Cilantro Pesto on Toast [Vegan Mofo]

Day 10 of Vegan MoFo! Woohoo!

As promised, I have a theme of sorts for the next few days: green. Specifically, green veggies & herbs from my CSA this year.

Today? Cilantro pesto. I was skeptical at first when making cilantro pesto, but I had a cilantro overload this summer and had to figure out how to consume it all. It's delicious and works just as well as basil. My pesto includes walnuts (unsalted), lemon juice, garlic, olive oil, and sea salt.

I decided that instead of just pasta or vegetables, I'd try it on toast. I loved it, like an interesting garlic bread. It would have been even better on some crusty french bread, but it was a great snack all the same.

The cilantro was from the CSA. Here's a close look at the GREEN!

CSA Pesto - Pasta and Vegetables [Vegan Mofo]

Day 9 of Vegan Month of Food and I am still going strong!

I look forward to this week - I have a slew of green-themed photos for the next several days. First up: pesto. This summer I have been swimming in pesto thanks to the CSA. I even tried making cilantro pesto (fantastic).

I am not sure if this a basil or cilantro-based pesto in the photo. I usually make my pesto with whatever greens (basil, cilantro, parsley - or a combo of all three), lots of garlic, walnuts and olive oil. I also use a little lemon juice and salt to finish it off. I made most of my pesto this summer in the Magic Bullet, a device I use several times a week and sometimes several times per day. I served this pesto with penne pasta mixed with zucchini and broccoli.

The broccoli, cilantro or basil, and zucchini were all from the CSA.

Pesto Chicken Sandwich: Leftovers Day 3

What else can be done with leftover ingredients from Stuffed Manicotti?

Sandwiches! The sandwich above consists of 1 Morningstar Chik'n Griller, a schmear of pesto tofu ricotta, and some tomato bruschetta mix. The bread is Arnold's brand. I've been a fan of their sandwich thins, and now they have flat/skinny hot dog "buns" called fill 'ems. They aren't on their website yet, but Wegman's has it up on their site, here.

Stuffed Shells

The best part about making Stuffed Manicotti is that we usually make a lot of it, so we have lots of leftovers. We had some jumbo pasta shells, so for the past couple days we have been making dishes of 2-3 shells filled with tofu pesto ricotta and covered with sauce.

Stuffed Manicotti Dinner

Mr. Coconut and I cooked a tasty Italian-style dinner for Mr. Coconut's Grandparents. We decided to make one of our favorite meals, Stuffed Manicotti, which I've blogged about before.

I made some focaccia-style bread and some bruschetta mix to go with it. We made some sauce from a combination of some canned whole peeled tomatoes, onion, garlic, olive oil, oregano, tomato paste, and basil. The star of the show, though, is the pesto tofu ricotta. A blend of basil, garlic, olive oil and walnuts for pesto; mixed with extra firm tofu. We stuffed that into cooked manicotti and then spooned sauce over the top and baked it to heat through everything.

We served the meal with a salad of greens, onions, snap peas, and pepitas (pumpkin seeds toasted and salted).

A Close-up of the meal:

The Phyllo Experiment

This is the result of my experiment with phyllo. I've never worked with it before, and don't know if I want to again! I've always read that it's quite labor intensive, and that is an understatement. I was also ill-equipped and low on counter space, which made it really tough. I had no pastry brush (where did mine go?!?!) and no plastic wrap. I was able to piece together a decent set up to prevent drying out, but it was still quite the chore.

I made two fillings: one with Morningstar Chik'n Strips diced up into a blended mixture of spinach, canned artichoke hearts, squash and garlic. The other was a more simple filling of just vegan pesto and the Chik'n. I liked the artichoke filling better, but overall bother were rather "meh." I was going to incorporate vegan cream cheese but the container in my fridge was growing...something. I decided it was best to throw it away and make up a different filling.

