Meatless Monday with Vegetarian Valentine’s Day Menu

Hello and welcome (back) to the Miratel blog for another Meatless Monday. We took the Meatless Monday pledge as part of our CSR business initiatives in support of reducing meat consumption one day per week (15%) to live in a more earth-friendly manner. We feature a new recipe each Monday to help promote and achieve this goal.

In honour of Valentine’s Day tomorrow, we thought we would put together a main dish and dessert sans meat. The entrée is an Open Spinach & Ricotta Ravioli recipe which comes courtesy of BBC Good Food Olive Magazine and it is a simple dish that is easy to make with beautiful flavour and a gourmet flair. For dessert we are making the Waldorf Astoria Red Velvet Cake courtesy of Food.com. Even those that are not certain of their culinary skills will be able make this feast.

Open Spinach & Ricotta Ravioli Ingredients:

Open Spinach & Ricotta Ravioli image courtesy of bbcgoodfood.com

• oil
• 1 small onion , finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves , crushed
• 100g spinach
• 150g ricotta
• 6 fresh pasta sheets
• 3 tbsp of grated Parmesan (or vegetarian alternative)

Directions:

1. Heat the oil in a large frying pan and fry the onion and garlic until soft, add the spinach and stir until wilted. Add the ricotta, breaking it into lumps and season well. Keep warm.
2. Meanwhile cook the pasta sheets in boiling water for 2-3 minutes until tender, drain well.
3. Layer 3 pasta sheets on each plate with the spinach mixture, sprinkle the tops with a little Parmesan and black pepper. Serve with roasted or fresh cherry tomatoes drizzled with olive oil, salt and fresh basil.

Waldorf Astoria Red Velvet Cake Ingredients:

Cake Ingredients

Waldorf Astoria Red Velvet Cake image courtesy of food.com

• ½ cup shortening
• 1 ½ cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 ounces red food coloring
• 2 tablespoons cocoa (heaping)
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 ¼ cups cake flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vinegar

Frosting Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup butter (must be butter)

Cake Directions

1. Cream shortening, sugar and eggs.
2. Make a paste of food coloring and cocoa. Add to creamed mixture.
3. Add buttermilk alternating with flour and salt. Add vanilla.
4. Add soda to vinegar, and blend into the batter.
5. Pour into 3 or 4 greased and floured 8″ cake pans. Bake at 350°F for 24-30 minutes.
6. Split layers fill and frost with the following frosting.

Frosting Directions

1. Add milk to flour slowly, avoiding lumps.
2. Cook flour and milk until very thick, stirring constantly. Cool completely.
3. Cream sugar, butter and vanilla until fluffy. Add to cooked mixture.
4. Beat, high speed, until very fluffy. Looks and tastes like whipped cream.

The ravioli dish can be whipped up any night of the week and feel free to use whole wheat or spelt pasta sheets to increase the nutritional value of the dish.

The Waldorf Astoria Red Velvet Cake recipe dates back to the 1920’s although I believe beets were used in place of food colouring (which is actually healthier) in the original. This recipe is time consuming but worth it and can be made into cupcakes if you prefer.

We encourage you to visit the Meatless Monday website and join us in taking the pledge to reduce meat consumption one day per week. It’s easy with delicious recipes like this one. Spread the word at work to promote the value of CSR business initiatives and make your green call centre, office, factory, shop, restaurant, hotel or salon even greener.

Enjoy!
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Miratel Solutions is a Toronto call centre, eBusiness, and letter shop mail house specializing in professional fundraising services including telephone fundraising, online fundraising, lottery services, donation caging, donation processing and other donor management services. We are committed to our CSR business values in all contact centre services and mail house operations and advancing the missions of the nonprofits we proudly serve.