Roasted Garlic Pasta Sauce.

While I was searching for a copycat recipe of my newly in-love-with-pasta Pomodoro from Cafe Express, I found this Emeril Lagasse one that looked scrumpy. And it was. I added 6 sun-dried tomatoes and next time I'll use half roasted cherry tomatoes. It was a good start to the "penne pasta with grape, oven roasted & sundried tomatoes, basil" that I dream about. It also makes a lot, so I froze it and will whip it out for an easy post-baby meal.

1 large onion, chopped
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 1/2 teaspoons salt (or use lots less)
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon hot sauce
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/4 teaspoon dried basil leaves
2 (28-ounce) cans whole Italian plum tomatoes, with their juices
3 whole heads roasted garlic, cloves removed from peels [and I mashed them]
6 sundried tomatoes, diced
penne pasta

In a large saucepan saute the onion in the olive oil over medium-high heat until soft and lightly golden, 4 to 6 minutes. Add the minced garlic and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the tomato paste, salt, balsamic vinegar, hot sauce, crushed red pepper, Italian seasoning, and basil, and cook for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, crushing with your hands as you place them in the pan, and their juices. Stir to combine well and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a slow simmer and cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the roasted garlic cloves and stir to combine. Continue to simmer for 30 to 45 minutes longer, or until the flavors have come together. The last 15 minutes add the sundried tomatoes and stir. You still want some chew to them once the sauce is done.

Serve over pasta of choice.

Spaghetti with Roasted Veggies & Garlic.

I love spaghetti... and I've been trying to concoct the perfect recipe for a while now. And I think I've got it. The trick is in the roasted garlic. Yum. It obviously doesn't have to be exact - especially if I came up with it.

1 red pepper, seeded & chunked
1 yellow pepper, seeded & chunked
1 orange pepper, seeded & chunked
1 green pepper, seeded & chunked
2 handfuls cremini mushrooms, chunked
1 squash, chunked
1 zucchini, chunked
1 bulb of garlic
1 - 14 oz. tomato sauce, no salt added
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon fennel seed
salt to taste
whole wheat thin spaghetti

Preheat oven to 375*. Cut the top off the bulb of garlic, spray with evoo cooking spray and sprinkle with salt and ground pepper. Wrap in foil and put in the oven, roast for 20-30 minutes.

Cut up the rest of the veggies and put on 1 or 2 baking sheets. Spray and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast for 15-20 minutes.

Put water onto boil for the pasta. Cook according to package directions.

Put the tomato sauce in a pot over warm heat. When the veggies are done roasting, add them along with the seasonings. Salt to taste - remember you salted the veggies before roasting them. Get all of the roasted garlic cloves out of the bulb and smash them into a paste on a cutting board with a fork. Add to the pot. Let the flavors combine for 10 or so minutes... then chow down.

I also do this in a crockpot. You've got to do the roasted garlic separately... otherwise just put it all in the crock pot and cook on low for 4-6 hours.

Serve over whole wheat thin spaghetti noodles. Yum. It's even better the next day.

Beanball Subs.

Yum, yum... eat'em up, I think I'm in love. This stuff makes you not miss the meat or cheese one bit! After typing it all up - it looks like it takes forever to cook... but it doesn't! The hardest part is just making sure you have all of the ingredients. Time savers: make the pine nut cream earlier in the day. Use a jar of marinara. Make, bake and freeze a double batch of beanballs for later.

1 recipe Beanballs {below}
1 recipe (4 cups) Marinara Sauce {below}
1 recipe Pine Nut Cream {below}
4 hoagie rolls, split open
2 cups fresh spinach leaves, well washed

Prepare the recipes of the first three components. Preheat oven to 350*F. Place Beanballs in a casserole dish and top with about 1 cup of marinara and all of the pine nut cream. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until pine nut cream is lightly browned.

Spread more marinara sauce on one side of each roll and distribute the Beanballs evenly among the sammiches, layering the spinach leaves over them - it'll wilt some. Top liberally with more marinara sauce. Close your sammiches, slice in half on the diagonal, and serve.

YUM! And they're almost even better the next day.

