Simple Marinated Farm Fresh Tomatoes & My Two Furry Love Bugs Birthdays.

Just when I have it in my mind to blog more it doesn't happen.  My son did something to our laptop and I just figured out where my pictures were downloading too.  Now I can share!

I hope your summer has been great so far.

It's that time of year again to celebrate the birthdays of our Merlin kitty(17) and Ace dog(3).

Now for some simple marinated tomatoes that might not even make it onto your pasta because it is so delicious.

Last year I made this recipe and the key is too use heirloom, home grown or farm fresh tomatoes which are sweeter than grocery store tomatoes.  If you only have access to grocery store tomatoes you can still make this it just won't be as flavorful as farm or homegrown.  I didn't have capers on hand and it still came really good but I do love the addition of capers.

Marinated Heirloom Tomatoes

Martha Stewart Living Magazine

adapted by  dreaminitvegan

Ingredients

• 5 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 pounds heirloom tomatoes or homegrown/farm fresh, sliced into 1/2-inch wedges
• 3/4 cup torn fresh basil
• 3 tablespoons salt-packed capers, preferably Sicilian, rinsed (optional)
• 2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest, plus more for sprinkling
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red-pepper flakes
• Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions

1. Heat garlic in oil in a saucepan over low heat until pale gold, about 10 minutes. Reserve oil and garlic. Let cool room temp.
2. Combine tomatoes, 1/4 cup basil, the capers, lemon zest, red-pepper flakes, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a large bowl. Pour garlic oil and chips over tomato mixture. Marinate, covered, tossing occasionally, for 30 minutes or more.(I let it marinate a couple of hours)
3. If using on pasta you would add warm pasta to bowl, and toss gently. Top with remaining 1/2 cup basil. Season with pepper. Sprinkle with lemon zest.

Note* you can make this ahead if you are having company that day.  You can also spoon this on a nice baguette as an appetizer.

Colorful holiday foods

Good day everyone! 

My day started off happy and you want to know why?

Dave(my husband) and I drove down the street to our health food store to get a coffee before he went to work.  We step up to the counter and lying there is the longest, most delicous smelling loaf of unsliced sweet bread.  I told the lady how good it looked and she said that it's a vegan pumpkin chocolate chip bread that was still warm from the oven.  My heart just sped up....she had the other gal slice off a piece for me.  YUM!  I'm saving the other half for Keaton.  Then while we were waiting too pay another girl gives us a sample of pumpkin spice cake...Dave asked if it was vegan and she said "yes".  My lucky morning!  It was soooooo moist.  It's not every day that this kind of thing happens for a vegan.

Pumpkin chocolate chip bread

Want to impress your guests with colorful and delicous foods this Christmas and that don't take hours and hours to make?  How about....

Quinoa Pilaf (recipe below)



Marinated Pan Grilled Tofu, Roasted Asparagus and Quinoa Pilaf

This was a huge hit with Dave and Keaton.

Two Bean Tempeh Chili with finely chopped kale.

This is a great way to add more greens into your diet.  Finely chop your greens and mix into the chili. 

Roasted Vegetable Pasta with a kick.

This recipe is adapted from Gluten Free Goddess.  You can

take any vegetable really.  I used asparagus, roma tomatoes, eggplant, onion and bell pepper.  I also eliminated the use of raisins.  You can also add finely chopped greens to this as well and no one would know.

Quinoa Pilaf

2 C. vegetable broth

1 C. quinoa, rinsed

1 med. yellow/white onion, diced

1 small bell pepper, diced

1/3 C. parsley, chopped

1/4 C. pinenuts, toasted*

S & P

In a medium saucepan heat up broth and quinoa until boiling.  Cover with lid and turn down heat to low.  Cook for about 20 min.  Once quinoa is cooked take off heat and let sit for about 10min. then fluff with fork.  Take off lid and cool down to room temperature.

While quinoa is cooking heat up a heavy pan(I use cast iron) and toast pinenuts.  Keep close watch as to not burn.  This only takes about 2 min. or so.

In a large pan heat up 1 T. olive oil or broth/water to saute onion.  Once the onion is softened add the bell pepper and cook for 2 more minutes.  Take off heat and add the quinoa, onion, bell pepper, parsley and pineuts. Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Scoop into serving dish.



Marinade for tofu

1/3 C. Olive Oil

1/3 C. lemon juice

1/3 C. Italian parsley

1/3 C. Cilantro

3 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes

salt and pepper to taste

In a blender or processer add olive oil, lemon juice, parsley, cilantro, garlic.  Blend together.  Add in red pepper flakes, salt and pepper to taste.

