feel food club

Diet-Specific

Super Easy and Creamy Vegan Mushroom Alfredo Pasta

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Take a delicious pasta favourite recipe and make it healthy. Tangy mushrooms in a creamy vegan sauce tossed with soft pasta. Digging into this bowl is like digging into a bowl of comfort. Such a creamy and rich sauce but still filled with nutrients and so much protein!

What’s special about this dish?

Healthy, creamy pasta. Usually a creamy pasta sauce is either made with lots of cheese and butter or with cream or all together. Not very nutritious but loaded with saturated fats. But is it possible to make such a sauce in a healthy way? Yes it is!

It is very common to make it with soaked cashews. I need to say that I really like this but tbh only soaked cashews tastes very intense. But they do make the sauce really creamy and nutrient dense. In order for this sauce to still be creamy but not too intense, we are using a mix of soaked cashew nuts, butter beans and nutritional yeast.

What’s nutritional yeast:

Nutritional yeast is a very popular cheese alternative for vegans or people who do not consume dairy. It is basically the same as yeast, it just is dehydrated and has a cheesy – like flavour. You can buy this in the form of little flakes. In German it is Hefeflocken.

Is this dish healthy?

It definitely is very nutrient – dense. Why? We have wholegrain pasta as a base. They provide lots of complex carbohydrates and fibre to give you energy and keep you full for longer.

Then we have the mushrooms, which are high in vitamins and fibre like any vegetable. And the sauce: it is made out of butter beans, great source of protein, fibre (lots of that!) and vitamins, cashew nuts, many unsaturated fats and protein, plant based milk to thin everything out. Besides we have nutritional yeast, which also is high in vitamins and antioxidants. That already is pretty much it, so you can see – a very balanced meal with carbs, protein, fibre and fats.

Can wholegrain pasta be tasty?

Oh, yes! Definitely! I totally agree that whole grain pasta can be very boring or not delicious. But there are various things you can do to change this. It starts with the pasta you are buying. I LOVE the one I am using, and have only been buying this ever since I tried this. This really is not sponsored but I am just truly amazed by their quality and taste. I always buy the organic one form Pastafani that is produced in Austria from Austrian ingredients. You can really taste the difference to conventional whole grain Pasta. If you want to try it, you can safe 10% with UNEPETITE10 !

How to make this dish:

Really really simple. First boil the pasta according to package instructions. In the meantime fry the mushrooms with the onions. In the meantime we blend everything for the sauce up. Once the pasta is done cooking, we preserve some pasta water, drain it and then mix it with the mushrooms, the sauce and the water. That’s as easy as it gets!

When, how, meal prep?

You can make this anytime because it literally takes 20 minutes to make max. So it is a great quick lunch or dinner, easy to make and super tasty. It also is very family friendly, since everyone loves pasta and if desired, you can add in some chicken for example. It does work for meal prep, just be sure to know that the sauce won’t be as creamy anymore.

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Super Easy and Creamy Vegan Mushroom Alfredo Pasta

A bowl of (healthy) comfort. A delicious, tangy, creamy bowl of pasta with a healthy mushroom sauce. Definitely not your regular pasta recipe but it's absolutely delicious!

Course dinner, lunch, Main Course
Prep Time 10 Minuten
Cook Time 10 Minuten
Total Time 20 Minuten
Servings 4 servings
Calories 658 kcal

What you will need

  • 500 g pasta
  • 500 g mushrooms
  • 1 white onion
  • 1 tbsp oil
  • 1 can white beans
  • 20 g cashews (soaked for a few hours if you do not have a high speed blender)
  • 200 ml plant based milk
  • 40 g nutritional yeast
  • 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
  • 1/2 tsp oregano
  • 1 tsp mustard
  • salt & pepper

How to

  1. Prepare the pasta according to package instructions.

  2. Preheat the oil. Finely chop the onion and slice the mushrooms. Fry them in the oil. To a blender add all of the remaining ingredients and blend until smooth. Before the pasta is done cooking preserve some pasta water.

  3. When the pasta is done cooking, drain it and add to the mushrooms with the sauce. If too thick add some of the pasta water.

