Vegan Sweet Potato Gnocchi
One of the things I find extremely satisfying is making pasta from scratch and enjoy the process even more when the kids are so willing to participate & learn.
I didn’t have that kind of involvement when I was a child. Even though my mum was, and still is, an amazing cook, she never thought of involving either my sisters or I in the cooking. In fact I started to really cook for myself and others only when I moved to England 13 years ago.
I wanted my kids to have a different experience than mine. In fact they started cooking ever since they could hold a spoon in their hand 🥰 and being very present in the kitchen, especially my daughter.
And that’s why we thought a cook-along would be a great idea to share their love for cooking with others. Even though we have had only a handful of sessions, these moments appear to be an extremely enjoyable activity for the kids to have during these unique times of lockdown & homeschooling.
A snap from Insta live!
Behind the scenes!
In the last session in particular we made these delicious vegan gnocchi, so healthy and incredibly versatile.
Ingredients for 2/3 adults:
2 medium sweet potatoes (about 400gr)
1 cup + 1/2 plain flour (about 200gr)
1 teaspoon salt
The gnocchi are ready!
Arianna was so proud to make her own gnocchi!
Preparation: 1 hour Cooking: 3 minutes
Start by peeling the sweet potatoes first. Keep the peels on the side in order to make sweet potato peel chips later.
Wrap the 2 peeled sweet potatoes in parchment paper and bake them at 180 degrees for about 40 minutes.
Let them cool down, then mash in a bowl. Slowly add the flour and start mixing with the sweet potato. Keep on adding it until you make a nice elastic dough. You know that it’s right when it’s not sticky anymore. You may end up needing more than 200gr of flour, I noticed that it really depends on the moisture of the sweet potato so don’t panic if it’s still sticky, just keep on adding more flour a bit at a time until it’s the perfect consistency.
The beautiful sweet potato gnocchi
Delicious sweet potato gnocchi! Great with any sauce!
Now divide the dough in 4 parts. Take one part and roll it with your hand in order to make it into a rope shape. Cut little squares from it, all the same size.
Take a fork, put some flour on the back of it and gently roll each square applying a little pressure so as to create some lines in the dough. Those are meant to be needed later on to retain the sauce better.
Once you are done, cook your gnocchi in boiling water like any other pasta. They will be ready when you see them floating on top. Drain and add your favourite sauce to it. We love a simple butter sauce, pesto or tomato sauce.
Buon appetito!😋
Fried Pasta & Chickpea Soup
This is a very traditional meal in my family and one I deeply loved as a child. My mum used to make it a lot and it was always an incredible success with us kids.
Now it’s my kids who love it at the point that they often request it on the menu.
It’s easy, delicious and requires simple ingredients, the perfect quick and comforting winter meal.
Ingredients:
2 cloves garlic chopped
1 rosemary branch
2 cherry tomatoes cut in 4
extra virgin olive oil
1 can of chickpeas
250gr gnocchetti sardi or any other small pasta
3 cups water
paprika
turmeric
1/2 vegetable stock cube
Preparation: 10 minutes Cooking: 15 minutes
Pan fry garlic, rosemary & tomatoes with extra virgin olive oil for a few minutes until garlic is golden & tomato is soft. Then add in the chickpeas with their water. Adjust with salt & black pepper (I love paprika & some turmeric too) Let it cook for 10 minutes.
In the meantime in another saucepan put extra virgin olive oil to cover the bottom and add the pasta and pan fry the pasta at medium heat until it gets some colour. This will last about 5/10 minutes max, keep on turning with a wooden spoon to prevent burning. The pasta will take various shades!
Now take half of the chickpeas and mash with some water and some of the seasoning too. Add in the saucepan where the pasta is, add 3 cups of water, add the stock and cook until the pasta is cooked. Adjust with salt & water if necessary. Once the pasta is cooked you can add extra chickpeas on top and you are done!
Buon appetito!
Look at all those pasta shades!
Vegetarian White Lasagna
Sunday in Italy is traditionally the day where people have huge meals with various courses and pasta is a big part of it. Particularly lasagna which is often the Sunday first course of choice.
I make lasagna often but it’s normally the traditional version with tomato sauce as that’s what kids like.