Another shot:



Next time I'd like to try something more all in one dish, so I don't have the hard layering and folding, just layering in one baking dish. Something such as baklava or I was thinking maybe vegan cream cheese with medjool dates and nuts and shredded coconut? We'll see, I've still got another roll of phyllo in the freezer.

Manicotti Stuffed with Pesto Tofu-Ricotta

So, I made this a few weeks ago, but it's taken me a while to get around to posting it.

Really, really tasty. It's also quite simple to make, the pesto is probably the most complicated part of the meal. Well, I usually make a sauce from scratch and that takes a while, but I cheated this time and simply added some onion, garlic and spices to good old Newman's Cabernet Marinara.

Basically, make a pesto, blend it with some extra firm tofu that has been drained and crumbled. Boil manicotti or shells or other stuffable pasta, stuff with petso-tofu mixture, set in 9x13 baking pan, cover with sauce, and bake until bubbly. If we had some soy cheese, it would be done when the soy cheese was melty, possibly browning.

I'll put some more pictures up on this post later. Until then, here's the recipe:

Pesto:
110g basil leaves, fresh, no stems
110g pine nuts
3T Olive Oil
2 cloves garlic
salt to taste

--> Blend until a thick paste. May need more or less olive oil or garlic. This amount was just right for 1lb (or one of those water packed containers) of tofu.

Sauce:
1.25 jars of Newman's Own Cabernet Marinara (I'll check the oz later)
60g onion, small dice
3 Cloves garlic, smashed and minced
2T olive oil
2-3 "turns around the pan" of balsamic vinegar (I have a pourer spout on my balsamic, and if you ever watch Rachel Ray, she often uses this measurement. I just mean that I pour in large circles in the pan...make sense? No? I'll clarify when I edit later.)
good shakes of (to taste):
red pepper flakes
poultry seasoning
oregano
garlic salt
kosher salt
pepper

---> start with sauteeing the onion in the olive oil. add garlic, and pour in sauce. Add balsamic, stir. Add seasonings. Let cook for a while (15-20 mins? less? I need to find my cooking notes.)

Misc foods eaten over the past few days

No pictures, just a documenting my food type of post.

Other stuff I've eaten on 7/30:

Pesto Chik'n Sandwich:
two pieces of bread, toasted if desired
spread pesto on both pieces
add one Boca Chik'n patty
Enjoy
Tomato slices and fresh spinach or basil would be great, too

Hot Chocolate with PB Toast:
Simple, satisfying and comforting snack to make on a cold day. Or a hot day where you feel like you need a hug. Or during "that time of the month", when everything chocolate is satisfying.

One mug of soymilk, plain (8oz) (or favorite non-dairy milk. However, I'd stick to plain as the cocoa I use is plenty sweet.)
Hot Chocolate Mix, 2T (I like Ah!Laska Organic Cocoa, Non-Dairy Style)
Two pieces of Toast
2-4T (or more) of Nut Butter of your choosing


Heat milk in micro or on stovetop until warmed to your liking. Mix in cocoa. Experiment with sweetness, sometimes a little is enough, sometimes there can never be enough.

Toast your bread, slather on Nut Butter.
Fold each piece in half, and --wait for it-- dip it in the hot chocolate. Yes. Seriously. It's good. The chocolate and peanut butter or whatever nut butter you use, is awesome. Then again, I used to eat bread slathered in honey, folded in half, and dipped in plain milk. I also still eat peanut butter sandwiches and tomato soup. I'm crazy.

I also had pickles today.

5 Minute Garlic Toast with Pesto Dip

I just made this up as a quick snack tonight. I wanted some garlic toast, but I'm all out of butter, *gasp*! However, I did have some leftover Papa John's Garlic Sauce from the last time I ordered breadsticks:



So, I slathered some of the garlic sauce on 3 pieces of bread and popped said bread in the toaster oven.