  4. Serve with more nutritional yeast and enjoy!

I really enjoy this pasta and hope that you will enjoy it too!
Have lots of cozy nights and fun cooking,
Happy cooking,
Enjoy,
Katie // Une Petite Cuisinière

Chai Pancakes with Super Simple Hot Chocolate Sauce

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If December is not the month of hot chocolate, pancakes and romantic Christmas movies in bed, then which month is it? Picture this; you have a huge stack of (healthy & vegan) chai pancakes that are poured with chocolate sauce and topped with some apple or pear. Sounds good? I know! But you know what? You don’t only have to dream about that but you can make it come true!

What’s special about this dish?

First of all, pancakes that are healthy. Kind of special, right? Usually they are packed with fat and refined sugar but not this one! Second, they are vegan! And please, do me a favour; if you think vegan pancakes are boring and cannot be fluffy, try out this recipe. You’ll be proven wrong! Plus, they are easy to make. If you don’t believe me, try it!

And obviously, they are chai-flavoured, because how could they not in December?! PLUS: a healthy-ish and easy chocolate sauce. Ok enough now. All the goodies but nutritious! Christmas dreams coming true!

What is Chai?

Chai actually is a tea that originated in India. To be exact, a black tea with spices, that is drunken with milk in it. It has become super popular in the recent years and nowadays you can find a chai, a chai latte, a dirty chai latte and so on in every coffee house!

In these pancakes we are not actually using the tea, as in tea bags, but we are using the spices that also can be found in the chai tea. These spices are cinnamon, cardamon, ginger, cloves and nutmeg. We are using these spices and adding them to our pancakes, to give them this really comforting flavour.

Are these pancakes healthy?

They definitely are way more nutritious than regular pancakes! Why? Regular pancakes are made from butter, sugar, flour and eggs in most cases. Butter, sugar and flour all are not nutrient-dense.

These pancakes are made of apple sauce instead of butter, which has far less fat and calories, chia eggs instead of regular eggs for extra fibre, wholegrain flour instead of white flour for more fibre and nutrients and plant based yoghurt, apple sauce and a little maple syrup instead of white refined sugar. Those still contain sugar but contrary to white refined sugar, they come along other nutrients.

How do we make them fluffy?

Pretty simple. We are using 2 things to make them fluffy; sparkling or soda water and baking powder. The air in the sparkling water gives nice air bubbles in the pancakes and the baking powder makes them rise when cooking!

How do I know when to flip my pancakes?

There is a great trick for that! You need to cook them on medium-high heat all the time. When they start to get bubbles while cooking, it is time to flip them. But also, be aware that the first few never turn out as pretty as the rest, I don’t know why but it’s always like that. 🙂

How to make these pancakes:

This is nothing complicated where you need to get 100 bowls and mixers out. Definitely not. We start by making a chia egg (simply combine chia seeds and plant based milk), then add the apple sauce, maple syrup, plant based yoghurt and soda/ sparkling water. Then you just whisk in the flour mixed with the spices and baking powder and the batter is done!

Noe we just need to fry the pancakes one by one and make the chocolate sauce. For this, combine the coconut milk, maple syrup, cacao powder and plant based milk and bring it to a boil. That’s pretty much it!

When, with what, meal prep?

When – I don’t think that I have to tell you which time of the day you should have pancakes. breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner, literally whenever you want, there is no time when you shouldn’t have pancakes!
With what? – I like to add some fresh fruit like pear, apple or banana but go for whatever you want! You could also add some not butter or maple syrup if that’s what you like!
Meal prep friendly? – yes! You can reheat them in the microwave or freeze them and reheat in the pan, microwave or oven! That way you can always make the whole batch and never have to throw something away when making too many!

I hope that this recipe will make you December a whole lot better and that you will enjoy these many many times! Have a lot of fun cooking and a good time eating!

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Chai Pancakes with Super Simple Hot Chocolate Sauce

Christmas on a plate. Pretty much. Healthy and vegan AND good tasting pancakes. Super easy. super quick and heaven with the chocolate sauce on top!

