Ingredients (use vegan versions):

• 1/2 cup pine nuts
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 3 medium to large tomatoes – chopped coarsely
• 1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon finely chopped Italian parsley
• 1/2 cup minced fresh basil
• 1 1/2 teaspoon ( or more!!) finely chopped fresh garlic
• salt and pepper
• 2 cups broccoli florets, cut into bite size pieces
• 2 cups chopped fresh green beans
• 6 asparagus stalks, peeled and sliced into bite sized bits
• 6 tablespoons non-hydrogenated vegan margarine
• 1 cup frozen baby peas
• 1/4 cup veggie broth
• 2/3 cup *vegan heavy cream (see recipe below)
• 1 lb linguini

Directions:

*To make vegan heavy cream substitute
you will need: 1/2 block of silken tofu (extra firm) and 1/2 cup of plain soy milk.
Blend in blender (do not use mixer)
until thick and creamy and there are no
more lumps. Set it aside.

1. Preheat oven t0 300. Roast pine nuts
in on a cookie sheet in oven until they
are golden. Remove from oven and set
aside.

2. In small skillet, heat 2-3
tablespoons (or more if you want) of
the olive oil. Add tomatoes, parsley,
basil and garlic and cook until
tomatoes are soft. Set aside.

3. Bring large pot of water to boil and
add broccoli, asparagus and green
beans, bring back to boil and blanch
for 30 seconds. (It is important NOT to
let them overcook..or else). Remove
veggies and immediately run them under
cool water then dry, to prevent them
from continuing to cook.

4. Return water to boil and add salt.
Cook pasta according to directions, or
ask grandma.

5. Meanwhile, (this is so you don’t die
of boredom..j/k) heat up large skillet
with a bit more olive oil and combine
the blanched veggies, and peas and toss
over high heat for a very short time.

6. Reheat tomato sauce, drain linguini
and return it to pot, pour in 1/2 cup
vegan heavy cream, 6 tablespoons vegan
margarine and stir until melted and
mixed. Add veggies, tomato/basil mixture
and pine nuts..toss it around, plop it
on a plate and then chow down.

Try it with some of my not so famous
garlic vegan bread:

1 loaf vegan french bread sliced down middle
1 1/2 stick vegan margarine
2-3 large cloves of garlic (super finely chopped)
4 or 5 shakes of Italian seasoning mix

In small saucepan, melt margarine and
add garlic and seasoning. Mix around
then pour mixture into a glass cup,
cover with plastic wrap and put into
the fridge. After the margarine mixture
becomes solid, mix it around with a
spoon (garlic settles to bottom) then
slice vegan french bread down middle (length
wise) and spread thickly and evenly on
both sides. Bake in oven and then
inhale it with pasta.. its really
great.. even when slightly burnt.

And don’t forget that anything eaten
along side a glass of vegan wine tastes a
whole heck of a lot better!!

Serves: 6

Ingredients (use vegan versions):

• 1 garlic bulb
• 8-12 oz. whole wheat linguine
• 1 lb. broccoli
• 1/3c. unhulled sesame seeds
• 2T. minced garlic
• 2T. lemon juice
• 1 1/2 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Bag ‘o mints for dessert

Directions:

-Place whole, unpeeled garlic bulb in
small ovenproof dish & roast at 375F
for 35 minutes. When cool, separate &
peel cloves; set aside.

-Cook linguine according to package;
set aside. Remove broccoli stem & cut
into bite-sized pieces. Steam until
just tender, about 5 minutes.

-While steaming, saute minced garlic &
sesame seeds in sesame oil for 3
minutes. Stir in roasted garlic
cloves, pasta, broccoli, lemon juice &
salt. Toss and serve immediately.

*After meal….bring out the bag ‘o mints!!!

*It’s the lemon juice that pulls this all together, so add more if you like.

