My First Dairy-Free Ravioli!

Every day I have the same reaction as I'm finishing up my meal - "Oh crap, I forgot to take photographs for my blog!" Yup, every single day I do this. I'm still getting used to the idea of blogging, but will try much harder next time.


Last night, in return for a gorgeous haircut, I made my sister Mel a ravioli feast. My fabulous neighbor and blogging guru BitchCakes introduced me to the frozen dairy-free ravioli at our local organic supermarket, The Garden, and I couldn't wait to try some.


I tried the Soy Boy Verde Ravioli (Garden Herb and Tofu Filling) and a Vegan Artichoke Ravioli, which I believe is made by Cafferata but I can't exactly remember. I'll find out next time I go to the supermarket. They had a lot of different options and will certainly try them all!


The ravioli were easy enough to cook by just adding to boiling water for 7 to 8 minutes, but I needed a sauce. So I decided to make something up and it came out pretty well.


All I did cook some onions and garlic in a splash of olive oil. After about 5 to 7 minutes, I added chopped plum tomatoes and diced leeks. Just this would have been fine as a lighter sauce, but I wanted something a little heartier. I added some no sodium added tomato paste to thicken the sauce up. Adding a little water here and there to make sure it didn't try out. I threw in some white pepper, salt, a tiny bit of sugar (secret ingredient for any tomato sauce) and some fresh chopped parsley.


Once the sauce was cooked down, I took about a cup of it and blended it with my hand-blender (my new best friend). Adding the puree, which would have been delicious on its own, back to the pan to mix with the chunkier sauce. I like my sauce chunky!

For a side side, I sauteed some spinach in olive oil to make sure I was getting enough rich greens in my diet. I was feeling naughty, since this meal on its own was so healthy, that I made garlic bread too. I know, I'm terrible. I just sauteed minced garlic in Smart Balance (I almost never have real butter in my kitchen), soaked up a little on some thinly sliced Italian bread and toasted in the oven. It came out delicious and it wasn't all that greasy since it was just a little bit of Smart Balance on each.


This entire meal probably took me 45 minutes from start to finish. Super easy - anyone can do it!!!


Below are the left overs I'm currently eating for lunch. The green ravioli are the Soy Boy Verde Ravioli and the GIANT one in the middle is the artichoke. I think the Soy Boy ones taste better, just so ya know. But I can't wait to try all the other flavors of dairy-free ravioli!

Thanks Bitchcakes for noticing these in the supermarket.



I will try much harder in the future to photograph while cooking and the final produce. My leftovers above don't do the food justice. They had to travel through 3 borough to get to this plate on 2 different trains. Needless to say they had a rough journey, but they sure did taste good.