Layered breakfast bake

Posted on October 25, 2015 by JMD

I’m constantly on the search for good, warm, filling breakfasts that incorporate a lot of vegetables. It might sound strange, but even as a vegan I have to work hard to get all the fruits and vegetables I should be eating. This is one of my solutions. It incorporates a base of British-style Bubble and Squeak, followed by caramelized onions and kale, and finished with a tofu / buckwheat topping. To be honest, this is just a delivery vehicle for caramelized onions. If you try the recipe, let me know what you think!

Base (Bubble & Squeak)

1/2 a small cabbage, lightly sauteed in grapeseed oil and a splash of liquid smoke, seasoned with salt and pepper.

Mashed potatoes (I used red)

Combine the ingredients into a pan, and fry each side until brown and crispy.

Middle (onions and kale)

2 red onions, caramelized in olive oil, 1 Tbsp brown sugar, a pinch of garam masala, and 2 Tbsp red wine vinegar. Bake at 350 for approximately an hour and a half, until they’re done and a bit crispy.

When the onions are finished, take the pan out of the oven and add half a head of kale, chopped, and cook for a few minutes.

Topping (Buckwheat tofu)

1/2 cup buckwheat flour

1 pack of silken tofu

3 Tbsp nutritional yeast

1 tsp turmeric

1 Tbsp cornstarch

2 garlic cloves

salt and pepper

Combine the above ingredients in a blender and process until smooth. Add a bit of water if you need it.

Layer the bake as follows: bubble and squeak on the bottom, kale and onions in the middle. Pour the tofu batter over everything, add a bit more salt and pepper on top, and bake in the oven (350) for about 45 minutes. It’s done when a toothpick comes out clean.

Have I mentioned how much I love pasta?

Posted on October 17, 2015 by JMD

I love pasta. It’s warm, easy, and filling. But mediocre pasta also makes me a little sad, because I know how good it can be. A friend was telling me about this great pasta that she makes with sausage, which of course was a no-go for me, but the method was intriguing. It involved making the pasta in the sauce. I thought I’d give it a try, and see what happened. Boy, am I glad I did. Fancy, delicious pasta was the result. Here’s how it went down: Caramelized Onion Pasta

I knew I wanted caramelized onions (because I always want caramelized onions), so I did that first.

3 large yellow onions in about 1/4 cup of oil, 1 Tbsp of balsamic and 1Tbsp of brown sugar, in the oven at 350 for about an hour (or longer or shorter depending on how you like things)

Then I made the sauce:

1 cup of cashews (soaked: you should do this for several hours, but I don’t. It’s fine.)

1 cup of crushed tomatoes

1 Tbsp of tomato paste

2 cups of stock (I used fake chicken stock)

Blend all that together, then, in a pan with some olive oil, quickly saute 2-3 garlic cloves, minced. Add the sauce and cook for a few minutes and season with salt and pepper. Pour all that goodness into a big pot (oven safe), and add 16oz / 454g of pasta.

Bake all that up real good for about 30 minute (350, of course), adding more stock if things are looking a bit dry. At the end, stir in a bunch of baby spinach and let it sit for a few minutes. This is also when I added in the caramelized onions.

Caramelized Onion Pasta Top with some more salt and pepper, and add some vegan parmesan cheese if you’re into that kind of thing.

I also ate this for breakfast the next day, because I firmly believe there’s nothing better than breakfast pasta. Also, I wasn’t willing to surrender the leftovers to Boss.