Pasta in a Rice Cooker

I love my rice cooker. It makes it so easy to whip up a cup or three of rice to go with beans or curry or anything else. I'd heard that you can cook other things in a rice cooker besides just rice, but hadn't branched out and attempted any. That is, not until a good friend of mine shared with me his method of cooking pasta in one. It's so easy, I've been doing it several times a week. Thanks, Pug! If you have a rice cooker, give this a try. And if you don't, start dropping the hints for a birthday present. :3


Rice Cooker Pasta
Ingredients:
2 Cups water
1 Cup tomato sauce
2 Cups pasta (any type except for spaghetti)
1 tsp olive oil
1/8 tsp salt
(optional) 1/4 tsp Italian seasoning (or whatever you enjoy)
(optional) minced garlic or garlic powder to taste
(optional) 1/2 to 1 Cup "add-ins" of any sort. (I use 1/2 Cup of TVP chunks.)
(optional) 1 Tbsp nutritional yeast flakes (makes it so creamy)

Preparation:
Combine everything in the rice cooker, and press the button! Towards the end, I get up and stir everything a bit because some of it tends to get stuck to the bottom of the pot. Just be careful not to burn yourself, or tip the bowl too much if you have to scrape - you risk lifting it off of the pressure sensor too soon and turning off the cooker. I highly recommend including the nutritional yeast. It gives the sauce a creaminess that is wonderful. You could probably replace the tomato sauce with any other sort of sauce or water-and-seasonings you can think of, too.

Enjoy!

Easy Potluck Pasta

This is my favorite dish to bring to potlucks because it is fast and easy to make, I usually have the ingredients on hand, it can be easily doubled, you can add any veggies you want, and pick any kind of pasta you have on hand. It's also a favorite of my omnivore friends which is always a big plus.

Ingredients

• 1 (12-13 oz.) box of pasta (I used whole wheat penne, but I also like using elbow macaroni noodles. Pick your favorite.)
• 1 jar of your favorite red pasta sauce (organic is always best)
• 1 can of diced tomatoes or 2-3 medium to large tomatoes chopped up
• 1 large zucchini chopped
• 1 large carrot chopped
• 1 large onion chopped
• half bag of Boca brand crumbles
• 1/2 container of tofutti sour cream (or any other vegan sour cream)
• salt and pepper to taste
• olive oil for pan
• *optional: shredded vegan mozzarella cheese

Directions

• Brown the boca crumbles in a little bit of olive oil in a medium sized pot.
• Add chopped onion, zucchini, and carrot to pot.
• Continue to heat until the vegetables start to soften.
• Add the jar of pasta sauce and the can of diced tomatoes. (or fresh tomatoes)
• Simmer for about 15 minutes or more with lid on, until its nice and tasty. Add salt and pepper to taste.
• Boil the noodles for 5 minutes ONLY! They will continue to cook in the oven and you don't want them to become soft and mushy.
• Drain the noodles and add them to the pasta sauce mixture. Stir well and pour the entire mixture into a medium to large casserole dish or you can leave it in your pot if it is oven safe.
• Spoon the sour cream into your pasta mixture. Stir it only slightly, you want to leave it clumpy in some areas.
• Optional: Top with shredded vegan mozzarella cheese.
• Cover and put into oven at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until bubbly.

Enjoy!

~amber <3

Speedy Sausage Spaghetti

Busy? Hate cooking?
Well, we have something in common. But you know what? That's no excuse!
Seriously. I made this pasta while running in and out of the house feeding horses, the calf, the pigs, and I even prepared the dogs' dinner - all while cooking this yummy dish. I was cooking for two with plans to have leftovers.

Ingredients:

• Pasta - Any kind will do. Spaghetti, Zitti, bowties, shells, whatever! I prefer to use the colored pasta as opposed to bleached, but today I used up the bleached penne. The amount (size of box) depends on how many you are cooking for.
• Sauce - you can either make this from scratch, which is easy but adds an additional step. Or you can use pre-made sauce like Ragu, Pregu, or Publix brand. Many varieties of pre-made sauces have cheese (whey, casein, or cheese) in them, so be vigilant. 
• Veggies - Whatever is in your fridge. You only need 1/2 - 1 of each type of veg. Green pepper, red pepper, tomato, onion, garlic.
• Sausage - I used Tofurkey Italian Sausage . You only need 1/2 a package. 
• Italian bread & butter (optional) - I got Publix brand Cuban bread because the Italian bread had an egg wash.

To Make:

• Boil pasta as directed on box
• Slice the sausage into thin cuts. 
• Drop 1 tsp oil in a frying pan, heat on medium, fry the sausage slices in the oil for just a few minutes. Turn them over and fry for another minute. Set aside. 
• Add another tsp oil in same frying pan. Fry your garlic first (I used 4 cloves, but I should have used a lot more!), then onions, peppers. 
• Add spices as needed - pepper, salt, etc.
• Dump pre-made sauce onto the veggies and cover and simmer until hot. 
• Throw the bread into a toaster oven on the "toast" setting or into a conventional oven at 400 for just a few minutes. When it darkens just a bit it is ready! Crispy on the outside, steamy on the inside!

You're done!
Voila!