Perfect Summer Grilled Dinner & Cleo dog

I hope you are all having a great summer.  We've pretty  much just been hanging out.  We got some bad news regarding our lab Cleo a few weeks ago.  She has osteosarcoma(bone disease) and it's progressing pretty fast.  Her xray showed her shoulder bone is mothlike all the way through..she only has a very thin solid strip of bone on her front right leg.  Sooooooooo....only option is to keep her comfortable and keep her pain under control as much as possible.  We are taking it day by day.  Lot's of emotions flowing...Keaton has taken to sleeping on the floor so Cleo can sleep with him.  It's hard to watch your kid go through something like this while Dave and I are so sad as well.  Sorry, this is really hard for me to write right about right now so I'll let you know more soon.

Keaton playing video game with Cleo

                                          Cleo, Ace and Merlin on a sleeping bag one evening.

I'd like to share with you a really good Tofu Lasagna that is from the Martha Stewart mag. that I made last night on the grill.  I was wanting to make this for months now and I finally got to.  I was so excited at how the finished product turned out and tasted....like so excited!!! 

It has grilled zucchini, crookneck squash, tofu, basil, pesto and tomatoes..  Yum, yum, yum!

We ate this with some Rustic Wheat Bread and Grilled Artichokes.

It isn't heavy which is really nice.  Just perfect!

I made Dave a sandwich with the leftovers for lunch today.

I highly recommend  making this...It's just so pretty too.  Get thie recipe by clicking here.  The marinade it says to make...well I actually used that on the vegetables before grilling.  They have a slight lemony taste which is so refreshing.

More good food to come.  I've been so slacking with my blog lately but I have been cooking and have pics to share.

Peace....

Rosemary Lemonade and Grilled Summer Pasta w/Creamy Pesto Sauce

 Another summer monday morning! Right smack in the middle of summer, I love it!!!  I hope everyone had a great weekend and kept it cool.

Here are a few pic's from a hike we recently took.

  Dave and I rode our mountain bikes in this area last year and saw a turtle from the trail so we thought it would be nice to take Keaton and hike part of the stream going down the mountain and find more turtles.  Well, we found a little more than a turtle.

 

This here is a aquatic garter snake, we saw 3 of them.  They are harmless and we grew up with the ordinary garter snake.  They aren't very big and I think they are kind of cute!

This here is a western pond turtle.  This little guy blends in so well with the sand and rock, if he hadn't been laying in the water right in front of me it would have been hard to find him.    I love turtles!!!

We had a great time hiking.  It's such a nice way to spend as a family and we always find something new and we always get great pic's to remember it.

There's nothing like drinking homemade lemonade to cool yourself with on a warm summer day.

This is actually Rosemary Lemonade.  A cafe we go to offers a Rosemary Lemonade so I thought I would try my hand at it.  Keaton loved it and we gave some to Dave and didn't tell him what was in it but the first thing he said was "it smells like that bush by our front door."  He did say it tasted good.  

I don't have exact measurements but this is what I did.  I had some simple syrup made so I reheated it along with  3 large sprigs of fresh rosemary. (simple syrup is made by using equal parts sugar and water, heating it until the sugar dissolves and turns into a syrup).   I let the syrup with the rosemary sit off the heat for about 20min.  In a jar, I used a 32oz. jar and squeezed about 5 large lemons, we like it on the tart side.  Then I poured in the simple syrup and added water 2/3 of the way and topped off with ice.  Pour into a glass and enjoy!

For dinner last night we had Grilled Summer Squash with a creamytomato pesto sauce on pasta.  Grilled yellow summer squash is so juicy and buttery good tasting when you grill it.  Yum!  The sauce was so easy to make, flavorful, yet light on the palate.  A perfect summer pasta!  

Grilled Summer Squash Pasta

Cook up 1 package of pasta according to directions.  Set aside.

Grilled squash

1 Large summer squash, sliced

2 garlic cloves, minced

olive oil

Heat outside grill. In a small casserole dish add the summer squash, garlic and enough olive oil to coat.  Mix with your hand to evenly coat with oil.  You don't want to stick on the grill.  On medium heat add the squash slices and grill for about 10 min. then flip over for about 2-3min. more.  Take off grill and set aside.

Pesto tomato sauce:

   

4 X-tra large homegrown tomatoes(farmers market) or (storebought but homegrown are so sweet and juicy), chopped 

1 C. white wine or veggie broth(a light broth)

1/2 -3/4 C. basil pesto(I make my own

1/2 C. soy creamer or other non-dairy creamer 

3 red spring onions or green scallions

salt to taste

Heat a medium sized saucepan and add 1 T. olive oil.  Next add in chopped tomatoes.  Let simmer until tomatoes are soft and then add the 1 C. white wine or broth.  Let the white wine or broth reduce to half then stir in the pesto.  Next add in the creamer.  Once heated through take off heat and stir in the spring onions.  Set aside.

