Tag Archives: pasta

Mushroom pasta delight

12 Oct

The big, nasty fight with our roommate went down on a Monday, and we weren’t willing to hit the kitch again until Friday. I won’t even recount the fast-food meals and wasted money that characterized the rest of the week.

Anyway, we decided to make a third recipe from The Voluptuous Vegan, namely the Pasta with Fresh Shiitakes, Tomatoes, and Basil. However, by the end of the week, the fresh tomatoes were gone, as was nearly all of my garlic, so our version was highly, highly altered. Plus, a 1/2 cup of olive oil? Really? I cut that way, way down. Enter the B&X spin:

Shiitake Mushroom Pasta with Basil
6 to 8 ounces of fresh shiitake mushrooms, cleaned and roughly chopped
1 teaspoon plus 1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 box whole wheat pasta (I used rotini, but farfalle or fusilli would have been good, too)
1 medium onion, peeled and sliced thinly
4 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced thinly
1 cup basil, washed and cut into a chiffonade
Black pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 375° F. Add the mushrooms to a bowl and top with 1 teaspoon of olive oil and the soy sauce, mixing to coat thoroughly. Pour them on a prepared baking sheet and cook for 20 to 30 minutes, stirring every 10 or so.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a large pot of water until al dente (according to package directions). Drain and set aside.

Heat the remaining tablespoon of olive in a pot over a medium-low flame. Add the sliced onions and cook for 10 to 15 minutes, until caramelized and fragrant. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for about two minutes or until softened but not browned. By now, the mushrooms should be warm and soft. Remove them from the oven and add them along with the pasta and basil to the pot, stirring to combine. Cook for a couple of minutes until everything is warmed through. Top with black pepper to taste.

Serves 4.

It was deeeeeeliiiiiicious. The mushrooms cooked with soy sauce were an ingenious addition to super-basic pasta. I never would have thought to combine them with fresh basil, but I certainly will again. I topped mine with nutritional yeast, which was tasty but not necessary. I would increase the garlic next time and cook it a little longer, but this method worked in a pinch.

What’s your favorite pasta ingredient?

Pesto lovin’

25 Jul

Today I had some less-than-stellar service from what used to be one of my favorite restaurants in Tulsa. I had a Living Social deal for Pita Place that expired today, so I decided to get lunch for today and tomorrow with the $20 I had to spend. It seemed like a good idea, especially since I didn’t go grocery shopping on Sunday as I prefer to do. I was spoken to rudely (he said as I was about to order, “decide what you want” and then almost went back to the kitchen even though I never indicated I hadn’t figured it out), half my lunch order was ignored, and it took him 30 minutes to prepare my to-go order even though there were only two people there when I arrived and I ordered it at the same time as my lunch. Plus, when I opened it up, he had left a couple of things out. I have no idea what caused this 180 – he used to be really friendly to me. I wasn’t rude or anything either. He was polite to others even. I know I can be a pill, but I swear I wasn’t in this instance. All in all, I will never go back. It was really that unpleasant. I love, love supporting local restaurants, but I still demand professional, courteous service. Do you ever choose to stop patronizing a business because of curt – not necessarily terrible – service?

Anyway, the real point of this post is to share tonight’s dinner.

Sha-boing. This, my friends, is a love affair with local produce. Everything vegetabley you see came from the farmers market, other than the red bell pepper. Plus, the pesto is very low-fat but still incredibly delicious. Here’s how to work the magic.

Low-fat Pesto Pasta Extravaganza

  • Large bunch of fresh basil, or about 3 cups
  • 3 garlic cloves, peeled and coarsely chopped
  • Juice of one lemon
  • Small handful of raw almonds (somewhere between 1/8 and 1/4 cup)
  • 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
  • Black pepper to taste
  • 1 pound whole wheat linguine
  • 1 pound green beans, ends snapped off and broken into bite-size pieces
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 1.5 to 2 cups summer squash, diced (I used baby patty pan, zucchini, and yellow crookneck, but any would be great)
  • 1 red bell pepper, chopped
  • 1 to 2 cups cherry or other small tomatoes, cut in half, quarters, or left whole

First, make the pesto. Add to a blender or food processor the basil, garlic, lemon juice, almonds, nutritional yeast, black pepper, and water as needed to blend/process. Set aside.

