Recipe: Vegetarian Stuffed Pasta Shells

I like to try new recipes I get bored easily in the kitchen.  While yes some weeks I stick to the tried and true and whatever I can whip up fastest other weeks I set aside a few new recipes to try.  Well when you do that it's hit or miss.  This recipe I had found and bought the ingredients for but when it came time to make it I forgot which one of my zillion online places I had saved it to.  So I had to wing it and hope that I at least got the main gist of it.  Turns out my son and hubs liked it a lot and it was a nice way to sneak in some healthy items into the mix.  Honestly for me it wasn't like OMG I want to eat this every day liked it but it was my family is happy and I'm happy kind of liked it.


Ingredients:
1 box pasta shells
1 block extra firm tofu
spinach (to taste)

nutritional yeast about 1/4 cup
salt/pepper
oregano, thyme, parsley, basil
onion or onion powder
garlic cloves 2-4
vegetable broth or olive oil (about 2 table spoons)
Marinara sauce (I used store bought this time but can easily make this ahead of time)
Parmesan cheese (optional, if you leave this out it can be vegan)

Cook pasta shells as directed on box
Saute spinach in either vegetable broth or olive oil until wilted (you could buy frozen for an added short cut)
In a food processor mix tofu, sauteed spinach and all other ingredients until smooth
in a glass baking dish pour a small amount of the marinara sauce on the bottom and spread.  Stuff each shell with about 2 tblsp of mixture from food processor and place over sauce once have all shells stuffed and placed in dish cover with remaining marinara sauce.  Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese if desired.
Bake for 20 mins. at 350 cool and serve

Lasagna Rolls Recipe and Work Joke

Do you love how creative I can get with my titles?  Ok I'll work on it but at least this way you are getting exactly what it says! :-)

Lasagna Rolls

This one is quick, easy, yummy, and lo cal!!

Box Whole Wheat Lasagna Noodles (follow directions on box to cook)

Filling
Fresh or frozen spinach 1 bunch or 1 bag
1-2 tblsp Olive Oil
Garlic 2-4 cloves peeled and crushed
1/2 white Onion diced
Spices as desired salt, pepper, caraway, oregano, parsley, basil, thyme
Low Fat Ricotta Cheese

Saute garlic and onion and add spices to olive oil, slowly add spinach until cooked.  Let this cool then add to the Ricotta cheese and mix together until smooth

Spread about 2 tblsp of the filling on each noodle and roll.  Put in a glass oven container

Spread freely with marinara sauce, this can be store bought or my favorite homemade sauce I posted here.

Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese then bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

For 2 rolls it is 310 calories and about 6g fat.


Work Joke

When I walked into work this morning I found these on my desk:

At first I was a little weirded out wandering who left that there, thinking maybe I shouldn't eat them in case it was a disgruntled employee.  Then in a meeting later that day my boss asked, "Did you like the tic tacs?" and started laughing.  I said "OOOOHHH that was you? Whew!"  See we are always joking because I startle him, he can never hear me coming and there's times I'm standing all the way in his office and I think he's seen me so I just wait for him to be done with what he's working on but then he looks up surprised because he didn't know I was there. 

We are also both big Seinfeld fans and we talk about that episode with Elaine and the Sideler.  She got him tic tacs to put in his pocket so she could hear him coming.  So when he saw those he had to get them for me! 

How is your December to Remember coming along?  I'm happy to say one week down and I'm sticking to my fitness/nutrition goals.!!!

Happy Training!

Spicy Chickpeas and Creamy Peas

As requested here are two recipes for some recent dishes I've cooked.  Chickpeas (garbanzo beans) are very high in protein!  I made some brown rice as a side with this.


Spicy Curry Chickpeas

Chickpeas (you can used can if you don’t want to cook these from scratch)
Onion (about ½ diced)
Garlic (2 cloves diced or pressed)
Green Chile (diced, to taste I used 2)
1 tsp Turmeric
1tsp Cumin
1 tsp Coriander seeds (mashed)
1 tsp Garam Masala
Salt and pepper to taste
Tomatoes (peeled & diced about 8 oz or to taste can use canned if want)
1 tblsp olive oil

