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]]>Hello everyone,
This weekend I did a little spring cleaning in my kitchen. I found a rather large jar of sun
dried tomatoes, and I knew I had to use them soon. What could I do? Obviously, I could make penne pasta with sun dried tomatoes and olive oil, or I could toss them in a salad, on a sandwich, etc. I decided I wanted to make something a little more original.
My AeroGarden
- : an Italian sauce that is made especially of fresh basil, garlic, oil, and grated cheese.
Now, I’m no stranger to making pesto. But I normally make traditional pesto. You know, that green stuff that goes on linguini. I’m not saying it’s not good, but it’s not the most versatile food item.
This is the perfect recipe if you want a versatile pesto/ sauce/ spread that can be used for pasta one night and on top of crackers the next. The best part – it’s super fast and easy to make! You simply need to locate your ingredients, toast some pine nuts, and throw everything in a food processor. It tastes much more difficult than it is. You can impress your friends with a dish that took you literally minutes to make. Isn’t that the best?
Cheers!
Jocelyn
PS – Here’s my AeroGarden
Sun Dried Tomato Pesto Spread
Prep Time: ~15 minutes; Yield: 24 oz/ 3 cups
Ingredients/ Shopping List:
- 2 cups, sun dried tomatoes, drained
- ½ cup, olive oil (I used the oil I drained from the sun dried tomato jar).
- 1 cup, fresh basil
- ¼ cup, fresh parsley
- 1 cup, pine nuts, toasted
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1 shallot
- ¼ cup, vegan parmesan cheese
- Pepper, fresh ground, to taste
Directions:
- Toast the pine nuts over low heat until golden brown.
- Combine the sun-dried tomatoes, toasted pine nuts, olive oil, basil, parsley, garlic, shallot, and cheese in a food processor.
- Pulse until well mixed.
- You may need to slowly add in more olive oil to achieve a smooth consistency that is lightly chunky.
- Spread on crusty bread or crackers and enjoy!
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Hello friends,
It seems like almost every weekend I feel the intense need to bake cookies or cupcakes, even when I probably shouldn’t. This was one of those weekends. Am I alone? I suspect not. What’s better on a snowy, cold day than a warm, fresh-baked treat? Nothing.
I’ve previously posted photos of my favorite spiced vegan cookies which I make for special occasions and holidays, but I’ve never shared the recipe. I think it’s about time! These cookies are packed full of flavor, moist, chewy, and all around delicious. No one will think they are vegan! Trust me. They are perfect for your next hosting event or potluck.
Check out the recipe and mouth watering photos below, and please let me know what you think!
Cheers!
Jocelyn
Vegan Cardamom Spiced Cookies
Highly modified and adapted version of these cookies from the Vegetarian Snob.
- ½cup, brown sugar, packed
- ½ cup , vegan butter, softened (I used Earth Balance)
- 1 flax egg (or one Ener-G Egg Replacer Egg)
- ¼ cup, vegan sugar or sugar alternative like Truvia or Splenda
- 2 tsp, pure vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cup, of whole wheat flour (alternatively, all purpose flour will work fine)
- ½ tsp, salt
- ½ tsp, baking soda
- ½ tsp, pumpkin pie spice
- ½ tsp, ground cardamom
- ¼ tsp, ground nutmeg
- Dash of cinnamon
- Dash of cayenne pepper
- ½ cup, vegan chocolate chips
- ¼ cup, raw pepitas
- ¼ cup, crystalized ginger
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Line a baking try with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, mix the vegan butter, brown and white sugars, flax egg (or alternative egg replacer), and vanilla extract.
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking soda, salt, and spices (pumpkin pie, ground cardamom, ground nutmeg, cinnamon, cayenne) and thoroughly mix.
- Slowly add your wet ingredients to your dry ingredients.
- Rapidly stir together until the mixture is well combined, and there are no clumps or dry areas.
- Fold in the vegan chocolate chips, crystalized ginger and pepitas.
- Roll golf-ball sized dough balls in your hands.
- Place the dough balls on the baking sheet about two inches apart, and slightly flatten them.
- Bake for ~11-12 minutes or until golden brown.
- Let cool on cooling racks for at least 15 minutes.
- Enjoy!
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]]>The post Recipe: Traditional Italian Bruschetta appeared first on Vegan Hostess.
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Hello everyone,
Today a few of my friends are hosting a game night. I offered to bring an appetizer since the hosts are graciously handling the main the course – a DIY pasta bar!
Keeping with the Italian food theme, I’ve opted to bring a quick and easy traditional Italian bruschetta with a drizzled balsamic glaze and freshly grated vegan mozzarella cheese.
I promise this is a simple, but delicious treat that’s easy to whip up for your next potluck or hostess event.Full recipe and instructions are below.
Mangia! Mangia!
Jocelyn
P.s. My apologies for the slightly grainy photos. I had to take them with my iPhone rather than my Nikon for this post.
Recipe: Traditional Italian Bruschetta
Ingredients
- 3-5 cloves of garlic, roasted and crushed
- extra virgin olive oil
- fresh basil, sliced
- Vine-on or Roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped
- Vegan mozzarella, fresh grated
- Balsamic glaze (or balsamic vinegar and brown sugar to make your own)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375F.
- Chop the ends off 3-5 garlic cloves and peel the outside paper.
- Place in a piece of tin foil, and drizzle with olive oil.
- Roast the garlic for 30-40 minutes until it is slightly brown, but not burnt. While you roast the garlic, prep the rest of the ingredients.
- Chop the tomatoes in half and scoop out the guts.
- Slice the tomatoes into strips and then cut them into small square pieces.
- Rinse ~8 large leaves of basil.
- Roll the basil leaves and chop them into small slices.
- Mix the basil and tomatoes.
- Once the garlic is done roasting, crush it and then mince the firm parts.
- Combine the crushed garlic with the tomato and basil mixture.
- Place small spoonfuls of the mixture on olive oil drizzled baguette slices or mini crackers/ crostinis.
- Lastly, drizzle with balsamic glaze.
- Enjoy! Mangia! Mangia!
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