Dinner Party-worthy Vegan Spaghetti

Back when I was single, my go-to dinner party food was spaghetti.  I say this with the same pride that one might say, "I always make a sublime coc au vin for our dinner parties."  Spaghetti cannot, technically, be considered an adequate dinner party food, particularly when most of it comes from a jar or can.
Having aged evolved a bit, my current version of spaghetti is a family favorite.  This has not always been the case.  When I first made it for the children, it contained a good deal of ground beef AND ground turkey.  They loved it.  It was because of that recipe that we came up with a rule that a full glass of water had to be consumed and 10 minutes needed to pass before seconds could be eaten.  They would wolf the spaghetti down so fast we occasionally worried they might take us with them.  And we NEVER had any left-overs.  The water/10 minute trick worked...about 1/2 the time.  The other 1/2 they spent slurping down anything in their site that remotely resembled tomato sauce.
Then there were the initial months of me cooking as a vegetarian.  They still liked the taste of the sauce, but there seemed to be a lot more left-overs.  They weren't all that thrilled with the chunkiness of the vegetable-packed sauce.  It was a texture thing.
So, I started to puree the vegetables a la that one celebrity and that one cookbook author who keep fighting over whose idea it was first.  This was fine for a while, but they really missed the texture they had so thoroughly enjoyed when the sauce was laden with meat.
Sidebar: I don't require my family to be vegetarians.  Since I make the majority of the food, however, I do cook vegetarian.  Though I am willing to add cheese to their food, I am not interested in fiddling with raw meat.  Therefore, they don't eat a lot of meat at home.
Anywho... I tried adding beans to offer some texture, but they were not fooled.  Still, they never lost hope.   They tirelessly requested spaghetti for dinner and went into each venture deeply faithful that Mamma would come through.  I rarely did.  Until now!
My last few spaghetti dinners have been wildly successful and we are once again enforcing the water/10 minute rule in a frequently futile attempt to garner some left-overs.  The trick is ...
Are you sitting down for this?
The trick is ...
FALAFEL MIX!
That's right.  Falafel Mix.  Could you just pee your pants right there?  Falafel Mix!
Here's how it works...
Dinner Party-worthy Vegan Spaghetti
(serves a family of 5 with left-overs, if you employ the water/10 minute rule)
Ingredients:
Spaghetti noodles (We use brown rice noodles when the livin' is easy and Thai rice noodles, the cheap ones from Asian markets, when things are a little tight)
1 c. boxed Falafel Mix (I use Ziyad Brand Falefil [sic] Mix)
3/4 c. cold water
2-3 large cans crushed tomatoes or tomato sauce (depending on your preference and on how much you want)
1-2 large onions, diced (depending on how much you like onions and how badly they make you cry)
1 T. olive oil plus 1 T. olive oil
1-2 c. diced vegetables (like zucchini, eggplant, mushrooms, carrots)
5 cloves garlic, chopped (I LOVE garlic)
1 t. parsley (to taste)
2 t. basil (to taste)
1/2 t. thyme (to taste)
1-2 t. cinnamon (to taste)
salt and pepper to taste
10 pitted Kalamata black olives, chopped
If you like it a little sweet, 1 T. agave
Put Falafel Mix in a bowl with water and let sit 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a large saucepan.  When warm, add diced onions.  When onions start to brown, add garlic.  Saute 2 minutes more.  Add all other ingredients, except Falafel mixture, and stir.  Bring to a boil and then simmer.
In a saute pan, heat olive oil on medium.  When hot, add the Falafel mixture and pat down with a spatula, as if you were making an enormous pancake.  To make this easier, you can also form burger-sized patties and add those to the pan.  It's just not as fun to flip when you get to the next step.  When brown on one side, flip.  Let brown just slightly and then take the sharp edge of the spatula and start to break apart until it has the same consistency as ground meat.  Brown a few more minutes.  You want it to be chewy.
Add Felafel mixture to spaghetti sauce and stir.  Continue to simmer ever so slightly while you make the noodles per package directions (If you are like me, you would have started the water the minute the onions first hit the pan and your water would be furiously boiling by now, causing you to shoo the children from the kitchen for fear they might get caught in a tidal wave of boiling water).
Drain and rinse noodles and serve on a plate drenched in sauce.  Drink water and wait 10 minutes before having seconds.  Trust me.

I like to top the noodles with some spaghetti
squash before topping with the sauce.

Figs! Glorious Figs!

