Baked Rotini & Arugula Puttanesca

I'm still finding recipes to make out of One-Dish Vegan. This one was in the section "oven to table" which I didn't realize. It takes a little more effort to put this together. A lot of in and out of the oven adding stuff. The pasta is cooked with hot water in a covered dish in the oven and cooked for 10 minutes (that's an accident waiting to happen!) then you add tomato and arugula mix and cook for 10 minutes and then you add the bean sauce mix and olives and cook another 10 minutes. Hmmm~ would have been easier on the stove-top. 

Lots of easy pantry items for the puttanesca. 

Chopped arugula and six cloves of garlic. Yum!

Fresh chopped basil, kalamata olives, capers, and green olives. 

This makes a big pan of pasta! Before I added the bean mix I had to dump it into my big lasagna pan (another pot to wash!) 

 ~ Baked Rotini & Arugula Puttanesca ~

~The finished product~ 

tangy and spicy puttanesca. 

For the second night of leftovers with the puttanesca I made my favorite broccoli salad to go with the pasta. Broccoli Salad from Give Them Something Better. This is reminiscent of the bacon-laden broccoli salad my grandma made when I was growing up.

Time to get some more Bac-Uns! These are so much better tasting and looking than the red-dyed bits you find in the grocery store. I buy these at my Sprouts market. 

~ Broccoli Salad ~ 

Grandma's Goulash

This isn't quite how my grandma made goulash but it was still pretty good! I found the recipe here and adapted it to a vegan version. 

The Beyond Beef Beefy Crumbles are the best veg crumbles I have tasted so far! Lots of flavor. 

Sauteing the veg crumbles with onion, garlic, and a little oil.  

Pre-cooked pasta, crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, a little sugar, Italian seasoning, and salt and pepper. 

I sprinkled some vegan parmesan on top and served the goulash with some mixed veggies. Easy and delicious. I think it needs to be a little saucier next time! 

Pasta with Vegan Alfredo Sauce

Whoo! Hoo! Day 3 of posting catch-up and I made it to Pilates today; I got the endorphins going! 

I was craving something creamy and delicious and this recipe did the trick. I found this on Nava Atlas's site VegKitchen - Vegan Alfredo Sauce 

 It's so easy to make the sauce in the food processor. You can use either silken tofu or cannellini beans. I chose to use the tofu and it made it really creamy. I had some spinach-basil pasta I wanted to use and so I tossed that with the Alfredo Sauce. Then I topped the pasta with some steamed broccoli and Gardein Chik'n Scallopini. Yum!!

~ Pasta with Vegan Alfredo Sauce ~ 

Crafting and (Not) Cooking

Oh, how easy it is to get out of the habit of cooking. Especially when you're focused on lots of other things. I had a successful day at a local craft show Saturday even though it was scorching hot (is this really October?) I've been fighting the symptoms of severe sinus issues for months now; I have surgery in a week and a half to solve that problem. Yay! And we're finally getting back to our cabin in Sedona this week; aahh, cooler weather and some autumn colors. 

I found this easy pantry friendly one dish recipe in Supermarket Vegan by Donna Klein.

You combine a 28 oz can of vegetarian baked beans, some cooked pasta and green onions. Then top it with some French-fried onions. So easy, yet so tasty. I wanted some more seasoning so I added a little chipotle hot sauce and a sprinkle of season salt. I also topped the casserole with some Daiya cheddar shreds. The hubby loved this. 

 ~ Baked Beans & Macaroni Casserole with Crunchy Fried Onions ~

served with steamed broccoli and garlic bread 

 Ingredients for Cousin Natasha's Everything But the Kitchen Sink Vegetable Curry 

from La Dolce Vegan.

This is one of my favorite recipes from LDV. My daughter actually reminded me how yummy it is when she said she was going to make it. So I had to go shopping for a few ingredients to put this together. Lots of veggies, chickpeas and some sweet raisins. 

 Simmering all the veggies.

I served the veggie curry over some tri-color quinoa. Yum! 