However today I really fancied white lasagna. It’s my favourite! I knew that offering something pretty new to the kids could have ended up in disaster but was determined to go ahead!
I’m so glad I took the risk as not only did they eat it, they absolutely loved it! Happy kids, happy mum!
Ingredients for 6 portions
250gr lasagna sheets
1 courgette
1 handful mushrooms
1 handful asparagus
a few salvia leaves
3/4 cup frozen peas
1 garlic clove
Himalayan salt
Extra virgin olive oil
dry parsley
pistachios (optional)
mushroom cream (optional)
Parmesan cheese grated (optional)
You can make the traditional bechamel sauce by using cow milk or vegan by replacing it with soy milk . Both equally good and healthier as no butter or cheese in them.
the bechamel sauce is ready!
Preparation: 20 min Cooking: 40 min
Start by chopping the garlic and all the veggies and transfer them in a frying pan with extra virgin olive oil, salt & dry parsley. Cook for about 10/15 minutes or until all veggies are soft.
All the veggies are ready!
In the meantime prepare the bechamel. Once ready you can add some of the veggies or simply some salvia leaves finely chopped.
Once both bechamel sauce & veggies are ready, start layering the lasagna sheets with the toppings on a rectangular baking tray. I’ve used a Pyrex glass rectangular oven dish.
A couple of spoons of bechamel at the bottom, followed by a first layer of lasagna sheets (I’ve used 3 sheets for each layer) enough to cover the tray, then used 1/3 of the veggies to cover the first lasagna layer and pour some bechamel on top, enough to cover the veggies. Repeat until you finish all ingredients. My lasagna had 4 layers.
For the top layer mix the remaining bechamel with 1/2 cup of water and the veggies left (about 1/3 cup) and pour it on top. Sprinkle some Parmesan cheese and chopped pistachios (both optional). Some salvia leaves and asparagus tips for decoration.
Finish by adding about 1 cup of water at the sides of your tray, enough to cover with water up to the layer before the top one.
Now you are done!
The vegetarian white lasagna is out of the oven!
Transfer the tray to a preheated oven and cook for about 40 minutes at 180 degrees.
Enjoy warm straight out of the oven!
Buon appetito!😋
This vegetarian lasagna is super creamy & yummy!
Delicious white lasagna!
This vegetarian lasagna is creamy & so comforting!
ItalianVegan Green Baked Pasta
This is a great family meal and it's so versatile and comforting. Kids and hubby love it! The crunchy pasta on top is a winner. Here kids call it pasta chips!:-)
Pasta al forno is baked pasta in Italian and there are many versions out there, mainly with tomato sauce.
However I wanted this time to make it white and vegan, loaded with lots of hidden greens for my son to eat without complaining too much.
Also as daughter doesn't like melted cheese which is normally a main ingredient in this dish, I left out mozzarella and made a vegan bechamel.
What don't we do for our kids, right?
Ingredients for a rectangular tray (6 portions)
400gr wholegrain penne
Sautéed veggies
150gr asparagus
1 courgette
4 big kale leaves
1 handful pistachios
1 leek
mint
parsley
extra virgin olive oil
Himalayan salt
paprika
Green Bechamel
1 kale leaf
1 handful pistachios
parsley
mint
Green Bread Crumble
2 slices brown bread
some pistachios
mint
parsley
Preparation:40 min - Cooking: 40 min
Start by cutting the greens for the sautéed veggies into small pieces. Pan fry them in a pan at medium heat with extra virgin olive oil, herbs and spices until soft. About 10/15 min. Then leave on the side.
The sautés veggies are ready!
In the meantime boil the water to cook the pasta.
In the food processor prepare the bread crumble by mincing all the ingredients at high speed. Put aside.
Here is the green bread crumble
Then use the food processor to mash all the greens which are supposed to go in the bechamel. Once they are mashed, leave them in the food processor and add the ingredients for the vegan bechamel.
The greens of the bechamel are ready!
The green vegan bechamel is ready!
Now all the toppings for the pasta al forno are ready.
Mix the pasta with the sautés veggies and half of the bechamel and transfer in an oven rectangular tray. Pour the remaining bechamel sauce on top and sprinkle the bread crumble.
