Altering Recipes for Health

My son and daughter-in-law sent me a fabulous-looking recipe that I really wanted to try. After looking it over, I knew that due to having diabetes-in-remission, I wasn't going to be able to make the recipe exactly as is. However, I  didn't want to dismiss the recipe because it had great merit! So, don't be afraid to alter a recipe to meet your health needs.

The original recipe came from an incredible vegan website called "Rabbits and Wolves." The title of the recipe is "Creamy Tuscan Vegan 'Chicken' Milanese," and it can be found here. After reviewing the ingredients and instructions, I decided to make the following changes.

1) I used reduced-sodium soy sauce rather than regular to cut the sodium a bit.

2) I used whole wheat bread crumbs instead of Panko since I haven't been able to find whole grain Panko in the store and didn't have the energy to make my own.

3) Instead of dredging the patties in all-purpose flour and pan-frying them in oil, I skipped the flour and oil completely and baked the patties at 425 degrees on a parchment-lined baking pan for 10 minutes on one side and 14 minutes on the other. Worked like a charm!

4) I used 1/2 the cashews (total of 1/2 cup) in the sauce. This cut the nuts down to 2 T a person because there was enough sauce for 4 servings. However, I decided to use the same amount of veggie broth and nutritional yeast in the sauce as it called for. You could reduce the nutritional yeast to 1 T, but we love it, so I kept it as is. The sauce was plenty rich with half the cashews.

5) I sauteed 8 oz of sliced mushrooms in a little veggie broth before cooking the garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, and spinach. I just thought adding mushrooms to this sauce sounded amazing, and I was right!

6) After making the sauce and "chicken" patties and serving it for dinner, I realized I forgot to make the pasta! It was so good even without it!

Those were the changes I made, which allowed me to have a fabulous meal with quite a bit less fat, less sodium, whole grain, and more veggies. Yet, we didn't sacrifice any taste or texture!

Valentine's Day Calzones

Serves 3:

Filling:
8 oz. mushrooms, chopped finely
1/4 yellow bell pepper, diced small
1/4 red bell pepper, diced small
2 large handfuls of spinach, chopped finely
1/2 block firm or extra-firm tofu, drained, pressed, and crumbled small
2 T nutritional yeast flakes
1/2 t oregano
1/2 t basil
1/4-1/2 t salt

1 bag of Trader Joe's refrigerated whole wheat pizza dough (or homemade whole wheat dough)
1/4 cup (or more if needed) whole wheat pastry flour
Rolling pin and wooden board
Oil-Free Marinara Sauce

In a medium skillet over medium high heat, cook the mushrooms, peppers, and spinach until they are cooked and most of the moisture is gone. Set aside to cool a bit.

In a bowl, add the crumbled tofu, the nutritional yeast, and seasonings and stir together well. Then, add in the cooled. cooked vegetables and stir to combine. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
On a wooden board, spread out 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour. Tap the dough ball into the flour, then shape it into a tube shape. Cut into even thirds. Set two of the pieces aside as you work on rolling out the first piece with a rolling pin. Roll into a 6-inch circle. Place the dough on a parchment-lined baking sheet or pizza pan. Fill 1/2 of the circle with 1/3 of the filling, leaving a 3/4-inch border. Pull the other half of the dough over the filling and press edges well to seal. Do the same with the other two pieces of dough. Bake for 20 minutes or until the dough is lightly browned and firm.

Serve with Oil-Free Marinara Sauce and Vegan Parmesan Cheese.

Lavash Pizza

Eggplant Pepperoni

You might be asking, "What the heck are these???" Well tonight, we planned to make spinach mushroom calzones for dinner. My hubby likes Tofurky pepperoni in his; however, Whole Foods did not have any. So, I decided to do some research on how to make your own pepperoni spice and marinate circles of eggplant in the spice, dry them out in a low oven, and see if they made a good replacement. OH MY GOSH, Guys! These wonder circles taste JUST LIKE PEPPERONI!!!