Course Breakfast, brunch, Dessert
Prep Time 10 Minuten
Cook Time 10 Minuten
Total Time 20 Minuten
Servings 6 pancakes
Calories 138 kcal

What you will need

For the pancakes:

  • 1 tbsp chia seeds
  • 3 tbsp plant based milk
  • 50 g apple sauce (Apfelmus)
  • 50 g yoghurt (plant based for vegan option)
  • 2 tbsp maple syrup
  • 100 ml sparkling/ soda water
  • 100 g wholegrain flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp ginger
  • 1/2 tsp cardamon
  • 1/4 tsp cloves
  • 1/4 tsp nutmeg
  • some oil/ butter for frying

For the chocolate sauce:

  • 2 tbsp canned coconut milk
  • 3 tbsp cacao powder
  • 2 tbsp maple syrup
  • 2-3 tbsp plant based milk
  • some fresh fruit for serving

How to

  1. To make the chia egg combine the chia seeds with the plant based milk and let sit for 3-5 minutes until the chia seeds start getting gelly.

  2. In the meantime combine the flour with the spices and baking powder.

  3. Add the apple sauce, plant based yoghurt, sparkling water and maple syrup to the chia egg and give it a good stir until everything is combined!

  4. Whisk in the flour until having reached a smoothed batter. It should have a cake batter like consistency. If too thick, add some more milk or water, if too thin, add some more flour.

  5. Heat up a pan and melt the oil/ butter in it. Once hot, add the pancakes, about 3 tbsp of the batter for each and cook on medium-high for about 4 minutes. Once bubbles start to form on the top of the pancake, it is time to flip and cook for another 2-3 minutes on the other side.

  6. In the meantime make the chocolate sauce by combining all of the ingredients in a pan or pot and bringing it to a boil. Whisk everything so it is combined and take off the heat!

  7. Once all pancakes are done, serve them with teh chocolate sauce and fresh fruit! Enjoy!

Happy cooking,
Love,
Katie // Une Petite Cuisinière

The Most Comforting Roasted Sweet Potato and Chicken Tikka Masala

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A large, warming bowl of goodness. Super flavourful roasted sweet potatoes with juicy chicken, all tossed in a creamy sauce full of Indian spices. Take the Indian Classic and make it healthy and super delicious! Family friendly, vegan option, easy to make, perfect comfort food.

I love these Sundays, where you just relax all day long and when it comes to dinner, the whole family goes into the kitchen and cooks together. Something cozy, something comforting to round up the week. Something that warms you from the inside and makes your soul feel warmed. These are my favourite kind of dinners. And this Tikka Masala definitely is the ideal meal for such occasions!

What’s tikka masala?

Tikka Masala is a dish from in the Indian cuisine. Actually, it has been invented in Scotland by an Indian Chef. He originally made it with chicken, cream, yoghurt and spices. It also is called „Butter Chicken“ sometimes and nowadays is one of the most popular Indian Recipes around the world.

What’s special about this dish?

We are taking a regular curry and taking it next level while making it healthy! Instead of cream and butter we go for coconut milk, since this is a healthier and lighter version. Also, we don’t only do chicken, no, we add some sweet potatoes for even more flavour & vitamins. Plus, we are roasting, both the chicken and the sweet potato beforehand to bring out the flavour even more.

Is it healthy?

I would not see a reason why not. It is a completely balanced meal. Due to the chicken (that you could sub for chickpeas for example) we make sure to get enough protein in! The sweet potatoes are a great source of carbohydrates, fibre and they also are loaded with nutrients and vitamins. The greek yoghurt and coconut milk add a healthy amount of fat and even more protein.

Not to forget about all of the good Indian spices. Spices, when consumed in moderation, can have tremendous health benefits ranging from improving your digestion to preventing cancer. Crazy what these little powders can do right? When served with some rice or naan you get even more energy from the carbohydrates! So all in all, definitely a very balanced and nutritious meal!