The green baked pasta is ready to go in the oven!
Add a little bit of water on the sides of the tray and cook in the oven at 180 degrees for about 30/40 minutes or until the top pasta is golden and crispy.
Buon appetito!😋
The pasta al forno is ready
Beautiful view of the inside layers!
This pasta is crunchy on top and moist inside!
Crunchy Avocado, Basil & Sun-dried Tomatoes Pesto
There is nothing more satisfying than coming up with your own recipe and seeing the family happily enjoying the food you make, right?
That's exactly what happened with this pesto!
I gave a look at the fridge and immediately got inspired! In instants a new fresh recipe was born. And even better, it got the thumbs up from the whole family!
Ingredients for 4 people:
1 avocado
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves
1/2 lemon zest
1/2 lemon juice
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes
2 garlic cloves
small piece of fresh ginger or ground ginger
sumac
oregano
extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
3 teaspoons mixed seeds
Preparation:10 min - Cooking:10 min
Start by putting the water on a saucepan and bring it to boil.
In the meantime put all the ingredients of our pesto in a food processor, except for the bread crumbs & seeds.
Mince everything at high speed and put aside.
The pesto is done!
Make the crunchy crumble by putting bread crumbs and seeds on a pan and pan frying them for 5 minutes or until golden and crispy.
The seeds and bread crumbs are in the pan!
When the water is boiling, pour the pasta and cook it “al dente”.
Now that the pasta is ready take the pesto previously made and toss it in the pasta. Add the crunchy bread and seeds on top as a final step.
Your pesto pasta is ready!
The yummy tagliatelle are ready to be eaten!
Buon appetito!😋
Crunchy pesto pasta is in the plate!
Kids loved it too!
My Nostalgic Parmigiana With Pasta
This is a super tasty recipe which my grandmother used to make for us so many times.
She was an amazing cook and all the food she would prepare had a special trademark, nothing else would taste as good, not even my mum’s food, even though she is a great cook too! Sorry mum!😁
And it's always in moments of great nostalgia that I cook the food of my childhood. Such as this Parmigiana with pasta loaded with so many ingredients, like grandma used to.
The only difference is that she was frying the aubergines while mine are oven baked. Both ways are yummy but second one a bit lighter.
This is a great tray bake recipe, perfect for the whole family or for some gatherings to impress guests. It freezes very well and is perfect for meal prep plans too!
However here it never gets to the freezing stage as it finishes always before!😁
Ingredients for 1 tray (about 6 portions)
2 big aubergines
450gr rigatoni pasta
1 Italian passata bottle (680gr)
1 Italian passata rustica bottle (350gr)
4 boiled eggs
1 mozzarella
10 cooked prosciutto ham slices
grated Parmesan cheese
extra virgin olive oil
Himalayan salt
Oregano
1 + 1/2 cup flour
Preparation: 40/45 min - Cooking: 20/25 min
Commence by pre-heating the oven at 180 degrees.
In the meantime start pealing the aubergines. Cut them in half and then finely slice them to obtain slices of about 1/2 cm or a bit less.
Put the aubergine slices in a bowl and add extra virgin olive oil with a sprinkle of salt and mix well.
Now take another bowl with some flour in it. Put the aubergine slices in it and turn them so that both sizes are covered in flour. Line some parchment paper on a flat baking tray and place all the aubergine slices well separated from each other.
Cook in the oven for about 15 minutes or until they are soft.
The aubergine slices are out of the oven!
In the meantime boil the eggs, cut the mozzarella and ham in small pieces.
Fill a saucepan with water in order to cook the pasta once the water starts to boil.
In another saucepan empty both bottles of passata and cook on a medium heat for about 15/20 minutes with some salt and oregano.
Once the pasta is ready, add some of the passata previously cooked and mix well.
In the meantime as the aubergines are now ready, start layering all the ingredients in a rectangular baking tray.
Start by covering the bottom with some passata, then layer the aubergine slices one next to each other, pour some passata on them and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Add the tomato pasta, just enough to cover the aubergines and half the quantity of boiled egg in slices, ham and mozzarella in small pieces. Add more passata and grated Parmesan cheese, then start layering again the aubergines, passata, the Parmesan, the pasta, the rest of the toppings, more passata and Parmesan.
