Summer Pasta Salad with Sun-dried Tomato Dressing

Fancy something different for lunch? As I mentioned a few posts ago summer to me means salads and whilst I love fresh garden salads any day of the week sometimes I crave a more hearty salad. In this salad recipe I use little past shapes to increase the carbohydrates but its still light enough to enjoy on its own.

The soft pasta, pairs well with the crunch of the red pepper and the tangy dressing. To make it a little different I've used chives, both stalks and flowers, the flowers are so pretty and taste amazing too.

Ingredients - Serves 3-4
200g pasta, small shapes work well* 
½ Red pepper, finely diced
16 Basil leaves, shredded
16 Chive stems, finely cut
3 Chive flower heads, optional
Dressing
2 Tsp Sun-dried tomato paste
2 Tbsp Red wine vinegar
1 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 Clove of garlic, chopped
Salt & Pepper

*If you can't find the little pasta shapes, orzo (like a large grain of rice) works well too.

Method
Cook the pasta as per cooking instructions, drain and rinse in cold water. While the pasta is cooking, prepare your other ingredients.

To make the dressing add all ingredients to a food processor and process until you have a smooth dressing.

Add the herbs and red pepper to a bowl and add the cooked and cooled pasta, toss everything together.

Pour over the dressing and stir to combine. Serve straight away.

Specials Board: Spaghetti No-Bolognaise

Spaghetti No-Bolognaise and Vegan Mofo Day 24

For the remainder of Vegan Mofo I'm going to show you what to do with leftovers, starting with the homemade tomato sauce I made for the Two Squash Cannelloni.

Nothing goes to waste in this house! I always use up leftovers, if I'm not eating them for lunch the next day they will be turned into another dish. I think this stems from not having a freezer for 12 years! I had to be inventive with my leftovers but I don't think that's a bad thing.

I've made soup which has turned into a curry sauce or pasta sauce. I've stuffed mushrooms and other vegetables with leftover nut or lentil roasts. I've turned leftover stir fries into pies and stroganoffs into soup! Literally nothing is wasted. If I have condiments that need using up they normally go into something and sometimes it's a great discovery!

My homemade tomato sauce recipe makes 1.4 Litres, and I used 400ml of it in my Two Squash Cannelloni. So what do you do with the rest? You can either freeze it or do what I did and turn the leftovers into something different for dinner. This recipe doesn't use all of the tomato sauce but stay tuned over the next 2 days I'll show you how I used it all up, every last little bit!

Ingredients (Serves 6) 

1 Tbsp Olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 Red pepper, diced
150g Courgette, diced
454g frozen soy mince
2 Tsp Bouillon powder
200ml Water
600ml Homemade tomato sauce
1 Tsp Marmite
2 Tsp Mixed herbs
2 Tbsp Tomato puree
2 Tsp Balsamic vinegar
½ Tsp Sugar
Black pepper, ground

Method
Fry the onion in the olive oil for 5-10 minutes, until the onion starts to brown, add the red pepper and saute for another 3 minutes.

Add the chopped courgette and saute for another 2 minutes, before adding the frozen soy mince. Stir to combine everything.

Sprinkle over the vegetable bouillon powder and pour in the water. Give everything a good mix again, bring to a simmer and cook for another 5 minutes.

Add the tomato sauce, marmite, mixed herbs and give everything another stir to combine all the ingredients. Simmer for 5 minutes

Add the tomato puree, balsamic vinegar, sugar and black pepper and continue to simmer for another 5 minutes. 

Serve with spaghetti. I halved the no-bolognaise, saving half for another leftovers meal and we ate two large portions and still had a large portion leftover. Stay tuned to see what happened to the leftovers.

Specials Board: Broadbean Pesto

Broad Bean Pesto & Vegan Mofo Day 2

The first recipe I'm sharing with you during Vegan Mofo 2014 is using broad beans from my garden. They're at their end now and this will be the penultimate recipe from my last harvest picked at the weekend. I'm going to miss them! Now I have a freezer I think I will grow twice the amount next year!

