The first surprise in this spaghetti dish with creamy tomato sauce (photo #1) is that there’s no cream, butter or cheese in the sauce.

This San Marzano tomato-based pasta sauce recipe from DeLallo is so creamy, you’d think it would be loaded with cream, butter, and/or cheese.

The second surprise is that the creaminess comes from a vegetable: cauliflower.

It’s not “just” a vegetable: Cauliflower is one of the anti-carcinogenic Brassica family of cruciferous vegetables, which also includes arugula, bok choy, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, horseradish/wasabi, kale, kohlrabi, mustard, radishes, rapeseed/canola, rapini, rutabaga and turnips, among others.

So if you’ve embarked on a more sustainable diet for the new year, try this vegan recipe. You won’t notice the absence of dairy.

Using whole wheat pasta gives it another better-for-you bonus.
 
 
RECIPE: SPAGHETTI OR LINGUINE WITH CREAMY TOMATO SAUCE

Ingredients For 4 Servings

 
Preparation

1. PLACE a large pot of water seasoned with salt to boil. This will be used to cook the cauliflower and pasta. Meanwhile…

2. ADD the olive oil and garlic to a large sauté pan over medium heat and sauté until fragrant, 1-2 minutes. Add the red pepper flakes and tomato paste, and sauté for another 30 seconds. Finally, add the San Marzano tomatoes. Cook until bubbling, then remove from the heat and set aside.

3. ADD the cauliflower to the boiling water, lower the heat and boil for 5-8 minutes, or until fork-tender. Transfer to the tomato sauce with tongs, leaving the water in the pot to boil.

4. USE the boiling water to cook the pasta, according to package instructions. Meanwhile…

5. CAREFULLY TRANSFER the tomato sauce mixture to a blender and blend until completely smooth. Pour the sauce back into the pan. Once your pasta is al dente…

6. DRAIN and add it to the tomato sauce. Mix to combine. Season with salt and pepper and serve.
 
 
TIP: KEEP THE CAULIFLOWER STALKS

Don’t throw away the rest of the cauliflower. The stalks, base and leaves comprise some two-thirds of the cauliflower.

They’re just as delicious as the florets.

[1] Make spaghetti or linguine in this creamy, dairy-free sauce (photos #1 and #2 © DeLallo).

[2] San Marzano tomatoes. Why are they the most flavorful? See below.

[3] Fresh San Marzano tomatoes (photo © The Heirloom Tomato Company).

[4] Don’t toss the rest of the cauliflower: stems, base and leaves (photo © Melissa Breyer. See how she uses them.).

These prized Italian tomatoes, which are D.O.P.-protected (Denominazione d’Origine Protetta), are grown in the nutrient-rich volcanic soil around Mt. Vesuvius.

An heirloom variety of plum tomatoes, they are naturally so sweet that you’d swear that a can of San Marzanos has added sugar—but it doesn’t.

Tomatoes originated in Peru. The story is that the first seeds to become San Marzano tomatoes came to Campania, Italy in 1770, as a gift from the Kingdom of Peru to the Kingdom of Naples.

The seeds were planted in the area that is the present-day commune of San Marzano, a small town southeast of Naples at the base of Mount Vesuvius. The volcanic soil is believed to act as a filter for water impurities, producing a lower-acidity, brighter-flavored tomato.

The pulp is dense, and because of the lower acidity, the tomatoes have a deeper tomato flavor and a natural sweetness. Sauces made with them require no additional sugar.

Even the juice in the can that streams from the diced tomatoes tastes like the best tomato juice!

While the varietal is grown in the U.S. and worldwide, the original San Marzanos, imported canned from Italy (photo #2), benefit greatly from the volcanic soil.

If you grow the seeds in your own soil, you may not get the same level of sweetness. But try it: The seeds are easily available online.
 
San Marzano Vs. Roma Tomatoes

They look similar, but compared to the well-known Roma variety of plum tomatoes, San Marzano tomatoes have an elongated oblong shape—thinner and pointier, believed to be a mutation (photo #3).

San Marzanos have only two seed pockets, while most tomatoes have five to seven. Since seeds contribute acidity, this feature also accounts for the lower acidity.

The San Marzano is so distinctive and high quality that it is the only variety that can be used to make certified Neapolitan pizza.

Here’s more about San Marzano tomatoes.

[1] Wonder Melon watermelon juice in two flavors (all photos © Wonder Melon).

[2] Enjoy a glass of straight juice, or blended into a smoothie.

[3] Make Watermelon Margaritas (photo from Wonder Melon | Facebook).

Some 10 years ago, a California company called Sundia sold the most delicious pure watermelon juice.

Alas, they got out of the juice business, and we lost our favorite juice.

It’s quite time-consuming to juice a watermelon at home, so since then we’ve tried every watermelon juice and blend we came across. Nothing made the grade.

Finally, Wonder Melon: two varieties of watermelon juice blends: Watermelon Cucumber Basil and Watermelon Lemon Cayenne.

