Polenta Lasagna with Roasted Vegetables

I know it says polenta in the title, but I actually just used cornmeal. While I like the heartier texture of polenta, I never did like having to cook it for 20 minutes. Cornmeal cooks in a jiffy and has pretty much the same taste. Tomatoes and polenta go very well together, and roasting the other veggies adds a wonderfully smoky and sweet flavour to the whole dish.

INGREDIENTS

- 6 cups water

- 3 cups cornmeal

- 1-2 tsp salt

- 1 tsp oregano

- 1 tsp basil

- 1 tsp parsley

- 1/2 cup nutritional yeast

- 1/4 cup margarine

- 6 cloves garlic, roasted, chopped

- 2 cups frozen corn

- 12 cherry tomatoes, halved

- 8 oz thickly sliced mushrooms

- 1 28 oz can diced tomatoes, drained

- 1/2 jar pasta sauce, plus 1/2 cup

- 1 yellow pepper, roasted, sliced

- 1 red pepper, roasted, sliced

- olive oil for brushing

- vegan mozzarella cheese

METHOD:

1. Bring water to boiling in a large pot. Add salt and spices to the water, then whisk in cornmeal. When cornmeal has thickened, remove from heat and mix in margarine and nutritional yeast with a spoon. Working quickly, spread cornmeal mixture as thinly as possible on 2 cookie sheets (or one large sheet). Set aside to cool. When cool, slice into 9 strips.

Preheat oven to 250 degrees

2. Heat a large frying pan over medium heat. When hot, dry roast corn until it beings to lightly brown. Add in cherry tomatoes and mushroom, stirring constantly, until mushrooms begin to brown and soften. If veggies are sticking, add a few tbsp of water. Add in tomatoes and pasta sauce and bring to bubbling. Add in roasted pepper slices.

3. Spread extra 1/2 cup of pasta sauce on the bottom of a 9 x 13 baking dish. Place 3 strips of polenta over the sauce, and top with 1/2 of the tomato mixture. Repeat with 3 more strips and the other half of the sauce. Top with 3 more polenta strips, and brush lightly with olive oil. Top with vegan cheese.

4. Bake for 35-45 mins, or until bubbling and the cheese has melted.

Roasted Chestnuts

Really, I just wanted to share this photo with you (which I have compressed to accomodate for the dial-up connection). Roasted chestnuts are delightfully smoky, nutty, and sweet all at the same time. While I did not sing and yuletide carols whilst I ate these, they were good nonetheless.

METHOD

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2. Cut/poke an "X" through the shell of each chestnut with a paring knife. Place on a cookie sheet.

3. Roast for 20-22 mins. The shells will peel back around the X. When cool, peel, sprinkle with sea salt (optional) and enjoy!

Mexican Roasted Veggies

Tonight was leftover chimichangas from last night. I thought I would try to spice it up by creating a new side dish. The result was pretty tasty. Nothing special, but tasty.

INGREDIENTS
- 1 yellow onion, cut in quarters
- 1 red onion, cut in quarters
- 3 tomatoes, cut in quarters
- 3 potatoes, diced
- 1 cup frozen corn
- 1/2 tsp each cumin, chili powder, oregano, cinnamon, salt
- oil

METHOD
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
1. Place veggies in a bowl, toss with oil and spices. Place in an 8 1/2 x 11 stoneware baking dish.
2. Roast veggies for about 45 mins, turning every 15 mins, until veggies are golden and tomato is reduced to a paste.

Roasted Pepper Pizza

We are getting a new (read: used, but new to us) fridge tomorrow, so we have not been stocking the old one. Basically we have soy milk, carrots, tofu, and a bunch of peppers we bought on sale. So, what to make for dinner? Pizza, of course! Vegan Mom made the dough while I was at work helping my students prep for their upcoming midterm (insert Imperial March music here). I can't remember if I sang the praises of the pizza dough recipe from Vegan With a Vengeance already, so let me sing its praises now. If you like a New York style crust, the this is the dough for you. It is light and crispy and pretty easy to make.

Anyway, on to the pizza. I love roasted peppers, and it is really easy to roast them on the BBQ. Never mind that we just had a few feet of snow and that it was -10 degrees outside, I shovelled my way to the BBQ on the back porch and fired it up on high.

On the Bottom Rack:

- 1 green pepper

- 1 red pepper

- 1 yellow pepper

On the Top Rack:

- 1 yellow onion, skin on

- 1 red onion, skin on

- 1/2 clove or garlic, skin on, wrapped in aluminum foil

Turn peppers every 2 mins or so, until skins are blackened and blistered (about 10-15 mins). Turn onions and garlic as well to keep from burning. When done, place everything in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let steam for 10 mins. The skins should then peel of easily. Skin and seed pepper, then slice. Peel garlic and onions and roughly chop.

I also made the Tofu-Basil Ricotta from VWAV. Isa posted the recipe on the PPK website. The pizza went down like this: thick layer of tomato sauce, layer of tofu ricotta, veggies on top, then cooked at 450 on a pizza stone for about 15 mins.

I should point out that the kids did not eat this pizza. We made them their own small pizzas with veggie meat and Tofutti mozzarella (blech--kids will eat anything).

Maple Roasted Tofu and Veggies

Well, winter has come to the north in full force. Freezing cold, snow, parkas, touques, and big clumpy boots. It makes me want to roast things in the oven, if for no other reason than it heats the house up a few more degrees.

INGREDIENTS

- 2 yukon gold potatoes, diced

- 2 large red potatoes, diced

- 1 yellow onion, cut into eighths

- 1 red onion, cut into eighths

- 1 small rutabaga, peeled and diced

- 3 carrots, cut into chunks

- 4 cloves of garlic, cut into chunks

- 1 cup cooked chickpeas

- 1 pkg firm tofu, pressed and diced

- 2 tbsp oil

- 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

- 1/2 cup maple syrup

- 2 tbsp water

- 1 tsp dried sage

- 1 tsp dried thyme

- salt and pepper

METHOD

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

1. Place all veggies in a large bowl. Mix oil, vinegar, syrup, water, and spices in a small bowl. Pour over veggies and toss well. Place on a stoneware baking sheet. Put tofu on veggies and gently toss to coat in sauce.

2. Roast veggies in oven for 60-70 mins, stirring veggies after 30, 45, and 60 mins to keep the sauce from burning. Toss in an extra bit of maple syrup before you serve if you want an extra bit of sweetness.

I served this dish up with pumpkin scones.

Roasted Fall Veggies

I made the chicken fried seitan again, but also made some awesome oven-roasted veggies that tasted like fall (even though it was 21 degrees today). The veggies are easy to make: cut up potatoes, onion, turnips, rutabaga, parsnips, and carrots. Toss in olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt. Roast on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper in a 350 degree oven for an hour, or until veggies are soft.