I unapologetically call them sweet little balls of joy.  When figs first appear each August, I momentarily forgive them for the message they bring: that summer is coming to a close.  How could I stay angry at such a lovely little piece of fruit, with its figgy goodness all soft and sweet inside its perfect purple skin?  Alas, the fig is such a fleeting lover.  It arrives in late summer and only stays long enough for me to fall madly in love with it all over again before it leaves me, desperate and brokenhearted.
If you have never tried a fig before, I urge you to get some the next time you are at the grocery store or Farmers Market.  They are so lovely and delicate that you can't find them any other time of year.  They are lightly sweet, just enough to satisfy, almost like a large, creamy grape.  Oh dear...I hope the thought of a creamy grape doesn't turn people away from the fig.  It's the best I could do except to say that they are my favorite fruit and make me happy each August, even though I know summer is ending.  To inspire you, here is a recipe that showcases the fig's goodness.
I thought of this recipe because I was, believe it or not, craving a wilted steak salad.  I'd had one once, and only once, during my carnivorous era.  There was something special about the way the hot, juicy steak slightly wilted the cool, crunchy spinach.  My craving, I realized, had nothing to do with the actual steak and everything to do with hot and juicy against cool and crunchy (my goodness, this is a rather suggestive post all around).   A portabello mushroom replaces the steak beautifully in this recipe.  My eldest daughter, she who consumes copious amounts of meat, LOVES this salad.  It is also easy enough to prepare for a quick dinner and elegant enough to serve at a dinner party.
Wilted Fig Salad
(serves 4)
8 cups of spinach, washed, dried, and stems cut off
12 figs, stems removed and quartered
2 carrots, cut into thin slices or julienned
2 large onions, cut in half and then sliced fairly thinly
4 portabello mushrooms, sliced lengthwise
1-2 T. olive oil
1/2 c. balsamic vinegar
1 t. garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
1 T. Dijon mustard
1 more T. olive oil
To prepare the dressing, combine the vinegar, 1 T. olive oil, garlic powder, mustard, and salt and pepper to taste.  Whisk.  Set aside.
To prepare the salad, heat 1-2 T. olive oil in a pan (depending on how big your mushrooms are).  Add onions and saute.  When the onions start to brown a little, add the mushroom slices.  Continue to saute until the mushrooms are cooked through.  Meanwhile, on each plate, place 2 c. spinach, 1/4 of the figs, and 1/4 of the carrot slices (You can also do this all in a bowl and toss it with the dressing, but I would be terrified that I might not get my equal share of figs).  When the onions and mushrooms are done, portion them out on top of the 4 salads.  Top with dressing and enjoy nice and hot.
I would have a nice picture of the salad, except it was gone too fast for anyone to think of taking out the camera and getting a photo.

Look at these beauties!

Vegan Pate

You read that correctly.  Vegan Pate.  You know, it feels a bit weird to call anything that is vegan a pate, considering that a pate is typically some sort of pureed meat.  But I suppose if Boca can call their creations "burgers", then I can call this a pate.
This is one of my favorite recipes.  All of my kids love it.  We will often eat it with Totopos, Mexican style tortilla chips, and allow that to serve as the entire meal.  Besides being creamy and filling, it is packed with protein, fiber and vitamins -- the good ones from green veggies.  The adults with whom I have shared this dip comment that they do not miss the missing ingredients at all.  It can rival those gooey, cheesy artichoke or spinach dips at any party.
I like to serve this dip warm, but it is also good cold and refrigerates well for several days.
Vegan Pate
1/2 onion
2 c. green beans or 2 cups spinach, fresh or frozen (let frozen drain a bit once thawed)
1/2-1 T. olive oil (if you prefer less fat, use the former; if you could care less, use the latter and add a bit more)
1 small can or 1 3/4 c. cannelloni beans
1 T. dry parsley or 2-3 T. fresh parsley
pepper to taste
juice of 1 lemon or 2 T. balsamic vinegar
1 t. garlic powder
1/4 c. walnuts
Saute onions in oil until they have browned a bit.  Add green beans or spinach and cook until green beans are tender or spinach is cooked through.  While the veggies are cooking,  put all other ingredients in a food processor.  Add the cooked veggies and puree.   Serve warm or cold with chips or crudite (cold vegetables).
I sure wish I knew how to add accents into my blog posting.  The above post would look much more French.

