Barley Stuffed Butternut Squash Recipe

Ingredients:
  • 1 med to large butternut squash
  • 1 cup pearl barley, uncooked
  • 2 1/4 cups apple juice, unsweetened
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil (extra virgin, light)
  • 1 small yellow onion, chopped
  • 2 stalks Celery, chopped
  • 1/4 to 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
  • 1 1/4 teaspoons each – dried tarragon & sage
  • dash of garlic powder, as desired
  • dash of salt, as desired
  • black pepper, as desired
  • 1/2 cup brown vegan sugar
  • 1/2 cup apple sauce, unsweetened
  • additional brown vegan sugar, to taste
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 deg.
2. In a medium saucepan, bring apple juice to boil; add barley; cover and reduce heat to low; simmer until liquid is absorbed and barley is cooked, stirring occasionally.
3. Meanwhile, cut squash in half lengthwise and scoop out seeds. Spray cut sides and a 9 x 13 inch baking dish with cooking spray; put squash cut side down into baking dish. Roast for approx. 1 hour, or until they feel soft when pushed down with finger. Let squash sit until able to handle comfortably. Increase oven temp to 400 degrees.
4. While squash if cooling, put olive oil in skillet over medium heat. Add onion and saute for 2-3 minutes; add celery and saute for about 2 minutes; add walnuts and saute until onion is translucent and walnut are a bit toasted. Reduce heat to low.
5. Scoop out pulp from squash halves, leaving shells intact. Add squash to onion mixture and mix well; add spices and mix well. Add applesauce and brown sugar, stirring until well mixed (over low heat). Stir in cooked barley till mixed.
6. Put mixture in squash shells. Sprinkle with additional brown sugar, if desired; put in oven and cook until heated through.
This recipe can be used as a main dish for 2 people. Round out with a salad and some vegan bread. Or use as a side dish for 4 to 6 people, where the squash shells are used as a “serving dish”. The spices used mix together surprisingly well. A flavor that needs to be tasted to fully appreciate. Enjoy!
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Manicotti of Doom Recipe

Ingredients:
  • one dozen manicotti shells
  • two packages of firm tofu (minus one half cup)
  • one packet of Italian seasoning (or use your own blend)
  • one cup of vegan cheeze sauce (see notes below)
  • two large cans of crushed tomato
  • one can of tomato paste
  • Italian seasonings (garlic, oregano, basil, etc)
  • one can black olives, chopped coarsely
  • one can green olives, chopped coarsely
  • or any other veggies you like to add into tomato sauces
Directions: 

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees (F). Boil lots of water for the manicotti shells, so that the filling can be made while they’re cooking.

Filling: 

Plop the two bricks of tofu into a bowl and mash with a potato masher or a fork until it looks like Ricotta cheese. Add in as much of the Italian seasoning packet as you want, or season it with your own special blend of herbs and spices like oregano, garlic, basil, and I like to throw in a bit of cumin for interest. Use your imagination. Pour in the vegan cheeze sauce and mix well.
For the cheeze sauce, I usually use a recipe from Joanne Stepaniak’s “UnCheese Cookbook” like Meunster (minus the agar). But for this purpose (because of copyright laws and because experimentation is fun) here is my modification. Mix in a blender the following things: tofu, raw cashews, tahini, nutritional yeast, seasonings (like garlic, onion powder and salt) and a little water and the juice of one lemon (these should all add up to about two cups or so, maybe a little more). Once everything is blended up nice, and you like the flavor, it’s ready to go. Note: if it tastes bland, add in more lemon juice. I found that this is crucial, and vinegar doesn’t really cut it in fake cheeze recipes.

Tomato Sauce: 

Plop the canned tomato goods into a pot, add a tomato-paste-can full of water and heat and stir. Season with garlic powder or fresh garlic (I love a lot of garlic) and herbs. Add in chopped olives and other veggies if desired. Simmer until the flavors meld to your satisfaction.
Drain the manicotti and place in a pot of cold water. Line your baking dishes with a bit of the tomato sauce. Fill each shell with the seasoned tofu filling and place very close together in the baking pan. Cover with sauce so that no noodle bits are showing. Cover pan(s) with foil. Bake in 350 degree (F) oven for approx. 30 minutes, or until the sauce is nice and bubbly.
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Vegan Stuffed Shells Recipe