Serves: 4-6

Preparation time: 45 min-1 hr

Ingredients (use vegan versions):

• 1 tablespoon oil (whatever kind you like)
• 8 (or more, or less) mushrooms, chopped
• 5 (or more, or less) cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup coconut milk (you want the creaminess here, so I wouldn’t recommend using vegan soymilk)
• some vegan soy parmesan (I’ve never actually used this, but I just thought it would be good)
• about 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (makes the recipe – don’t leave out!)
• 1/2 – 1 teaspoon black pepper (freshly ground is best)
• You can also add some lemon juice to the sauce, freshly squeezed is best, or garnish with lemon wedges
• salt to taste

Directions:

Saute the mushrooms and the garlic in a
pan over med-low heat, until it looks
yummy. Separately, bring the coconut
milk to a boil over the lowest heat
possible, and as soon as it starts
boiling, add the parmesan, nutmeg, and
pepper, (lemon too if you’d like) and
remove from heat. Mix it all together.

Add the coconut sauce to the
mushrooms/garlic and simmer on lower
heat until the sauce reduces. Make
sure to stir it constantly or else it
WILL burn. Just stir until it comes to
a consistency that looks like alfredo
sauce, and serve immediately over
fettuccine noodles. I like to use
black pepper fettuccine, but any kind
it good!

This recipe is awesome! Tastes as good
as it sounds.

Serves: 2-4

Preparation time: 20 mins

Ingredients (use vegan versions):

• 2 cups fettucine pasta (preferably fresh)
• 1 cup broccoli, chopped into small pieces
• 1 cup button mushrooms, sliced
• 1/2 cup chopped sun dried tomatoes
• 3/4 cup chopped snow peas
• 1 cup red capsium chopped
• a little oil and salt (optional)

Directions:

1) Boil water for fettucine pasta (saucepan about 3/4 full of water)

2) While water is beginning to boil, heat a frying pan and put a little oil (optional) in it. Add broccoli, snow peas, capsicum.

3) When water is boiling, add fettucine pasta.

4) Add the remaining ingredients and cook for a few minutes. Don’t over cook else they will go soggy.

5) Serve and enjoy!!

Serves: 2

Preparation time: 20mins

Ingredients (use vegan versions):

• lasagna type pasta
• 1 bottle of vegan pasta sauce, or homemade vegan pasta sauce
• 2 packets Yves vegan “ground beef” substitute (I’m going to try with textured soy protein next time)
• 1 and 1/2 packet firm tofu crumbled
• 1-2 bags frozen spinach or fresh equivalent
• onions — finely chopped, quantity optional
• roasted bell peppers (red, yellow and orange)– quantity to taste
• sundried tomatoes, calamata olives — quantity to taste
• plenty of basil, thyme and oregano (fresh is yummier)
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Cook the lasagna according to directions.

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a pan, saute the onions (garlic optional), when
transparent add the crumbled tofu. After about
five minutes, add the spinach, toss and add spices
(basil, oregano etc. salt and pepper). I’m a spice
freak so I added some cayenne pepper too.

In another pot, add the vegan “ground beef” (it
doesn’t have to be Yves, and I’m going to try TEXTURED SOY PROTEIN
for texture next time). Let that cook (if frozen,
it’ll take a bit of time, so try to defrost it).
Then add the sauce and turn heat to medium.
Roughly chop the roasted pepper, sun dried tomatoes
and the calamata olives. Add to the sauce and
stir. A really cool flavour enhancer is adding the
juices that the tomatoes and olives and peppers
were in (assuming you bought the pepper and didn’t
roast at home). Let it simmer and taste for
flavour. Add some of the spices, so it’s not
entirely contradicting the tofu-flavour.

In your baking dish, grease it with olive oil. Add
a THIN layer of the tomato sauce and then line
with pasta. Add more sauce mixture, then the tofu
and another layer of lasagna; sauce and let the
tofu mixture be the top layer. For a colourful
appearance, add the roasted peppers on top,
scattered around. Bake for 30 – 40 minutes,
covered in foil (I forgot to do that the first
time, but my non-vegan friends STILL loved it).
Take it out of the oven and let it sit for about
15 minutes before serving. I like to serve it with
vegan sourdough vegan bread coated with olive oil,
basil, oregano and garlic salt toasted in the oven
to a nice brown shade.

Hope you like it! Please email comments and such,
I have some other ideas for this that I’d like to
share.

Serves: 5-6

Preparation time: 1.5 hours