Creamy Leak and Mushroom Tagliatelle

When people go vegan, they often feel that they need to jam-pack their dinner with meat and dairy supplements. I am somewhat of a vegan purist. Though I do use milk and ice cream alternatives, or sometimes Tofutti cream cheese or sour cream for recipes. But I don't want to be able to taste that it's vegan.

When I became a vegan and began eating vegan dinners I realized how balanced and chemical free they tasted. Then I started trying to add dairy alternatives like cheese, (DISGUSTING!), sour cream on a potato (too grainy), or a different brand of fake cheese (just as gross!). To the point where I was craving plain food again.

I have stopped testing and gone back to my old ways... My one concession is my Earth Balance on toast. But I did have a craving for a cream sauce about a month or two ago.

So when I found this recipe I was still slightly skeptical of how vegan it was going to taste. The picture made it look so good, but it had vegan sour cream in it. I decided that I would quickly jot down the ingredients and if my mom decided to go to the store I would buy and make. So that's what I did.

What a surprise! This creamy sauce resembles a thinner alfredo with a hearty and earthy flavor from the mushrooms and leeks. It's sure to quench any cream sauce craving. Another plus side is that it's so easy to make. Oh, and I think I forgot to mention- it doesn't taste the least bit vegan!

Creamy Leek and Mushroom Tagliatelle
From The Vegan Cook Book by Nicola Graimes

1/4 cup olive oil
3 leeks, sliced into rounds
2 garlic cloves, chopped
3 cups button mushrooms, sliced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon chile flakes
3 cups dried tagliatelle
5 tablespoons vegan cream cheese
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
to garnish
salt and freshly ground black pepper

1
Heat the oil in a large heavy frying pan and saute the leeks and garlic for 3 minutes, until soft. Add the mushrooms, oregano and chile flakes and cook gently for 5 more minutes until the mushrooms are tender.

2
Meanwhile, cook the tagliatelle in a large pan of salted boiling water for 8-12 minutes until al dente. Drain reserving 1/4 cup of the cooking water for the mushroom mixture.

3
Stir the reserved cooking water into the mushroom mixture, then add the cream cheese and season. Heat gently for 1-2 minutes, stirring occasionally.

4
To serve, spoon the sauce on the tagliatelle and sprinkle with chopped fresh parsley..

By the way this can be pretty spicy, but it mixes so well with the other flavors that I don't know if you should even try to mess with it!

Stay Hungry and Enjoy Eating Guilt Free!....

The Cookie Jar

I'm on a quest for the best vegan recipes using the internet, magazines and cookbooks. In my opinion, since I haven't been vegan my whole life, I think that the best recipes are the ones that don't taste vegan. So, here is my first installment of this mission.

I have had a craving for chocolate chip cookies for ages! After a couple of veganie recipes I found this one. It's beautiful and takes me back to my childhood. In fact when my meat and dairy consuming father walked in the door he ate three of them in less than three minutes. Then my mom came home, took a bite, looked at me and said, "These are not vegan!" I had to reassure her three times. I myself was very surprised after eating one.

Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
Found on Sweet Tooth (online)
Adapted from Kirsten's Kitchen

2 cups flour
1 cup vegan sugar (granulated)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup dark chocolate chips/chunks (I used vegan semi-sweet chocolate chips)
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup soy/almond milk (I used soy)
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp dark molasses (I used black strap)

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and chocolate chips.
- In another bowl, combine the vegetable oil, milk, vanilla, and molasses.
- Add the wet mixture to the dry and mix well with a wooden spoon or your hands to get the mixture well incorporated.
- Roll dough into compact balls, place on a parchment paper-lined pan, and squish them down to form saucers.
- Bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes (mine took longer). Let cookies cool for 5 minutes on the pan before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe yields about 16 cookies.

The batter looks dry after you mix the dry and wet together, no worries, this is how it's supposed to be. Once you roll it together, the oils start to come out. When using semi sweet chocolate, even though it doesn't look like a lot in the batter, don't add more. I added more and feel that even though they're great, they would be better with more batter, less chocolate.

Hope you enjoy the recipe.

Remember that this recipe is NOT my own.