Mocha Sandwich Cookies

My husband's grandmother used to make the most incredible caramel cookie sandwiches.   We liked to freeze them and eat them straight out of the freezer.   They were better than any Girl Scout Cookie, another freezer favorite.  These, however, are not them.   I am pretty sure it would be disrespectful to bastardize her cookies in any way, shape, or form, much less removing such Norwegian favorites as butter and plenty of sugar.  Instead, I have taken the idea of her cookies and created a gluten-free, vegan cookie sandwich that is best enjoyed frozen.  But, the sandwich part, the frozen part, and the part where her grandson stands by the counter with puppy dog eyes begging for a bit of dough, are the only similarities to the original inspiration for this cookie.
I made a batch of these and brought them to a playdate.  They were a big hit.  The 8 kids there, ranging in age from five to nine, loved them.  The adults loved them.  My biggest culinary critic, Little Av, who has been known to pick the chocolate chips out of her chocolate chip cookies (true story) and who once poo-pooed boxed mac-n-cheese because her mother had -- GASP! -- made them with a different brand of butter, gave them a thumbs up (full disclosure: Little Av's version of a thumbs-up was to lick the frosting out of the middle, eat one bite of the cookie, and give the rest to her mom).
Mocha Sandwich Cookies
3/4 c. almond meal
1/2 c. teff flour or other flour of choice (Teff adds more protein, as well as calcium, thiamin and iron)
1/2 c. brown rice flour
4 T. flax meal, preferably golden (if you don't have this, just use 4 T. more flour)
5 T. Earth Balance
1/2 c. agave
1/4 c. very finely ground decaf coffee OR 2T. decaf coffee and 2T. cocoa powder)
Filling
1/3 c. plus 1-2 T. cocoa powder (to taste)
scant 1/3 c. agave
1/3 c. Vegan spread (I use Soy-free Earth Balance)
Make frosting first.  Refrigerate.  You could even freeze it, which makes it easier to sandwich between the cookies.
Put all cookie ingredients in a food processor and blend very well.    The dough will start to stick together. Refrigerate for about 10-20 minutes to allow the vegan spread to firm up and the flax to absorb some liquid.  The dough will feel like slightly moist play-doh fresh from the container at first.  Roll out onto a  floured surface (white rice flour works best) with a floured rolling pin.  Cut into small circles with a floured cookie cutter (or the floured rim of a shot glass).  As you work with it, it will begin to feel like play-doh without the moisture.  After cutting your first round of cookies, you will need to gather the scraps, knead them into a ball in your hands again, and roll out once more.  These will not rise or expand very much at all so don’t worry about placing them close together on the cookie sheet.  Bake for 12-14 minutes at 350 degrees.  They will not be completely hard when warm from the over, but slightly soft with a little give.  They will harden as they cool.
Cool completely (about 10 minutes) and freeze for about 10-15 minutes.
Make sandwiches with a little less than a teaspoon of frosting and 2 cookies.  Freeze.  These taste best frozen and are also cleaner frozen as the vegan spread doesn't give the frosting a lot of heft.

Girl Scouts, eat your heart out!

What in the Name of Twinkies are you Thinking?

It does seem an odd thing to voluntarily give up so many foods.  Meat.  Dairy.  Gluten.  Sugar.  Soy.  Why would anyone do that?  I can explain.
I'll start with gluten.  My youngest daughter has Celiac Disease.  You don't want me to describe what happens when she eats gluten.  We are in the process of trying to figure out if casein might also be an issue for her.  It does seem to have some nasty consequences.  In addition, my husband cannot tolerate wheat.  It stuffs up his sinuses, adds weight to his gut, and makes his cholesterol skyrocket.  When he gave it up, he lost 60 pounds without counting a single calorie.  So, while I will eat gluten when out and about and still buy one or two items with gluten for my other two kids (when the gluten-free alternative is just too expensive to feed an entire family), I keep a mostly gluten-free household.
That one was easy.  It's always easy to explain giving up a food when allergies or intolerances are involved.  Which brings me to soy.  If it's processed, I can't eat it.  It makes my heart palpitate.  No kidding.
Then there is sugar.  Hi, my name is Paula and I am a sugar addict.  True story.  Sugar makes me want to eat everything in sight.  I once made S'mores Nachos.  I put Totopos, our favorite brand of tortilla chips, found in the Mexican aisle, on a plate, sprinkled (read dumped) chocolate chips on them, carefully placed 6-8 large marshmallows on top, and then nuked the whole thing for 20 seconds, just enough for the marshmallows to threaten explosion.  So, three months ago I broke up with sugar for good.  I have never been one to use artificial sweeteners as they give me a headache and are, well, artificial.  I do use agave, however, so you will find plenty of sweets here.
What's next?  Ah yes.  Meat and dairy.  Ooooh, see now...I hate conflict.  How do I say this without offending anyone?  Let's see.  I could write how, when I think dairy, I think pus.  But that's just me.  I get myself all worked up like that.  I don't think anyone would argue that the current manner in which livestock is raised and slaughtered in this country is less than ideal, inhumane even.  There is also the environmental impact of raising and consuming meat and dairy to consider.  And then there is the fact that meat and dairy just plain old make me feel like the unmentionable stuff that comes out of my youngest daughter when she eats gluten.
Finally, I have been slowly working to lose a little weight, trying to do it in the most healthy way possible.  Meat, dairy, and sugar just do not make losing weight easy at all.  I am not one of those people who does moderation very well.  In fact, I am a complete failure at it.  To make matters more complicated, this past year I went into atrial-fibrillation twice, both times while eating frozen yogurt.  In each case, I had just completed a very long work-out and in both cases, the ice cold yogurt sent my nicely warm and over-exerted heart into electrical confusion (I apparently have not evolved enough to handle refrigeration).  It's not actually a big deal because my cardiologist (because I, in my early 40's, have one of those now) checked my heart out thoroughly and found it to be freakishly perfect (freakishlybecause my father died at 44 of heart disease and because I still have some weight to lose).  Nonetheless, one does not spend two hospital stays on the cardiology floor planning their next fat-laden, diabetic-coma-inducing meal.  I spent it planning my very long future with my three children, wonderful husband, and all the grandchildren I will have.  And so, to that end, I come to this place where meat, dairy, and sugar are not welcome.
Whatever reasons you might have for eschewing this slightly daunting list of foods, I hope that you will enjoy the fruits of my labor.  I try and avoid processed food as much as possible, both for financial and health reasons, and so I do a lot of cooking from scratch.  May you and your heart/conscious/family/allergies benefit from the recipes you will find here.
Bon Appetit!

