Ultimate Sausage Baked Ziti (vegan)

I never knew what was missing from the baked zziti I loved as a kid. Apparently the grown up version needs a sausage instead of ground beef and onions!

Ingredients

1 tube plant-based sausage, I used LightLife
1 box (12.5 ozz pasta shells
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 jar (24 oz, each) marinara sauce
1 package shredded vegan mozzarella cheese, divided
3/4 cup grated Vegan Parmesan cheese, divided
¼ cup fresh basil leaves, chopped
½ tsp pepper
1 cup roughly cut spinach
1 cup diced onions
2 Tbsp fresh basil (for topping)

Instructions

1. In a skillet with oil, cook and crumble plant-based sausage over medium heat.
2. In a pot, cook pasta shells according to package directions: drain and rinse with cold water.
3. Meanwhile, in a large bowl combine basil, onion, spinach, pepper and prepared sausage.
4. Prep ya 9×13 baking dish with a coat of olive oil on the sides and bottom.
5. Pour half of the marinara sauce into the base of the baking dish.
6. Add half the cooked shells in baking dish and spread evenlyy in dish.
7. Add half the prepared mixture. Then add 1/4 of the bag of mozzarella, 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Pour 1/2 of remaining marinara sauce over shells. Repeat to add another layer, ending with the marinara sauce. (There will be some leftover cheese for the top later)
8. Cover and bake at 350°F for 30 minutes.
9. Uncover; sprinkle with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Bake 5 minutes longer or until cheese is melted. Sprinkle with parsley. Serves 4.

Can be frozen in soupercubes and reheated later

“Unstuffed” Peppers

My CSA box overloaded me with little tiny peppers and I couldn’t get stuffed peppers out of my mind. So I made these unstuffed peppers with onions, fresh basil, tomatoes and garlic (all organic) from my CSA box.

Sauté the onions, garlic, celery, carrots in oil for 5 minutes. Add Italian seasoning (thyme, oregano, basil), salt and pepper. Cover the peppers in olive oil and roast for 8 minutes at 400 degrees. Blanched the tomatoes to remove the skin and pre-cook them. Remove seeds and juice from tomatoes or use a can of tomatoes (squeezed). Add the tomatoes and fresh basil to the onions and sauté for 5 more minutes or until liquid is gone. I had to suction out the liquid because I didn’t squeeze my tomatoes well enough. Then added cooked rice (1 cup uncooked) and topped it with the roasted peppers. Put it in a casserole dish and heat 4 minutes, top with cheese (if desired) and heat 4 more minutes.

  
  

Sweet Potato Squash Red Onion Frittata With Quinoa

It is difficult to find a veggie packed breakfast. This tasted great warm or cold and was packed with vegetables. Feel free to make adjustments and pack in more vegetables. The original recipe can be found here.

 

Roasted Squash and Red Onion Frittata With Quinoa

Total time: About 1 hour 15 minutes plus 10 minutes cooling time

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 red onion, chopped
• 1 leek, white and light green parts only, cut in half, cleaned thoroughly, and chopped
• Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 teaspoons fresh thyme
• 2 ounces non-dairy Parmesan or mozzarella cheese, grated/shredded
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup non-dairy milk
• 1/2 cup cooked quinoa
• 1 1/2 pounds butternut or kabocha squash, peeled, seeds and membranes removed, and cut in small dice (1/2 to 3/4 inch) (about 4 cups diced) How to roast butternut squash
• 1/4 cup Aleia’s Gluten Free Italian Breadcrumbs

1. Cook squash if needed. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Oil a 2-quart baking dish or casserole dish.

2. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a medium skillet and add onion. Cook, stirring, until it begins to wilt, about 3 minutes. Add leek and a generous pinch of salt and cook, stirring, until onion and leek are tender, another 3 to 5 minutes. Add garlic and thyme and cook, stirring, until the garlic is fragrant, 30 seconds to a minute. Remove from the heat.

3.  In a large bowl, beat eggs and add salt and pepper to taste (I use about 1/2 teaspoon salt). Whisk in milk. Add onions, leek mixture, squash, cheese, and quinoa. Combine well. Scrape into the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs.

4. Bake 35 to 40 minutes, until set and the top is lightly browned. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes or longer before serving.

