Category: Summer Recipes

Plant-Based, Summer Recipes, Vegan

10 Must Try Recipes Before Summer’s Over

Featuredby Stephanie BoschLeave a Comment on 10 Must Try Recipes Before Summer’s Over
10 Must Try Recipes Before Summer’s Over

Summer is almost over, and before it is, I pulled 10 of my must-try before-summer recipes.   I’ve covered everything from soups and appetizers to main dishes and desserts!

One of my favorite things to use is our pizza oven. It is honestly my new favorite toy! It takes a bit of work, but it is worth the effort. This recipe is one of my favorites, and if you don’t want to make it on the grill, you can easily throw a tray in the oven!

 1. Charred Broccoli and Garlic Ricotta Toast

Summer wouldn’t be summer without watermelon! This is one of my favorite soups, and I think you’ll like it too! If you can find a “Black Diamond” watermelon, grab one! They’re worth the price!

2. Watermelon Gazpachco

Who doesn’t love a yummy, beautiful bowl for lunch or dinner? I love pickling and canning fresh vegetables from my garden.   Onions are my new favorite thing to grow! I keep pickled onions on hand nearly year-round. This recipe uses tomatoes, quick pickled onions, and micro-greens!

3. Hummus Bowl with Roasted, Raw, and Pickled Vegetables

I made the following recipe for the Fourth of July a few years ago. These tiny treasures only take a little while to make, but they do need some freezer time, so it’s best to make them the day before you want to eat them! If you like red, white, and blue, skip the matcha in the cheesecake and add key lime juice to your white layer! This recipe is also 100% raw vegan.  For the rose cheesecakes, I added Anima Mundi Herbals Dirty Rose Chai collagen powder, a plant-based collagen that is super bio-available.

4. Raw Key Lime, Blue Spirulina, and Rose Cheesecakes

Summer is usually a pretty busy time for us. We travel a lot, everyone runs in different directions, and sometimes I want a quick meal. My go-to is pasta! Cacio E Pepe in English means cheese and pepper. This simple delight is on the table in under 30 minutes.  This recipe is perfect for you if you have cherry tomatoes growing in your garden!

5. Cacio E Pepe with Roasted Cherry Tomatoes and Fennel Pollen

If you have been with me for a while, then it’s no secret that I love Mexican food. I could eat it every meal daily and never grow tired of it. Tacos are my mainstay; I eat them for breakfast and dinner. The only thing that is second to tacos in my book is a creamy, delicious dip served with tortilla chips.   Hence, my following recipe. Muy, muy delicioso!

6. Smoky Poblano Corn Dip

An oldie but goodie is my Sweet Potato Coconut Curry with Mango Salsa. Mango season is now! I love them so much; their sweetness perfectly complements the spicy curry and sweet potato. If you don’t have a spiralizer, most grocery stores will have sweet potatoes spiralized or butternut squash, which has a similar color and flavor and makes a fine stand-in.


7. Sweet Potato Coconut Curry with Mango Salsa

Another mainstay of summer is my Poke Bowl with Compressed Watermelon.  In place of Ahi Tuna, the compressed watermelon is an impressive imposter.  If you don’t have a vacuum sealer, don’t worry; you can use a straw and a gallon-size ziplock!  It’s a little bit of effort for a whole lot of flavor.

8. Poke Bowl with Compressed Watermelon 

For this Kansas City native, summer is not summer without BBQ.  Honestly, I don’t miss meat. I miss the smell and flavors of slow-roasted barbeque.  Jackfruit is wonderful because it has the texture of meat and loves to soak up the flavor of any marinade or sauce.  I lived in North Carolina for a while about 25 years ago, and when my work said they were bringing in BBQ, I was stoked.  Then, when I opened my little styrofoam box and found slaw on top of my meat, I almost threw it in the trash.  Not to mention, it was also a vinegar-based BBQ instead of tomato-based.  I still hate vinegar-based BBQ. It’s not natural.  However, I did make nice with the slaw on top of my sandwich, and now I can’t get enough!

9. BBQ Jackfruit Sliders

My friends, let’s end with a dessert, shall we?  This simple sorbet recipe uses one of my favorite summertime ingredients, the lovely, delicious, and often overlooked rhubarb. A vegetable is often used as a fruit in the culinary world.  When choosing rhubarb, look for crisp stalks that are firm and tender. Try to avoid stalks that are too hard or thick. Unlike its friend, the strawberry, color doesn’t have much impact on taste.