Soak about 16 oz chickpeas overnight in water
Boil chickpeas for about 10 minutes then reduce to simmer and cook for another hour or until soft (or use canned)
Boil and peel tomatoes before dicing (or use canned)
In a separate pan sauté onions, garlic, all spices except garam masala, green chile for about 5 minutes
Add tomatoes and let simmer for about another 5 minutes (at this stage I added about ½ cup water but that is up to you if you want it a little more like a sauce)
Add Chickpeas and garam masala and cook for about another 5 minutes
Serve garnished with red onions and a side of brown rice

Creamy Peas

About 16 oz. peas (frozen or if fresh 16 oz. after taken out of pods)
8 oz. pearl onions (peeled)
Fresh parsley (chopped fine)
1 tbsp. olive oil or Earth Balance
¼ cup water
½  cup heavy cream or unsweetened soy milk
2 tbsp. flour
½ lemon
dd
Sautee the onions until browned
Boil the pea, and parsley in water for about 10 minutes
Add onions to peas
Mix the flour and cream/soy milk in a measuring cup until flour is dissolved
Lower heat on peas and add milk mixture and heat through (be careful not to cook for too long because then it will thicken too much)
Remove from heat and squeeze lemon juice and mix together


 Not requested but you get an extra bonus:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No not a boob shot just my new favorite shirt, but this confuses most people cause they don't understand why I would love that movie soo much, they've never heard of the other Ironman :-)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don't forget my Technical Hoodie Giveaway!

Local Organic Produce & Creamy Kale/Swiss Chard Sauce for Spaghetti

Now that I am on my own for the next year I made a few changes for example, I cut my Netflix down from 3 movies at a time to 1, I know big changes right?!?! :-)  I've decided I want to try and read more and since it's just me I don't have someone going, come on let's watch "Insert cheesy sci-fi, kung fu, or action movie title"   The other thing I changed was I signed up for a weekly delivery of local organic produce.  I'm going to try and eat less processed foods and more fresh foods.  So now I have to become even more creative and try to find recipes for stuff I've never used before, like tot soi a type of green.  One of their favorite things to include in your order is more than one type of leafy dark green.  Which I know is very healthy but can get a bit dull if you don't try new things.

Last night my first attempt at creativity was this Creamy Kale/Chard Sauce and it's not as unhealthy as it may sound.  Now I would recommend putting it over nice whole wheat noodles but I have a lot of left over stuck together lasagna noodles from my little mishap this weekend which I used.

Ingredients:
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
4 cloves garlic crushed
2 tomatoes chopped
1 bunch Swiss Chard
1 bunch Kale
1 large onion chopped
1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk (you can use regular milk if you'd like)
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
Noodles (your choice)
                                                              Tblsp Olive Oil
                                                              Salt/Pepper to taste

Directions:
Saute the onion, garlic and tomatoes in olive oil until soft and salt/pepper.  Add the kale and Swiss chard allow some of the water to cook off.  Cook your noodles per directions.  Add the cheese, milk and cream of mushroom soup at the end to warm and either serve on top of noodles or mix in.  This was quick easy and yummy!

Empanadas kind of night

So I was so tired and burnt out yesterday I decided to move my day off of the gym from Friday to Tues.  I figured I don't have to work friday so I can workout first thing in the morning :-)  But I'm back to it today weight lifting and a quick warm up mile and cool down mile. 

Last night I cooked and cleaned.  What did I cook you ask? 

Where did I get this wonderful recipe?

Super excited about this cookbook it reminds me of the stuff my family in Colombia cooks but Vegan! :-) 

This was an easy recipe to follow.  I might save this for a weekend meal just because it's a little time consuming or it might be good to make the dough ahead of time.
The filling was corn, green onions, garlic, soy creamer, smartbalance, cornstarch and seasoning salt, pepper, cayenne. 

Tasted way better than I make it look in this pic

The dough was really easy to make.  There was a lot of filling left over so it would either make more dough or less filling next time.

and voila final product:

And yes, the non-vegetarian in the family loved them he took like 5 of them to work today for lunch.

I was a little tired but this is the only one who got a nap:

Happy Trails!

As Promised.....

I don't think I've said this yet but I REALLY do appreciate the followers I have and the encouraging, kind, and sometimes funny words you all have to say!  I have had a couple of requests and sorry if it took me a while to get it up.  1st a while back I mentioned a funny picture about certain someone possibly being a drama queen when participating in the Ironkids Nationals and I had a request from KC for the pic well, here it is:    

Please don't laugh too hard!