1 t mustard seeds
1/2 t fennel seeds
1/4 t crushed red pepper (more if you like REALLY spicy pepperoni)
¼ t garlic powder
1/2 t paprika
1/4 t sugar
½ t. salt
1/2 t ground black pepper
1 t liquid smoke flavoring
1/4 cup water
1 small eggplant
1 small round cookie cutter (1 ½-2 1/2 inches in diameter) - optional

In a spice grinder/coffee grinder or mortar/pestle, add all of the spices (through salt in the ingredients). Pulse a few times so the fennel seeds and mustard seeds get cracked into small bits. Pour spice mixture into a small bowl. Add the liquid smoke and water to stir to create a marinade.
Pour the marinade in a glass pie plate.
Cut the eggplant into ½-inch slices. With the cookie cutter, cut out circles (avoiding the peel around the edges).
NOTE: If you don't have a cookie cutter, you can hand cut these or cut them into strips.
Place the circles into the marinade in a single layer.
Let the eggplant pieces soak up the marinade for about 30 minutes, then flip the eggplant circles over and let them marinate another 15 minutes. Discard marinade.
Place on a parchment paper-lined baking pan.
Bake at 225 degrees until almost dried out. This can take anywhere from 1-2 hours.

Making Spinach-Mushroom Calzones with Eggplant Pepperoni

Garlicky-Spinach Alfredo Pizza with Smoky Mushrooms

Recipe UPDATED on 11-3-2019

8 oz. baby bella mushrooms, sliced
1 T. liquid smoke
1 T. lite soy sauce
1/2 lb (about 1/2 bag) of frozen spinach
1/2 cup raw cashews (soaked for 4 hours if you don't have a high-speed blender)
1/2 cup water
2 small or 1 large clove of garlic
1 T. nutritional yeast flakes
1/4 t. sea salt
homemade oil-free pizza dough (or any other crust you like!)

Place mushrooms in a skillet with the liquid smoke and soy sauce. Cook them for about 5-10 minutes, so the sauces can be absorbed. Drain off excess liquid. Set aside.

While your mushrooms are cooking, add the cashews, 1/2 cup of water, garlic, nutritional yeast flakes, and salt to your cup blender and blend until smooth and creamy. Place spinach in a plastic bowl and microwave for 3 minutes. Let cool for a couple of minutes and pour off any excess liquid. Add sauce to the spinach. Stir to combine. Set aside.

Prepare your dough on your pizza pans. We have these personal-sized, nonstick pans that we really like! Top with the alfredo spinach. Add mushrooms to the top and bake at 525 degrees until the edges of the dough are browned and crispy (about 13 minutes). Cut and serve with vegan parmesan cheese:

Vegan Parmesan Cheese in Vitamix:
1 cup of slivered blanched almonds
¼ cup nutritional yeast flakes
½-¾ t. salt
Pulse in blender until desired consistency, but do not overblend.

Pasta Sauce Under Pressure

Sometimes, our weekend lunches are a compilation of what we have in the fridge left from the week. Today, I had one orange bell pepper, 8 oz of mushrooms, 1/2 a can of artichoke hearts (from our pizza earlier in the week), garlic cloves, and bunch of spinach. Adding those items to crushed tomatoes and salt-free tomato sauce along with plenty of seasonings and a touch of red wine, our lunch was DIVINE. This is what we ended up with...

2-3 garlic cloves, minced finely
1 28-oz can of organic crushed tomatoes (with or without basil)
1 15-oz can of salt-free organic tomato sauce
1 large bell pepper (red, orange, or yellow), chopped
8 oz. of mushrooms, washed and sliced
1 can of artichoke heart quarters (or chop whole ones)
3 large handfuls of fresh baby spinach
1/8-1/4 cup red wine
1/2-1 T. raw sugar (I used date sugar)
1 t. dried oregano
1 t. dried basil
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. black pepper

1 lb. whole grain pasta, cooked according to package directions
Vegan parmesan cheese (optional)

Place crush garlic in your pressure cooker and cook with 2 T. of the crushed tomatoes on your saute/brown feature for one minute. Add all of the ingredients EXCEPT the pasta and parmesan. Stir all ingredients together well. It may not seem "saucy" enough, but it will create the most delicious sauce!

