rainbow chard lemon-garlic fettuccine

back with a new recipe. i have been cooking during my blog absence, but mostly just recipes i've already shared. so many people contributed to me getting up the creative energy to make this happen: my dad, a big meat and potatoes kind of guy, actually cooked a vegan meal for my birthday. thanks dad! my mom, who made him cook that meal :), and also once again went out her way to get me some rocking pappardelle pasta for my birthday. my brother, who got me a kick-ass ceramic knife which made this meal possible. (plus, he brought me over 20 pounds of asparagus this year). my csa, greely gardens, which started this weekend (yay!). and of course, my husband, who always graciously tries my recipes and smiles through it all. plus, he drove to store and got the mushrooms. whew, sounds like i a won an academy award or something... moving on to the food!

• 4-5 rainbow chard leaves
• 2 inch garlic scape, sliced
• 10-12 button mushrooms, sliced
• 6 oz. roasted garlic Pappardelle fettuccine
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 - 3/4 cup Drew's Lemon Goddess dressing

in a large pot, bring 4 cups of water to a boil and cook pasta for 8 minutes. drain then rinse with warm water. set aside.

trim stems from the chard and tear the leaves into fourths.  in a small pot, boil 2 cups of water and add stems for 3-4 minutes to tenderize. remove from heat and drain.
slice garlic scape into thin medallions, almost like scallions. in a large skillet on medium heat, sauté the garlic and chard stems in olive oil. after 2-3 minutes, add in chard leaves and about an 1/8 cup of water. cover with lid to wilt stems. when the leaves have reduced, remove lid and add the sliced mushrooms. continue sautéing on medium heat for 3-4 minutes.

in a pasta bowl, toss the fettuccine noodles with 1/2 cup of the lemon goddess dressing. the noodles should be well-coated and will separate. add in the chard and mushroom saute, as well as up to another 1/4 cup of dressing as needed. serve warm.

raw pasta aglio e olio

raw zucchini pasta noodles rival any regular noodle i've ever head. i use this spiralizer, and it always makes the perfect noodles. this recipe is a slight twist on pasta aglio e olio, which is basically just pasta with olive oil and garlic. it's a lighter pasta dish (especially the raw version here), and in my opinion doesn't weigh you down like the traditional red or white sauces. this makes a great light lunch, and healthy!

• 1 medium zucchini, spiralized
• 1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon raw apple cider vinegar
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/8 cup nutritional yeast
• pinch of pepper and celtic sea salt

spiralize your zucchini and place in a bowl. except for the nutritional yeast, combine the rest of ingredients in a dressing shaker, or a jar with a lid will do. i save old olive or salsa jars for this. shake all the ingredients and pour over pasta noodles. finally sprinkle in the nutritional yeast and stir to coat all the noodles. easy peasy!

roasted garlic mashed potatoes

recently i was making the delicious chickpea cutlets from veganomicon for a little down home dinner. i was trying to come up with good comfy side, and i thought mashed potatoes sounded super comforting. to make them a little more sexy, i decided to add in some roasted garlic. if you have never had the pleasure of roasting your own garlic (and then eating it), you are missing out on something dreamy.

• 8 baby red potatoes
• 1 bulb roasted garlic (see below)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil (for garlic roasting)
  
• 1/3 cup unsweetened soymilk
• 3 tablespoons vegan margarine
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 3/4 teaspoon sea salt
• gravy (optional)

first you will need to roast the garlic. peel off the outer layer of papery skin and then cut approximately 1/4 inch off the top. you should be able to see the exposed cloves all packed neatly in the bulb. place on a 6'x6' piece of foil, and pour 1 tablespoon of olive oil into the exposed cloves. using your fingers, massage the oil into the crevices and on the outside. wrap the foil up around the garlic into a closed pouch and put on a baking sheet. bake at 400°f for approximately 35 minutes. once cooked, the individual cloves will slide out of the remaining skin. wait for it to cool a bit before you remove the cloves. :)

while the garlic is baking, chop and boil the potatoes for 20 minutes. drain, and combine all ingredients including the garlic cloves (skins removed). using a potato masher, mash them until they are chunky and no whole cloves of garlic remain. if you don't like your mashed pots chunky, you could add in a little more soy milk and margarine and whip them until they are creamy.

if you want to top with gravy, try jessy and dan's white bean gravy. i kid you not, this is my go-to gravy going forward. it is so tasty and has a nice little bite from the miso. the only thing i did different was to mash the white beans up a little before adding them. this would also rock with some vegan mock meatloaf.