Bring a large pot of water to boil and cook the linguine until al dente, about 7 minutes. Drain and set aside.

Meanwhile, cook the green beans: either steam them until tender or add them to a large pan sprayed with a little olive oil and/or some water until tender. Set aside. Re-spray the pan with olive oil or add some water and the onion. Cook until translucent. Now add the squash and bell pepper, and cook until softened and/or lightly browned. Add the cherry tomatoes and the green beans and cook about two minutes longer. Now add the pasta and the pesto, tossing to combine.

Serves 4 (or 2.5 in my household!). It’s also tasty cold as a pasta salad.

My boyfriend asked me to note that this is pesto Genovese (despite the absence of pine nuts — it’s either a pound of them or my water bill), since I take most opportunities to school folks on the fact that pesto has nothing in particular to do with basil. The green stuff is in the style of Genoa. The more you know.

And now I must remove some very fragrant banana bread from the oven. More on that soon.

Recent eats

22 May

I’ve been failing at the whole blogging-my-meals thing lately, so I thought I’d show you why in this montage post.

First, let’s look at breakfast from the past week:

An Ezekiel 7 Sprouted Grain English muffin slathered with Amy’s vegetarian refried black beans and topped either with salsa or sri racha and nutritional yeast. There was also a banana when I could remember it and tea — always tea.

Next are two lunches. Monday through Wednesday was a variation on this little gem:

A whole wheat tortilla topped with jalapeno-cilantro hummus, carrots, cherry tomatoes, local green onions, nutritional yeast, and local arugula. Delicious, though it was crazy-messy to prepare in the terrible office kitchen. There was also supposed to be avocado, but I got one that was made of rubber, apparently, and it just wouldn’t ripen. Sad.

On Thursday, I mixed it up a bit by making a hummus-dilla: tortilla with hummus, local green onions, nutritional yeast, and sri racha warmed and crisped in the toaster oven. It was awesome. I must make this again soon.

Speaking of my office and tea, I don’t think I mentioned that my department was relocated from the 4th to the 2nd floor. I will have to give a grand tour at some point. (Ha! It’s not that big.) In the meantime, let me introduce you to the most ridiculous thing in probably the entire building: my tea service.

We used to keep the electric kettle and those teas in the kitchen, but we now share with a much larger pool of folks and have less counter space, so everything is in my office against the tranquil blue wall. The four cup-and-saucer sets and the two-tiered platter were flea market steals: $2.50 for the former, and $1.50 for the latter. Insane. And now I feel like Fancy Pants Vance every day. And really the best part is that my tea-drinking partner in crime is next door to me, so when the water is hot, I just knock three times on the wall. Not pictured, and adding to my tea lunacy, is the drawer featuring my personal stash of teas. And to the left of the tea is our coffee stuff: a French press, a grinder, and our favorite Kicking Horse coffee beans. Yee haw.

Anyway, on May 14, the boy and I celebrated four months together. Yes, we actually celebrated the occasion. Why not? It’s the little things. We stayed at a lovely B&B, thanks to my friends at Groupon. For dinner, we decided to enjoy the room rather than go out, so we brought in what you can barely see in the picture below:

Farrell Family Tuscan bread, smoked gouda, camembert, and asiago. Oh my! It was all washed down with a bottle of Piper Heidsieck, my favorite Champagne.

The past week, I was ten kinds of broke, so dinners were scavenged. The first:

Sorry for the bad picture, but that’s yellow squash sauteed with garlic and olive oil mixed with scrambled local eggs, resting atop a bed of arugula, and sprinkled with black pepper and nutritional yeast. It was crazy delicious, I tell you.

And my most exciting success was this baby: whole wheat spaghetti with yellow squash sauteed with garlic and olive oil, Classico spicy tomato basil sauce, and a few more herbs added, all atop a bed of arugula and sprinkled with nutritional yeast. It was flippin’ incredible, I tell you. I try not to buy jarred sauces, but in my days of eating more processed foods, Classico was always my favorite. I had forgotten how cheap it was, too.

