, but it will cook down quite a bit!
6. Add your spinach to the saute pan and stir it occasionally while it continues to cook. 
7. Cut approximately 1 pound of asparagus into 1 to 1 1/2 inch long pieces.  Be sure to not use the very base of the asparagus.  In most cases this will be trash, as it was exposed and has started to dry out a little during its trip to the grocery store and your fridge!
8. Add your asparagus to the saute pan. 

9. Roughly chop 4 cloves of garlic and add it to the mixture.
10. Throw your pasta into the boiling water!  I used 1 pound of whole wheat rotini. 
11. Add 1 jar of drained artichoke hearts to the saute pan and give it a good stir! 

12. In a small sauce pan, heat a 1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar and 2 tablespoons of sugar over medium heat.  Be sure to stir this fairly often!
13. Continue to cook the vinegar and sugar until it seems like it is thickening just a bit.  When it reaches that stage, pour it into the saute pan with the veggies and stir.  Make sure everything gets coated well!

14. When your pasta is cooked, drain it and add it to the saute pan.

15. Pull your tomatoes out of the oven and add them directly to the saute pan, and stir everything together!

Eggplant Parmesan

Many of my favorite vegetarian dishes revolve around pasta!  I knew when I started the menu for this week, the one dish that my dad would totally be ok with was eggplant parm!  He LOVED having this at home,  my sister (the veggie hater) on the other hand, was not happy at all.  I guess 2 out of 3 isn't bad haha.  I liked this recipe because it actually came out with a crispy crust and didn't get soggy.  I think eggplant parm tends to go wrong when you feel like you are chewing on rubber...yuck!  I will certify this as a rubbery free recipe! 

Eggplant Parmesan 
Yields 6 servings

To Prepare the Eggplant 
1. Peel 1 large eggplant.
2. Cut the Eggplant into 1/2 inch thick rounds.
3. Place the rounds into a sieve and sprinkle some salt on them.  This will make the eggplant wilt, which essentially means that we are removing excess moisture, and they are going into a sieve so they are not lying in the juices!

4. After the eggplant has wilted for approximately 30 minutes, take it out the sieve and pat the pieces dry with paper towels.
5. While the eggplant is drying, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
6. Beat 3 eggs in a bowl, and set aside.
7. Pour 1 cup of bread crumbs onto a plate.  I used plain bread crumbs and seasoned them with some dry herbs, but you can definitely use the pre-seasoned!
8. Pour 1/4 inch of olive oil into a frying pan and start heating it on low heat.
9. While the olive oil is heating, dredge approximately 4 slices through the bread crumbs, and THEN coat them in egg.

All set up for dredging! From left to right: Eggplant, bread crumbs, egg, frying pan, casserole dish!

10. Fry the coated eggplant in the oil, and be sure to flip them once they brown on the first side!  When they are brown on both sides, remove them from the oil and place them in a casserole dish. Repeat this process until all of the eggplant is fried and in the casserole dish.

11. Evenly coat the entire casserole of eggplant with pasta sauce (it only should take 1 jar of sauce!).  If you want your eggplant to stay SUPER crispy, place it on a baking sheet, spoon a little sauce over the top of each piece, sprinkle with some cheese, and then bake it!

12. Top the sauce with 1/2 to 1 pound of shredded mozzarella, depending on how cheesy you want it!  I love cheese, so I used 1 pound!

13. Bake this in the oven for about 15 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and starting to brown.

I served mine over pasta, but it would be good as an eggplant parm sandwich, or along side of some fresh steamed veggies!

Ham Casserole

This is one of those things that I grew up eating, and never knew where my mom got the recipe from, but we all loved eating it, especially when it got cold out!  It is definitely a kid friendly dish...noodles, peas, ham and cheese!  It is colorful, and little ones can eat it with their fingers after it cools a little bit!  It also makes delicious left overs, and is even better the day after!  

Ham Casserole 
Yields 8 servings

To Prepare the Casserole 
1. Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Boil 2 boxes of tri color fiori.  This will be approximately 24 ounces of pasta.  We normally use elbow noodles, but I already has the fiori in the pantry and decided to go with them.  They tomato and spinach in them added to the flavor of the casserole, and it made it look really pretty when it was done!
3. Once the pasta is done cooking, drain it and put it back in the pot you cooked it in, or in a large bowl.
4. Mix in 1 pound of thawed frozen peas.
5. Mix in 2 packs of pre-diced ham cubes.  You can usually find this in vacuum sealed baggies in the meat section of the grocery store with the ham products!  It works out to being about 1 pound of ham, so if you cannot find the cubes, you can cut 1 pound of ham steak into cubes and add it in to the mixture!