Vegan Chocolate Cake of Happiness

I thought I would start with a bang, a big 'ole chocolate bang.
Our family attended the birthday party of our very good friends recently.  We'll call the host, my friend, A-funk.  I volunteered to bring a cake because poor A-funk had already purchased one cake for her youngest daughter, who specifically requested a cake "with gluten".  It WAS a celebration of her birthday after all.  Ah, but it was also a party to celebrate her sister's birthday.  Her sister does not eat gluten so her mom also made a cake for her and for any other gluten-free guests, my daughter included.  But then there were little Lu, Little Ni, and little 'ole me.  Like me, little Lu eats no sugar, gluten, or dairy; Little Ni eats no dairy.  If I had been the only problem guest, I would have just sucked it up and not eaten cake.  But little Lu and Little Ni are, well, little, and that's just mean.
I came up with this cake by varying the ingredients of a very popular brownie recipe that has been traveling the web and playdates all over the place.  You can find a version of it here.  I knew it would be dense without the addition of real eggs and I was concerned that it might not be sweet enough for little Lu.  It did turn out to be dense, much like a flourless chocolate cake.  This is a good thing really.  It is more like a fudge cake than the traditional fluffy sort of cake gluten creates.  It was plenty sweet.  I made up the frosting recipe on the fly.  The frosting was so good that A-funk forced me to make another batch for the two of us to snack on while playing cards the night before the party.
Little Lu LOVED this cake and requested and ate a second piece.  Little Ni seemed equally pleased.  In fact, several people who normally eat all the ingredients I eliminated sang its praises (even after stuffing their faces with the store bought concoction of deadly purple dyes and insulin spurting white flours).  The greatest compliment, however, came from A-funk's mother-in-law, a true foodie and incredible cook with a few of her own dietary limitations, who made some pleasant oohs and aaahs upon eating her piece.
Chocolate Fudge Cake
Ingredients:
2 c. white cannellini beans, rinsed extremely well to eliminate post-party flatulence
1 c. agave
1  1/2 c. chopped unsweetened chocolate (I used the bar from Trader Joe's)
1 T. plus 1 t. egg replacer without added water (I used Ener-G brand)
1 t. baking powder
Prepare an 8 inch cake pan with a little vegan spread (I used the Soy-free Earth Balance) and some brown rice flour or corn meal.  I used a cheesecake pan so it would be easier to get the cake out.  Preheat the over to 350 degrees.
Melt the chocolate in a double boiler.  You can melt it in the microwave too.  Just melt it on a lower power so that it doesn't burn.  While chocolate is melting, add all other ingredients to a food processor or a really good blender (and I mean a REALLY good blender!).  Process ingredients until there are no more bean chunks.  Add the melted chocolate and process again until it is well blended.  Pour into cake pan.  Bake for about 30 minutes.  You will want to test it at 30 minutes to make sure it is cooked.  Tester will come out more moist than crumby, but not mushy.
Chocolate Frosting
Ingredients:
1/2 c. vegan spread (I use Soy-free Earth Balance)
3/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
a scant 1/2 c. agave
Mix together in a mixer or with a hand mixer.  You can use a whisk if you first melt the spread.  You will just have to refrigerate the frosting for an hour or so before frosting the cake.  Frost cake once very cool.

The shadow on the cake is a very happy little Lu looking over it.