Pasta con Funghi

Pasta con Funghi

Yields one big serving or two small ones.

Cooking time: Approximately 25 min.

2/3 cup uncooked brown rice fusilli or pasta of your choice

Sauce:

1 1/2 cups sliced brown mushrooms

1/2 cup almond milk

2 tbsp vegan cream substitute (I used Oatly's oat cream)

1/2 tbsp brown rice flour or thickening of your choice

1 tsp dijon mustard

1/2 tsp vegetable bouillon powder

1 tbsp nutritional yeast

Salt, pepper and lemon juice (optional) to taste

Start by bringing a pot of water to the boil, to cook your pasta in later.

How to:
1. Place all of the above ingredients except for the brown rice flour, mushrooms and nutritional yeast in a small saucepan.
2. Bring the mixture to the boil.
3. Stir, then lower the heat and let simmer for a few minutes.
4. Next, add the brown rice flour (preferably through a sieve) and whisk as you go.
5. Put the nutritional yeast in, whisk again and leave the sauce to thicken over low heat while you prepare your mushrooms. (At this stage you could put your pasta in the boiling water so the all the components can be ready at the same time!)
6. In a separate pan, lightly sauté the mushrooms to cook some of the liquid off. You might want to use a bit of cooking oil in the bottom unless you have access to a non-stick pan.
7. Fold the sautéed mushrooms into the sauce, have a taste and add more seasoning if it needs it. Let simmer for a few more minutes for a thicker consistency.
8. Toss the pasta in the sauce and top with a few sun-dried tomatoes if you'd like!

Enjoy!

Healthy Peanut Satay Dipping Sauce

I love Asian cuisine. Japanese sushi, Indian daal, Chinese dumplings… the list goes on. Although I’ve often ordered home the healthier options, I can never quite get those amazing flavours to really sing in my own kitchen. Or at least until yesterday I couldn’t. That was when this Healthy Peanut Satay Sauce came to life. Lord, am I glad to have succeeded with this one! It still has that yummy taste of peanuts, mixed with the sweetness from the dates (!) and the hot bite from the Thai red curry paste.

Conventional Peanut Satay sauce isn’t too “unhealthy” except for the sugar but my very unconventional version is both sugar-free and (in my opinion) easier to make than the original.

Healthy Peanut Satay Dipping Sauce

Serves: 1

1 tbsp unsweetened almond milk*

1 tbsp peanut flour*

1 tsp tamari (Japanese soy sauce, not as salty as Chinese)

1 peeled and pitted fresh date, soaked for a few hours if it’s really hard to peel

1 tsp Thai red curry paste (a scant tsp if you want it to be less spicy)

How to:

1. In a small bowl or glass, mash the date with a fork and 1 tsp of the almond milk until it’s a smooth “paste” that’s easy to mix with the other ingredients. 
2. Pour in the rest of the ingredients and stir until they’re all evenly mixed in. Have a taste. And another. And another. And another  ;-)

I served it with steamed broccoli, brown rice and soy meat skewers and a few crushed peanuts on top for a little crunch!

*Note: If you want to use coconut milk and/or peanut butter instead, go ahead! I think it’s easier to make this way but we all have different preferences.

Creamy Avocado Pasta Sauce

Avocados. Up until a few weeks ago, I had never in my life eaten a whole avocado. Sure, a few bits and pieces here and there when I couldn’t help it, but never voluntarily. Don’t ask what happened between then and now because today, I honestly can’t imagine a life without avocados. Pair it with some good carbs (yes, carbs are fantabulous), veggies and you have a fool-proof, healthy and most of all d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s meal.

Creamy Avocado Pasta Sauce

Serves: 1

 ½ ripe avocado

 1 small handful each of fresh basil and baby spinach

 ¼ - ½ clove garlic

 1 – 2 tsp lemon juice

1/2 tbsp olive oil

 Salt and pepper to taste

How to:

1. Blend all ingredients with a hand blender until smooth and taste to see if it needs more of anything. If so, season until you're happy, blend again and voilà, you’re done!
Best eaten cold with pasta and vegetables of your choice!

Avoc love, Tilda

"Cheezy" Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce

I’m so sorry I haven’t had the time to update the blog but I’ve been a busy bee these past few days. I decided to take a scuba diving course so that I can go diving when we travel and it has really kept me occupied. I’ve loved every single minute (okay, lie, the theory lessons weren’t that much fun) and I can’t wait to go diving for real!

So, to this recipe then. I’ve seen more vegan mac and cheese recipes than I can count and I’ve been dying to try it out for myself, my only problem has been that I haven't known where to find nutritional yeast. If you don’t know what nutritional yeast is, I suggest you google it but I can tell you briefly that it’s a vegan, de-activated kind of yeast that has a slightly nutty and somewhat cheesy flavour. Obviously a great choice when making vegan dishes with “cheese” in them. What’s even better is that more often than not, nutritional yeast is PACKED with B-vitamins, thus also the much coveted vitamin B12. Since vitamin B12 is hard to incorporate in a vegan diet without taking supplements, I see nutritional yeast as a great alternative to pills or shots.

Hope you like this recipe, feel free to play around with the quantities a bit!

"Cheezy" Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce

Yields: 2 servings 

1 clove garlic 

2 tsp coconut oil 

1 cup cubed butternut squash 

½ cup almond milk 

1 ½ tbsp. nutritional yeast 

½ tsp vegetable bouillon powder 

1 tsp Dijon mustard 

½ tbsp. brown rice flour (or thickening of your choice such as arrowroot powder)

How to:

1. Start off by steaming or boiling your squash until it’s soft all the way through, this will take approximately 20-30 minutes depending on how big your chunks are.

2. Meanwhile, sauté 1 finely sliced clove of garlic with coconut oil in a small saucepan on medium heat until the smallest pieces start to brown, then quickly add the almond milk, mustard, bouillon powder, nutritional yeast and lastly the brown rice flour (through a sieve to prevent clumping). 
3. Let simmer for about 10 minutes and make sure to stir continuously as you go.

4. As soon as the butternut squash is cooked, take it off the heat and blend, in either a food processor or using a hand blender (I prefer the hand blender). 
5. Blend the squash purée with the ‘cheeze’ sauce, taste and add a little more bouillon/nutritional yeast if you want. Serve with freshly cooked pasta and veggies on the side!