Fresh and Simple Gluten-Free Summer Pasta

This is one of my favorite summer dinners.  The in-season tomatoes and basil make it so fresh and delicious.  Plus, it's easy as heck! Gluten-Free Summer Pasta

Serves: 4-ish

Start by boiling water with olive oil and sea salt for your pasta.  Once boiling add about 3/4 of a pound of your favorite gluten-free pasta and cook as directed.

In a skillet heat up a fair amount of olive oil and add one 12-ounce container of ripe grape or cherry tomatoes, quartered, and 1/2 of a large red onion, roughly diced or sliced.  Cook until soft.  Add 3 minced garlic cloves, 1/4 cup nutritional yeast, 1/3 cup chopped fresh basil, 1/3 cup chopped kale, and a splash of balsamic vinegar.

Throw in your cooked and drained pasta and then adjust seasoning.  Add sea salt and italian seasoning, to taste.  Often I add cayenne and/or hot sauce for a kick.  This is a super basic recipe, so get crazy with it and make it your own.  Happy summer eating, friends!!!

***Tip: Don't refrigerate your tomatoes!  Once they get refrigerated they start to lose flavor instantly!

Make Your Own Veggie Burgers

In honor of Memorial Day and the beginning of summer celebrations I felt inspired to make some veggie burgers.  I hope you enjoy! Veggie Burgers:

2 med/large eggplant

3 medium yellow onions

8 cloves garlic, peeled

Olive oil

1 cup sun-dried tomatoes

5-6 cups rolled oats

4 carrots, grated

1/4 cup sesame seeds

Sea salt, to taste

Cayenne, to taste

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Cut your eggplant into roughly 1" cubes. Toss with a generous amount of sea salt and set in colander to drain over the sink or another bowl for about 15 minutes. The eggplant will breakdown a bit and release liquid. Slice up your onions and toss with the eggplant, 8 cloves of garlic and a generous amount of olive oil to coat. Throw the mixture into the oven on a couple of baking sheets. Cook for about 30 minutes until soft and onions are clear, but not browned.

Bring 1-1/2 cups of water to boil then turn off the heat. Toss in the sun-dried tomatoes, cover, and set aside to soften.

In a food processor process the oats until broken down then set aside. In batches, process the cooked eggplant, onion, and garlic mixture with the softened sundried tomatoes, and the grated carrots.

Put the processed vegetables in a large mixing bowl, add the sesame seeds and slowly add the processed oats until mixture is sticky and able to form into patties (you may not need all the oats). At this point add some sea salt and cayenne until you reach a desired taste. Then form into patties, remembering that they won't shrink when cooked, so form them to size you want.

Cook on a grill or grill pan until they are slightly firm and cooked on both sides. I like them to still be soft in the middle. The longer you cook them, the more dried out they'll be.  Makes 12-15 patties depending on the size. Once they're cooked you can serve them or freeze them for later. A summer fave! And don't worry if you hate eggplant, it doesn't matter.  I have served MANY people these burgers who hated eggplant and they loved them. :)

Vegan Corn Chowder

Summer is right around the corner and I'm so excited to see corn and watermelon making their way into season.  Having just made a ton of almond milk, I had my mind set on making a vegan "clam" chowder using oyster mushrooms.  My friend, who hates mushrooms, easily talked me into a corn chowder when I saw all the beautiful, fresh corn at the market. Vegan Corn Chowder

I chopped up 1 red bell pepper, 2 small leeks, 1 red onion, 1 large potato, and 2 stalks of celery.  I added in shaved corn from 3 cobs (roughly 2-3 cups, if using frozen).  I melted some dairy-free "butter" in a large pot then added in the chopped veggies.   I sautéed them until softened and then added a splash of liquid smoke (you don't need much at all), sea salt, 3 minced garlic cloves, about 1/2 tablespoon chili powder and 1 chopped jalapeño, with seeds (depending on your spice preference).  I sautéed that for a few more minutes then stirred in 4 cups of almond milk (unsweetened) and roughly 1/2 cup of nutritional yeast.  Brought the soup to a boil then let it simmer for 20-30 minutes.  Add more salt or nutritional yeast to make the soup more savory.  I garnished with cilantro, chives, and lime juice.  Simple and tasty!

Lacking inspiration? Clean your cupboards!

The other day I was sorting through all the grains, legumes, nuts, seeds and beans I've accumulated and decided it was time for me to do something with them. I'm now determined to, one by one, tackle each one of these random ingredients to free up some space and get out of my cooking comfort zone.  This week I honed in on some pine nuts and polenta I had stored and this is what I came up with: Non-dairy Creamy Herbed Polenta with Dijon Asparagus Herb Salad

See what I did there? I made it all fancy sounding when, actually, it's quite simple.  See for yourself:

Herbed Polenta:

I put 6 cups of water on to boil and then stirred in 1-1/2 cups of polenta, lowering the heat to med/low.  Stirring almost continuously it took about 20 minutes to become nice and tender (you may need to add more water if it thickens up too fast).  I then added salt, minced garlic, and chopped chives and rosemary.  I poured in about a cup of almond milk, 3 tablespoons dairy-free "butter" (I use Earth Balance), and 1/4-1/2 cup of nutritional yeast (adds a cheesy flavor).  I kept stirring and adding more almond milk until I reached the desired consistency.  It turned out pretty darn delicious, if I do say so myself. ;)

Dijon Asparagus Salad:

I whisked together 2 tbsp. lemon juice, 2 tbsp. dijon mustard, and 3 tbsp. olive oil.  I thinly sliced 1/4 of a red onion and mixed it in with with dressing.  Marinating onions will remove their bite.  I chopped up equal amounts of chives, basil and cilantro (about 1/4 cup each) and added them to the dressing as well.  I steamed about 1-1/2 pounds of asparagus after cutting them into 2-inch pieces.  Once tender, I rinsed them in cold water to cool them off and stop the cooking process.  I toasted about 1/2 cup of pine nuts and then tossed everything together with some sea salt.  I serve it cold and it actually paired really well with the polenta.

There you go! See what you can dig up in your pantry; it's fun! :)

***Polenta dish cleaning tip: soak in cold water and it comes right off.