Broad beans are so easy to grow, you sow the seed, water and watch it grow! However this year I had a little visitor in the way of a field mouse, I named him Sammy. Now I don't mind sharing my veggies but this little munchkin was devouring all of the young plants night after night until I had none left! I kept sowing in the hope that he would get fed up of the broad bean plant but no Sammy just seemed to love them, he couldn't get enough! 

I started to sow each bean encased by a toilet roll, which acted as a barrier to my little field mousse friend and that seemed to do the trick. But as soft as I am I did plant a couple without the toilet roll just for Sammy! And yes he found them and munched his way through but he did leave the toilet roll beans alone, so we were both happy.

My last broad bean recipe, in a few days time, will give you some top tips on how to grow broad beans, when to sow, how to stop the usual critters and when to harvest. But for now on with this recipe.

Broad Bean Pesto (Serves 4-6)

Ingredients
235g Podded broad beans
3-4 Cloves of Garlic
10g Pine nuts
2 Tbsp Nutritional yeast
1 Tbsp Lemon juice
4 Tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
Salt & Pepper

Method
Remove the skin from the garlic and cook with the beans in boiling water for 5 minutes, I've noticed the beans float to the top when they are cooked so if your beans are small they might need less than 5 minutes.

Drain and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process and are cool enough to handle. Remove the outer grey skin to reveal the bright green bean! Transfer the bean and garlic to a food processor.

Add the pine nuts and pulse a few times to chop the ingredients. Add the remainder of the ingredients to the processor and blitz until you have the texture you prefer. I don't like mine completely smooth, I like a bit of texture.

The pesto is great spread on toast, used to make a dip (my fried green tomatoes recipe) or stirred through pasta, which is what I did for tea tonight. 

Specials board: Pasta with Chilli Cheesy Sauce

As you can tell from this post I have been craving pasta again! Today I wanted to keep it simple and quick and I will come back to this recipe time and time again especially during the colder months. The recipe only uses store cupboard ingredients and you can add any vegetable to the pasta as you wish, I added mushrooms. You must have guessed by now they are one of my favourite ingredients and I couldn't live without the humble mushroom!

Ingredients - Serves 2-3 
150g Pasta
250ml Unsweetened almond milk
5 Tbsp Cashew nuts
3 Tbsp Nutritional yeast
1 Tsp Mustard
1 Tsp Chilli flakes
½ Tsp Turmeric


Method
Cook the pasta in boiling water as per the packet instructions.

Cook your favourite vegetable and set aside, I fried up 3 field mushrooms.

Put the remaining ingredients into a blender and blend until you have a smooth sauce. If you're lucky enough to have a vitamix the sauce will heat up as it blends.

Drain the pasta and put back in the pan, add your vegetable of choice (mine is the mushroom), pour over the sauce and cook over a low hear until the sauce thickens. Serve straight away.

You could also use this sauce over nachos and serve with side orders of guacamole and salsa. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it!

Specials Board: Healthy Mac 'n' Cheese

Hands up who likes pasta? It is such a simple ingredient that allows you to have dinner on the table in a matter of minutes. Check out my courgette pasta with creamy basil sauce, which is on the table in less than 15 minutes. Ideal for a week night dinner when you're tired, and so much healthier than a take away.

Before transferring to a vegan lifestyle I used to love pasta with a cheesy sauce such as mac 'n' cheese or pasta with a four cheese sauce, but it used to be laden with calories! Now I'm vegan, I still love a 'cheese' sauce but I am trying to be a healthier individual and don't want to rely heavily on the range of vegan cheeses that are available. I've tried many vegan cheeses and I have been disappointed with some and shocked by others as some of the ingredients used in some vegan cheeses I can't even pronounce!  It's easy to replace ingredients with a vegan substitute and I'm not advising that you give up the substitutes there is a time and place for everything, but everything in moderation! 

