This Week in My Kitchen: Cauliflower Leek Soup, Rainbow Pasta Salad, Chocolate Chip Cookies

Cauliflower Leek Soup
I don't even really like cauliflower. I've always thought of it as a bland, white broccoli wannabe, and I love broccoli. So what possessed me to buy a head of cauliflower? Who knows? It sat in the fridge forever, and my friend Stephanie suggested I make soup. Good call. Three leeks came in the Spud delivery that very day, so cauliflower leek soup it was.
I cut the cauliflower into florets and the leeks into half-inch strips and put them into a pot with about 2 cups of vegetable broth. I covered the pot and let it cook for a little while, maybe 15 minutes, then pureed it all. I added some salt & pepper and there you have it. It was probably the simplest soup I've ever made, and it was delicious. Kirk raved about it and ate two bowls.
Maybe cauliflower is alright after all...

Rainbow Pasta Salad
My new favourite pasta is Mrs. Leeper's Corn Rotelli. The beautiful golden colour is what attracted me. The ingredient list is what convinced me: 100% organic corn flour. That's it. Sold.
For this pasta salad I cut a shallot, a yellow bell pepper (red would have been prettier, but yellow's what I had), and some baby carrots into pea-sized bits. I boiled the pasta and added the veggies, plus some frozen peas, in the last few minutes of cooking just to blanch them. I drained everything and added the dressing I made from Spectrum Eggless Canola Mayonnaise, dried dill, salt, pepper and a bit of turmeric for colour.
After chilling it for a couple if hours we dug in. It was pretty good and very pretty and fed us for two days.

Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
I had a sweet tooth the other night and made the Basic Chocolate Chip Cookies from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. The last time I made them they came out a little greasy, so I used a bit less canola oil and a pinch more flour. They came out good. Not fabulous, but good.

This Week in My Kitchen: Pasta Galore!

Even though it's the new year and time for a stab at healthier eating and weight loss, we're on carb overload in my house this week.

Rotini with Mushroom-Tomato Sauce
This is a weeknight favourite for Kirk and I. Easy to make, even easier to eat! Sauteed mushrooms, shallots and garlic with sun dried tomatoes and black olives in a can of crushed tomatoes, simmered with oregano and crushed pepper flakes and served over your favourite pasta noodles. What's not to like?

1 shallot, 1 clove of elephant garlic and a bunch of brown mushrooms in olive oil

Kirk doesn't like whole wheat pasta, so sometimes I humour him by going half & half

I dressed it up with a little Daiya that I bought for making lasagna.
I discovered that as good as Daiya is melted, it's kinda gross if it's not melted.

Veggie Lasagna
The only things I really miss cheese on are poutine and lasagna. I have to say, Daiya cheese has improved vegan lasagna for me tenfold. This is not something I make often, as it's a lot of work to put together, but I sure love it!
Here's a step-by-step of my lasagna building process:

1. Not pictured: Tomato Sauce - Sweat 2-3 cloves of garlic and 1 small onion in 2 tbsp of olive oil. Add 1 can of crushed tomatoes, some oregano, rosemary and crushed red pepper flakes to taste, and a pinch of salt. Simmer for a while, until slightly thickened.

 2. Layer One: Spread some tomato sauce on the bottom of the pan and cover with lasagna noodles (I used whole wheat noodles that needed to be precooked - just check your package and follow the instructions). Cover the noodles with a generous layer of fresh spinach, torn into bite-sized pieces and some Cashew Ricotta from Veganomicon.

3. Layer Two: Cover the spinach and ricotta layer with another layer of lasagna noodles. Top with a generous layer of tomato sauce and sliced mushrooms (any kind works).

4. Layer Two cont'd: Top the mushrooms with zucchini, sliced long & thin (I could have used a bigger zucchini).

5. Layer Three: Top the zucchini with another layer of noodles and tomato sauce, then more spinach, mushrooms and ricotta.

6. Top Layer: Top with one more layer of noodles and lots of tomato sauce, then 1/2-3/4 of a small bag of Daiya cheese.

7. Pop it in a 375 degree oven for 45 minutes. If the cheese doesn't brown, put it under the broiler, but only for a minute or two.

8. Take the lasagna out of the oven and let it cool for 5-10 minutes (it'll be watery if you cut it too soon).

9. Dig in! Eat up! Yum! I love the crusty end bits...