Cashew Spinach Cheese Filled Cannelloni with Panna Cotta-ish Dessert

Good morning, my dear friends!

It's Fruits and Veggies Monday again and it's time to share our latest creations before all the Christmas treats will be filling our plates. For dinner, I wanted to make cashew cheese and spinach filled cannelloni with a coconut panna cotta dessert. This dinner was a lot more fancier than anything I'd normally prepare, but totally worth it in my opinion! I basically used the same Cashew Ricotta & Spinach Stuffed Manicotti -recipe that @puravidaville shared with us a while back, but with a little changes. So, I'm going to share the recipe in this post, but if you wish to try this, you'll get visual step-by-step instructions from her blog!

Cashew Spinach Cheese Filled Cannelloni

Ingredients:

2 cups cashews
1 big lemon / 2 little ones
1 tsp salt
400 grams frozen spinach
½ tsp garlic powder
1 tbsp dried basil
1 tbsp dried oregano
pinch of ground pepper
cannellonis
1 jar (approx. 600 grams) your favorite tomato pasta sauce
breadcrumbs

Instructions:

If your pasta needs to be precook, start by doing that. I had precooked cannelloni, so I skipped this step. Defrost the frozen spinach and place it in a sieve. Try to get the spinach as dry as possible by pressing it against the sieve with paper towels.

In order to make the cashew cheese, you can either soak the cashews overnight or boil them for 20-30 minutes (thanks for the tip @puravidaville, it was really practical!). Once the cashews are nice and soft, drain the cashews and place them into a blender along with a juice of one lemon and 1 tsp of salt. Blend until you have a smooth spread. Put the cashew cheese into a bowl and add the spinach, herbs, garlic powder and a little bit of pepper.

Turn your oven on to 175 °C (350 °F). Spread a layer of pasta sauce onto a baking dish (I used a pie pan since it was the only thing I had in hand). Fill your cannellonis with the cheese using a knife or a teaspoon. Don't overfill them or you'll also feel stuffed once eating them! Place the cannellonis onto the baking dish and spoon the rest of the sauce on top. Spread some breadcrumbs on top, if you feel like it. Bake for approximately 30 minutes, according to your cannelloni package instructions.

Enjoy! 😋

So, I also tried to make coconut panna cotta for dessert, but it didn't turn out quite as expected, I didn't use enough agar agar, so here's the final product:

😂

The reason why I wanted to share this with you is that we all make mistakes, and there's nothing to be ashamed for! And hey, at least the panna cotta tasted really nice! I can share the recipe once I find the right amount of agar agar.

Now I'm off to last bits of studying this year, tomorrow I'll have my last exam and then the holidays may start! Remember to fill your body with nutrients, even though it's holiday season! If you have any vegan recipes to share, also remember to participate in Fruits and Veggies Monday by @lenasveganliving!

Have a great week everyone! 🎅

-Jasmin ❤