Today after scrutinising the label on a vegan cheese substitute I decided to edge on the side of caution and decided to make a "cheese" sauce with no vegan cheeses being used.

I needed a yellow colour to my sauce and a cheesey taste so after raiding my spice rack and store cupboard two ingredients that stood out and had to be included were turmeric and nutritional yeast! I have previously experimented with "cheese" sauces for last years vegan mofo and I used different ingredients to replicate a cheese sauce with varying results. My most successful ones included Mac 'n' Cheese using sweet potato and Mac 'n' cheese using yellow peppers.

Today I'm using another vegetable that's yellow in colour and I'm also inundated with them from my garden, I'm showcasing the pattypan squash!

Ingredients - Serves 2-3 

1 Large Pattypan squash, or 2-3 smaller ones totaling 325g*, cut into chunks
150ml Unsweetend almond milk
55g Cashews
3 Tbsp Nutritional yeast1 Tsp Mustard powder
½ Tsp Ground turmeric
¼ Tsp Pink Himalayan salt
160g Pasta

* You could use a yellow courgette instead if you can't get your hands on a pattypan

Method

Cook your pasta in boiling water as per the cooking instructions.

In a saucepan add the cut up pattypan/courgette and a little boiling water. Simmer for 5 minutes or until the vegetables are al dente, don't cook until soft. Drain the vegetables and add to a blender.

Add the almond milk and cashews and blend until you have a smooth liquid. Add the nutritional yeast, mustard powder, turmeric and salt and blend again.

Drain the pasta and tip back into the saucepan, add the sauce and stir to coat over a low heat. The sauce will thicken over the heat, add a splash more almond milk if you want the sauce a thinner consistency.

I've submitted this recipe to Shaheens "Vegetable Palette Challenge". Shaheen runs the fabulous Allotment to Kitchen blog and every month Shaheen chooses a colour, and you make a recipe with vegetables, fruits or a combination of both with that colour. Its a great idea! The colour for July is Mellow Yellow & Orange, so this recipe fits the bill perfectly.

Once you've posted a recipe you email Shaheen and a round up of all the entries will be posted on her blog before the end of the month.

Courgette Pasta with Basil Cream

I've been busy harvesting all this week, I can't believe how many courgettes I have collected, they just keep coming! Thankfully I will never tire of the courgette, and you will see lots more recipes showcasing this vegetable throughout the next few weeks.

I've also harvested more broad beans although I think these have come to their end now, which is a shame as I do love a broad bean pate! I'll be posting my recipe for a broad bean "cheese" soon too which I have been enjoying as a snackage at work!

Exciting times too as my asparagus peas have just started 'fruiting', and my runner beans are starting to grow, I've had one small harvest from my 6 plants so far, no doubt after the rain today these will start coming thick and fast!

OK, on to another courgette recipe, which is quick, simple and very very tasty! I cooked it for my sister and she loved it that much she left armed with courgettes to make it at home.

Ingredients - Serves 2-3

150g Pasta
Splas of Olive oil
1 Courgette, sliced and quartered
5 Field mushrooms, chopped to match same size as courgettes
100ml Water
100g Cashews
Large handful of basil
Salt and pepper

You could easily double of the ingredients if you were feeding more people. 

Method

Put your pasta on to cook, the rest of the dish can be made before the pasta cooks. Its that quick!

In a frying pan saute the courgettes and mushrooms in the olive oil for 5 minutes or until the courgettes are starting to brown around the edges but retain some bite and the mushrooms have released their liquid.

Meanwhile place the water and cashew in a blender and blend until you have a smooth liquid (I love my vitamix for this, its super speedy). Add the basil and salt & pepper to taste and blend again until you have a smooth green liquid. The smell is fantastic!

Pour the green sauce onto the courgettes and mushrooms. It will start to thicken as soon as it heats up, so keep stirring. 