Last night, I needed to use up all my veggies in the fridge so I made Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Toasted Garlic from Vegan With a Vengeance and Roasted Holiday Vegetables from La Dolce Vegan. I had some baby eggplants from a neighbor's garden that I added to the roasting veggies which was delish. I served the roasted vegetables with some MorningStar Farms BBQ Riblets. 

September Craziness!

 ~ Happy Autumn Equinox! ~ 

We don't see too many leaves this color around here and the temps are still in the 100 degrees but things really get hopping this time of year. As you can see I didn't have too much success with Vegan MoFo! We spent a wonderful week in Iowa visiting my hubby's family; I have been busy making teas, incense and other goodies for a local craft show next month; babysitting grandkids and celebrating our oldest grandson's 4th birthday! The cooking I did do used a lot of convenience foods and whatever food I had left in the fridge and freezer after our Iowa trip. So, here's a rundown on the last two weeks! I did try four new recipes with mixed results.

 I found these StarLite cuisine frozen meals at Sprouts. They have a whole line of taquitos and enchiladas. I like to keep my freezer stocked when I don't have time to cook. Very tasty!

 ~ Sauteed Collards ~
I love collard greens! I'm always looking in my cookbooks for different ways to cook them. I found this recipe in Veganomican. Yum! I served the collards with some baked potatoes and Gardein Crispy Tenders.

~ Basic Guacamole ~
I had an avocado ready to expire! and this recipe is another one from Veganomican. Yes, it's really basic; lime (too much), onion, salt and pepper. But it was a quick, easy way to use up that overly ripe avocado. She does give optional ingredients to add like cilantro, jalapeno and garlic which I didn't have which would have spiced it up.

~ Spinach, Peppers and  Cherry Tomatoes with Penne Rigate ~
I was browsing recipes online and found this at vegetariantimes. I had some roasted red peppers I had frozen, so this was a quick meal to put together. Everything gets cooked in a skillet and then tossed with cooked pasta. I sprinkled some red pepper flakes on top for a little spice.

 ~ Hot Tamale Pie ~
I love a good tamale pie and sadly this one didn't turn out. The recipe is from Cookin' Crunk and sounded really good. I think I must have used cornmeal that was too fine because the cornmeal really never thickened up to the right consistency. The filling had pinto beans and lots of spice and was really delicious. I poured the cornmeal mixture over the bean mix and went ahead and cooked it. Not a success. It was like eating cornmeal mush mixed with chili. The flavors were good so that's the way I ate it. I would like to try this again with a different kind of cornmeal.

I was so excited to see these frozen tamales at Sprouts!

Easy to steam in the microwave.

 I served the tamales with some homemade Spanish rice and Smoky Collard Greens with Vegan Bacon from Betty Goes Vegan. Another convenience foods success!

I made some Chili Dogs one night using Yves vegan hot dogs and a can of Sprouts spicy vegan chili. I had some hot dog buns in the freezer! and used those. I topped the chili dogs with some chopped onion and Daiya cheddar shreds and served them with some sweet potato fries!

My new favorite frozen "chicken". I used the Southwest Style to make some Chicken-Free Fajitas.

I sauteed a little red and yellow bell pepper in some olive oil along with the chicken-free strips. I would have used more peppers but that was all I had.

~ Chicken-Free Fajitas ~
I layered the sauteed chicken-free strips and bell peppers in a warmed flour tortilla then topped them with Daiya cheddar shreds, cilantro, green onions, chopped tomatoes and romaine lettuce and a few dashes of Tabasco sauce for some hotness! YUM!!!

Here's to a new week (hopefully with more fresh ingredients incorporated-hehe). Well, I did do some green juicing so that counts!

Zucchini-Corn Cannelloni

It seems like the days are just zooming by. If I get up early enough in the morning I can feel a hint of fall in the air. If I wait too long it turns into a blazing inferno! 

I haven't tried many new recipes lately but I found this pasta recipe from Vegetarian Times. You can find it here. 

I replaced all the dairy ingredients with some vegan parmesan, Tofutti ricotta and Daiya mozzarella.  

 The mixture of sauteed zucchini, onion, corn and creamy ricotta.

The sauce is so simple to make using a can of fire-roasted tomatoes. 

The recipe makes an 8-9 inch pan which is nice; not a ton of leftovers! 