Beanballs
1 (20-ounce) can kidney beans, rinsed and drained (about 3 cups)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons steak sauce or tomato paste
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus additional for frying or baking
2 garlic cloves, grated or minced finely
1/4 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1/2 cup plain bread crumbs
1/4 cup vital wheat gluten
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

Preheat oven to 375*F.

Mash the kidney beans in a mixing bowl until no whole beans are left. You don't want them to be completely smooth, you should still be able to recognize that they are kidney beans. Add the soy sauce, steak sauce/tomato paste, 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, the garlic, lemon zest, bread crumbs, wheat gluten, and herbs, and use a fork to mix everything together. Use your hands to kneed the mixture for about a minute, until everything is really well combined and firm.

Roll the bean mixture into walnut-size balls (I use a cookie scoop so they're all uniform). But don't make them too big; smaller makes for the best texture.

Grease a rimmed baking sheet with olive oil {i spray}. Place the balls on the sheet and then drizzle them with a little more oil, to coat {i spray a liberal coat}. Bake for about 15 minutes, until lightly browned on the bottom, then flip them and bake for another 10 minutes. Remove them from the oven.

Time Saver: Double this up, freeze what you don't use. And have them quick and ready for another time.

Marinara Sauce
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
several pinches of freshly ground black pepper
a whole bulb of peeled roasted garlic, smooshed
roasted red pepper, chopped

Preheat saucepan over medium-low heat. Add water and garlic to steam-fry for about a minute until fragrant, being careful not to let it burn. Add the remaining ingredients, cover, and raise the heat a bit to bring to a simmer. Add the roasted garlic. Simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the roasted red pepper and warm through.

Pine Nut Cream
1 pound soft silken tofu
1/2 cup pine nuts
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon arrowroot powder
1 garlic clove
pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
1 1/4 teaspoons salt, or to taste
white pepper

In a food processor, blend the pine nuts and lemon juice, scraping the sides with a rubber spatula, until a cream paste forms. Add the tofu, garlic, arrowroot, nutmeg, salt, and white pepper. Blend until creamy and smooth.

Veganomicon

Isa Chandra Moskowitz & Terry Hope Romero

page 99

Tomato-Rice Soup with Roasted Garlic and Navy Beans

I love me some roasted garlic... and all throughout a soup - yum! This was awesome soup, amazingly healthy... the only downfall was we were eating hot soup in 97* weather. I followed the recipe, but added some kale at the end. And it called for a can of navy beans, but I added the leftovers from the Rustic White Beans and Mushrooms. Perfect. It made a ton of soup, so I froze half of it for a later don't-feel-like-cooking day.

2 bulbs garlic

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium-size yellow onion, diced as small as possible

1 cup long-grain brown rice (I actually love the short-grain brown rice from the bulk bins at Sprouts, I always have that on-hand, so I use that)

2 bay leaves

2 teaspoons dried thyme

1 teaspoon dried marjoram

2 teaspoons salt

several pinches of freshly ground black pepper

2 (28 ounce) cans crushed tomatoes

1 (15 ounce) can navy beans, drained and rinsed (about 1 1/2 cups)

PREHEAT the oven to 425*F. Roast the garlic for about 45 minutes, until soft. You should be able to feel if it's soft by pressing with a knife or your finger.

Preheat a soup pot over medium heat. Saute the onions in the olive oil for 5 to 7 minutes, until translucent.

Add the rice, bay leaves, thyme, marjoram, salt, and pepper and cook, stirring, for about 2 minutes. Add the crushed tomatoes, then fill up the can with water twice and add the water (that's 56 ounces of water).

Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer for about 45 minutes.

Remove the garlic from the oven. When it is cool enough to handle, squeeze the roasted garlic out of its skin and into a small bowl. Use a for to mash the garlic to a relatively smooth consistency, then add to the soup once the rice is nearly tender.

When the rice is completely cooked, add the beans and heat through. Then it's ready to serve - just remove the bay leaves beforehand.

BELLY BITERS:

shayne {yum} jen {yum!} ava {eh.} nolan {"it's gooood!"} corynn {tore.it.up!}

Veganomicon, pg 137

serves 10 to 12

time: 45 minutes