Drain your pasta reserving the cooking liquid. Add the pasta to the courgette mix and stir to coat with the sauce. Add as much of the reserved pasta water to thin out the sauce to your desired consistency and serve straight away.

Dinner is served in under 15 minutes! Who needs take away!

Specials Board: Rocket Pasta

Tonight I fancied pasta, its been a while since I've eaten any pasta and tonight the only thing that would fix my hunger for sure, was a bowl of pasta. Maybe its the weather? Warm and sunny, alfresco entertaining, the Italian lifestyle......

During the summer months I tend not to buy much salad or vegetables as I try and eat what I grow or I am given. After a quick wonder around my small vegetable plot I had picked a large handful of rocket. Usually I would eat this ingredient raw in salads but it is just as tasty cooked.

This recipe is so easy and very quick to make, you could hardly call it a recipe!

Ingredients - Serves 2

120g Penne Pasta
300ml Almond milk
1 Tbsp Vitalite
1 Tbsp Plain flour
1 Tsp Mustard powder
1 Tsp Porcini powder
3 Tbsp Nutritional Yeast
Dash of Olive oil
1 Onion, diced
1 Garlic Clove, minced
75-100g Rocket, washed


Method

First put the pasta on to cook as per the packet instructions. You'll have just enough time to prepare everything else before the pasta is ready. See I told you it was quick!

While the pasta is cooking prepare the sauce. In a small saucepan add the milk, flour and vitalite and slowly bring to a simmer over a low heat, whisking all the time. Once the sauce has reached a simmer and has thickened add the mustard and porcini powder (through a sieve) and stir to combine. Add the nutritional yeast and stir again. Set aside.

Saute the onions in the olive oil until starting to turn brown around 3 minutes, then add the garlic and saute for another two minutes. Add the washed rocket to the pan in batches and wait until it has wilted before you add the next batch. Once all the rocket has been added, re-stir the sauce and pour onto the rocket mixture. 

Drain the pasta, reserving a little of the water and add the pasta to the rocket and sauce. Stir so that the sauce coats the pasta. Add a little of the reserved pasta water if the mixture is too thick.

I've entered this recipe into the "Pasta Please" Food Blog Challenge, which is being hosted by Dannii over at the Hungry Healthy Happy Blog on behalf of Jacqueline over at Tinned Tomatoes. 

This months Pasta Please is focusing on healthy/lightened up pasta dishes, or any pasta dish that is packed with veggies. The pasta sauce in my recipe is tasty with out loading it with vegan cheese, thanks to the porcini and mustard powders and the nooch!

Pasta with Wild Garlic Pesto

A few weeks ago I had a week off work and I was so looking forward to days out and lots of fun things with hubby and Marco, but no such luck, instead I was struck down with the dreaded lurgie. I had mixed with people who had the lurgie but I seemed to be fighting it off, which I put down to my vegan diet full of fruit and vegetables. But alas it wasn't to be and it seemed as soon as I stopped and started to relax after a very hectic week at work it struck. It was like it was waiting in the wings and waiting for its moment to pounce. 

We had gone out to celebrate my birthday on Good Friday and I was so looking forward to it, but half way through the evening I started to feel a bit sniffly which I put down to the dining room being a little stuffy. My symptoms gradually worsened and by the time I got home all I wanted was my bed. Typical! Absolutely typical! Basically I stayed there for a few days feeling very sorry for myself!

As soon as I started to feel better I needed to make the most of the last couple of days I had off before going back to work so I treated myself to a foraging expedition to find some wild garlic.

There are plenty of health benefits of wild garlic including its antiseptic and antibacterial properties and of course it's free! Remember to forage responsibly and never take all you find. For the recipe you don't need many leaves and flowers.