Cover everything with the last layer of aubegine slices. Cover them well with the remaining tomato sauce and sprinkle more grated Parmesan cheese on top.
Yummy Parmigiana is ready!
You can watch the layering process of the Parmigiana in my highlights on Instagram😊
Transfer in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees and cook for about 20/25 minutes.
Buon appetito!😋
Parmigiana is a complete meal: veggies, carbs & proteins all in it!
A close-up to admire the beauty of each bite!
Green and Red Pesto Sauce
This is a very quick and super easy recipe which is ideal when you really have no time to cook but you still want to make sure that you and your family gets a flavourful and nourishing meal.
As long as you have a food processor, this pesto can be ready in less than 30 seconds and you can add it as a topping to any pasta and job done!
Ingredients (2 adults + 2kids)
1 cup fresh spinach leaves
1/3 cup sundried tomatoes
1/3 cup cashews
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese (optional)
2 tsp capers
1 garlic clove
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Cashews, capers, spinach, sundried tomatoes.
Preparation: 5 min Cooking time: 1 min
Gather all the ingredients and transfer them in a food processor where you will grind them at high speed.
Your pesto is now ready to eat!
The homemade pesto is ready to eat!
Buon appetito!
Beautiful gluten free penne go perfectly with this pesto!
Crunchy, tasty and fresh. Amazing pesto!
Dairy-Free Beef and Lentils Lasagna
I’m very happy to share with you this recipe because it has all the amazing taste of the traditional Italian Lasagna. with the additional goodness of healthy proteins which are perfect if you have fussy kids who are not great fans of lentils or if you simply want to reduce the amount of meat in the lasagna. Trust me, it will go down beautifully and everyone will love it! You could also make it 100% lentils and make it vegan and it will still be delicious.
This is not a very fast recipe and that is why I don’t make it often, but it’s the perfect yummy meal to make when you have guests around or for a special meal with your loved ones.
Preparation: 40 minutes Cooking: 40 minutes
Dry Lasagna Sheets
Bolognese sauce:
600 ml Tomato Passata Sauce
200 gr Minced Organic Beef
200 gr Cooked Lentils
1/2 Onion
1 Carrot
1 Celery Stick
Salt
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Vegan Bechamel sauce
Start by making the bechamel sauce. You find the recipe here.
In the meantime prepare the “soffritto” by transferring the carrot, celery and onion all finely chopped in a saucepan with some extra virgin olive oil and cook them for about 5 minutes.
The soffritto mix, the minced beet and the lentils are mixed together.
Then add the minced meat and cook for another 10 minutes or until the veggies are soft and the meat turns brown. At this point stir the lentils in together with the tomato passata sauce and cook at low heat for another 20 minutes, Your Bolognese sauce is now ready.
The Bolognese sauce is ready!
Once both your bechamel sauce and tomato sauce are ready you can now start the layering. Take a rectangular baking dish and start by putting a spoon of bechamel sauce and tomato sauce at the bottom, then make a layer of lasagna sheets, one next to the other.
Pour on top a bit of bechamel and tomato sauce in order to cover all the lasagna sheets and then start over the layering. I normally make about 4 layers. These are very easy steps to repeat and even kids can easily help out!
Kids loved making their bechamel free lasagna!
Once you are done with the layering, before putting the lasagna in the oven, add some water by the sides of the baking dish, making sure that the lasagna sheets are covered except for the top one.
Cook in a preheated oven at 190 degrees for approximately 40 minutes or until the water will be absorbed and the top layer will look wavy and crusty.
Buon appetito! 😋
The Lasagna is now ready to eat!
Gluten-Free Green Gnocchi
In an attempt to recycle some of the mashed potato from the night before, I have decided to make some homemade gnocchi with my daughter’s help.
I struggle with store bought gnocchi as they have a funny aftertaste, never as good as the real thing.
Although I don’t normally have much time to make pasta, the taste of homemade one is unbeatable, so sometimes it’s worth finding the time to make it. And when you have a kid like mine who loves cooking more than you then that becomes inevitable and also more enjoyable!
