Vegan Tunah Pasta

I recently discovered Vegan Tunah and am addicted to it. While processed vegan food is not 100% healthy, this is not bad to have once in a while. You have to like tuna as this smells and tastes exactly like tuna.

Ingredients:

• olive oil
• one can of Vegan Tunah
• 1-2 tbsp vegan sour cream
• zest and juice of half a lemon
• vegetable stock (optional)
• one small white onion finely diced
• 1-2 gloves of garlic minced
• handful of parsley chopped
• pasta of your choice, I used penne
• black pepper

Bring a pot of water to a boil and cook the pasta according to the directions.

While the pasta is cooking, drizzle a bit of olive oil into a frying pan over medium heat. Cook the onions until soft, approx. 3-4 mins. Add the minced garlic and cook for an additional 2-3 mins.

Add a tablespoon of vegan sour cream and stir it until it becomes creamy. Add more sour cream if you want it to be creamier. If you add too much sour cream, add a bit of vegetable stock to thin it out to your preference. Once everything is combined, add in the vegan tuna, breaking it up as you incorporate it into the sauce. *Note: the vegan tuna is packed in a lot of oil so if you aren’t a fan of oil, I suggest draining it prior to adding it. Add the lemon zest and juice.

Add the pasta to the sauce and stir to combine. Serve with chopped parsley and black pepper. Enjoy!

Vegan Orecchiette with Broccoli pesto and sausage

This is an easy to make meal and full of flavor.

Ingredients:

Broccoli Pesto

• 1 crown of broccoli, stalks trimmed
• 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/3 cup pine nuts
• 2 garlic cloves minced

Other ingredients

• Orecchiette pasta or a pasta of your preference
• olive oil
• 2 Beyond Sausage, casings removed
• 1/2 white onion sliced and halved
• 1-2 tomatoes diced
• Cultured Nut mozzarella

Bring a pot of water to a boil and boil the broccoli for 3 mins. Once done, transfer to a blender with the rest of the pesto ingredients. You can use the same water to boil the pasta per package directions.

While the pasta is cooking, heat up the olive oil over medium heat and fry the onions for about 2-3 mins. Add in the sausage and break up into a crumble. Add in the diced tomatoes. Add in the pasta once it is cooked. Top with Cultured Nut mozzarella and a drizzle of olive oil. Feel free to add chilli flakes or additional nutritional yeast as topping. Enjoy!

Vegan Rice Bowl

If you are under a time crunch, this meal is perfect for you! My cousin introduced this recipe to me and it’s become a staple in our house. I would have to say it’s the dressing that really binds this dish together and it is delicious.

Ingredients:

• rice (amount based on the number of people to serve)
• pre-packaged cole slaw
• broccoli florets
• green onion
• 1 can of chickpeas
• shelled pumpkin seeds
• sesame seeds
• Yeshi Ginger Sesame dressing

Rinse and cook enough rice based on the number of people you are serving. While the rice is cooking, cut the broccoli into bite sized pieces and steam for approx. 5 mins (be sure to not over steam it as it will end up mushy). Drain and rinse the chickpeas and if you want, feel free to warm up the chickpeas in a pot. Dice up the green onion.

To serve, basically have each of the ingredients in its own serving bowl and allow each person to dish out what they want. Be sure to be generous with the dressing as it is really good. That’s it! If anyone has another dressing that is delicious, feel free to drop me a line as I love trying out new ingredients.

Vegan Sweet and Sour Tofu

This is a simple recipe that requires little preparation and making the sauce can be done ahead of time. I never knew it was so easy to make sweet and sour sauce!

Ingredients:

Sweet and Sour sauce

• 1 cup pineapple juice (if using a can of diced pineapples, save the pineapples)
• 1/3 cup rice vinegar
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup ketchup (use more or less depending on how sweet you like it)
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 1 tbsp water

Other ingredients

• olive oil
• 1/2 white onion
• 1/2 large green pepper
• 1 pkg of firm tofu
• 1-2 tomatoes
• 1 large carrot
• sesame seeds

To make the sauce, combine all ingredients except for the cornstarch and water. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Whisk the cornstarch and water and add to the sauce.  Cook for another 1-2 minute until it thickens. Set aside.

While the sauce is cooking, prep the following ingredients as follows.

1. Dice the tofu into bite sized pieces
2. Slice the white onion and green pepper.
3. Dice the tomatoes
4. Cut the carrot into matchstick pieces.

Next heat up 1-2 tbsp of oil in a frying pan and pan fry the tofu until it is golden brown on all sides (you can skip this step if you wish, I just like the texture browning of the tofu brings). Remove tofu and set aside. Add more oil if needed and sauté the onion, green pepper and carrot until soft, approx. 5-10 mins. Add in the tomatoes, tofu, and 1/2 of the pineapples you saved earlier. Add the sauce you made ahead of time stirring until everything is consistently heated. Serve over rice and top with sesame seeds!

Green Peppercorn Marsala Sauce

Marsala wine: is a wine produced in the region surrounding the Italian city of Marsala in Sicily.  While the city’s natives sometimes drink “vintage” Marsala, the wine produce for export is universally fortified similar to Port, Madeira and Sherry. (Wikipedia)

If you are looking for an easy sauce to go with steak, look no further.  We were introduced to this sauce in a restaurant and decided if we could replicate it.  As it turns out, it tastes quite similar and even better using fresh peppercorns.  This sauce is easy to make and pairs well with beef.  You only need 4 ingredients and a bit of time.

Madagascar green peppercor

Ingredients
2 cups of Marsala wine
2 tablespoons of butter
approx. 1 tablespoon fresh peppercorn
1/2 cup of chicken stock

Over medium heat, melt the butter and stir in the rest of the ingredients.  Cook until the liquid is reduced in half.  Presto instant steak sauce!