Secure the top on your pressure cooker and cook for 6 minutes with quick release. Cook pasta according to package directions, strain and set aside so steam evaporates.

Taste and add additional salt/pepper to the sauce if desired. The sauce can sit on warm for as long as you need it to, or serve it right away.

Serve over whole grain pasta with vegan parmesan cheese.

Thug Kitchen Party Grub - Baked Ziti with Spinach

I had to take a pic of this before I completed the preparation so you could see what was under the sauce. This delightful dish, on p. 158 of Thug Kitchen's new cookbook ("Thug Kitchen Party Grub") is DE-LISH! Warning: the use of many pots, pans, skillets, utensils, and the opening of cans makes this dish not the easiest or low on effort. However, it makes a ton of food--enough for at least 8 servings.

Of course, I modified the recipe to remove oil and used whole grain pasta, but the result was (I'm sure) equivalent. I never miss oil in ANY recipe. In fact, if I could take back all of the oil I consumed for no reason throughout the years, I'm sure I would have been slimmer.

The sauce you mix the pasta with is a creative blend of artichoke hearts, a small amount of slivered blanched almonds, silken tofu and other seasonings. It is creamy and tasty and just, well, YUM! I made my own standard marinara, but they give you two recipes for red sauce to use in the cookbook if you don't have your own favorite. In addition to the sauce, there is lots spinach, onions, garlic, and fresh basil, so you're not short on veggies. Everyone in my family wanted seconds!

Get-Dinner-on-the-Table Pasta

On weeknights, I feel like it is essential to be able to make a healthy meal in 30 minutes or less. This delicious pasta dish (FULL of fresh veggies) is flavorful and satiating. It's made in the pressure cooker (though could easily also be made in a large pot or skillet on the stove) in minutes.

1 onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed
1 small eggplant, peeled and chopped into 1-inch chunks
3 organic zucchini, chopped into 1-inch chunks
2 cups of bell peppers (red, orange, yellow), chopped into 1-inch chunks
1 28-oz can of organic crushed tomatoes (with or without basil added)
1 15-oz. can of organic tomato sauce
1/4 cup red wine
2 t. dried basil
2 t. dried oregano
2 t. dried rosemary, crush finely
1/4-1/2 t. black pepper
3/4 t. salt
1 T coconut sugar
3 cups of fresh baby spinach
1 pound whole grain pasta of choice
Vegan parmesan cheese, optional

Chop all of your veggies and have them ready to go!
Add the onion to your pressure cooker and cook on brown/saute until tender and lightly browned. Add a little water if the onions get too dry.
Add garlic and cook for 1 more minute.
Dump all the rest of the ingredient (EXCEPT for the SPINACH) in the pressure cooker.
Cook for 6 minutes on pressure with NATURAL release.
When the top will open, add in the spinach, stir well, then close the lid and leave everything in there on WARM for another 10 minutes.
During this time, cook your pasta according to package directions.
When finished, serve the sauce over your pasta. Top with vegan parmesan cheese if you desire.

Pesto and Tofu Ricotta Veggie Calzone

Calzone BEFORE baking

A week or so ago, I made some Oil-Free Basil-Walnut Pesto with basil from my garden and froze it in small containers. Also, I batch cooked some homemade marinara sauce in the pressure cooker and froze portions of that as well. TA-DA! I was able to put together these AH-MAY-ZING plant-based calzones in minutes because I had batch cooked on a different day!

