Italian Flag Pizza

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Obviously named because of it colors, this pizza is satisfyingly tasty and pretty healthy.

1 package pizza dough regular or whole wheat
Spinach pesto (recipe below)
sundried tomatoes
kalamata olives
fresh tomatoes
1/2 cup extra firm tofu crumbled and mixed with garlic powder, dried oregano, salt and fresh ground pepper.

Spinach pesto:
2 cups baby spinach
handful basil leaves
1 clove garlic
1-2 TBS EVOO
salt and pepper to taste
pinch of red chile flakes

Combine in blender or food processor until smooth. Spread on prepared pizza base and add toppings in order listed above. Bake according to package directions ours was 12min at 425.

White bean pesto burgers

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Ingredients:
Kalmata olives
Basil
2 Cloves garlic
Sun-dried tomatoes in oil
2 TBS EVOO
1 Can white beans
1/4 cup whole wheat or regular breadcrumbs
1 lemon
Ciabatta rolls
Red pepper Aioli (in this post)
Put olives, basil, garlic, tomatoes and 1TBS olive oil in a mini food processor. Add some pepper to taste. Mash white beans in a bowl with other TBS of EVOO. Add pesto paste and mix with the zest and juice of half a lemon. Add bread crumbs and lightly pan fry burgers and serve on toasted ciabatta with aioli and arugala dressed with lemon juice.

Vegan Tappas

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I've talked about my friend Sarah before, she's the one with the awesome guacamole that I never have the patience to make. Sarah moved to Chicago about a year ago and I really miss cooking with her, but she came into town last month and I knew we should throw an awesome party!
Grapefruit Confetti Salad
Use a food processor to grate two raw peeled beets, and three large carrots (or just but the pre-grated carrots like I did). Supreme one large grapefruit and reserve the juice in a bowl and set sections aside. Add 1TBS EVOO to grapefruit juice as well as 1tsp cumin and chopped cilantro. Whisk together and pour over the shredded vegetables. Let sit for a couple hours and then scoop veggies into endive leaves. Place a grapefruit section on top of each one.
Zucchini Fritters and Red Pepper Aioli
Rinse off that food processor and grate two white potatoes, 1 large zucchini, 1 small sweet onion. Place mixture in bowl and coat lightly with cornstarch (a little less than a 1/4 cup), salt and pepper liberally. About 20 min before you want to serve add about 1/4 cup water and 1/4 flour to make a pste/dough consistency. Scoop a couple of TBS of mixture into a hot skillet with evoo. Fry about 4 at a time and drain on a paper bag or paper towels.
Serve with Red Pepper Aioli:
2 Roasted red peppers (from a jar or do it yourself)
1 Clove garlic
3 TBS fresh parsley
1-2 TBS vegan mayonnaise (optional-I've tried it both ways and both are good)
Green Olive Crostini
Combine 1 cup pitted green olives (not in a jar), 1 clove garlic, a large handful of parseley, 1-2 TBS EVOO, and zest of one lemon. Pulse in a food processor and spread on slices of baguette. Bake for 15 min in a 350 oven. Top with half a cherry tomato and serve.
Sweet Potato Quesadillas
These were the hit of that party from what I heard so make A LOT! This recipe was enough for 27 pieces and I'm sure if I had give my friends more they would have eaten them. Bake 3 LARGE sweet potatoes or four regular ones in the oven for 1 hour until they are tender. Peel off skin, and put in food processor ith 1/4 cup cilantro and 2 chipotle peppers in adobo. Blend until smooth and fold in 1 can black beans. Spread mixture on 1 half of a flour tortilla and fold over. Place on a baking sheet sprayed with non stick spray and bake at 350 for 15 min flipping halfway through. Cut each tortilla into 3 pieces and serve with guacamole.
Chocolate Truffles
10oz dark chocolate chopped finely (we used the food processor)
3/4 cup coconut milk (not light)
2 TBS cointreau or vanilla depending on which truffle you want to make

Heat coconut milk until very hot but not boiling. Pour milk over chocolate in a glass or stainless bowl. Stir in the extract or liquor and then let chocolate set and cool in fridge. Scoop with a melon baller then roll into balls with hand. Then roll in topping of your choice. We made a double batch and made three kinds of truffles.

Vanilla rolled in toasted chopped almonds
Vanilla rolled in coconut
Cointreau rolled in cocoa

The party was a great success and we all enjoyed seeing Sarah. She also took these great photos! Thanks Sarah and we miss you!

Spinach and Eggplant Muffaletta

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The muffaletta is a specialty from New Orleans where we went to college. Traditionally it is filled with Italian meats and cheese but more importantly it is dressed with an olive salad and olive oil that soaks into the bread. We love the city and LOVE the sandwich. This is a meat free version stuffed with roasted eggplant, spinach, tomato. If you can buy olive salad in New Orleans go ahead but below is my "jazzed up version" which is not necessarily traditional but adds a lot of flavor to a meat free sandwich.

One loaf very crusty bread (you don't want olive salad soaking all the way through)
Tomatoes
Baby spinach
One eggplant sliced and salted then baked for 25 minutes at 375 (spray with pam and flip halfway through baking)
*Roasted red peppers, zuchinni, or red onion would also be good additions here

Olive Salad:
1 cup kalmata olives
1 cup small green olives
1/2 jar Giardiniera (pickled vegetable salad usually in the international food isle)
2 or 3 pepperoncini peppers or banana peppers
3 TBS sundried tomatoes in oil
handful Italian parsley
1 teaspoon garlic powder or clove fresh garlic if you want it strong
1 teaspoon oregano and basil
Splash red wine vinegar
2-3 TBS EVOO

To Assemble:
Cut bread into top and bottom. Scoop out some of the doughy part from the top to fill with olive salad. Scoop 1-2 cups of salad into the top and set aside. On the bottom layer eggplant, spinach and tomato or any other veggies. Put the two parts together and wrap in plastic wrap. Let sit 2 hours or more in fridge to let flavors meld. Cut into quarters and serve or just call it a day and eat a whole damned half!