How to make it:

We start by tossing the chopped sweet potato and chicken with some oil and spices before roasting them. As already mentioned, roasting them really brings out the flavour and it shortens the cooking time after. In the meantime we are preparing the curry paste which we need for the sauce. For this you need a food processor or a blender of some kind. To make this paste you need to blend together some onion, garlic, ginger and more spices and fry that off in oil so it gets fragrant. Once your whole kitchen smells like an Indian market, you need to add the sweet potato and chicken and also the coconut milk. Now we just let it simmer and intensify its flavour. Before serving, we stir in some greek yoghurt for extra creaminess and richness. Now it is time to garnish it with some greens, cashews and serve with rice or naan!

When and how to best have it?

Up to you! I love it as a cozy dinner but it also works great for meal prep. Actually, all curries work very well for meal prep because they only enhance their flavour the longer they are in the fridge. You can make this beforehand and just heat it up whenever you feel like it.

In terms of what to best serve it with, you could go for rice or naan or both (my favourite :)). But also something like quinoa, wholegrain rice or buckwheat would work great!

Substitutes/ vegan option:

  • Sweet Potatoes – pumpkin, cauliflower
  • chicken – chickpeas, tofu
  • greek yoghurt – regular yoghurt, plant based yoghurt

I hope that you will genuinely enjoy this as much as I do because I am really obsessed with this, especially on the colder days! Have fun cooking this and enjoy eating it!

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Super Comforting Roasted Sweet Potato and Chicken Tikka Masala

Heavenly comfort food in a bowl. Indian spices in a creamy sauce with perfectly roasted and juicy chicken and sweet potato

Course dinner, Main Course
Cuisine Indian
Prep Time 10 Minuten
Cook Time 20 Minuten
Total Time 30 Minuten
Servings 4 servings

What you will need

For the sweet potato & chicken

  • 1 tbsp Graham Masala
  • 1 tsp turmeric
  • 1 tsp chili flakes
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp ginger powder
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 2 tsp ground cumin
  • 2 tbsp oil
  • 600 g Sweet Potato (1 large one)
  • 600 g chicken breast

For the rest:

  • 1 large yellow onion
  • 3 garlic cloves
  • 1 thumb-sized piece of ginger
  • 1,5 tsp graham masala
  • 1/2 tsp cumin
  • 1/4 tsp turmeric
  • 1 tsp chili flakes (optional)
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 400 ml canned tomatoes (puréed)
  • 1 can coconut milk
  • 100 g greek yoghurt
  • rice, naan to serve with
  • cilantro and cashews to garnish

How to

First:

  1. Chop up the sweet potato into about 1 cm sized cubes. Cut the chicken (if using) into bite sized pieces. Combine the spices with the oil. Toss the sweet potato and chicken with the oil-pize mixture and lay out on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Bake at 180°C for 10 minutes.

  2. In the meantime blend the onion, garlic, ginger and remaining spices together until it has become a smooth paste. When the roasting is done, heat up theremaining oil in a pot and fry the curry paste in it for about 2 minutes until fragrant. Add the sweet potatoes, chicken, canned tomatoes and coconut milk. Bring to a boil and let simmer for about 10 minutes on medium-low heat.

  3. Before serving stir in the greek yoghurt. Then divide onto bowls and serve with some rice or naan. Garnish with fresh cilantro and cashews. Enjoy!

Love,
Katie // Une Petite Cuisinière

Bolognese Stuffed Spaghetti Squash with Swirled Pesto Ricotta

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A very long name for a very simple dish. Comfort food at its finest but make it healthy. A little bit like Lasagna, but with a fall twist to it. Roasted pumpkin with creamy ricotta-bolognese filling, tangy pesto and a little molten cheese on top! Sounds pretty good right? 

What is Spaghetti Squash?

Spaghetti Squash is a type of squash (or pumpkin) that originated in North and Central America. The US also is where it became very famous first! Why? What it is being baked, you can basically scrap the pumpkin „meat“ with a fork and get a texture very similar to spaghetti. These pumpkin spaghetti also look very similar to the real ones. The similarities are what made this pumpkin be so popular. It is commonly used as a replacement for pasta in many dishes, since it is incredibly low in calories, and therefore gained popularity! 

What is special about this dish?