Ingredients for 4 small portions:
3 mashed potatoes (previously boiled)
1 cup and 1/2 of self raising gluten-free flour
1 egg
4 mint leaves chopped
1/2 teaspoon of Turmeric
1/2 teaspoon Paprika
2 teaspoons Moringa powder
Moringa is extremely healthy and considered a superfood because it’s highly nutritious and has powerful antioxidant and anti inflammatory properties.
Preparation: 40 minutes Cooking: 5 minutes
To start with, my daughter helped peeling the potatoes. I was really impressed as it didn’t look like it was a difficult task for her at all! Then she also helped mashing them once cooked.
Having the boiled potato mashed from the night before, made the process faster as in the morning we only needed to add all the other ingredients and let the dough rest for about 30 minutes in the fridge.
Here my daughter is rolling the dough into sausages.
Then we made little balls out of the dough and on a floured surface we rolled them into sausages. Then with the help of a knife we cut small squares out of each sausage.
Cutting small squares out of the dough sausages.
My daughter had lots of fun making gnocchi! We are not experts and don’t make homemade pasta often but it’s a fun activity for the little ones and very rewarding when the kids actually eat their own pasta!
The gnocchi are ready to be cooked in boiling water.
A great tip for you. While you are boiling the water to cook the gnocchi in, place the uncooked gnocchi on a tray and transfer them in the freezer for about 15 minutes. I was a little anxious that they would melt and not stay together once in the boiling water so this little trick helped harden them and they cooked very well.
Once in the boiling water, gnocchi are ready when they rise to the surface. Normally after 3/4 minutes.
Eat them with a nice tomato sauce and some fresh chopped basil or mint on top for best results!
Buon appetito!
Gnocchi are ready to be eaten!
Aubergine Tomato Pasta Sauce
Today I’m gonna share with you an amazing pasta sauce recipe which is easy and quick to make and will get the thumbs up from your kids too!
In fact if they are fussy like mine at eating aubergines, then this is a great way to disguise them!
Aubergines are an excellent source of dietary fibre. They are also a good source of vitamins B1 and B6 and potassium. High in the minerals copper, magnesium and manganese, aubergines are also rich in antioxidants and among their incredible health benefits, they:
Prevent cancer
Promote weight loss
Better skin tone
Prevent cellular damage in brain
Lower bad cholesterol
Manage type 2 diabetes
These are all good reasons enough to make sure that aubergines are part of your eating habits.
So today I’m gonna share with you one of the best recipes which work wonders with kids.
My aubergine tomato pasta sauce!
Ingredients for 4
3 baby aubergines or 1 big aubergine
1 glove of garlic
5 basil leaves
2 teaspoons capers
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon paprika
1 chopped tomatoes can
1/2 teaspoon pink Hymalayan salt
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Parmesan cheese (optional)
All fresh ingredients: baby aubergines, garlic and basil
Preparation: 10 min Cooking time: 35 min
Prepare the aubergines
Start by pealing the aubergines. Then cut them in stripes. Transfer them in a pan at a medium heat with chopped garlic, basil, salt and extra virgin olive oil.
The aubergines are pealed and cut into stripes. Chopped garlic and basil
Toss often with a wooden spoon so the aubergines get cooked properly and equally.
Add capers and spices
When they start to soften, normally after 15 minutes, add capers and the spices and keep turning.
The aubergines are now cooked!
Add chopped tomatoes
5 minutes later add the chopped tomatoes and let cook for a further 15/20 minutes, preferably keeping the lid on the pan.
The aubergine tomato sauce is ready!
Once ready you have 2 options. You can add the sauce as it is in your pasta or if you would rather not see the big aubergine chunks and want to make it more fussy kids friendly, then simply transfer it in a food processor and job done. I often do both! I put half of the sauce in the processor so that the smooth result will be better accepted by the kids, but I also leave some sauce with big chunks on the side as my husband and I love to add that on top of the pasta for a fuller taste.
You can add chopped fresh basil leaves and grated Parmesan cheese as toppings (optional).
I hope you enjoy my recipe and please share comments and photos of your creations!
Buon appetito!
Enjoy the aubergine tomato sauce with penne pasta! Mine are gluten free! You can add chopped fresh basil and grated Parmesan cheese as topping (optional).