Slice tofu up and lay in a casserole dish.  Pour marinade over and let sit in refrigerator for a couple of hours.  Heat up grill pan and spary with olive oil.  Grill tofu.  Serve with leftover marinade.

I hope this gives you all some ideas.  If anything whip it up for dinner one night just for your family.What are your plans for Chrismas dinner? 

Until next post.  Have a great day! 

Pasta for two!

While snacking on some big organic cherry tomatoes I had sitting out, I thought about how I could incorporate them into dinner, besides a salad or eating them all up as they were. My son was eating at a friends house for dinner so that left just my husband and I. Pasta it was!!! Easy prep and clean up. This turned out very tasty and quite frankly you could very well make this for company just use more tomatoes, artichokes and basil.

This how I made this lovely pasta meal for two!

olive oil

6 oz. wheat spaghetti noodles (your choice of course)

5 garlic cloves, chopped ( I like the garlic)

1 pint/small green basket or so cherry tomatoes, halved

1/2 jar artichokes

1 bunch of fresh basil, chopped

1/3 -1/2 cup white wine

1/4 cup cashew butter (see note how to make)

red pepper flakes

salt

Heat up a medium saute pan then add about 3 tbsp. olive oil. Add garlic cloves and saute until soft. Next add the tomatoes and saute until they are soft. Next add artichokes, stir for about 1 minute and add the white wine. Let the white wine reduce a bit then add the basil and continue to cook. You want it to be a bit saucy, you don't want it to be dry. Next add the cashew butter. This makes it creamy and rich, you can not tell it is cashew butter at all for those of you who have never tried it. You just need to make sure you blend it well into the mixture, you don't want clumps, you may need to use a fork. You can always add more wine and olive oil for more liquid, just eye it. Add salt to taste and red pepper flakes if you choose.

Note: cashew butter

You can purchase cashew butter but I usually make it.

In a food processor add about 1/2 or however much you want of raw cashews.

Turn on the processor and let it run, you may have to scrap the sides a couple of times during this process, until it sticks together and becomes like a spread. Wallah! Cashew butter. Keep what you don't use in a container in the refridge.

Enjoy!

Spaghetti Casserole;just like mom used to make

Okay, let me just start out by saying when I first saw this recipe on Karina's Kitchen I knew I had to make it. This reminded me of spaghetti casserole that my my mom used to make us using Capellini pasta, mozzarella, jack cheese and topped off with spaghetti sauce. My husband brings this dish up sometimes because he loved it and I haven't made it since I've been vegan. Until now I haven't tried to replicate it. I'm not a big fan of vegan cheeses and you use alot of cheese in the original recipe so it would be loaded with fat. Back to the blog, Karina shows this lovely picture of a vegan pasta pie on her blog and I said to myself "I just found the recipe to spaghetti casserole". The result was amazing. My husband loved it, I loved it, we all loved it. Can I tell you how much we loved it? lol. You need to try it and add it to your comfort food list.

There were a couple of changes I made to it in that I used capelinni pasta, added more mustard to the sauce, at the end of the directions it says to add 2T. of rice flour, I only add 1T, and I topped it off with a basil marinara instead of adding veggies, just 'cuz I wanted it to be more like the one I used to make. Let me know how you like it if you make it.

Angel hair pasta with roasted asparagus, tomatoes and pesto

First off this picture is a bit dark, when I used the flash it was too bright. Oh well!
Everyone wanted pasta tonight and we didn't want anything too heavy and I had a bunch of asparagus and basil. Since it's still cooling down at night this dish was perfect. It smells so wonderful as the veggies are roasting in the oven. The idea behind this recipe comes from Karina at Gluten Free Goddess. Again just tweaked it a bit and added pesto to it.

I cooked 3/4 pack of angel hair pasta according to directions. Meanwhile in the oven I roasted some chopped Roma tomatoes, garlic, capers, olive oil, basil, oregano and just a bit of jalepeno for a kick and a bit of balsamic in 400 oven until done.
Then I made a basil pesto. Once everything is done stir it all in a nice pasta bowl. Drizzle a bit more of balsamic syrup and a couple sprinkles of red pepper flakes. Serve with a nice caesar or salad of choice and garlic bread.

Bow tie pasta w/pesto, kale, etc.....

You know when you make a great meal and you keep going back for more. "Just one more bite" you say outloud so everyone hears you. Like that's going to make you feel any less guilty because you know it's not just going to be one more bite. This is one of those pasta dishes. My husband said that this pasta is one of his favorites. It's nice to hear that from your hubby.

Bowtie pasta with pesto, kale, orange bell pepper and roasted cherry tomatoes. A drizzle of olive oil and your ready to dig in. Isn't pretty!