Next request from more than one person was the coconut lime cupcake recipe 1st of all I want to give full credit to Post Punk Kitchen I got the book Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World and everything I've  made from there has been awesome even if you aren't vegan they are yummy.  The bf approved (he did say they weren't as pourus or fluffy as other cupcakes) but that he still liked them.

Cupcake

• 1/3c coconut oil (it's a little expensive but you can use it for other cooking not just baking these)
• 3/4c granulated sugar
• 1c coconut milk
• 1/4c soy milk
• 2t vanilla
• 1T lime zest
• 1c all purpose flour
• 1/2t baking soda
• 1/2t baking powder
• 1/4t salt
• 1c dried coconut, plus extra for topping the cupcakes

Frosting

• 1/2c nonhydrogenated shortening (I actually just doubled up on the earth balance below and didn't use this)
• 1/2c nonhydrogenated fake butter (I used Earth Balance you can use Smart Balance too)
• 3½c POWDERED (confectioners) sugar
• 1t vanilla
• 1/4c lime juice
• 1t lime zest
  ______________________________

1. preheat your oven to 350° and line cupcake tins
2. for cupcake: melt coconut oil in a small pan over low heat
3. mix together coconut oil and sugar
4. add coconut milk, soy milk, vanilla, and lime zest and mix well
5. mix in flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt
6. once smooth, add dried coconut and pour into cupcake pan
7. cook for 25 minutes and allow to cool completely before icing
8. for the frosting, beat the shortening and fake butter together until fluffy
9. add the sugar and beat 3 minutes
10. put vanilla and lime juice in, and mix 5-7 minutes more
11. add the lime zest and frost the cupcakes
12. Roll the frosted cupcakes in remaining coconut flakes and if you want top with lime slices to make pretty (Or just dig in and forget about formality)

Final announcement!!!! My 1st giveaway coming soon!!! I'm super excited about this stay tuned...

Rice Artichoke Salad

This is a recipe I adopted from a packaged rice box that wasn’t originally vegetarian. 

2 cups rice

4 cups vegetable broth

2-3 bottles of marinated artichoke hearts, chopped (reserve the liquid)

25 green olives (chopped)

2-3 celery stalks (chopped)

Garlic Powder or if Fresh about 1-2 cloves crushed

Curry Powder (to taste)

4 stalks green onion (chopped)

½ bell pepper (chopped)

½ -1 cup Vegenaise

Cook the rice following the directions on the package using the vegetable broth, I usually add extra spices to the broth for extra flavor (garlic, allspice, pepper, etc.)  Once the rice has cooled off mix it together with the rest of the ingredients in a big bowl, this includes the liquid you reserved from the artichoke hearts.  You can use mayonnaise in place of the Vegenaise if you are not vegan and if you want to use less then what it calls for you can replace ½ of it with plain fat free yogurt or up the spices like curry powder.  This is super easy and always a hit at dinner parties. 

My favorite homemade spaghetti sauce

I remember the 1st time I cooked this for my now bf this is what I made and I didn't tell him it was vegetarian until after we ate, now he requests it along with the vegetarian lasagna you can use this sauce for!

In food processor:
6-8 tomatoes (soft & ripe not green)
4 cloves garlic (at least the more the better is this household's motto)
1/2 bell pepper
1 onion
2-4 stalks celery
2 carrots
1-2 scallions
Splash of water

Blend until smooth no chunks...

In a large saucepan:
Sautee ground "meat" substitue (optional) in 1-2 tablespoons olive oil
Add mix from food processor, 2 tablespoons tomato paste, oregano, basil, thyme, salt, pepper, bay leaves, parsley

Bring to a boil then reduce to simmer, let cook 20-30 minutes you will see it turn a dark red...

For the lasagna I alternate layers of this sauce and a vegan white sauce that I make in between the lasagna noodles...

I feel good, I feel great, I feel wonderful (repeat)

As I started off on last week's long run (16 miles) Saturday morning I started on my usual routine of chanting in my head.  For the first half I chanted "I feel good, I feel great, I feel wonderful."  Over and over and over, it also helps when you envision Bill Murray repeating this as he rubs his temples at the beginning of "What about Bob?"  The first 2.5 miles were an uphill warm up not bad just a little slow, then the next 5.5 miles felt really good but I had to keep reminding myself not only was I going slightly downhill but the wind was at my back pushing me along.  Then as I was looking for the bf at the turn around I became concerned.  I didn't see him and he had been quite a ways ahead of me the whole way there.  So I thought maybe this wasn't the turn around so I kept running.  Finally, I gave up and turned around (probably added about 1 extra mile to my run).  Then the wind hit me full blast and so did the slight uphill.  At about mile 11 I had to start walking more often and for longer periods of time.  It was pretty miserable but I knew I couldn't stop.  I kept having to take stretch breaks.  Then the final 2.5 miles were downhill and the most brutal on my sore leges! 