So that’s why I haven’t been blogging more lately. This week, I have some tasty foods to share, so expect to see more of me. Happy Sunday!

Garlicky dinner

4 Nov

It’s no secret that I love garlic. I smell like it a lot. For that, I’m sorry, but I have no regrets.

Tonight’s dinner starred the pungent, wonderful stuff:

Whole wheat linguine aglio e olio style, which is with garlic and olive oil. And crushed red pepper. My lungs can tell you all about that as it hit the hot oil. I put a pinch of nooch on mine, too. We also had lovely salads tossed with chopped parsley and featuring a homemade, garlic-love-fest dressing.

Lemon and Garlic Dressing

(Adapted from the Joy of Cooking)

  • 2 cloves of garlic, smashed or pressed
  • 2 pinches of salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1/4 cup lemon juice
  • 1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard
  • 3/4 olive oil

Mash or stir garlic with a pinch of salt and set aside. In a lidded container, add the other pinch of salt, pepper, lemon juice, and mustard. Add garlic paste. Put on the lid and shake to combine. Drizzle in olive oil, put the lid back on, and shake it some more. Store in the fridge or use immediately. Makes about 1 cup.

Sunday Night Scramble and First Watch

18 Oct

I apologize for the delay in my vacation post. It turns out that I have no idea where to start: city by city? food by food? just one big general post? I’m still working it out. I plan to have something posted this week, though.

In the meantime, here are my two meals today.

We decided to have brunch at First Watch today, one of my love’s favorite places. I did my research ahead of time and determined that the oatmeal was vegan as long as I held the milk topping (which I would anyway). However, I noticed something on the menu I had overlooked before: the Not Guilty Your Honor wrap. I held the feta and ended up with this massive amount of yummy:

The wrap contained spinach, tomatoes (which did not meet my standards, so my taller half ate them), roasted red peppers, cucumber, and mushrooms in a wheat tortilla. In the round container is surprisingly good hummus, which you can also see atop a portion of the wrap. On the side is breakfast potatoes, their marinated salad (appears to be cucumber and tomato in a poppy seed dressing atop lettuce), and some melon. It was a ton of (mostly) healthy and all-vegan food. Yum!

And for the Sunday Night Scramble, I present yet another pasta dish:

Whole wheat linguine topped with 2 teaspoons of peanut butter, one clove of roasted garlic, black pepper, crushed red pepper, and a lot of nutritional yeast. It was predictable for me but still delicious. For dessert, I ate way, way too much peanut butter (PBOD).

And now I’m off to finish making soup for the week. Hope everyone is having a wonderful Sunday night!

Last night’s dinner

28 Sep

I made something random for dinner last night, but it was delicious, so I’m sharing the “recipe” with you.

Vi presento … Brigid’s Sesame Garlic Noodles with Veggies

Ingredients

  • 1/4 box of whole wheat noodles
  • 1 cup of fresh green beans
  • 5 baby bella mushrooms
  • 1 teaspoon olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
  • 1 garlic clove, minced or pressed
  • All the sri racha you can handle
  • Black pepper to taste

1. Boil water and cook noodles according to package instructions. While still dry, I break mine in half when I serve them with veggies. Drain and set aside.

2. Meanwhile, clean green beans, snap off ends, and break into bite-size pieces. Also, clean the mushrooms and chop. Bring a small amount of water to boil in a sauce pan and steam green beans until they reach the amount of tenderness you prefer. I like mine slightly al dente. About a minute before they’re done, add the mushrooms. Drain the water from the pan and then add the olive oil and the veggies. Saute for about one minute.

3. Place noodles on plate, top with veggies, and then add the rest of the ingredients. If you don’t like the bite of raw garlic, add it to the olive oil with the veggies. Yum!

Afterward, I made a dessert out of a smoothie:

This one is brown because of both the fruits and veggies and a little bit of cocoa powder. It contained a handful of spinach, a banana, about 1/2 cup of frozen peaches, 1/3 cup of frozen strawberries, a scant tablespoon of Justin’s Maple Almond Butter, a little cocoa powder, a sprinkle of both cinnamon and ginger, and too much water, hence the runniness. It was incredibly tasty, though.

What’s your favorite smoothie combination?

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