Serves 2 (when you are very hungry!)
Tip: Use extra olive salad and mix into hummus. Eat with slices of cucumber or pita chips!

Rustic Mushrom and Carmalized Onion Flatbread

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This uses Tom's pesto recipe as a base for delicious mushrooms, caramelized onions, sun-dried and diced tomatoes.

Pesto:
Kalmata olives
Basil
Pine nuts
1 clove garlic
handful of baby spinach

Combine a small handful of each ingredient in food processor and add 1-2 tablespoons EVOO
Spread on pre-made pizza dough and add toppings.

Topping:
Sauteed mushrooms
Caramelized onions
Sun dried tomatoes
1/2 jar Trader Joe's bruschetta sauce or diced tomatoes

Veggie Pizza

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Anyone who knows my husband knows he is a pizza addict. Of course with me being vegan his opportunities to eat pizza have dwindled. Now I'm no claiming that this pizza is as good as the "real thing" but the savory sauce really makes this pizza satisfying. I used Trader Joe's herb and garlic pizza dough but if you know how to make your own go ahead!Preheat oven to 425 and take pizza dough out of refrigerator for 20min. While you wait saute one package of sliced baby portabella mushrooms also called crimini. To make sauce saute 1/2 a sweet onion, add 1 small can diced tomatoes, 2 TBS sun dried tomatoes and 1 small handful chopped kalmata or black olives. When the sauce has thickened (about 15min) add 2 cloves crushed garlic, a pinch of dry oregano and 2 or 3 leaves fresh basil. You want to add the garlic at the end to make it more strong when it cooks in the oven. If you don't like the taste of fresh garlic you can omit it or put it in when you add the onions so it cooks and mellows, but I think it makes the sauce more pizza-y. Roll out dough on a cookie sheet sprayed with pam or pizza stone. Add sauce, mushrooms, spinach and any veggies you like.

*Trader Joes makes a fresh pizza sauce (in the refrigerator section) that is pretty good and makes this meal easy. Just add the sun dried tomatoes, olives, and garlic on top or combine before hand. Their Bruchetta in a jar is also a really good pizza sauce as well.

Tom's Easy Pesto

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I call this Tom's Pesto because he's become an expert at making it on nights I'm coming home late. This is really easy and economical but is also tasty enough to serve to guests. I served this to my dad with a salad, roasted squash, and a nice glass of wine and we were all happy!

In food processor combine 2 handfuls kalmata olives, an equal amount of basil, 2 cloves of garlic, 2 or 3 tablespoons pine nuts and salt and pepper to taste. Add extra virgin olive oil and pulse until smooth. Toss with warm whole wheat pasta and add sun dried tomatoes.
UPDATE: add half the sun dried tomatoes into the food processor and blend then mix in the rest with the pasta.

Time: 15 minutes make pesto while boiling water and pasta mix and serve! This is why Tom likes it so much

Wine party book club

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I have 3 friends who are some of the smartest, coolest women I know and in an effort to get to see them more, despite our busy schedules, I started book club. Now you should know that this is really more of a wine and food club and part of my plan to feed people delicious vegan food. I am not a very fast reader and would rather cook, go out or shop than read on a typical day so I, of course, finished the book the day of and spent the rest of the day prepping the italian themed party. This actually ended up serving as a light meal for four people.

Spinach salad
Dressing:
2 TBS EVOO
1.2 TBS dijon mustar
1/2 TBS agave syrup
splash of blasamic vinegar
lots of black pepper

This dressing is sweet with a slight tang and should be thick enough to coat the leaves nicely. Add candied walnuts or pecans and dried cranberries.

Stuffed mushrooms
These were made the same way as in this post: Italian Entertaining
although I used red wine instead of white.

Polenta and eggplant rounds with balsamic onions and tomatoes
I haven't worked with much polenta but I was interested in it when I saw organic polenta at Trader Joe's. It comes in a tube which makes slicing it in rounds easy. I sliced pieces about 1/4in thick and toasted them up in a non stick skillet. I then took slices of salted eggplant and pan fried them. For the sauce I caramelized one onion in EVOO for about 30min on low heat. I then added 1TBS of balsamic vinegar and 4TBS of diced canned tomatoes and let cook down about 15min. Place polenta rounds on baking sheet top with fried eggplant and about a TBS of sauce. Place in oven for 5 min before serving. For extra flavor and a contrast to the sweet onions add an oil cured black olive to the top or on just some in case people don't like olives (crazy).

Roasted garlic and white bean dip with crostini and veggies
While the mushrooms were baking I roasted a whole head of garlic. To do this, cut off the top of the garlic head, create a pouch of tin foil and place garlic inside with a drizzle of EVOO before closing up the pouch. After 45 min in a 350 oven, remove from pouch and squeeze out roasted garlic into the food processor. Add one can of cannellini beans, 2 TBS EVOO, and salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with crostini (brush slices of bread with EVOO and toast for 10min in oven) and raw veggie sticks.

Olive crostini
Blend kalmata olives, basil, EVOO and fresh garlic in a food processor. Spread slices of bread with kalmata olive pesto and bake in 350 oven for 10min. So yummy with wine!