Ingredients:
  • 1 container extra-firm tofu
  • 5 tablespoons nutritional yeast
  • dash of nutmeg
  • vidalia onion (or other sweet onion), chopped
  • 2 boxes of frozen spinach, or the fresh equivalent
  • 3 cloves garlic, 4 if you like garlic
  • at least 5 tablespoons of olive oil
  • 1 large jar spaghetti sauce or fresh made
  • 1 box pasta jumbo shells
  • salt
  • pepper
  • 1 teaspoon oregano
  • 1 teaspoon basil
Directions: 

Place 3/4 of the Tofu in a Food Processor or Blender and add 2 tablespoons of Olive Oil, a pinch of Nutmeg, nutritional yeast, and 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt. Blend until smooth. Mash the remaining Tofu into the Blended mixture that resembles Ricotta cheese or cottage cheese. Set aside.
Preheat Oven to 350 degrees.
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Destiny Recipe

Ingredients:
  • 1 box lasagna
  • 2 jars Newman’s Sockarooni (or your favorite sauce)
  • 1 can black olives, drained & sliced
  • 1 1/2 pounds firm tofu, roughly chopped
  • 1/2 cup Soymage vegan parmesan
  • 1/2 cup Spectrum Spread (non-hydrogenated vegan margarine)
  • 1/2 cup rice milk
  • 1 tablespoon dried parsley
  • 1 tablespoon dried basil
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 2 jars marinated artichoke hearts, drained & chopped
Directions: 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Boil pasta according to box. Drain & set aside. Mix the olives into the Sockarooni sauce & set aside. For cheezy filling, combine remaining ingredients, except for artichokes, in a food processor. Blend until smooth, scraping often. Fold in artichokes. In the bottom of a 9×13-inch pan, spread a little tomato sauce. Cover with about four noodles. Spread some cheezy filling over them. Then cover with some Sockarooni. Continue layering noodles*cheeze*sauce until gone. End with sauce so the top doesn’t get rock-hard. Pan will be FULL. Bake for 1 hour. Let rest for about 20 minutes before serving so it can set up a little. Enjoy!
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Kasha Varnishkas Recipe

Ingredients:
  • 1 box farfalle (bow tie noodles)
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1 cup kasha (buckwheat groats. You can find them in the Kosher foods section)
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 2 cups vegetable broth/bullion
Directions: 

Cook pasta as directed on package. Soak kasha in 1/3 to 1/2 cup fluid. Saut� onions in olive oil until tender. Add kasha and stir to blend until kernels separate. Add broth/bullion and bring to boil. Turn to simmer and cook for 10-15 minutes until liquid is absorbed. Blend with pasta and serve with veggies or eat alone. This is truly fantastic as leftovers.
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Entirely Vegan “Roast Reindeer Linguini” Recipe

Ingredients:
  • 1 box/packet of organic linguini (or angel hair if you prefer)
  • 2 red capsicums (bell peppers to you Americans)
  • 1 large onion
  • garlic to taste (I adore garlic and use up to six or more cloves)
  • 2 – 3 red chilies
  • several artichoke hearts
  • handful of Kalamento olives (pitted if possible)
  • herbs – parsley, basil, oregano, marjoram – plenty of them!
  • sun dried tomato pesto
  • black pepper and sea salt
  • olive oil
Directions:

Obviously, the name of this recipe is a joke – I don’t remember how it came about, me and my friends had been drinking a lot when I first cooked the recipe. It’s an (extreme) variation on your typical oglio e aglio sauce.
1. Cut capsicums into thin strips. Slice the chilies and quarter the onion. Chop the artichoke hearts. Mince the garlic and the herbs.
2. Heat the oven to about 200 degrees Celsius. Pour some olive oil in the bottom of a large baking pan, and make sure it is all covered.
3. Put the ingredients from step one into the pan and mix them all about together to ensure they are all mixed up and the vegetables are thoroughly covered with the herbs and garlic.
4. Roast this in the oven for approximately forty minutes or until they are thoroughly roasted (onions should be golden and capsicum skins blistering). A very divine fragrant scent should permeate the air. Enjoy it!
5. In a large pot, boil a couple of cups of water, as much as you need to cook the amount of pasta you’re using. Once boiling, drop in a smidgen of olive oil, grind some salt in and then drop the linguini in. Cook until al dente.
6. Drain the pasta in a strainer. Add a couple of big teaspoons of the pesto and flip until the pasta is covered. Then add your roasted vegetables. Again, flip until they are right through the pasta.
7. Add some cracked black pepper and sea salt, and garnish with a dash of diced parsley.
8. Serve with a glass of chilled lambrusco! Mmmm…
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