Yield: Serves 6

Advance preparation: The roasted squash will keep for a couple of days in the refrigerator. The frittata will also keep for 2 to 3 days and freezes well. Reheat in a medium oven for about 20 minutes.

 

Sweet Potato Casserole (Gluten Free, Dairy Free)

This is the recipe my mom traditionally uses for Thanksgiving dinner and I’ve modified it to be gluten free. The casserole can be cooked, cooled then frozen – it tastes delicious warm or cold. I just love the crunchy topping mixed with the sweet smooth sweet potato filling. I often eat it cold as a dessert or for breakfast!

Some sweet potatoes are more stringy than others. If you don’t like the stringy texture, a food processor works wonders. I’ve used my Vitamix to blend the casserole ingredients, which also eliminated the need to melt the butter.

To cook sweet potatoes, wash off the dirt then cut into similar sized chunks (I typically cut one sweet potato into 3-4 sections). Boil the chunks with skins on in a pot of boiling water until the potato slides quickly off a fork when pierced (10-20 minutes). Drain and let cool. Once they can be handled, peal the skin off and discard the skin. Two large sweet potatoes can equal 3 cups. This recipe doesn’t have to be precise, if you have 3.5 cups or 2.5 cups of sweet potato, it will work just fine in this recipe. You can also substitute butternut squash for sweet potato in this recipe.

Casserole filling:

• ~3 cups sweet potatoes, cooked and mashed
• 2 eggs (beaten)
• 1/2 cup margarine, melted (melt it in the microwave, 30 seconds at a time)
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/3 cup coconut milk (or milk)
• 1/2 cup sugar

Topping:

• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup gluten free flour (I use gluten free corn flour or homemade oat flour)
• 1/3 cup margarine, cold

Instructions:

• Combine the filling ingredients in a food processor or mixer. Pour into ungreased 8″ x 8″ or 9″ x 11″ pan.
• Mix topping ingredients and cut with a pastry blender until crumbly then sprinkle over sweet potato mixture.
• Sprinkle top with 1/2 cup finely chopped nuts (walnuts or pecans). You can put plastic wrap over the casserole at this point and place in the fridge to cook tomorrow.
• Bake 350 degrees until the center has risen to the level of the firm edges
  • 8″ x 8″ for 35 minutes (you might need 10 extra minutes if the mixture was prepared the night before)
  • 9″ x 13″ (double recipe) for 80 minutes

Here are some other sweet potato recipes to try.

Note: I’ve tried adding 3 Tbsp ground Chia seed or add 1 scoop of protein powder, however, both changed the flavor from the sweet potato casserole I remember growing up.

Gluten Free Celery Root Creamy Pasta Bake

Celery root or celeriac is a starchy vegetable that I received in my produce box and was at a loss as to what to make with it. I’ve heard of mashed potatoes with celeriac so that’s where my recipe inspiration search started. I ended up making a celery root pasta bake. As a dairy free person (typically) it’s a treat to eat a “creamy” pasta! Though not as creamy as a real alfredo or fontina pasta bake, the spices make it heavenly.

• 3 single handfuls of dry Gluten Free Rigatoni pasta or other gluten free pasta (about 1.5 cups dry)
• 3 cups whole milk*, divided
•  1 cups water
• Sea salt
• 1 medium celery root, peeled, cut into 2-inch cubes
• 1/2 medium onion or 2 shallots, diced
• 5 tablespoons butter or butter substitute, cut into 6 pieces
• 1 tablespoons corn starch
• Ground white and black pepper mixed
• 2 teaspoon mixture of oregano, basil, parsley, thyme and rosemary, or 1 teaspoon Herb de Provence
• 3/4 cup shredded or freshly grated non-dairy Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup shredded non-dairy mozzarella cheese
• 1/8 – 1/4 cup gluten free italian bread crumbs

