How to Make Pink Pasta, Caramelle and Cappelletti

Cappelletti and Caramelle - Dairy and Egg Free pasta dough and filling!!

The beautiful little pouches of deliciousness are quite easy to make and the pink hue make them very pretty.

Cappelletti translates to little hats - they actually look like Cardinal hats.

Caramelle translates to candy and the pasta looks like candy wrapped bonbon.

Follow my YouTube link for tutorial.

How to Make Pink Pasta, Caramelle and Cappelletti
https://youtu.be/1puNiMZwpJw

It’s so easy to make pink pasta! All you need is some beet juice. I recently made a delicious beet salad and held on to a cup of the beet water after boiling. I let it sit sit until it cooled a little and used the warm beet water instead of regular water. Such a pretty, natural colour and I avoided using food colouring.

Pasta Ingredients:

1 cup unbleached flour

1 cup Semolina flour

3/4 cup warm beet water

1 tsp salt

Mix the two flours with the salt, together on a board or granite counter, (marble works too), and gradually add the warm beet water.

You may not need all the water. Knead until smooth.

You can watch YouTube video for tutorial.

Let dough sit covered in plastic wrap for about 10 minutes.

Ingredients for meat filling:

3/4 lb ground beef, pork, or veal or a mixture of all three. You can also use ground chicken or turkey.

Lightly oil a frying pan and add meat. Cook until pink is gone:

Then add:

1/2 small onion, finely chopped

Small garlic clove, finely minced

1/2 tsp salt or to taste

Pepper to taste

1/2 tsp dried Basil

1/2 tsp dried Oregano

2 tbsps finely chopped fresh parsley, or tsp dried parsley

A handful, or two, of your favourite grated cheese

Continue frying until fully cooked. Remove from heat and add cheese of your choice..... Romano cheese, Parmesan cheese or ricotta. If you want to keep it dairy free use vegan Romano or mozzarella cheese.

Let mixture cool prior to filling the Cappelleti  or Caramelle.

Follow YouTube link to see tutorial.

When rolling out your pasta on pasta machine, roll it out to the very last notch on machine setting. Fill with meat immediately. You don’t want the pasta to dry out or it won’t fold and bend.

Follow YouTube link to see tutorial.

Boil your pasta until they float, a minute longer. Homemade pasta cooks within a couple of minutes. Top with your favourite sauce.

How to Make Marinara Sauce Recipe
https://youtu.be/KBCZGHFdDK8

Beet Salad

Beet Salad

Whether you choose to boil or roast your beets, they will take about one to one and a half hours to become fork tender depending on their size. I boiled my two large beets whole, with the skins on, for one and a half hours.

A trick to peeling them without staining your hands is to peel them under running water or remove skins while the beets are immersed in water. The skins will come right off and your hands won’t stain.

You will need:

2 large beets, boiled, peeled and cubed into bite sized pieces

Half a small onion, thinly sliced ( I used sweet Vidalia)

3 tbsps olive oil

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

Half a tsp salt, or to taste

Some fresh cracked pepper, to taste

1/2 tsp sugar, or to taste

Mix all together and refrigerate.

The longer it sits the better it tastes as the vinegar has a chance to soak into the beets.

Vegan Date Squares

 

Date Squares - Dairy and Egg Free, Vegan

Access YouTube link below for recipe

Vegan Date Squares - link 
https://youtu.be/wExRX8WTTsQ

Definitely a healthy snack and this recipe is not too sweet. They’re just perfect.

Line a 8 x 8 inch pan with parchment paper

You will need: ( for the filling)

2 1/2 cups of pitted and roughly chopped dates, or 430 grams

1 cup water

2 tbsps lemon juice

2 tbsps brown sugar

1/2 tsp baking soda

Put all the above ingredients, except the baking soda, stir together and bring to a boil. Once boiling, add the baking soda and stir. Lower heat and simmer. Continue stirring. The baking soda will make everything foamy for about a minute so make sure your pot is big enough to handle the growth in volume. After about a minute of stirring, the foam will subside. Continue stirring for another 4 to 5 minutes until the dates break down completely. Set the date mixture aside to cool.

Ingredients needed for top and bottom crust:

1 3/4 cups quick oats

1 cup unbleached flour

3/4 brown sugar

1/4 tsp baking powder

3/4 cup vegan margarine

In a large bowl, mix the oats, flour, brown sugar and baking powder. Add the margarine and mix it into the oat mixture until well incorporated.

Take half the mixture and press into a 8 x 8 baking dish that’s lined with parchment paper.

Spread the cooled date mixture over the crust. Take the other half of the oats and spread on top of the dates. Press down gently.

Put pan into a 350 F oven for about 50 minutes or until crust is slightly golden. 

Let cool completely, in pan on a cooling rack, before cutting into squares.

Will make about 30 small squares. 1 1/2 inch squares.

Vanilla Cupcakes - Dairy and Egg Free

Vanilla Cupcakes - Dairy and Egg Free

Makes 12 cupcakes

Preheat oven  to 350 F

Really quite simple and quick. Tastes great too and has a spongy, moist texture. 

You will need:

1.5 cups unbleached flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

Combine the above ingredients in a bowl and stir

In another larger bowl combine all the ingredients listed below:

3/4 cup almond milk or any other dairy free milk

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar, I used golden

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1/3 vegetable oil, I used a canola olive oil blend

1 tsp vanilla

Using a whisk, add the dry flour mixture to the wet.

Stir until well blended.

Spoon into paper lined cupcake pan.

Cook in a preheated 350 degree oven for 20 minutes or until slightly golden.

Frosting recipe:

Mix together in a stand mixer or using an electric hand held mixer:

- hold back some of the icing sugar. Then gradually add until you get the fluffy texture that you’re looking for.

1/2  cup vegan margarine

1 1/2 cups icing sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

4 drops of food colouring....or as many as you need to achieve your desired shade.

Ensure cupcakes are totally cool before you frost them. I used a pastry bag with my favourite tip for my frosting 

You can simply spread it on with a knife if you don’t have a pastry bag.

Enjoy!!