Ingredients 
240g Pasta of your choice
1 small tin of sweetcorn
8 mushrooms chopped
70g Wild garlic leaves
25g Pinenuts
¼ Tsp Herbamare
Good grind of black pepper
A good glug of olive oil


Method
Wash and dry the garlic leaves and shred before putting in a food processor. Gently toast the pinenuts in a frying pan being careful not to burn them and add to the food processor. Add the herbamare and black pepper and a little olive oil to get things started. Turn on the machine and gently pour in more olive oil until you reach your desired consistency.

Cook your pasta as per the cooking instructions. Meanwhile saute the mushrooms in a pan for 5 minutes then add the sweetcorn to warm through.

Drain the pasta, reserving a little of the cooking water and add the pasta to the pan. Add the pesto and stir to combine everything. Serve straight away using the flowers as a garnish.

Creamy Asparagus Pasta

As I've stated previously I'm not a massive fan of asparagus but after making my asparagus and garden pea risotto the other day my opinion changed and I wanted to experiment more with this short seasoned vegetable.

On my last visit to Stone Farmers market I picked up two bunches of asparagus, which are grown very locally. Although expensive I treated myself and decided I would make something rather decadent with them.

I treated my Mum to lunch with this dish and I'm pleased to say she absolutely loved it!

Ingredients  - Serves 4 

240g Pasta of choice, I used spirals
2 bunches of asparagus 
(I had 32 stems in all)
250ml Soy cream
½ Onion, finely diced
1 Garlic clove, minced
1 Handful of Greek basil about 6g
2 Tbsp Nutritional Yeast
3 Tbsp Cashew nuts
Salt & Black pepper



Method
Cook the pasta as per the cooking instructions.

Cut off the tips of the asparagus and reserve, adding them to the last minute of cooking time. 

Cut the woody bases off the stems and cut the remaining stem in two. Add to a pan of boiling water and simmer for 5 minutes. Drain and reserve.

Meanwhile add the soy cream, onion and garlic to another pan and bring to a simmer. Turn off the heat and let stand to cool down.

Transfer the asparagus stems, soy cream mixture and basil to a liquidizer and pulse a few times before adding the Greek basil, nutritional yeast, cashew nuts, salt & black pepper. Pulse again a few times before turning on to full power. Liquidize until you have a smooth and silky sauce.

Drain the pasta and asparagus tips and pour the sauce over the top. Gently mix through and serve straight away.

Specials Board: Kale & Mushroom Pasta

A while back I promised you another kale recipe and after my gardening angel bought me a huge bunch round from her allotment that recipe was created.

The kale was so fresh as she had only just picked it, I ate quite a bit raw, it was so succulent. It would be great in a green salad or like me just to munch on while you think up how your going to use it.

The variety was a non curly leaf and the stems were tender and juicy, I think it was a premier kale.

I needed something quick so I decided on a pasta dish and made a kale and mushroom sauce to weave around the pasta.

Ingredients - Serves 4
250g Pasta, I used tripoline pasta
1 Onion, diced
220g Mushroom, chopped
½ Tsp dried thyme
3 Tsp English mustard
½ Tsp Herbamare
330g Kale, cut into thick ribbons
1 Tbsp Flour (heaped)
300ml Almond milk, unsweetened
1 Tsp Bouillon powder
200ml Boiled water
3 Tbsp Nutritional Yeast
Good grind of black pepper

Method
Cook the pasta as per the cooking instructions.

Saute the onion until translucent then add the mushrooms and saute for another 4-5 minutes.

Add the thyme, mustard and herbamare and give everything a good stir, before tossing in the ribbons of kale. Keep stirring until the kale has wilted, you may need to add a drop of water to prevent the mixture sticking to the pan.

Add the flour and stir through ensuring all the mixture is coated, it may seem a little thick but don't worry. Cook for a minute to ensure the flour taste is cooked out. Gradually add the almond milk stirring all the time. 

Mix the bouillon powder with the water to make a stock and gradually add to the kale mixture continuing to stir until all the stock has been used. Continue to cook over a low heat until the mixture has thickened.