While that was toasting away, I took a few spoonfuls of the pesto sauce from last night, and mixed it with some Newman's Own Cabernet Marinara Pasta Sauce:



This is my favorite packaged pasta sauce. I always pick up a jar at Super Target because it's only $1.97 there as opposed to $3-5 everywhere else I've seen it.

Enjoy!

And a quick list of other food consumed today:
Breakfast was the one-two combo of the S*bucks Soy Latte and a Clif Bar (Chocolate Chip Peanut Crunch flavor today)

Lunch consisted of veggie sushi, as well as:


Really healthy today, hahaha. I also had a quick snack/dinner of a Boca Chik'n patty with vegenaise and ketchup. I'm trying to get rid of a lot of the more unhealthy foods in my house to concentrate on more fruits and veggies as well as losing some weight. Wheeee!

Now to figure out what I should eat next...

Italian Baked Tofu with Pesto Rotini and Sautéed Pattypan Squash

Whew! I need a better title for this dish. This was dinner. Very good. My first time with baked tofu! So very easy and tasty, I am excited to improve and expand on baked tofu.

I apologize for the slightly blurry photo, I'm trying my best to improve my photography skills. This one's a little better:



I'm too tired to put up all the directions and such right now, but I'll do it sometime tonight or tomorrow.

As Promised...

What You Need:
1 Block of Tofu (I used 16 out of 20oz of this jumbo sized tofu. Most water packed tofu blocks come in 16oz slabs.)
Pasta, any type
Pattypan Squash (I had nearly 500g worth)

Marinade:
Equal Parts of...
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
lemon juice
--> I believe I used about 3-4 T of each, mixed in a bowl.

2-3 Garlic cloves, crushed

Good pinch of...
Dry Italian Seasonings (I wound up using "poultry seasoning" because it was thyme, sage, rosemary, etc.)

Directions:
Put all ingredients in a bowl, whisk with fork, pour over tofu/veggies/whatever you are marinating.


Pesto:
Really Bad With Measurements on this one....
Basil Leaves (1-2c?)
Garlic (I used WAY too much, and that's saying something coming from me, so I'd say 1 big clove)
Pine Nuts (I believe I used about half a cup or more
Olive oil (1/4c?)
Salt, To Taste
OPTIONAL: Parma! Vegan Parm, really tasty addition. (Really, Really addictive stuff.)

---> Pesto Directions:
In food processor (Or The Magic Bullet!, blend all ingredients together. The result should be thick, like a paste rather than a thin sauce.


Ok. For the Baked Tofu:
1. Cut into an equal number of slabs. I got 6.
2. Lay tofu in a single layer on a flat surface like a small cooking sheet or, like me,In a big pot.
3. Pour marinade over tofu.
4. Flip after 30-40 mins to get other side of tofu marinated.
5. Preheat oven to 375-400 degrees F, depending on your oven.
6. Lay slabs out on cooking sheet,Like This. NOTE: save the marinade! Use it for the veggies!
7. Bake tofu on one side for about 20 minutes, then flip to brown other side slightly. I over didmine, but it was still tasty.
8. Remove from oven, cube or slice as desired.

For the Pattypans:
1. Slice/chop/cube/whatever 450-500g of pattypans
2. Over medium heat in a very lightly oiled pan, sautée patty pans for 2-3 mins
3. add some of the marinade (1/4c? I didn't measure, just poured some in)
4. Sautée for another 5-7 mins, until desired tenderness. Add more marinade if needed. The balsamic vinegar sort of becomes a glaze.
5. Finished! Serves 2-4.



So, yeah. The way I put everything together was to make the pesto while the tofu was marinating and prepped the veggies and had the pasta ready to go. Once tofu was in oven, I boiled some water and sautéed the pattypans for the last 10 minutes of the tofu cooking. Everything was done at about the same time.

I'm really, REALLY excited to try baked tofu again. I'm thinking of doing a more asian-flavored baked tofu next time.