Raw, Vegan "Sushi"

Welcome!

For the sake of clarity, I am neither vegan, nor vegetarian. That being said, this recipe looked too good to not try!

The Recipe:  Raw, Vegan "Sushi"

• 1 cup Cashews (or just use some cashew butter)
• 1 tbsp Rice Vinegar
• 1 Zucchini
• 1/4 Cucumber
• 10 Baby Carrots
• 3 small slices Celery

The Process:

• Soak Cashews in water overnight (I soaked mine for a couple days because I didn't have time to make this for a while after)
• Use Magic Bullet to mix the cashews and rice vinegar into a dip-like paste (it tastes pretty good on crackers too ;D
• Clean the vegetables
• Cut the ends off the Zucchini and cut it in half. Slice as many thin pieces as you would like to eat. Chop the rest into thinner pieces. (If you don't like Zucchini, you may accomplish this with cucumber)
• Chop the carrots in half
• Chop the cucumber into thin pieces as well (You may elect to only use the seeds of the cucumber, given their differing texture from the rest of the vegetables. 
• Chop the celery into thin pieces as well
• Spread the cashew dip onto the Zucchini strips
• At one end, place a few of your thin strips of varied vegetables
• Roll the end with the veggies into the rest of the Zucchini, forming a "Sushi" roll
• Enjoy!

The Calories:

Cashews: 755 calories

Rice Vinegar: 25 calories

Zucchini: 31 calories

Cucumber: 45 calories

Carrots: 41 calories

Celery: Negative Calories 

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TOTAL: 897 Calories

Before you freak out, the amount of the recipe that I used was about 1/6 the Cashews, 3/4 the zucchini, 1/2 the carrots, all the celery, and 1/4 the cucumber. So let's recalculate a little bit! 

Cashews: 126 calories

Rice Vinegar: 25 calories

Zucchini: 24 calories

Cucumber: 12 calories

Carrots: 21 calories

Celery: Negative Calories

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TOTAL: 208 calories

Now we get to divide by 13, since I made 13 rolls from what I did use. This makes each roll contain 16 calories. Doesn't that sound better to you?

What went right:

         They are super tasty, guilt free, and completely vegan. The only issue I have is with the cashew soaking, and even that isn't so big a deal...good things come to those who wait...especially since the cashew dip lasts for subsequent meals. 

What went wrong: 

         The cashew dip could use a little something so I'm probably going to be experimenting to see just what that is! 

What I would do next time:

         I might try some different nuts as the dip, or else add some spices to the cashews. I also might try adding some leaves to it, like kale or lettuce. I might also try making the dip with beans, chickpeas, or maybe even tofu. 

Will I do this in college?: 

         Oh yeah. This is a wonderful treat I hope to be making for a long time! Even beyond college, they would make fantastic appetizers.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed this recipe and look forward to making (and eating) it again!

Baked Ziti with Sausage and Vegetables

Welcome to one of my family meal challenge dishes!

If you've read my blog description, you may have noticed each month I have more and more posts, rather than just a few per week. I've actually started cooking a few times a week for myself, baking at least once a week, and cooking a meal for my four-person household once a week.

The Recipe: Baked Ziti with Sausage and Vegetables

• 1/2 box of Ziti pasta
• 1/2 can of pizza sauce (or any desired pasta Sauce)
• Mozzarella, Alfredo, Parmesean, and Romano Cheese (again, use desired cheese)
• Four small frozen sausage links
• 1 1/2 cup halved mushrooms
• 1 zuchini

The Process:

• Boil about 1.5 cups of water in a covered pan
• Cook pasta to desired stiffness
• Broil sausage links in the oven on High. After about five minutes, turn the links and broil for another few minutes. They should be fully browned and bubbling, but not burnt.
• Slice zucchini and cut slices in half
• cut small mushrooms in half
• In an oven-safe container, cover the bottom layer with pasta
• Cover the pasta with sauce
• Cover the sauce with sausage and vegetables
• Cover the sausage and vegetables with sauce
• Cover the sauce with pasta
• Cover the pasta with sauce
• Cover the sauce with cheese
• Bake for 15 minutes at 375 degrees

The Calories:

Pasta: 400 calories
Sauce: 70 calories
Sausage: 267 calories
Mushrooms: 30 calories
Zucchini: 20 calories
Cheese: 180 calories
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TOTAL: 967

However, this was shared by three members of the family (the fourth deciding to only eat pasta and sausage links, plain), so each person ate approximately 323 calories :)

What went right:

          The pasta was good, although not quite baked. The sausage links were also cooked correctly. Everything tasted right together, and it was a very healthy dish.