To plate, scoop some pasta into pasta bowl.  Pour some sauce onto pasta, add a few slices of grilled squash.  Drizzle a bit more sauce on squash and sprinkle with extra onions.  You can add some fresh cracked pepper over top if you choose.  Serve with a side of fresh green salad!

Ciao!

Grilled maple tempeh and Double Broccoli Quinoa

This post is going to be a short and savory one. I know this looks pretty plain but not in taste! I Marinated some tempeh in a maple orange marinade then threw on the grill. While tempeh was marinating I made this delicious Double Broccoli Quinoa from 101 Cookbooks blog. I left out the cream and substituted veggie broth instead. This Broccoli pesto was really, really good you could even use it as a spread or a veggie dip.

Happy Veganiversary!!!! Summer vegetable soup, and gluten free pasta with zucchini gratin

Happy 2 year veganiversary to my son! It was my 3 year veganiversary this summer but I forgot to post. Oh well now I have.

When we first moved to this area last year my son wanted to pet a cow. (There are many cow ranchs in the area with cows roaming all over the hills.) So almost every evening for a month or so we would drive to this one area and stop to visit the cows and talk to them, trying to lure them close enough to pet. This particular cow up above, my son not only got a chance to pet his head but the next day when we came back, he remembered my son.

The story is, we pull up the next evening and there is a group of cows by the fence. My son gets out and starts talking to the cows, grabs some grass and puts it through, trying to get one of them to get close while looking for the one he got close to the previous day. Well we were there for a while and you know they all have their personalities, one usually is the brave one and the others watch to see what he does, and some are very shy and run away but look back to see what's going on. It's really rather cute and enjoyable to watch. Anyways, so one cow is slowly getting closer to my son then next thing you know, we hear something, we look to our left and their is a cow running down the hill, through the other cows and comes up to my son. It was the same cow my son was able to pet from the previous day! It was an amazing sight to see. You had to be there. I hope you enjoyed this little story about an animal whom many view as food, but to us are very gentle, curious, and they each have a personality just like us.

Same cow another day!

I think I posted about using my zucchini's up in recipes, well here are another 2 that I used them in. This is just a nice summer soup with fresh corn, zucchini, yellow crookneck squash, carrots and onion in a vegetable broth. Really nice for a cooler summer evening.

This is a DeBoles, rice, quinoa and amaranth pasta with a basil pesto sauce. On top I made the Pesto Zucchini Gratin from Karina's Gluten Free Goddess blog. The only addition was I made a small amount of a cheezy like sauce and drizzled some before baking it. My husband loved the gratin on a baguette.

Pizza, pizza, pizza!

I know it's been quite a few days since I've blogged but I've been catching up on

house and garden work. Last Monday I came down with the stomach flu and it was BRUTAL! It totally screwed my stomach up and I've only just gotten some what of an appetite back.

On to better things. Homemade pizza! (This was actually made before I got sick). In our house homemade pizza is definitely a treat due to it being kind of time consuming(making the dough, cutting and grilling the veggies, making the pesto etc) and it's just a family dinner that is kind of fun! My intentions were to grill the pizza but it was so flippen cold out that I will have to wait until summer. Oh well. We like thin crust and with the recipe dough I can make 3 pizzas from that one pizza dough recipe. So I made 3 different pizzas. I only remembered to take a picture of one, my husband said it was definitely a blog worthy photo. First I grilled the vegetables and set aside. This pizza consists of a basil pesto base layered with zucchini, eggplant, portobello, artichoke, sundried tomato, onion and sprinkled with oregano. This was our favorite out of the three. The other two were a marinade base and a cilantro pesto base. The cilantro one was my second favorite, i'll post more about this one in the summer.

Black bean burgers

First I must say this isn't the best picture. I really need a new camera.
Spring weather. Warm days, cool nights. ahhhhhhhhhhhh. Getting ready for the bbq and stove top instead of that oven that heats everything up. First up, Spicy Black Bean Burgers one of my husband's favorites, he's been begging me to make it. Another one of our favorites is her Mushroom Pecan Burgers. This recipe is from Colleen Patrick-Goudreau at Compassionate Cooks. I love Colleen, does that sound weird? Well I say this because I found her website and started listening to her podcasts shortly after becoming vegan. She really helped realize that I did make the right choice in becoming vegan. Anyways, back to the food. I make my own focaccia bread and brush olive oil, oregano and red pepper flakes on top. For the burger part I made a cilantro pesto, spread that on the inside of the bun, then add the black bean burger, lettuce, red onion, tomato and avocado. Also if you have some of that spicy miso mayo you can squirt some of that on there too if you choose. YUM!

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!