As I got closer to the end I kept thinking ok if the bf is already done why hasn't he come in the car to check on me.  Also when ever the times get tougher I usually switch chants.  I start chanting "Come on (insert name), you can do it, put a lil' pooowwweerrr into it! and move 2,3,4 and move 2,3,4"  and I repeat that over and over then there comes the point where it becomes so painful I become present and that is the worst during a long run.  When you are not present it is easy to get through the run and minor uncomfortableness due to fatigue.  I realized how funny I sound sometimes when I tried telling my bf about this practice of chanting and how chearleader like it sounded at least it gave him a good laugh.  Turns out he finished behind me somehow we have no idea how cause on the way out he looked so strong.  We think that during the time I ran an extra mile at the turn around he had dodged in to McDonalds to get a cup of water (he had to ditch his belt at the start of the run) and we must have missed each other.  That still doesn't explain how I got so far ahead to where I was the one in the car picking him up (he only had about 1/2 mile left when I picked him up).  But we made it we did our long run.  Sunday we were soooo exhausted though.  All I managed to do was walk my dog for about 2 miles.  I have said this before and I stick to it WIND is my LEAST favorite element!!

It was my turn to bring a snack in to work this morning and I brought humus.  It is amazingly quick and easy to make and you can add all kinds of twists to it.  Today I made the basic humus.

Humus
1 can (14oz) garbanzo beans (chickpeas)
Lemon Juice (1 lemon)
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup plain fat free yogurt (or soy yogurt, or olive oil depends on if you are trying to cut out fat or dairy products)
2-3 tablespoons sesame seed paste (tahini)
2-3 cloves garlic
Salt
Throw all of it in a food processor and blend till smooth (add water if too thick)

Some of the things I might add (but not all at the same time just depends on what flavor I'm looking for) are: fresh parsley, green chile, chipotle powder, sun dried tomatoes or avocado.  You could drizzle a little bit of olive oil on top and some people put chunks of white onion sticking out.

Couscous Tacos

Quick and easy for those days you need something without much prep.  Again, one of those recipes that everyone enjoys, the meat eaters don't ask where's the beef they say this is good and forget it's vegetarian.

Sautee 1/2 chopped onion and 2 cloves garlic with olive oil to taste
Add 1 14 oz can diced tomatoes with green chile (or fresh if you have the time)
1 cup vegetable broth
1 cup couscous (whole wheat is healthier)
If you feel the need you can add 1/2 package tofu cubed (I actually prefer this recipe without it)
Spices: cumin, chile pepper, chipotle, salt, pepper to taste
Bring to a boil then let sit after you turn it off for about 5 - 10 minutes

Remember the left over corn tortillas that you probably have if you made the enchiladas you can just fry those and use them as taco shells.

Garnish with chopped lettuce, tomatoe, fresh cilantro, cheese (vegan or not).  And the big hit is usually home made guacamole.  Add lime to taste...

Green Chile Enchiladas

I have now made this recipe several different ways and it seems each time I try something new I perfect it a little more, so maybe you can add your twist.  BTW when I make the vegan version of this there have never been any complaints from the "meat eaters" in my life.

Green Chile Sauce
1 White onion
3-4 cloves garlic
1 can condensed cream of mushroom (vegan portobella version of this is yummy)
About 1 can Vegetable broth (depending on how thick you like it)
3-6 tomatoes diced
Cumin, Salt, Pepper, Chile Powder (to taste)
Fresh roasted green chile (as much as you can handle)

Sautee the 1st two ingredients with some olive oil until onions are clear but not brown.  Throw the rest in bring to a boil then let simmer for about 20 minutes.

Then in a glass pan start with a layer of sauce, add layer of corn tortillas, add layer of cheese (vegan or not a yellow variety is usually used).  Keep alternating these layers until last layer has both sauce and cheese.  Bake in oven for about 20 minutes or until cheese is melted.

I usually make a quick rice cooked with cilantro and add lime to it after cooked.

I'll post a picture if it's not all gone by the time I get home!