Recipes « I Never Imagined…

Death to the Mushroom Monster

By Melissa, on December 8th, 2010%

I love eating out and then trying to recreate my own version of the meal at home. You may remember that on Sunday I had a Mushroom Monster Moment, then later that day I ordered spaghetti from our local pizza joint. Well, you can relax now because the world is back in balance again- I recreated my delicious spaghetti, and I added mushrooms to keep the monster at bay!

Vegan Spaghetti with Mushrooms

Ingredients

1 packet whole wheat spaghetti
2 large portobello mushrooms, thinly chopped
1 whole clove of garlic, chopped into big chunks
Olive oil
Salt

(Doesn’t that stray strand of spaghetti at the top look cute? Is it just me?)

Directions

1- Boil water and add pasta and a good amount of salt (so the pasta will absorb the flavor as it cooks)
2- In a frying pan, cook mushrooms and garlic in olive oil. Add a little water and put a lid on the pan so the mushrooms can steam.
3- Drain the pasta and mix everything together. Add olive oil and salt if you want to. You can also add basil- I forgot to, but I would recommend you add it for extra flavor.

So long, Mushroom Monster!!

Vegan Cookie Dough Balls

By Melissa, on December 7th, 2010%

Ever since I saw this post by Angela at Oh She Glows I have been dying to make her Chocolate Dipped Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls. Chocolate and cookie dough? Double win.

So last night, giddy with excitement, I stocked up on the ingredients at Whole Foods and set out to make my own cookie dough balls.

The best part about these balls is that they contain no eggs, so they are safe to eat raw; and they don’t contain any butter or sugar like normal cookie dough, so they are actually good for you! They are also no-bake, and take only a few minutes to make.

The worst part about these balls is that you may get dough on your keyboard when you make them and then try to type your blog post :)

Vegan Cookie Dough Balls (inspired by Oh She Glows)

Ingredients

1/4 cup almond flour (or crush ~3/4 cup of your favorite kind of nut in the food processor until it becomes a powder)
1/2 cup oats
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
10 dates, finely chopped
1 dessertspoon vanilla essence
As many chocolate chips as you like! (I used about 1/4 cup of dark vegan chocolate chips)
~ 1/4 cup agave nectar (add last- only use enough to bind the ingredients without making it “wet”)

Directions

1- Cover finely chopped dates with water and microwave for 1 minute
2- Mix all ingredients together. Add agave nectar last so you don’t get a mixture that is too wet. Feel free to mix it with your hands- I did!
3- Roll dough into 1 inch balls. Store in refrigerator… or eat them all then and there!

I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Vegan Cheese and Spinach Rolls

By Melissa, on December 4th, 2010%

Look at this nasty cloud that came over just before sunset yesterday!

I finished work early yesterday, so I got home while it was still light out. Well, mostly light out- but not for long!

I got 3 hours of sleep on Thursday night because I had to get up really early for a special work event yesterday, and then my day ended with a really intense medical conference call. Needless to say, I was super tired when I got home- but I was excited because I wanted to make vegan cheese and spinach rolls with the leftover filo pastry from earlier this week!

For some reason (I blame the lack of sleep) I decided to try to make them into ravioli, but that really didn’t work out very well. This is ironic, because my original filo rolls were created out of a recipe that went wrong, and turned out to be one of my best dishes ever! … but the same cannot be said about this batch. I mean, filo ravioli? What was I thinking?!

So I will use the photos I took while I was preparing the dish last night to show you the recipe for my cheese and spinach rolls from Wednesday. I apologize in advance for being uncertain of the exact measurements!

Vegan Cheese and Spinach Rolls

Ingredients

I packet of filo pastry
14oz package of firm tofu
1 packet of frozen chopped spinach
Nutritional yeast (~2 heaped tablespoons, I think?)
Salt, to taste
Olive oil for frying

Directions

1- Mash tofu

2- Add spinach and stir

3- Add nutritional yeast and salt until you get the level of saltiness and cheesey flavor you desire.

4- Scoop spoonfuls of the mixture onto the filo pastry. You can decide the amount of pastry and filling based on the size you want the rolls to be. I made a variety of sizes. For the small rolls (pictured below), place a small spoonful of the mixture in one corner of your pasty rectangle. For big rolls scoop the mixture onto the bottom of the pastry, in the middle.

5- Roll the mixture up in the pastry. For the small rolls I folded the corner of the pastry over the mixture and rolled it over itself, folded the left and right edges in and then finished rolling the bundle. For the bigger rolls (pictured below) I rolled the bottom of the pastry over the mixture, folded in both sides and then finished rolling.

6- Fry in olive oil until golden brown on both sides. Cool on a wire rack and serve.

The picture above was taken the first time I made this dish, so one of the rolls actually has a curry mixture inside. You can add any number of fillings, really- savory, or sweet. I plan to make a chocolate banana roll very soon!

I have eaten these a few times this week now thanks to the leftovers from my first cook-up, and I have been really happy with how light they are. I don’t feel full after eating them, but I do feel very satisfied! It’s perfect!