Antipasto Pasta Salad With Olives and Artichokes

 You are going to love this easy to make simple Italian pasta salad, especially if you love olives like I do!

What could be easier or tastier than assembling an antipasto pasta salad using the fixings from a salad bar or your own fixings bar? 

It simply involves cooking up a little pasta, mixing it up with fixings, and enjoying. It's easy, yet very tasty. 

In fact, it is so tasty and appealing, it's good enough to serve to company! 

My favorite add-ins are the marinated artichokes, olives, chickpeas and cherry tomatoes and then an oil-free Italian dressing.

The concept is easy. Make your pasta and then mix it with whatever you find on the salad bar. Then add Italian dressing ! 

I love pasta and often make it on the spur of the moment. 

Once cooked, these simple additions make the pasta dish into something special.

The pastabilities are endless for this wonderful plant-based gluten-free meal!

I'd like to take this opportunity to wish all of my followers a wonderful happy new year! May all your wishes come true!

Notes: 

1. I use gluten-free pasta

2. This is delicious for a party

3. I toss it in Italian dressing ( I use a oil-free dressing, but use what you like)- this makes it!!

Vegan Shakshuka- Plant-Based and Gluten-Free

If you love Middle Eastern cuisine, you'll love this plant-based version of a traditional Israeli favorite- Shakshuka. 

Traditionally, Shakshuka is made with eggs cracked over tomato sauce with onions, garlic and colored bell peppers. When the vegetables begin to cook and the sauce is nice and hot, eggs are poured into the skillet and poached in the tomato and vegetable sauce until done.

Although the origin of the dish is not specifically known, it is thought to have come from Yemen or Tunisia. Regardless, it is a popular dish that can be found in almost any restaurant in Israel. It is eaten for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. 

my husband still eats shakshuka with eggs

With the popularity of Israeli chefs and restaurant owners such as Yotam Ottolenghi  who owns seven restaurants in London and 

wrote a few bestselling cookbooks, including, Jerusalem, 

people have started to become aware of dishes such as shakshuka. 

Another popular Israeli chef, cookbookauthor, and owner of multiple 

restaurants in Philadelphia, Michael Solomonov (Zahav restaurant) has

 helped popularize Israeli/Middle Eastern cooking as well. 

Vegan Shakshuka!!

My love of Israeli/Middle Eastern cooking takes a small twist since I

 no longer eat eggs. I veganized the recipe by substituting tofu for the 

eggs and voila- Tofu Shakshuka was born!!

A plant-based version of an old recipe! Of course, it is gluten-free, 

easy, and delicious.

Shakshuka is traditionally eaten for breakfast- 

Ingredients: 

1 cup of sliced onions

1 cup of sliced red, yellow, or green bell peppers

4 cloves of garlic, sliced

1 jar of chunky organic salsa

2 cups of marinara sauce

1/2 cup of water

1/2 package of firm tofu, sliced into bite-size pieces

1/2 cup of cilantro or parsley

cracked pepper, cumin, paprika to taste 

optional: green or black olives sliced 

Variation: 

I sautéed 2 cups of eggplant in the mixture and 1 cup of mushrooms

Directions: 

Sauté (I sauté in water or broth) the onions and peppers and garlic. 

Add a jar of mild chunky salsa, water, and bring to a boil. Reduce to

simmer, add tofu and cilantro or parsley, seasoning 

and cover for the remaining cooking to give the tofu a 

chance to pick up the flavors.

Serve as is or over cooked brown or white rice.

My Notes: 

1. If you don't want to use a salsa, substitute marinara sauce. 

2. Laura- this is delicious

3. Vicki- you can leave out the garlic 

Merry Christmas

Thank you for your support and wishing everyone a 

Merry Christmas. 

Air-Fryer Latkes for Hanukkah

Potato Latkes -the traditional fried Chanukah indulgence has met it's match.  I don't eat fried food, but I still wanted latkes on Chanukah! 

If you read my previous blog post yesterday (link), you may remember that I searched the Internet for a oil-free vegan latke. I thought it was impossible to make a good vegan latke (oil-free) but they actually came out quite good! 

I baked them in the air-fryer which probably makes them somewhat crispier than making them in the regular oven, but not sure. 

These untraditional potato latkes tasted great with some organic applesauce that I picked up at Trader Joe's. (Yes, Laura- good one)

They were crispy, tasty, and very easy to make. 

I followed the recipe for Latkes on a blog called Plants Rule- but I took a major shortcut. 

My Grated Potato Shortcut

Instead of grating the potatoes, I bought a bag of grated hash brown potatoes that have nothing in them but grated potatoes. 

I simply allowed the grated potatoes to thaw and then followed the recipe. That was my shortcut, but you could grate your own potatoes if you prefer.

Also, I baked the latkes in my air-fryer until one side became crispy, and then I turned them over and baked them until the other side looked crispy. 

We enjoyed them topped with applesauce

I'm thinking about trying the latke recipe again with a mix of grated carrot, broccoli slaw, and potato. I'll let you know.

I'm letting you know:

This is an update using grated potatoes and grated broccoli and carrot slaw! 

Grated Potato, broccoli slaw, Carrot

Update: I tried making these latkes with a mixture of grated potato and broccoli slaw (which contained some grated carrot). It came out good but was slightly more difficult to handle than the mixture with strictly grated potato. I ended up adding a 1/4 cup of water to the vegetable and potato mixture to help it adhere better. 

I did prefer the all potato latkes.