Add the nutritional yeast and black pepper and give everything one last stir. Drain the pasta and if you're using long pasta ribbons or spaghetti twirl a portion onto each plate then add the 'sauce' around the pasta. If you're using pasta shapes such as penne add the pasta to the pan and stir carefully to mix into the sauce before serving.

Specials Board: Creamy Vegetable Pasta

Last week I made some tomato sauce to serve with the vegetable stacks appetizer for our Valentines Dinner and I had some left over. As you know, I'm not one to waste anything so I tweaked the sauce and used it to top some penne pasta. If you missed how to make the sauce you can find that here.

I had about half the sauce left over and here is what I did.

Ingredients - Serves 3-4

½ Tomato sauce recipe
150ml Almond milk, unsweetened
1 Tin of sweetcorn
1 Tbsp Fresh Parsley, chopped
1 Tbsp Nutritional yeast
1 Tsp Paprika
Salt & Black pepper
200g Pasta







Method
Cook the pasta as per the instructions.

Combine the tomato sauce and milk in a saucepan and gently re-heat. If the sauce is still a little thick you can thin it with some pasta water later.

Drain the sweetcorn and add to the pan along with the nutritional yeast, stir to combine.

Add the paprika, parsley and salt and pepper to taste.

Drain the pasta reserving a little of the pasta water and tip the pasta into the sauce. Stir to coat all the pasta and add a little of the reserved pasta water if the sauce is too thick.

Specials Board: Spinach Pasta Topped Mushrooms

This is the first recipe that I'm sharing from the 'daily/weekly' specials menu, more to follow throughout the month.

When it comes to pasta I either make a tomato based sauce, sometimes with other vegetables such as aubergine and courgette or a 'cheese' type sauce. Tonight I wanted something different, something vibrant, something green.

After making my soup course for my Valentines menu I had some spinach left over, (ooh another little hint at whats in store). I used frozen spinach for my soup recipe and as I haven't got my freezer sorted (yet) it needed using up. So I set to and made a spinach sauce.

I was really pleased with the outcome and I've tried it with two types of pasta, Penne and Spaghetti, both were good, although in my opinion you can be a little more creative with how you serve spaghetti.

Ingredients - Serves 4
500g Frozen spinach
1 Clove of garlic
90g Vegan 'cream cheese', I used Tesco Free From Cheddar Style Spread
Black pepper
150ml Almond milk, unsweetened
2 Tbs Nutritional yeast
200g Spaghetti or pasta of choice

Method
First, defrost the spinach, I used a microwave to speed up the process. Drain the spinach through a sieve pressing down to remove most of the water. Transfer to a blender. Roughly chop up the garlic clove and add to the blender with the spinach.

Add the vegan 'cream cheese', almond milk, nutritional yeast and a (very) generous grind of black pepper. Process until you have a thick sauce, if your blender is not that powerful you made need to add a little more milk. Transfer to a saucepan and warm through, be careful not to boil.

Add the spaghetti to a pan of boiling water and cook as per packet instructions, you won't need much longer than 8-10 minutes.

Drain the spaghetti, reserving a little of the cooking water in a jug and tip the spaghetti into the pan. Tip the sauce over the pasta with a little of the reserved cooking water and stir through. 

Serve at once, I served mine a top two grilled field mushrooms which sat on a spinach and mixed leaf salad with cherry tomatoes and cucumber. The mushrooms paired beautifully with the spinach.

Or serve with a hunk of homemade garlic bread. It's so easy to make, finely chop 3 cloves of garlic on a chopping board with a little salt, this helps to make the garlic more into a paste. Add a good glug of extra virgin olive oil and mix on the board. Slice length ways a hunk of bread and mop up the garlic, salt and olive oil with the cut sides. Wrap the bread cut sides together in silver foil and bake in an oven for 10 minutes. Caution: It's extremely garlicky, just the way I like it!

