All Pasta, All The Time

So apparently I did take a picture of that curry I made the other day! Here it is, a variation of Robin Robertson's Vermicelli, Chickpeas and Vegetables with Creamy Curry Sauce from Vegan Planet.

Recipe:
1 Can of coconut milk
1/2-1 T red curry paste
1 can of chickpeas, drained rinsed
1 15 oz can diced tomatoes
1/2 cup green peas
1 small onion, sliced
1 small carrot, sliced on the bias
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 T olive oil
1 scallion, chopped
12 oz whole wheat spaghetti
salt or soy sauce to taste (I would probably do 1/2-1 tsp salt to start)

Heat the water for the pasta in a large saucepan and cook according to package. In a small saucepan, whisk together the curry paste and coconut milk over medium heat. When combined, add the chickpeas, peas, salt and tomatoes and heat through. In a skillet, heat the oil and sautee the veggies (except the scallion) until onions are translucent and the carrot is as tender as you like. Add the veggies to the sauce. When the pasta is cooked and drained, put it back in the large saucepan and add the sauce-veggie mixture. Toss to combine, adjust salt as needed. Top each portion with some sliced scallions (and/or chopped nuts if you like) and serve!

Impromptu Pasta with Olive Oil and Garlic

One of our FAVORITE quick meals around here is pasta with olive oil and garlic. You really don't need anything else except salt and pepper, but we like to jazz it up with whatever we have lying around. This time it was 2 chopped roma tomatoes and toasted pumpkin seeds and I used that protein pasta, Barilla Plus (Angel Hair). It was delicious! We had roasted kale on the side (my new version of crack!) and a tossed green salad with Trader Joe's Goddess Dressing on it (that stuff is seriously good).

Have you tried the roasted kale thing yet? You basically just toss clean (stemmed) kale leaves with a bit of olive oil, salt and sesame seeds and roast at 400F for 10-20 minutes, or until it's crispy like chips. It's awesome! Even the toddler loves the "green chips." Someone brought it to a playgroup the other day and all the moms were apoplectic over it, it's that good.

Wheat and Potatoes, et al

Here's what's been on our menu of late!

Fronch Toast with Leftover Scramble and Potatoes


I can't remember if I've made the Fronch Toast from VwaV before, but I was happy with the results. The garbanzo bean flour gives it that weird metallic eggy taste that's missing from most vegan french toast recipes. But the biggest plus of this recipe? It totally didn't stick while cooking. Bitchin'.

Fried Tempeh with Almond Sauce, with Assorted Salads
So I had defrosted tempeh on Monday without a definite idea of what I planned to do with it. I finally decided on some fried tempeh and some kind of peanut-type sauce. So while I fried up the tempeh in peanut oil, I found a recipe for peanut sauce in Vegan Planet. It was AWESOME! Oh, but I subbed almond butter for the peanut, just to see what it would be like (plus, the toddler could eat it without me worrying). I served this over leftover diced baked potatoes (remind me never to buy a 5 lb bag of potatoes ever again - we just don't eat them fast enough!). On the side is Quinoa Black Bean Salad and a basic green salad with balsamic maple vinaigrette that I made up on the fly. A satisfying meal all around, and I definitely need to copy that sauce recipe before I return that cookbook to the library!

Leftovers Extraordinaire
Do you love to transform leftovers into something totally new? Me too. So this is some leftover quinoa with steamed broccoli and peas and some AWESOME smoked cubed tofu (Soy Boy, I think?) with leftover almond (peanut) sauce. Soooooo good! I'm going to have to buy stock in that tofu, it is outrageous, and so easy to deal with - it's ready to eat out of the package. The toddler is also a huge fan, so yay protein. I had this for dinner last night and lunch today, it was THAT good.

Slow Cooker Seitan Pot Roast


It's been a Robin Robertson kind of week here, what with this meal and the awesome peanut sauce recipe from Vegan Planet! Ok, that picture above of the whole deal IN the crockpot looks a little scary (brains!?!), so here's what the plated version was like:


Much less brain-y. It was soooo good! God, there is nothing like having that warm, secure feeling of knowing that dinner will be ready just by lifting the lid of the crockpot! This took about 7-10 minutes to prepare this morning before Chad left for work, and then voila! It was ready when he got home. This was sorely needed today, because none of us are sleeping well since Silas has a cough and was coughing ALL. NIGHT. LONG. At about 15 minute intervals, so you'd *just* fall asleep and then COUGH! HACK HACK! COUUUUUGH!

But I digress. (It's the sleep deprivation). This was an awesome, hearty meal. I will definitely be making this again. It was my first try at seitan in the crock, and I'm really glad it worked out, because seriously, what could be easier? I think next time I'll try to make the seitan dough more "roast-y," this time I made it kind of flat to cover the veggies so it was kind of thin and disc-shaped. Just an aesthetic thang.

Random Baking
Oh, and I did make some cookies that didn't last long enough for photos - 2 batches of Dreena's Homestyle Chocolate Chip Cookies. I think I could eat a batch a day, seriously. I made one with regular chips and one with carob, so the dudes could partake. Chad was very impressed. The carob was actually really good, very malty, not chalky at all. Although now he is wondering if he has a carob allergy because he was getting the fluttery allergy feeling after eating them. ARGH! This chocolate lover can't win. :/