Sour Cream & Yeast Noodles

This has been one of my favorite dishes since I was very young. Friends are always requesting I make this when they come over for dinner, and it's often made for family functions. It's rich and creamy with a nice almost cheesy flavor. Eating only one bowl is always a challenge. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb elbow macaroni
• 2 1/2 cups (10 1/2 oz) sugar snap peas, cut into bite-size pieces
• 3 cups cauliflower florets, cut into bite-size pieces
• 1 1/4 cups sour cream
• 1/2 cup nutritional yeast flakes
• 1 1/2 tsps salt or to taste
• 1/2 tsp black pepper or to taste

Directions:

1. Bring 6 cups of water to boil in a large pot.
2. Add cauliflower and boil for 5 minutes.
3. Add macaroni and sugar snap peas and cook according to macaroni instructions or until al dente.
4. Drain quickly retaining some of the moisture in the macaroni and put the macaroni back in the pot. This helps make a creamier sauce.
5. Add the sour cream and mix until all the macaroni is covered. Your pasta should look creamy as shown in the picture.
6. Add the nutritional yeast and mix well.
7. Salt and pepper to taste.
8. Serve warm.

Spicy Mixed Vegetable Rice

This rice is great when you want something that tastes amazing but doesn't feel heavy and is really healthy. This also goes well with Bharats in Yogurt Sauce. You can use the rice to soak up the remaining yogurt sauce.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/3 cups long grain rice (basmati or jasmine)
  
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
  
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric (optional)
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 whole cloves or 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/4 teaspoon hing (asafetida) (or garlic powder)
• 3/4 cup frozen or fresh peas
• 1/2 cup cauliflower florets
  
• 1/2 cup diced carrots
• 2 cups water
• 2 teaspoons salt

Cook the rice.

Heat the butter in a medium-sized pot and fry the chilli, grated ginger, turmeric and spices for only a few minutes. Be sure not to let the spices burn.
Add the vegetables and let them fry until they are cooked. Once they are cooked removed the bay leaves and cloves if you used whole cloves.
Once the rice and vegetables are cooked combine them and serve warm.

Tortellini

Pasta Dough:
1 cup flour
1 cup semolina
1/2 to 3/4 cups water

Filling:
3/4 cup ricotta cheese
1 tbs parmesan cheese, grated
1 tbs parsley, chopped

Pasta dough is very strange to make. It takes a lot less water then you think it would, and you have to roll it much thinner than you think you should.

I used a KitchenAid stand mixer using a dough hook to mix my pasta dough. I just threw everything in there and let it run on low for 10 minutes. The dough was soft and elastic. The dough needs to rest for at least 30 minutes before you try to roll it out. Rolling it out by hand takes some time, I recommend using a pasta roller if you have one. I split the dough into thirds and rolled out each piece.
Once the dough was rolled out, I quickly mixed together the filling.
I used a ruler and a sharp knife to cut the dough into 2 inch square pieces.
Fill each piece with 1/4 tsp of filling and shape.
Here's a good video of how to shape them.
Also, if your dough is very dry use a tiny bit of water around the inside edges so that your tortellini seal nicely.
Cook in boiling water for 8-10 minutes.
I served mine hot with pasta sauce, zucchini and mushrooms, and a spoon of ricotta.

Lasagna

Lasagna is one of the easiest comfort foods to make!
All you need is a box of lasagna noodles, some tomato sauce, a little bit of parsley and lots of cheese! I added spinach to mine this time.

• 1/2 pound lasagna noodles (9 noodles)
  
• 1 1/2 cups pasta sauce (I used my standard pasta sauce recipe which makes more than enough sauce for this recipe, but I like extra sauce when I am serving),
• an entire tub (32 oz.) of ricotta cheese
• 1 1/2 cups of grated mozzarella cheese
  
• a little grated parmesan cheese
  
• 1 Tbsp. parsley finely chopped (Fresh flat leaf Italian is the best if you can find it.)

Cook the lasagna noodles following the instructions on the box, or until aldente.
Strain the noodles gently so that they do not break, and run some cool water over them.

Mix the entire tub of ricotta with approx. 1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese and 1 Tbsp. parsley. The remaining 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese will be used on the top.

In a 9x13 baking dish layer as follows:

• 1/4 cup sauce
• 3 noodles
• 1/2 cheese mixture
• 3 noodles
• 1/2 cup sauce
• Remaining cheese mixture
• 3 noodles
• 1/2 cup sauce
• 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
• a sprinkle of grated parmesan

Bake covered at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. Remove the covering and bake for an additional 10 minutes, or just until brown on top.

Let cool 15 minutes and serve warm.