cooking · Dinner

A Vegan Dinner: Lemony Basil Pasta, Tofu-catta & Boozy Rum Cake

A recent dinner was vegan, not on purpose, but what I call accidentally vegan. And I can’t say dairy was missed. Although I am sure Kirk would have been happy with a lot fewer tomatoes….raw tomatoes are something he has never been fond of. Oh well, more fer me!

Lemony Basil Pasta

Ingredients:

  • 13.25 ounce package whole-grain or whole wheat angel hair or spaghetti
  • 1 pint fresh grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
  • Juice and zest from 1 large lemon
  • 3 Tbsp capers, drained
  • 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • ½ cup fresh basil leaves, chopped
  • ¼ tsp ground black pepper

Directions:

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to boil, cook pasta for time on package. In the last-minute add the tomatoes. Drain, add back to the pot and toss with everything.

Serve immediately.

Serves 4.

I was wondering if the guys would like this and went over well. I don’t use tofu very often, this was a treat for us. After it had time to “marinate” I found the flavor very appealing with our pasta. I suspect it would delicious in veggie lasagna as well.

Tofu-catta

Ingredients:

Directions:

Drain the tofu in a mesh strainer. Crumble it in the strainer, leave over a bowl to drain.

Toss the tofu with the seasonings and lemon juice. Cover and refrigerate, let the flavors develop for at least a couple of hours before serving.

Add on top of pasta, or as desired.

Makes enough for two meals, serving 8 total.

I surprised the guys with a quick rum cake, I baked it while we ate dinner and had it before bed, It was a perfect way to use up a big portion of a bottle of Myer’s Dark Rum I had in the pantry (we don’t drink, but I use it in baking). The scent of rum is VERY strong but yum, it was fantastic! Very moist. According to a USDA chart I read up on, only about 30% of the alcohol is left after baking. So it did possibly have some remaining, hence the kids only got a small bite. How sad 😉 I on the other hand ate way too much. Oh well. I did garden a bunch before, so that works it off, no?

Boozy Rum Cake

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup old-fashioned oats
  • 1 cup white whole wheat flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • ½ tsp baking soda
  • ½ tsp fine sea salt
  • 2/3 cup dark brown sugar (see below)
  • ½ cup unsweetened almond or coconut milk
  • ½ cup dark rum
  • ¼ cup molasses
  • ¼ cup unsweetened applesauce
  • 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°, lightly oil a round cake pan with a neutral oil, such as sunflower.

Grind the oats into a fine flour, add it to a large mixing bowl with the other dry ingredients, whisk to combine.

Whisk the brown sugar through vanilla in a medium bowl until smooth, add to the dry and stir till mixed.

Pour into the prepared pan and bake for about 40 minutes, til a toothpick comes out clean (check at 35). Be careful of over baking though!

Let cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes, gently turn out on to a plate, flip back over onto a second plate.

Can also be baked in a 8×8″ square glass baking pan as well.

Handmade Dark Brown Sugar

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup organic granulated sugar
  • ¼ cup molasses, preferably organic

Directions:

Mix the sugar and molasses together with a fork until combined. Store in an airtight container.

~Sarah

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