1. Bring 2 cups milk, water and salt just to boil in heavy saucepan over high heat. Add celery root cubes; bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until tender, about 30 minutes. Drain, discard cooking liquid.
2. Combine celery root and 2 tablespoons butter in a food processor; puree until smooth. Season to taste with salt and white pepper. Set aside.
3. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a pan, add herb mixture, sauté for 2 minutes and then add diced onion.
4. Sauté until softened and just start to brown; transfer onions and spices to food processor with celery root; blend celery root, onion and spices;
5. Add 8 oz cold water to corn starch in a small container; whisk until smooth;
6. Place pasta in a large pot with boiling water, cook for 10 minutes or until el dante.
7. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. F. Spray a casserole or glass 7 x 10 baking dish with non-stick spray.
8. Return empty sauté pan to medium low heat; lightly melt 1 tablespoon butter to pan; stir in corn starch mixture into pan to make a smooth paste; Slowly add remaining 1 cup milk.
9. Simmer on a low heat stirring or whisking all the time until sauce thickens, about 5 to 10 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Remove sauce from the stove, add the parmesan and mozzarella cheese.
10. Add the pureed celery root; stir quickly and well. Keep warm.
11. Drain pasta and immediately add to the cheese and celery root mixture. Mix well and then pour into prepared baking dish. Spread evenly, sprinkle with parmesan cheese and bread crumbs.
12. Dot with pieces of the remaining 2 tablespoons butter. (At this point, you might cool the whole dish, then chill it and bake it later or even freeze up to 3-4 days).
13. When ready to bake; place on the middle rack of the oven; bake for about 45 minutes until bubbly and the top is golden brown. Serve hot.

*If you try this with a non-dairy milk, let me know what you thought of it. I made it with whole milk because I had a guest who doesn’t drink non-dairy milk and it needed to be used up.

The inspiration recipe

Easy Creamy Curry Spaghetti Squash Casserole Recipe

After receiving Spaghetti squash in my CSA box, and not knowing how to cook one, I came across a spaghetti squash casserole recipe that reminds me of beef ramen noodle soup I had when I was a child.

I do not recall what possessed me to put curry in it instead of sage, but below is the recipe I ended up making with the gluten free ingredients I had in the house at the time. It’s a slight modification from the original which can be found on this website.

Easy Creamy Spaghetti Squash Casserole Recipe (vegan, dairy free & gluten free)

Ingredients

• 1 cup vegetable broth (whenever I make a bean soup, I add extra water then collect and freeze the extra for recipes like this)
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 3 garlic cloves crushed
• 3 tablespoons corn flour (coconut flour or any other non-nut flour would work)
• 1 tBs coconut spread or margarine
• 3 tsp curry powder
• 3 tsp chopped fresh sage leaves (optional)
• 5 cups of roasted spaghetti squash…about 4 pounds (two small or one large)
• coarse sea salt and ground pepper
•  3/4 cup brown rice breadcrumbs
• 2 tBs grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

1.  Roast spaghetti squash by placing on a baking pan, stabbing with a fork several times and baking at 350 degrees F for 1 hour 15 minutes.  Slice open and remove seeds.  The flesh will come out with a fork like spaghetti (hence the name) This can be done ahead of time and refrigerated for 1 day.

2.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

3.  In a small pot bring broth, milk and garlic to a boil over medium -high and cook 1 minute. Pour into a medium bowl and whisk in flour until well combined.

4.   In the pot, melt coconut spread (margarine), curry, and sage and cook stirring 1 minute. Return broth mixture to pan and simmer until thickened (about 6 minutes)about 12 minutes.   The coconut flour won’t get very thick on the stove, but will thicken more while baking as it absorbs moisture.

5. Turn off heat.   Add squash to sauce in pan and mix well seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.  Transfer to 2 qt. casserole dish. Top with breadcrumbs and optional parmesan.  Bake about 20-25 minutes until slightly browning and bubbly.

Serves 8 as a side dish. (or 3-4 as a main)

Serving Size = 1/3 batch
Calories: 263.9
Total Fat: 9.2 g
Saturated: 2.8 g
Polyunsaturated: 2.1 g
Monounsaturated: 2.2 g
Trans: 0 g
Cholesterol: 13.3 mg
Sodium: 460.4 mg
Potassium: 355.9 mg
Total Carbs: 41.4 g
Dietary Fiber: 7.2 g
Sugars: 12.1 g
Protein: 4.4 g
Vitamin A: 23.4%
Vitamin C: 15.6%
Calcium: 37.7%
Iron: 15.9%