Mushroom Pasta & Stone Farmers Market

I was absolutely gutted that I missed out on the London Veg Fest, I won a ticket too but unfortunately I couldn't make it due to other commitments :( I did however manage a trip to Stone Farmers market which was held over the Stone Food Festival last weekend (Friday to Sunday). The Stone farmers market is the best in the area and every time I go I'm sure it grows by a couple of stalls.

The farmers market is normally held on the first Saturday of every month so the next one is Saturday 2nd November. However during the Stone Food Festival the market is on both Saturday and Sunday. If you live nearby you really must take a trip and see what's going on. 

I was pleasantly surprised to find some vegan food for sale too so I couldn't resist buying it, in fact I spent a fortune! There were your usual vegetable stalls selling lots of organic lovely produce and my favourite stall is the Derbyshire mushroom stall which sells a variety of mushrooms from Crimini, Shiitake, Oyster, Enoki and Porcini. I always buy a large mixed punnet as I love my mushrooms! I also bought a jar of porcini powder, which you can use to enhance the flavour of casseroles, stews, soups or any dish really. It adds depth of flavour to a dish and is a fantastic ingredient to have in your store cupboard to perk up a dish that needs that something extra.

As well as the usual stalls that sell a variety of olives, sundried tomatoes, garlic, dolmades and artichoke selections, there were bakery and cake stalls, Indian food, the usual non vegan stalls and a couple of stalls selling their wares from local breweries and vinyards. A great selection for the vegan and non vegan alike.

My regular readers will know that I'm not a fan of mock meats at all, but I couldn't resist buying a vegan black pudding. I'm not sure that I will try it but I can't wait to serve it up to hubby to see if he notices the difference!

Ingredients: Cooked Pearl Barley, Rusk (Wheat Flour, Salt), Rolled Oats, Protein (Starch, Flour, Protein), Oatmeal, Non-hydrogenated Vegetable Suet, Salt, Barley Flour, Beetroot Powder, Herbs & Spices, Roast Barley Malt Extract, Natural Flavouring. Allergens: Wheat, Gluten, Celery.

Another purchase which I was over the moon with was from the "snoggable garlic" stall, Belinda makes three vegetable/nut roasts, two of which are vegan! Yay! One roast will feed two people although they are sold as single portions. She also sells a variety of olives and dolmades which are stored in olive oil rather than brine so they taste much nicer!

With all this lovely food about we got hungry very quickly and  munching on some garlic stuffed olives wasn't enough to curb the hunger pains. I've not had a great deal of success in Stone with finding vegan food but then again I haven't particularly looked that hard and I'm sure if I were to give any restaurant ample notice something would be prepared for me. But just on the off chance we nipped into Fleur's Tea Rooms and I was pleasantly surprised to hear that their vegetable chilli was in fact vegan!

All in all a pleasant day out! 

So what did I do with all those lovely mushrooms I turned them into a pasta dish.

Ingredients   

Glug of Olive oil

1 Onion, chopped

1 Clove of garlic, crushed

300g Mixed mushrooms, diced

2 Tbsp Mushroom ketchup

2 Tsp Paprika

1 Tsp Garlic granules

2 Tsp Dried lemon thyme

1 Tsp Porcini powder

1 Tbsp Flour

250ml Soy cream

1 Tbsp Vitalite

Salt & Pepper

200g Penne pasta

Method

Add the pasta to boiling water and cook for 10-12 minutes or until al dente.

Meanwhile fry the onion in a little olive oil until starting to go brown, add the garlic and continue to cook for another 2 minutes.

Add the mixed mushrooms and 1 table spoon of the mushroom ketchup, cook until the mushrooms release their liquid and then add the other tablespoon of mushroom ketchup along with the paprika, garlic granules, lemon thyme, porcini powder and flour. Stir to combine and cook for another minute.

Slowly add the soy cream a little at a time until all the cream has been poured in, cook slowly to heat the cream through and thicken the sauce. Add the vitalite and quickly beat into the sauce with a wooden spoon to give a glossy shine to the dish. 