6. Mix in 1 pound of extra sharp shredded cheese.

7. Pour the entire mixture into a casserole dish.

8. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 20 minutes, or until the cheese has melted and the top has started to turn golden brown!

Baked Ziti with Sage Sausage

I know a lot of you would not necessarily consider baked ziti a casserole, but this is how I look at it: A casserole is usually some sort of meat (sausage), a grain of some sort (ziti), sauce/veggie (tomato sauce), and cheese (mozzarella and ricotta).  Let us just say it is Italian casserole hehe!  

Baked Ziti with Sage Sausage
Yields 6 - 8 servings

To Prepare the Ziti
1. Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees! 
2. Open a one pound tube of sage flavored sausage.  You know the stuff...the breakfast sausage that you cut and fry!  Brown the sausage in a frying pan, and break it up a with a spatula.  It will break down more and more as it cooks!

3. Bring a pot of water to boil, and cook 1 pound of ziti.  Don't cook it all the way, but just a little bit past the al dente state!
4. Once the pasta is cooked, drain it and leave it in the sieve.
5. Using the empty pot you cooked the pasta in, mix together approximately 25 ounces of pasta sauce, 1 pound of shredded mozzarella cheese (hold back some of the mozzarella to top the casserole), 1 pound of riccotta cheese, and 2 large eggs.

6. Once all of these ingredients are mixed, add the pasta and sausage in!
7. Pour the mixture into a glass casserole dish and top with the mozzarella you left out of the sauce. I sprinkled a little dash of parsley flake on top of the cheese, but you could also top it with a basil leaf, some fresh oregano, or some fresh parsley if you want to!

8. Bake for approximately 15 minutes, or until the cheese on top has melted and is just starting to brown!

Meatballs

One of the first foods I ever learned how to cook was meatballs.  I remember being in one of the first apartments my parents lived in, standing on my tippy toes and just clearing the top of the pot with my line of vision.  I carefully plopped in meatball after meatball as my mom handed them to me.  I stared, fascinated, into the pot as the sauce popped and bubbled around the meatballs.  It must have been the Italian in me finally finding its way out and onto a plate!

Later, I learned the story about the first time my mom made meatballs after she and my dad got married.  To this day it is one of my favorite stories about my mom!  My dad's mom is from Italy, and moved to the states at a VERY young age, so needless to say dinners at his house growing up were full of lots of authentic dishes.  When he and my mom married, my mom admittedly only knew how to cook eggs.  So, when my mom called my grandmom for advice, my grandmom told her what to put in them and then to just cook them.  This meant, to my mom, to boil them!  Without saying, they didn't turn out very well!

I eventually took the helm, and was left to my own devices when it came to cooking meatballs.  After some trial...and horrible error...I came up with a recipe that I stick to.  Some of the ingredients are not what you would expect, but trust me when I say it works!  I'll explain why it works down in the recipe, but let's just say that these are NOT your mom's meatballs!

Meatballs
Yields 24 large meatballs

To Prepare the Meatballs
1. Mince 1 small onion, and add it to a large bowl.

2. Mince 4 cloves of garlic and add it to a bowl.  If you are using pre-minced garlic, add 1 heaping tablespoon!
3. Add 1/2 a teaspoon of cinnamon to the bowl.  Cinnamon is normally reserved for sweeter dishes, but it does a great job of adding a little heat and spice to savory recipes!
4. Add 1 teaspoon of nutmeg to the bowl.  Again, nutmeg is normally added to sweets and pies, but it compliments red sauce and tomatoes EXTREMELY well!  Tonight I grated my own nutmeg (thanks to my brother bringing some whole nutmeg home a few months ago), but the jarred spice works just as nicely!  If you are going to grate your own nutmeg, simply run the whole spice down the smallest grater holes you have at your disposal.  Despite the nutmeg's tough exterior and texture, it actually grates very nicely!

A whole nutmeg!

What the inside looks like after a little grating!

5. Add 1 teaspoon of black pepper to the bowl.
6. Add 1 teaspoon of salt to the bowl.

7. Add 2 tablespoons of white truffle oil to the bowl.  This is definitely a splurge ingredient I normally do not keep around, but I had bought it a few weeks ago for a dinner party I was throwing.  The white truffle oil reminds me of an extremely garlic and parmesan smelling/tasting ingredient.  Truffles are actually a fungus that is widely found in Southern Europe.  Technically speaking, they are a mushroom!

Expensive...but delicious!