10. Strawberry Rhubarb Sorbet

Enjoy, my friends!  It’s been a long, hot summer, for sure.  I don’t know about you, but I am exhilarated by the notion of cool autumn weather!

Much love.  See you in September.

XOXO,

Steph

 

Italian, Pasta, Summer Recipes

Cacio E Pepe with Roasted Tomatoes and Fennel Pollen

Featuredby Stephanie BoschLeave a Comment on Cacio E Pepe with Roasted Tomatoes and Fennel Pollen
Cacio E Pepe with Roasted Tomatoes and Fennel Pollen

Cacio E Pepe translates into cheese and pepper, my two girls’ favorite pasta on earth. It’s like fancy mac-n-cheese. The pure simplicity of this recipe makes it almost sinful to change, so I didn’t change much. I added red pepper flakes instead of the traditional black pepper and used vegan cheeses. I liked the addition of the roasted tomatoes a lot. They are like little cherry bombs that explode in your mouth!

The kicker for me was the fennel pollen. I have recently discovered this culinary rock star and plan to use it wisely since it is a little expensive, but the good news is that it goes a long way.

The key to this simple pasta is using just enough pasta water to cook the pasta noodles. Too much water and you will lose all of your starch; not enough water and you will have to add a little hot water to make the sauce.

When the pasta is al dente, you will drain and save the pasta water, ensuring you have about 2 1/2 cups. This water is what we will use to make the sauce. Add a little butter to the pan, add your pepper flakes, and sauté for 1-2 minutes. Then add the pasta water to the butter/pepper mix and the pasta and cheese. Stir until the cheese, add pasta to the pan, and Boom! Dinner is served!

I used bucatini because I love its thickness, but you can use any pasta you want.

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Cacio E Pepe with Roasted Tomatoes and Fennel Pollen

  • Author: Stephanie Bosch
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Description

This super simple pasta gets a little zing with some fennel pollen!  If you’ve never had it you will love it.  Be warned it’s kind of expensive, but a little goes a long way! 

Ingredients

Scale
  • 14 oz. pasta such as bucatini or spaghetti (*see note)
  • 10 oz. pack sangria tomatoes (or, any 10 oz pack of cherry/grape tomatoes)
  • 3 Tbsp. unsalted vegan butter, cubed, divided
  • 1 tsp. freshly cracked black pepper
  • ¾ cup finely grated vegan Parmesan
  • ⅓ cup vegan Romano
  • Fennel Pollen (fennel seeds, anise seeds, or dill seeds work, too)

Instructions

  1. Pre-heat oven to 425° F and prep a baking sheet with parchment paper.  
  2. Lightly spray tomatoes with avocado oil or other spray oil and dust with fennel pollen and black pepper.
  3. Roast tomatoes for 20-25 minutes, or until tomatoes are soft and fragrant. 
  4. Meanwhile, while tomatoes are roasting, boil 5 1/2 cups of salted water (about 1 1/2 tsp of salt) for your pasta. 
  5. Add pasta and stir occasionally. Cook until al dente, about 7-8 minutes.
  6. Remove from heat and drain pasta, reserving 2 1/2 cups of water. Set pasta aside. (**See note)
  7. In the same pan, over medium heat, add butter and red pepper flakes. Saute for 1-2 minutes until foaming and pepper flakes are fragrant. (Be warned the pepper can fill the air and your nose!) 
  8. Add pasta water and stir. Simmer until sauce has reduced somewhat, about 5 minutes. 
  9. Reduce heat to low and add pasta and cheeses. Stir to combine and add hot water if the sauce becomes too thick. Cook until the pasta has heated through.
  10. Plate the pasta and top with roasted tomatoes. 
  11. Add additional cheese, pepper, and fennel pollen, to garnish and to taste.
  12. Serve warm. 

Notes

  • *If using gluten free pasta cook 3/4 of the way or it will fall apart.  I use about 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt to my water. Rinse pasta well when done cooking.  
  • **If you do not have 2 1/2 cups of reserved water after cooking pasta just add hot tap water.