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Drain the pasta, reserving a little of the water and add to the sauce. Stir to combine and add a little of the reserved water to thin the sauce down if needed. Serve at once.

Apologies for the bad photo's it was a late night tea and my two bulbs in my kitchen light had blown! 

Retro Saturday - Bean & Mushroom Pasta

Once again today's theme is Retro Saturday, where you dress up and veganise your favourite meal. I've always been a lover of pasta and whilst I was vegetarian I loved visiting Italian restaurants and devouring the creamiest pasta dishes. In the 25 years I was vegetarian that was a lot of visits to Italian restaurants. Since turning vegan, January 1st this year I haven't visited an Italian restaurant once, what can you eat as a vegan that you can't cook up at home just as delicious if not more so?

Today's recipe is creamy, without cream, extremely easy, quick and very tasty; even 5 meat eaters lapped it up when I cooked it up one camping trip.

I haven't posted many pasta recipes before, which is strange as I'm always cooking them as they are so easy and so quick to rustle up. Everyone will have something lurking in their store cupboard or fridge which can be transformed into a pasta dish. The two previous pasta dishes I've posted are garden pasta, which was rustled up from veg grown in the garden, hence the name and soba veganaise, which is a great recipe to use when you need to use up your vegetables lurking in the bottom of your fridge. Anyway on with today's recipe. 

Bean and Mushroom Pasta 
I am still harvesting green beans, from my garden, not many I grant you but they keep coming!

Ingredients
150g Green beans
150g Mushrooms
1 Onion
1 Courgette (optional)
2 Spring onions
1 Tbsp Olive oil
1 Tbsp Flour
1 Tsp Vegetable bouillon powder
500ml Soy milk or other alternative
2 Tbsp Nutritional yeast
2 Tsp English mustard
1 Tsp Dried parsley
½ Tsp Dried thyme 
400g Pasta

Method - serves 4-5
Prepare all the vegetables so you're ready to cook, top and tail the beans and cut to 5cm lengths, slice the courgette, spring onions, mushrooms and onion.

Bring a saucepan of water to the boil and add the pasta of choice, cook as per the packet instructions. Drain just before you add the sauce.

Saute the onion until translucent about 5 minutes, and add the beans, continue to saute stirring regularly so the vegetables don't stick to the pan. Add a little water if they start sticking. After 5 minutes the beans should start to become tender so add the mushrooms, courgette and spring onions and saute for another 2 minutes.

Sprinkle the vegetables with the flour, herbs and vegetable bouillon powder (I use Marigold Swiss vegetable) and stir to combine. Continue to cook for about 30 seconds whilst turning the mixture with a spoon.

Add the soy milk slowly, a bit at a time, continually stirring until the mixture becomes sauce like thick. You may need to add more soy milk or not as much it depends on the age and type of the flour you are using. Add the mustard and stir through, then the nutritional yeast and stir again. 

Season to taste and tip in the drained pasta a little at a time and stir to incorporate the sauce and pasta. Serve with salad or as I did with a side of runner beans! I actually cooked the sauce at home and boxed it up. Then all I needed to do was cook the pasta at the camp site, heat up the sauce and combine - easy! The bottom photo was the left overs after first helpings, but as soon as I'd taken the photo the saucepan was gone and the 'leftovers' were on plates being gobbled up!

Avocado Pasta

Today, I fancied pasta again for lunch and after a quick look what was in the fridge and a quick search through one of my favourite bloggers, oh she glows, I decided on Avocado Pasta. 

Angela, from oh she glows matches up avocado with basil for a rich creamy sauce, but I hadn't got any basil so I paired the avocado up with some chives. My garden is full of chives at the moment, I love the purple flowers bouncing around on their long green stems, they look so pretty.

You really should try Angelas avocado pasta it really is delicious and super quick to make!