Saturday, April 11, 2009

Spagetti and Beans; Blueberry Coffee cake


Long time! I feel like I am only blogging on weekends. My week day recipes are foods that are cooked quickly. This week included 3 dinners out (with a book club meeting too). So, to make up for that - I tend to cook over the weekend. So here we are...
I baked this blueberry coffee cake (fat-free, at that!). It may not look great to look at, but it tasted good. It's not moist, melt in your mouth - that takes butter (or substitute) and eggs. But, I REALLY like this cake. I did not add ginger and thought the cinnamon was too strong - I will reduce the amount next time.
Based on the not-too-accurate calorie counting on the 'Lose it' application on the iphone, one serving is 136 calories.




I also made a vegan version of Rachel Ray's Spaghetti and Beans. I did not add any nutritional yeast, tofu or vegan cream cheese to this recipe. But I think a little of that may help too. This recipe came out creamy and that was enough for me.

Ingredients

3 Pepper (I used red, yellow and orange), cut in slices
1/2 Cup Olive oil, divided
3/4 lb Spaghetti
2 Cups White Beans, cooked
1 small/medium Onion, chopped
2 cloves Garlic, chopped
3 small Carrots, chopped
1 Cup Dry White Wine
3 Cups Vegetable Broth + 1 cup water
1 T Thyme
1 Bayleaf
Salt, to taste, divided
Pepper, to taste, divided


Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Place Spaghetti on a cookie sheet and brush with 1 T of olive oil. Toast Spaghetti for 5-7 minutes

Place sliced peppers on Silpat or a non-stick cookie sheet. Brush with a mixture of 3 T olive oil, satl and pepper to taste. Roast peppers for 30-40 minutes.

Heat Vegetable broth and water mix in a microwave till warm - about 3 minutes.

In a pan, heat the remaining olive oil. Add onions, bay leaf and garlic. Cook till softened.Add carrots and cook for 5 minutes. Add spaghetti and white wine. Simmer till all the wine is absorbed. Add beans, thyme and 1 cup of the warm broth-water mixture. Stir and cook till the liquid is absorbed. Keep adding liquid and cooking till the pasta is al-dente. Taste and season with salt and pepper, to taste.
Serve pasta with the roasted peppers!
Enjoy!!

Based on my input into "Lose it" on the iphone, one serving of the pasta and peppers is 314 calories

4 comments:

  1. Interesting recipe. I think that D would pick everything out of it and just eat the spaghetti! Those peppers look so delicious. What kind of baking pans do you have? I like the ceramic type but I don;t have any.

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  2. The peppers were the best part - although V can't get enough of the spaghetti either! He really likes it! I have some ceramic baking dishes (mostly for baking and casseroles), but I have a 'Silpat' (that was somewhat expensive), but it's great for roasting, cookies. Our cookie pan is really bad - it was supposed to be non-stick but with the roasting - it is just gross. So I stick the Silpat on it and we're good to go!

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  3. Does that keep food from sticking/burning to the pan? Mine are getting gross too!

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  4. The Silpat is AWESOME for roasting type things. Does not work for casseroles etc, though.

    http://www.amazon.com/Silpat-Jelly-Roll-Liner-11-by-17-Inches/dp/B00032S0HK/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1239657492&sr=8-3

    is what we have...

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