09 | April | 2012 | The Vegan Pact

Jim and I have been cooking vegetarian for a little over a year. And we only ever learned to cook at ALL, over 2 years ago. The first thing we ever learned to cook was chicken, ziti and broccoli in a white wine and garlic oil sauce. We were extremely proud of it at the time, and although we clearly don’t support chicken nowadays, the rest of the dish will always be iconic to us. I had a weird craving for this meal last week and begged Jim to make it for me. I added the asparagus and he handled the rest!

1 lb whole wheat pasta, cooked

1 bunch asparagus, trimmed and sliced in halves

1 large head broccoli, chopped into florets

1/2 cup white wine

1/3 cup fresh parsley, chopped

1/4 cup olive oil, plus 1 tbsp

8 cloves garlic, minced

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp lemon zest

1 cayenne pepper, minced

1 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

*Jim will still add Parmesan cheese to his serving, which I have to admit, is a delicious non-vegan way to enjoy this dish!

In a frying pan over medium heat, cook 1/4 cup oil with garlic and cayenne pepper for 2 minutes
Add broccoli and stir for 2 more minutes
Add white wine, salt and pepper and continue stirring for a few minutes, until broccoli is soft, then remove from heat
Quickly stir in parsley leaves and set aside
Then, cook the asparagus in 1 tbsp of oil in another frying pan over medium heat for about 7 minutes, stirring and turning frequently until they begin to brown a little
Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice and lemon zest
Toss both vegetables with pasta, add more oil and/or salt to taste

Holiday food pleasing usually isn’t too hard with my mom’s side of the family, like my aunts and grandmother, who are always willing to try new things.

Not so easy to please are my junk food loving brothers.

As we colored Easter eggs this past weekend, they binged on hamburgers, milk fat filled breads and my LEAST favorite, hot dogs. My mission was clear- serve food that even they would AT LEAST try. My youngest brother’s favorite candy of all time is Reese’s peanut butter cups. I’m not a huge fan and I don’t deal with chocolate much, but when I saw this recipe on Oh She Glows for these Mini Homemade Peanut Butter Cups, I knew these would have the best chance of satisfying my brothers. I changed the ingredients a bit and omitted the tofu of course, in which cashews were an easy substitute. Plus, the teeny mason jars I got to buy for them are uber cute and I can’t wait to make other adorable snacks with them.

POST-EASTER…The cups were a huge hit (Jim ate 5 before noon), EXCEPT with the brother I was trying to impress in the first place! I feel vindicated though, because my middle brother’s fiancée (who has their eating habits), really loved them.

*This makes 10 cups, so make sure to have enough jars, or cut the recipe in half

FOR THE CRUST

1 cup crushed graham crackers (about 10 full crackers)

1/3 cup cocoa powder

2 tbsp coconut oil

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp vanilla

FOR THE FILLING

1 1/2 cups raw cashews, soaked for 1 hour (not necessary, but makes them creamier if they’re moist)

3/4 cup natural creamy peanut butter

1 cup brown sugar

2 tbsp almond milk

1/4 tsp sea salt

FOR THE SHELL

1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips

1 tsp coconut oil

In a food processor, pulse together all crust ingredients
Using about 1 1/2 tbsp per jar, press into the bottom
Rinse processor, then pulse together all filling ingredients
Pour 2-3 tbsp of filling into jar, ontop of the crust
Melt chocolate and coconut oil together over medium.high heat and immediately drizzle over filling layer
Let sit in the freezer for at least 1 hour before serving (they’re best served chilled!)