The cold pressed juices are are refreshing drunk plain, in smoothies or cocktails. They are:

 
WATERMELON CUCUMBER BASIL WONDER MELON

This juice is expertly blended with Watermelon Juice, Lemon Juice, Apple Juice, Cucumber Juice, and Basil for an incredibly refreshing juice that’s perfectly sweet with a touch of tartness and light herbaceous. With only 80 calories a bottle, it’s a drink you can’t resist.

Food Trivia: Cucumbers and watermelons are first cousins.

Both are from the binomial order Cucurbitales and family Cucurbitaceae, differing only at the genus level.

That’s why if you eat the white portion of watermelon rind, it tastes just like cucumber.
 
WATERMELON LEMON CAYENNE WONDER MELON

A touch of tartness from lemon and hint of heat from cayenne pepper, the juice has just 4 ingredients: watermelon juice, lemon juice, apple juice and a dash of cayenne. An 8.45-ounce bottle has 100 calories.

There’s a store locator on the website.

You can purchase Wonder Melon on Amazon.
 
 
THE HISTORY OF WATERMELON

Watermelon, Citrullus lanatus, is believed to have originated in the Kalahari Desert in southern Africa. An ancestor of the modern watermelon still grows there.

That ancestor is not tasty at all: bitter and with many seeds. It was cultivated for the water inside, to quench thirst in the desert.

Mutations over thousands of years of cultivations created the sweet flesh we enjoy today.

Watermelons are about 92% water—that’s how they got their name. In ancient times, travelers carried watermelons as a replacement for water—a watermelon canteen, as it were.

Watermelon has been cultivated as early as 2000 B.C.E. The first recorded watermelon harvest occurred nearly 5,000 years ago in Egypt. Watermelon seeds have been found in the tomb of Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamen (King Tut).

Here’s more of the watermelon’s history.

Check out watermelon nutrition.

[1] Acorn squash stuffed with Brussels sprouts, dried cranberries and almonds (photo © Chef Eric LeVine).

[2] Stuffed Portabella Mushrooms. Here’s the recipe from Healthy Recipes Blog (photo © Healthy Recipes Blog).

[3] Potato latkes with grilled root vegetables, applesauce, sour cream and Maille mustard (substitute nondairy sour cream—photo © Maille).

[4] Quinoa and beans salad with roasted heirloom carrots (photo © Obra Kitchen Table | Miami)

[5] Angel hair pasta with San Marzano tomatoes and extra-virgin olive oil (photo © Davio’s | Boston).

New year, new goals.

As advocates for sustainability, our first tip of the year focuses on Meatless Mondays.

If you’re not already in the fold, now’s the time to open the gate.

It’s not just about meat. Cheese and other dairy products, including yogurt and cottage cheese, contribute the same greenhouse gases that meat does.

Yes, you could eat fish; in fact, substituting more seafood for meat is another important resolution.

So if you really want to help Planet Earth, we propose to make Meatless Monday, Vegan Monday.

Almost every health, nutrition and sustainability expert advises: Eat a plant-based diet. Here, we’re only asking you to eat a plant-based Monday.
 
 
MEATLESS MONDAY: WHERE TO BEGIN

There are countless online recipe troves to tempt you. You can make—or take out, or order in:

 
For protein, add:

When you look at recipes, you’ll discover that quite a few popular foods are on the Meatless Monday menu.

 
Restaurant chains nationwide from Burger King to Chik-Fil-A to KFC offer meatless options. Hooters just debuted Meatless Wings (just as crisp and half the calories of its chicken wings).

Here are 147 chains with vegan options.

Here’s a Whole Foods article, 9 Easy Ways to Eat More Plants at Every Meal.
 

MEATLESS MONDAY HISTORY

It may seem like Meatless Monday is a 21st-century idea, but it originated during World War I.

Before formal rationing began, the U.S. Food Administration promoted reduced consumption of key staples to aid the war effort.

President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation calling for every Tuesday to be meatless and for one meatless meal to be observed every day, for a total of nine meatless meals each week [source].

“Food Will Win the War,” proclaimed government ads. “Meatless Monday” and “Wheatless Wednesday” were introduced to encourage Americans to do their part.

The effect was overwhelming. More than 13 million families signed a pledge to observe the national meatless and wheatless conservation days.

During World War II when President Franklin D. Roosevelt relaunched the campaign to help the war efforts. In the immediate post-war years, President Harry S. Truman continued the campaign to help feed war-ravaged Europe [source].

Most of us alive today hadn’t heard the term until 2003, when the concept was relaunched by a former advertising executive turned health advocate, Sid Lerner.

In association with Johns Hopkins University (The Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Center for a Livable Future), the concept was reintroduced as a public health awareness campaign.

The “new’ Meatless Monday was launched to addresses the prevalence of preventable illnesses associated with excessive meat consumption.

With the average American eating as much as 75 more pounds of meat each year than in generations past, the message of “one day a week, cut out meat” became a way for people to do something good healthwise. The health benefits of reducing meat consumption became regular stories for the nation’s news outlets.

With awareness of global warming and the causes of greenhouses gases, Meatless Monday has achieved even greater promotion as an environmental campaign, and has been growing worldwide.

The growing vegan movement has greatly helped the movement. Even for omnivores, cafeterias and restaurants offer meat-free options not only on Mondays, but everyday.

Make one of your New Year’s resolutions to join in.