Spaghetti Squash + Cauliflower

YUM! My friend Jess came over for an awesome dinner date, so I decided to finally try out making a spaghetti squash! I also made some of my roommate's favorite- Garlic Parmesan Cauliflower! So.Delicious. For the baked garlic-parmesan cauliflower, check it out here ! Instead of parmesan, use Galaxy Foods Parmesan. Now, for the spaghetti squash- it was so easy and easier to make as compared to watching pasta, making sure it doesn't boil over, then it might be too soggy.. #problemz. I topped mine with Daiya Pepperjack cheese #sogood. Jess had some Marinara, and if you know me, the one thing I cannot tolerate is marinara sauce. If I have to clean it, I get super nauseous. Yeah, not my cup of tea, but enough of marinara here comes the spaghetti squash!

Spaghetti Squash with Roasted Tomatoes

serves 2 hungry people or 4 normal people 

vegan~glutenfree

1 spaghetti squash, cut in half longways and deseeded

2 tablespoons grapeseed oil

2 garlic cloves, whole

1 cup plum tomatoes, halved

2 tablespoons Herbes d' Provence

salt and pepper to taste

Optional: Cheeze of choice or Marinara sauce

1. Preheat your oven to 375 F
2. Cut your spaghetti squash in half, longways. If you must, cut the end of the spaghetti squash which will give you a platform and make it easier to cut through.
3. Place your deseeded, cut spaghetti squash on a baking sheet lined with foil. Brush on grapeseed oil and sprinkle on salt and pepper. Put your two garlic cloves in the middle of your halves, one on each half. 
4. Let it cook for 40-45 minutes. Halfway through (around the 20 minute mark) put your plum tomatoes on the baking sheet and let them cook with the spaghetti squash
5. When you take the spaghetti squash out, let it cool for ten minutes. Take your garlic out and spread it around the spaghetti squash. Then you can trash them or use them for something else!
6. Take a fork and start scraping the spaghetti squash- it will literally look like baby spaghetti pieces! Put it in a serving bowl, and top with your herbes de provence and cheeze/marinara topping (if you use cheese, obviously melt it in a microwave beforehand!)

ZucchiniFest!!

 Yayy! Over the labor day weekend, I went home to work and see my lovely mother and brother! My mom's boyfriend is the best because he brought me all these AWESOME RAWSOME vegetables! How many people do you know get this excited over something so silly!? Welp, these veggies warmed my heart and sure enough made my labor day a little better!

You see that one zucchini in the corner? THAT ZUCCHINI WENT A LONG WAY. For today, I have two recipes- one of which I already have a raw version- my garlicheezy zucchini fries! This time, I baked them and added a few more ingredients to my raw zucchini fries and they were so yummy! My other one is now my personal favorite- a zucchini pizza crust. Yes, I mean it- PIZZA CRUST made out of zucchini. The key to this zucchini crust is to make sure the zucchini is really dry. My first attempt was a mushy fail- I didn't let my zucchini dry long enough (because I was very anxious and hungry) and sure enough my crust was a wompwompwoommpp. 

Baked Garlicheezy Zucchini Fries

-1 zucchini, sliced

- 1/4 cup vegan parmesan cheese

- 1/2 cup cornmeal

- 1/2 cup flax meal

- 1 tablespoon ENER-G Egg Replacer + 3 teaspoons water

- 1/2 cup nondairy milk (I used soy milk- it's much richer!)

-2 garlic cloves, minced

-1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

-1/2 teaspoon salt

- pinch of pepper

1) Preheat your oven to 425 F

2) Prepare your "dredging"- In the first bowl, put in your soy milk, in your second bowl, put your ENER-G Egg Replacer mixture, and then in the third bowl place all the rest of the ingredients except EVOO in the third bowl, and mix well!

3) Have your baking sheet with parchment paper ready and sprinkle the EVOO on the parchment paper and dredge in handfuls your zucchini fries- first place it into the soy milk, then the ENER-G Egg replacer, then your 'flour' and put it on the baking sheet. You should be able to get all your fries on the baking sheet

4) Bake for 20-25 minutes, rotating halfway through. Let stand for 10 minutes then enjoy!

Zucchini Crust with Pesto

gluten free~vegan

Makes 1 Medium-Sized Pizza

2 Cups Zucchini (Around 1/2-3/4 Zucchini), finely grated

1 Cup Almond or Flaxmeal

1 flax egg

1 Tablespoon Grapeseed oil

1 teaspoon herbes d'provence (or dried oregano)

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder 

1 teaspoon fresh basil, minced

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

For Toppings:

1 Recipe Anna's Creamy Vegan Pesto

1/4 cup vegan parmesan cheese

2 tomatoes, sliced (mine are on the bottom!)

a handful of spinach (or even try KALE- so yummy)

1) Place your zucchini (already grated) in a strainer with a bowl underneath, and let it strain for 30-45 minutes! (I know, so annoying sorry guys- but you can snack on your zucchini fries while you wait :]) Sprinkle some salt and pepper on your zucchini.

2) Preheat your oven to 400 F. Place your zucchini in a dish towel and squeeze out the remaining water. Let sit for another 10 minutes. 

3) In a mixing bowl, mix all of the other ingredients together (NOT YOUR TOPPINGS!), then add your zucchini when it is dry to combine. It should be like a dough- kinda sticky, but it isn't too dry! If it is too dry, add some more oil. 

4) Line either a pizza plate-jawn or a baking sheet with parchment paper, and spread your 'dough' into a circular-pizza-pie shape! 

5) Bake for 15-20 minutes- until the crust is a golden brown and the middle is not mushy

6) Take it out, and place all your toppings- I would recommend putting your pesto on bottom, then kale/spinach, tomatoes, then parmesan cheese, and bake on the uppermost rack in your oven for another 5-7 minutes. Make sure your cheese doesn't burn!

7) Let sit for five minutes and enjoy!

Iggy trying to sneak in my grocery bags! Silly iggers

Garlicheezy Zucchini Fries

Oh my goodness it's been a roller coaster the past few weeks. Logged in hours upon hours of work and on top of that I had so many papers due for my english class. But guess what? Now I'm done with English! I can finally start channeling my shiitake writing skills into this lovely blog :]

Just because I haven't written a lot lately doesn't mean I haven't been cooking. Oh, trust me I've been cooking. I have so many recipes that will be coming up, including:
-Cornbread
-Foccacia Bread 
-Raw Cookie Bites
-MORE SMOOTHIES
- Thai takeout at home
- PUMPKIN CHILI
- Homemade Guacamole
- IGGY!
- Cold cucumber salad

Lately me and the brother 'scroey' have been hanging out on a daily basis, which is nice to get him away from all the little girls that want him. However, I don't know if it is a good idea to have two Luzzis in one room, things get a little reckless. However, if there is one little peeve I have with my brother, it is that he is the hardest person to cook for- he is extraordinarily picky! But one day, I got some zucchini out of our garden and made these zucchini fries, and he LOVED them! Go me! So here's a recipe that might satisfy a picky eaters appetite

Garlicheezy Zucchini Fries

raw~glutenfree~vegan

-2 zucchini, sliced

- 1/4 cup vegan parmesan cheese

-2 garlic cloves, minced

-1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

-1/2 teaspoon salt

- pinch of pepper

1. slice your zucchini into the shape of fries, just like the picture above

2. add in all your ingredients into a large mixing bowl and mix together

3. Let sit for 10 minutes

4. Place your zucchini fries onto a mesh dehydrator sheet and dehydrate at 105 for 12-16 hours (depending on the crisp that you prefer).