Tonight, I made a filling with mushrooms, zucchini, and red bell pepper (all diced small), which I steam-fried in a skillet. I added the pesto to the mixture and stirred it in well. Then, I quickly made up a small amount of spinach-basil tofu ricotta. It is SUPER easy to make! I just used 1/2 a block of extra firm tofu, which I pressed (you can also just drain it well) and crumbled into tiny pieces in a small bowl. I added 1 cup of spinach and 5 basil leaves which I finely chopped. Then, I added 1 T. nutritional yeast flakes, a few grinds of black pepper, and a pinch of salt.

We simply rolled out and stuffed Trader Joe's (refrigerated) whole wheat pizza dough (which I bought a while back, froze, and defrosted for tonight's dinner) with the veggie/pesto and tofu ricotta mixtures. Then, I pressed the edges well and brushed the tops with some aquafaba (just because I had some leftover in the fridge!) and baked them at 350 degrees (on a parchment-lined baking sheet) until lightly browned (about 20 minutes). Then, we served them with the warmed marinara and sprinkled the tops with Homemade Vegan Parmesan. DELISH!

Pesto and Tofu Ricotta Veggie Calzone

Oil-Free Basil Walnut Pesto

2 cups of fresh basil
1/2 cup walnuts
1 T. chia seeds
1-2 cloves of garlic
1 t. fresh lemon juice
1/4 t. salt
1-2 T water

Blend all ingredients in a food processor. Serve over pasta, as a base for pizza,  or as a salad seasoning!

Pasta and Spinach in Garlicky Cauliflower "Cream" Sauce

24 oz. whole grain penne pasta
1/2 head of cauliflower, cut into florets (remove stems)
1/2 cup unsweetened non-dairy milk
2 small cloves of garlic
1 t. white or yellow mild miso paste
1 t. fresh lemon juice
1/8 t. black pepper
3/4 t. salt

4 cups of fresh spinach, chopped

Boil cauliflower until mushy (or cook in pressure cooker for 8 minutes and do a quick release).
Add the cauliflower to your blender with the non-dairy milk, garlic, miso paste, lemon juice, pepper, and salt. Blend until silky smooth. Set aside.

In a large pot, boil pasta according to package directions. One minute before pasta is ready, add chopped spinach into the pot. When the pasta is al dente, strain pasta/spinach well. Return pasta and spinach to pot. Add Garlicky Cauliflower "Cream" Sauce and cook for 3-5 minutes over medium low heat. Serve with vegan parmesan cheese.

Extra Creamy Tomato Spinach Pasta

This is a fabulous, super-easy recipe from Simple Daily Recipes.

I made a few modifications to reduce the fat and add more whole foods to it. It was DELIGHTFUL and the whole family loved it!

Sauce:
1/2 cup cashews

1 cup unsweetened soy milk

3 T nutritional yeast

3 T tomato paste

2 t dried oregano

1 t salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1-pound whole-grain dry pasta

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 26-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained

10-12 ounces fresh chopped organic spinach

Boil pasta according to package directions (al dente) in a large pot or dutch oven. While pasta is cooking, make sauce in a high-speed blender by blending the cashews, soy milk, nutritional yeast, tomato paste, oregano, salt and pepper into a smooth consistency. Set aside.

In a large skillet or in your pressure cooker (use the saute or brown feature), steamfry onion and garlic until the onion is translucent, around 8 minutes. Add a tablespoon or two of water if the pot/skillet gets dry. Add in drained diced tomatoes and chopped spinach. Cook another 5-7 minutes, or until the spinach is wilted and lightly cooked.

Meanwhile, the pasta ought to be cooked al dente by now. Drain it off into a colander. Add the pasta and creamy sauce to the veggies in the skillet or pressure cooker.  Fold all ingredients together until everything is well coated with the sauce. Add salt and pepper to taste. You can keep this dish on "warm" in the pressure cooker until you are ready to eat!