You have to know, it is like a pasta bake kind of dish. Just without the pasta. You still have a similar texture as in pasta, and get that whole pasta feeling because of the looks and the sauce, the spaghetti squash comes with but it is a much lighter version of a pasta bake. More vitamins and fibre, less calories and carbohydrates. It is really fun to switch this up a little once in a while.

And also, there is not just pumpkin, bolognese and cheese, but we have this amazing pesto ricotta swirl that really does take this dish next level. It adds so much flavour, creaminess and goodness to this whole dish, which is just amazing!

Is this dish healthy? 

Yes-ish. As a base we have a vegetable, with lots of Vitamin B, C and fibre. This already makes it really nutritious! (You can read more about pumpkin in my November top 5 blog post!). I would definitely say that any dish that has a vegetable as a base is healthy (at least healthyish) because it is nutritious.

Veggie Bolognese?

Then the filling: this is not super duper nutritious but it is not unhealthy. The sauce. I love to use a vegetarian bolognese because it is more nutritious in most cases. Also, I feel like it lightens up the dish plus it tastes amazing. I know, you may now be thinking, hm not sure about that! And I agree, there can be boring pasta sauces! Definitely! But not the one I like to use! If you have been following me for a while, you know that I have been moving to use the products from Pastafani because they produce delicious, high quality pasta products with Austrian ingredients. I tried out their vegan Bolognese and I need to say, with honestly, that it really is delicious! You can find it here and even get 10% discount on it with the code UNEPETITE10 ! I can only say that it definitely is worth a try!

Picture by Pastafani

So back to whether it is healthy or not. The base, yes. The sauce, depends on what you are using. A veggie bolognese, yes! A meat bolognese I would say healthy-ish. Then we have the ricotta and pesto (which you by the way can also get a super delicious one at Pastafani!)! Ricotta I would say is not super nutritious but also not unhealthy. It is higher in protein and lower in calories than regular cream cheese. Plus, super good for the soul 🙂 The pesto is high in vitamins and healthy fats, and it is green (doesn’t that basically already mean that it is healthy?). Then we just top it off with some cheese, not very nutrient dense but you know, a little cheese never hurt nobody.

How to make this?

This is not challenging at all. We start by preparing the spaghetti squash. For this cut it into half, season with a bit of olive oil, salt & pepper and roast in the oven. In the meantime we heat up the sauce. When the squash is done, we need to tear the „spaghettis“ from it. This is done by taking a fork and scrapping the pumpkin meat off the sides.

Now we just pour in the sauce, add a few dollops of ricotta and pesto, swirl everything around so it looks nice and marbled, top it with some cheese and bake it again. That’s all it takes to make this super delicious meal!

I genuinely hope that you will enjoy this recipe at least as much as I do and that you will make it on repeat! It is a delicious, comforting meal for cozy weeknights and weekends!

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Oven Roasted Bolognese Stuffed Spaghetti Squash with Swirled Pesto Ricotta

Comforting, Healthy, easy & delicious! A lighter version of a pasta bake, with seasonal ingredients: Baked pumpkin with a creamy bolognese, ricotta and pesto filling!

Course dinner, Main Course
Prep Time 15 Minuten
Cook Time 50 Minuten
Total Time 1 Stunde 5 Minuten
Calories 567 kcal

What you will need

  • 1 kg spaghetti squash
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • salt & pepper
  • 300 g (veggie) bolognese sauce
  • 100 g ricotta
  • 3 tbsp pesto
  • 50 g cheese

How to

  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Cut the spaghetti squash in half lengthwise. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake for 35-40 minutes until the meat is soft.

  2. In the meantime heat up the bolognese and season the ricotta with salt and pepper.

  3. When the squash is done baking, take it out of the oven. Grab a fork and scratch off the pumpkin "meat" from the edges. This will create a spaghtti like look.

  4. Pour in the bolognese sauce, divide the ricotta and add the pesto. Swirl everything together, so it is all combined and creates a marble-like look. Top with the cheese and bake for another 5-q0 minutes at 200°C until the cheese has molten.

  5. Serve & Enjoy!

Happy cooking,
Enjoy,
Katie // Une Petite Cuisinière