What went wrong:
          Like I said, the pasta was not quite baked long enough to be considered baked, so I know I need to bake it longer. Also, the raw vegetables lacked the carmelization to really release their flavor.

What I would do next time:
         First of all, I would bake the dish for half an hour to really get all the flavors to cook together. Additionally, I would broil the zucchini and either broil or sautee the mushrooms as well, to get them to caramelize. I would also heat the sauce before adding it, and put more sauce throughout the dish to make sure it covers everything. To make it a special dish for each season, I could change or add vegetables, such as switching the type of squash. I might also try using different meats, although using frozen sausage links will be the easiest to accomplish in college than anything else.

Would I do this in college:
          Yeah I think I'd do this in college...it would be easy to scale down and even if I didn't, I don't see a reason the dish wouldn't keep and reheat well.

Overall, a tasty challenge dish that I will be doing again to get it just right...stay tuned!

Cauliflower Crust Zucchini Pizza

Low carb, high veggie and lipid diet anyone?

Well, even if you're not, on the same night, we made a pizza without zucchini using a pre-made dough. Totally cheating, but certain members of my family were not up for trying the cauliflower crust pizza.

The Recipe: Cauliflower Crust Zucchini Pizza

• 1 head of Cauliflower
• 1 egg
• 1 cup shredded, Low Fat Mozzarella
• 1 Zucchini, sliced
• 3 tbsp shredded, Low Fat Mozzarella
• 2 tbsp shredded Parmesan
• 1 tbsp shredded Four Cheese Mix
• 1/4 tbsp dried basil
• 1/2 can Pizza Sauce

The Process: 

• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees
• Line a rimmed baking sheet with wax paper (Which ended up being a completely stupid idea...you'll see.)
• Boil the cauliflower on low heat for 30-45 minutes (Depends on your stove...I think I gave them too much water)
• Strain and mash the cauliflower
• Mix in the egg and 1 cup of Mozzarella
• Line a strainer with ample amounts of paper towels
• Allow mix to strain briefly, pressing lightly
• Wrap the mix in paper towels and slowly wring to remove excess water
• Refrigerate the mix for about 10 minutes (While cooking the other pizza)
• Pour the mix onto the baking pan and shape 
• Bake for 10-12 minutes to prepare the crust
• Spread on pizza sauce
• Sprinkle with dried basil
• Sprinkle with cheeses
• Arrange zucchini
• Bake until the crust becomes yellow/brown at the edges and the cheese and sauce begins to bubble (I ended up taking this one out slightly early because of problems I will explain in a moment)
• Allow to cool
• Slice into desired portions (Or make into pizza burrito...)
• Enjoy!

The Calories:

Cauliflower: 144 calories

Egg:             75 calories

Mozzarella:  431 calories

Parmesan:    42 calories

Four Cheese:22 calories

Pizza Sauce: 40 calories

Basil:            1 calorie

Zucchini:       52 calories

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TOTAL: 730 calories

This is slightly higher than 1/2 of an entire Connie's All Natural Frozen Cheese Pizza. To put things in perspective, wow. That's a healthy pizza. Despite all the cheese. 

Now let's talk about what happened here...

What went right: 

         Both pizzas were going great. They looked great, tasted great, and smelled great. The cauliflower I got to eat all of in the form of a burrito because I purposefully under-cooked it to combat the fact that...

What went wrong: 

         The normal pizza finished first, a shining thing of absolute beauty. And stuck to the wax paper, so was inedible in the regular fashion...we ended up attempting to pull some of the paper off and partially getting to eat some normally...the rest we had to toss or eat sort of face to cheese...don't ask! 

        For that reason, I under-cooked the cauliflower pizza in the hopes of getting it off the wax paper. I succeeded by folding the entire pizza over itself using the wax paper, pulling off one side, flipping the uncovered side onto a plate, and then pulling off the other side.

       I really want to try this again without the wax paper, since it all tasted quite nice :)

Will I do this in College?:
        We'll see how it comes out the second time, but I think I could make this happen pretty easily in college...it doesn't take that long once the cauliflower is boiled, and I can eat an entire pizza without feeling like I've eaten an entire pizza!

Overall, I really wish I hadn't used the wax paper...thanks to my dad making salads and my family being creative, we didn't have a totally ruined dinner. Stay tuned for Cauliflower Crust--Try 2!