 

Adapted from Simple Daily Recipes

Plant-Based Pizza

At least twice a month, we have Pizza Night at our house. It's easy for us to throw together chopped veggies (we like to use bell peppers, zucchini, mushrooms, artichoke hearts, and olives, and sometimes, we even add pineapple chunks!),  a quick pizza sauce*, use Trader Joe's whole wheat pizza dough for the crust, and top with homemade vegan parmesan**. I heard that Engine 2 is coming out with an oil-free crust soon (will be available at Whole Foods), so we may move to using that crust.

The key to successful pizza is baking them in a HOT oven. We set ours to 550 degrees (the highest it will go). They cook pretty fast, maybe only 7-8 minutes. ALSO,  we purchased personal-sized, non-stick pans that you can find at Amazon.com so everyone can make their own. The pizzas slip right off the pans, making cleanup super easy.

*Easy Oil-Free Pizza Sauce:
One 28-oz. can of organic crushed tomatoes with basil
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 t. dried basil
1 t. dried oregano
pepper to taste
1 T of ketchup (optional, if you like your sauce a bit sweeter)

In a medium saucepan, cook the garlic for one minute in a tablespoon of the tomatoes. Add the rest of the tomatoes and seasonings (and ketchup, if using)  and warm for at least 10 minutes before putting on pizza dough.

or

Smoky Sundried Tomato Pizza Sauce:
1/4 C of raw cashews, soaked in cold water for 2 hours or more
1/2 C. of smoked sundried tomatoes (in a bag not in oil), soaked in cold water for at least 30 minutes
¼-1/2 t  salt
Black pepper to taste
1 small clove of garlic
A sprig of fresh basil – 3 or 4 leaves
Water

Drain off the water from the cashews and the sun dried tomatoes.
Blend all ingredients in the Vitamix, adding water to desired consistency


**Vegan Parmesan Cheese in Vitamix:
1 cup of slivered blanched almonds
¼ cup nutritional yeast flakes
½-¾ t. salt

Pulse in blender until desired consistency, but do not overblend.

Oven "Fried" Eggplant with Marinara Sauce

These Oven "Fried" Eggplant with Marinara Sauce came out spectacular! Peel and slice 3-4 medium sized Italian eggplants about 1/4-inch thick.
Create a flax "egg" dip by mixing 2 T. of ground flaxseeds with 1 1/4 cups of UNSWEETENED almond milk. Set aside for 5 minutes until they become gooey like egg whites! Dip slices into the flax egg, one by one. Then, dredge in the seasoned breadcrumbs.
Bake on 425 degrees (convection) or 450 degrees  for 35-40 on parchment-lined baking sheets, turning them over after 20 minutes. Serve with marinara sauce!

Make-Your-Own Pizza and Vegan Parmesan Cheese

I know...it's pizza night at our house A LOT. We make personal-sized make-your-own pizza at least every other week. It's such a wonderful way to get veggies into a meal without a ton of effort. This pizza has leftover arrabbiata sauce from last night as the base with peppers, zucchini, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, and artichoke hearts on it. SCRUMPTIOUS! The crust is Trader Joe's Whole Wheat Pizza Dough (which is only $1.19 a bag -- which makes three personal-sized pizzas!). Topped with our three-ingredient vegan parmesan cheese (recipe below).

Vegan Parmesan Cheese in Vitamix:
1 cup of slivered blanched almonds
¼ cup nutritional yeast flakes
½-¾ t. salt
Pulse in blender until desired consistency, but do not overblend.

Penne Arrabbiata

4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 t. dried basil
1 t. dried oregano
1/4 t. crushed red pepper
1/2 t. sea salt
1/4 t. freshly ground black pepper
1 28-ounce can organic crushed tomatoes with basil
1 T. raw sugar or date syrup
1 lb. whole wheat penne noodles, cooked according to package directions

In a saucepan, cook minced garlic in a small amount of the crushed tomatoes for about 1 minute over medium heat. Add all other ingredients and simmer (covered) for about 15-20 minutes. Serve over whole grain pasta with vegan parmesan cheese and sides of green veggies.