~ Zucchini-Corn Cannelloni ~ 

Mmmm~delicious! 

The hubby said it had too much ricotta in it; what is he thinking?!

Baked Penne with Sausage & Peppers and Another Scramble

 This week I tried a couple more recipes from Peas and Thank You. 

I had picked up a package of Tofurky Italian Sausage and found this recipe for a pasta dish. A fairly simple, easy to put together meal that is yummy. 

Sauteing the sausage with red and yellow peppers and onion. 

~ Baked Penne with Sausage & Peppers ~ 

This made a huge lasagna pan of pasta; I gave some to my brother, my daughter and we still had a lot of leftovers! We ate this for a couple of meals. 

It seems like when Sunday rolls around I'm craving some tofu scramble! I think I've tried almost every scramble recipe out of my cookbooks. They all have a few variations. This particular one has some cumin which I don't normally add. I did add a handful of chopped arugula for some extra color and melted Daiya cheddar on top. 

~ Tofu Scramble ~

with hash browns and toast 

The rest of the week I filled in with some tried and true favorites:

~ Red Bean Coleslaw 

served with Gardein Crispy Tenders, baked potatoes and pickled beets. 

~ I made another batch of Zucchini Apple Bread  

for my grandsons (they love it!)

~ We ate the rest of the Tater Tot Casserole which I had frozen.

~ Massaged Kale Salad with Citrus, Black Pepper & Cheese Cauliflower and potatoes. 

Brownies & Pasta

Trying a few more new recipes the past few days. I did make a favorite Brussels sprouts recipe from Chloe's Kitchen, "Maple-Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Hazelnuts (pine nuts)". I love the crispy bits of Brussels sprouts! 

~ Espresso Brownies ~

The Espresso Brownies from La Dolce Vegan were scrumptious! The recipe calls for a shot of espresso and since I don't have an espresso machine I just mixed up some instant with 1 1/2 oz. hot water and 2 tsp. of the espresso powder. It gave these brownies a deep, rich chocolate mocha flavor. I frosted them with the Chocolate Cake Glaze recipe from LDV. They were even better with some So Delicious Coconut Milk Vanilla Bean ice cream! 

~ Pasta with Greens, Chickpeas & Olives ~

This pasta dish is from Wild About Greens, by Nava Atlas. So many ways to use all kinds of greens in this cookbook. I used Swiss chard along with garlic, red bell pepper, tomatoes, chickpeas and kalamata olives to make a hearty dish. A sprinkle of some red pepper flakes gives it a nice spicy taste. It is garnished with some toasted pine nuts and chopped fresh basil. 

Lentil Soup with Greens & Tiny Pasta

Another great recipe from Wild About Greens.

This recipe doesn't use vegetable broth; just water. The oregano, basil and thyme along with some fire-roasted tomatoes and red wine gave it lots of flavor though. I used a bunch of chopped lacinato kale for the greens. This made a big pot so I froze the leftovers for a quick supper later. 

Lentil Soup with Greens & Tiny Pasta

I served the soup with some garlic bread made with sourdough bread, Earth Balance margarine, garlic powder and nutritional yeast sprinkled on top and broiled. 

Fast & Fresh Tomato Sauce & My Favorite Kale Salad

I try to keep kale, cherry tomatoes, avocado, carrots and onions in my fridge so I can always make my favorite kale salad when the mood strikes me! It also has a 1/2 cup of cooked quinoa mixed in. 

The recipe is in Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's Vegan's Daily Companion. It tastes even better the next day.

I had these six ripe organic tomatoes that were begging to be eaten so I went to my trusty La Dolce Vegan cookbook for an easy recipe. The Fast & Fresh Tomato Sauce is simply that-"fast and fresh."

Chopped tomatoes, onion, garlic and some spices simmered for about 20 minutes.

My basil plant taking over my kitchen window.

My rosemary taking over the other side of the window.

These Gardein meatless meatballs are the best veggie meatballs I have tried so far. They're really meaty, spicy and hold together well and they are huge! You only need two meatballs per person. 

I served the Tomato Sauce over some fettuccine and topped it with fresh basil and some vegan parmesan.