After all of the seasoning ingredients are added!

8. Mix in approximately 2 pounds of ground beef.  You can exchange the beef out for turkey or chicken! 
9. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.
10. Make the meatballs by rolling them into 1 - 1 1/2 inch balls.  Place them on a cookie sheet or glass casserole dish.  Remember: your meatballs will shrink after cooking...so make them just a little bigger than you want the end result to be!

11. Bake them until they are brown and firm.  I like baking them so they lose a lot of their fat and oils!

12. Add them to the pasta sauce of your choosing! I like to let my meatballs simmer in sauce for a little bit so the flavors come together well.  They hold up very well in a crock pot of sauce!  Tonight I am serving mine over angel hair pasta, but they are great as a sandwich too!  As far as sauces go, I will only make my own on the weekends, so during the week I like to use Prego's Heart Smart Traditional. 

On a side note, I do NOT add egg to any of my ground meat dishes.  Egg, even though it helps bind ground meats together, will actually dry out your meatballs, meatloaf, etc!  In the end, your meat should bind well on its own...I'd rather eat a slightly broken meatball as opposed to a dry one!

Ratatouille over Homemade Pasta

I don't mean the movie!  Ratatouille is actually a vegetable stew that finds its roots in Nice,France!  The full name of the dish is actually Ratatouille Nicoise (pronounced Knee-Swah).  The traditional dish is comprised of eggplant, zucchini, bell pepper, onion, and tomato!  Ratatouille is usually served on its own, but it can also be served over rice or pasta, with a side of bread for dipping, in a savory crepe, as a side dish, or even as an omelet filling!  Some serving suggestions even say it can be served cold.  Ratatouille is sorta like lasagna...it tastes better the next day after all of the flavors meld together...but I usually cannot wait until the next day and have to serve it immediately!  It is filling (not loaded with calories), and great on a cold day (and very cheap to make)! 

Ratatouille 
Yields 5 servings

To Prepare the Ratatouille 
1. Peel and large eggplant.  
2. Cut the eggplant length wise and then into 1/4 inch thick half moons.

3. Cut a green bell pepper into strips. 

4. Cut a zucchini into 1/4 inch thick rounds.

5. Peel an onion, cut it in half length wise, and then cut it into 1/4 inch thick half moons.

6. Heat 4 tablespoons of olive oil in a large pan over medium heat.
7. When the oil is hot, add the onions.
8. Cook the onions until they start to turn translucent and begin to brown around the edges.

9. While the onions are cooking, dice 5 cloves of onion.  If you are going to dice them by hand, you will need to take their thick skins off of them.  The easiest way to do this is to put a wide blade knife over top of the clove and pressing down on the blade with your fist.  Do this carefully so you do not end up with bloody garlic and stitches!  When you lift up the knife, the skins of the garlic will have started separating from the cloves, and can be easily peeled off in 1 or 2 pieces by hand.  If you are going to use pre-diced garlic (usually found in the produce aisle or with the Italian products at your grocery store), use 2 tablespoons.

10. Once the onions are translucent, add the garlic to the pan, as well as 1 tablespoon of salt, and 1 tablespoon of black pepper.

11. After the above mixture cooks for about 5 minutes, add the zucchini, bell pepper, and zucchini. 

12. Cook all of the ingredients down for another 5 minutes.
13. Add 28 ounces of tomato puree and stir well.  Cover and cook over medium heat.  Be sure to stir it often so it does not burn!

To Prepare the Pasta
*On a side note, if you do not own a pasta maker, you are probably better off going the route of boxed pasta.  Unless you have a lot of experience making pasta, not using a pasta maker is a very long, drawn out, and difficult process!  
1. Pour 3 cups of flour either onto a very clean surface or a bowl.  If you are going to do this on a counter or other surface, you will need to shape the flour into a bowl shape.

2. Mix 3 eggs and 2 tablespoons of olive oil into the flour.  You will need to mix it VERY well.  Use your hands to mix it...your body heat will help the dough come together.  You are going to need to put your whole body and a lot of force into making the dough.

3. Once the dough comes together, form it into a ball, coat it with some olive oil, wrap it in saran wrap, and set it aside for a little bit!

4. After 30 minutes, the dough will be ready!
5. From this point on, follow the suggested preparation directions of your pasta maker!

6. Set a large pot of water to boil.  Once the water comes to a rapid boil, add your pasta.  I was really thrown off the first time I made pasta because it actually starts to foam for a second when you put it in the water!  This is normal...don't panic!  The pasta will cook in literally just a minute or two.  Serve homemade pasta immediately!