Wednesday’s are my farmer’s market days, which usually means that by Tuesday I have either nothing left in the house or some random fruits and veggies that need to be eaten. In an effort to use up what I had on hand before buying more stuff, I did a “clean out the fridge” night and made this pasta dish that turned out pretty good.

Here’s what I had: a pint of cherry/pear tomatoes from my grandma’s and friend’s garden, some herbs from the same friend’s garden, and a jar of marinara sauce about 2/3 full. The obvious direction was pasta…

In my largest, high-sided skillet, I sauteed one clove of minced garlic in some olive oil. I added my cherry/pear tomatoes and cooked them until they started to burst, about 7 minutes on medium-low heat. Add some herbs– I used about a TB of fresh parsley and a TB of fresh basil– and some salt. Then add the marinara sauce. Ta da, as my Emma likes to say! I served mine over some brown rice pasta. I like the brown rice pasta as much as I like regular wheat pasta, so it’s pretty much all I use now for pasta dishes. It’s gluten-free and I eat enough gluten that I could probably stand to eat a little less. Case in point: I have a loaf of wheat bread baking in my bread machine right now. It should be done in about 20 minutes, in fact.

For some extra protein, I threw in about a cup of cooked chickpeas. I cooked up a huge pot of them recently and had 2 quart jars stashed away in the freezer. It took about an extra millisecond to thaw some and throw them in, so I figured why not?! Maybe tomorrow I’ll take a photo of my farmer’s market goodies to share with you all.

I used my leftover lentils from the other night to make some nachos last night. Yes, nachos hardly qualify as being healthy, but everyone needs a little indulgence every now and again. These are made with organic yellow corn tortilla chips and piled high with Daiya cheddar shreds, lentils, pico de gallo, avocado, olives, hot sauce, and jalapenos. They were pretty good– I just wish I could have washed them down with a nice cold beer. A couple more weeks and I’ll be able to do that.

Here’s my best tip for nacho making: I like to build my nachos in layers so that the chips underneath aren’t naked.  I put a layer of chips down on my plate, then some cheese, then the lentils.  Another layer of chips, more cheese, more lentils.  Pop that in the microwave for a few seconds to melt the cheese, then put under the broiler to assist in the melting.  Now you’re ready to top with all of your extras.

Lentils and brown rice are staples in my pantry because they’re so versatile and cheap! While browsing the internet to find inspiration for dinner the other night, I came across this recipe, where lentils and brown rice are combined to make a really yummy filling for tacos or burritos or a topping for taco salad. The only change I’ve made to the recipe is cutting back the amount of water. The amount called for in the recipe is too much, so I suggest cutting it back to 3 cups. I also omit the bouillon.

I don’t know what inspired this meal, but I have an idea it may have had something to do with this post about a turkey and cheddar biscuit.  I follow lots of bento blogs and while pretty much none of them ever make anything vegan, they can inspire food creativity and some things can easily be veganized.  I must have had the idea of a turkey and cheddar biscuit in my head all day because by the time dinner rolled around, it was all I could think about.  I had a pack of smoked tofurky in the fridge, but no vegan cheddar style cheese.  In the freezer, though, I had some Daiya mozzarella and I thought– tofurky pizza!  Pizza, on a biscuit?  It sounds like a recipe the Duggars may have invented, I know.  If you’ve ever watched their show, you know that they come up with some pretty…  uhhmm… creative?… culinary delights.

The idea didn’t sound so bad, so I took myself to Google to find a vegan (or veganizable) rolled biscuit recipe, since I typically only make drop biscuits when I make them from scratch.  I’m not sure of any brands of store bought biscuits that are vegan, although I’m sure some exist even if they are just “accidentally vegan.”  Beware of funky ingredients like hydrogenated oils and stuff, if you are as turned off by them as I am.  If you can’t find any and don’t want to make your own, I bet you could attempt this pizza idea (or even the turkey/cheddar thing) with crescent rolls.

Anyway, I settled on this recipe and I used Earth Balance shortening for the fat.  I have no preference for shortening over margarine in recipes like these, but the shortening is a wee bit cheaper and a little less versatile than the marg.  I thought I’d save my marg for another day.  So I made the biscuit dough, rolled out to about 1/2″ thickness, used a glass to cut them out, then rolled the biscuits to about 1/4″ thickness.  I topped each with some jarred marinara that I had leftover from our pasta dish the other night– I had cooked up some red lentils and pureed them into the sauce, which was really tasty!  Anyway, then I sliced up some tofurky and put the Daiya on top of that.  When working with vegan cheese, I find it best to put it on top of everything since vegan cheese doesn’t melt the same way dairy cheese does.  And if you’re topping your pizzas with veggies, the water from the veggies will really keep your cheese from melting and may even make it too watery.  That’s just been my experience.

These baked for about 10 minutes and turned out really good.  I’m still craving the turkey/cheddar biscuits, so I may have to make those next week when I can get myself to the store to score some Daiya cheddar.  Emma helped me make these and had fun playing with the leftover dough (hey, it’s way better than playdoh!  Does anyone else gag at the smell of playdoh?).  And, she ended up eating 3 of these pizzas– the recipe yielded 8 biscuits, 4 of which were tofurky and 4 of which were plain cheese.  Even with making biscuits from scratch, this was ready to be eaten in about 20 minutes.  Can’t beat that!

(And sorry for the crappy photo.  I broke our camera and am now relying on my iPhone.  It was my fault and I take full responsibility for the broken camera.  It fell out of the unzipped camera case as I was carrying it and the screen cracked.  Just my luck!)

This meal wasn’t super gourmet, but definitely much more so than anything I’ve prepared in the last couple of months.  I was in Sacramento over the weekend and got a huge haul of organic fruits and veggies at the farmer’s market there.  Since I haven’t been to the regular grocery store, that’s pretty much what we had on hand.  I used what I had to whip up these stuffed portobello mushroom caps, which I served alongside a mixed green salad with blueberries and cherry tomatoes and a few slices of white peach.  And then for dessert, I used some frozen bananas to make an “ode to Elvis” ice cream.  I think we had our 5 servings of fruits and veggies just in this one meal!    I’m sure there are far worse things to O.D. on.

Since this stuffing would work really well with any vegetable mix, I’ll just describe how I made it.  Feel free to sub whatever it is you’ve got on hand.  I did use a bag of organic instant stuffing mix that I’ve had in my pantry since Thanksgiving, but I imagine you could use your own favorite homemade stuffing recipe as a substitute, or even something like Stove Top would work.  I have no idea whether or not Stove Top is vegan and/or healthy (I imagine it’s neither), which is why I’m saying to try something like it.  I know that mine was vegan and was relatively healthy, as in it didn’t have anything in it besides bread and spices.  Anyway, cook your stuffing according to package directions or follow your own homemade recipe.

While the stuffing is cooking, saute the veggies.  I diced up some onion, carrots, the mushroom stems and 2 small zucchini– one yellow and one green.  Be sure to add in the remnants of whatever veggie you are stuffing– for example, if you will be stuffing an eggplant, add the part of the eggplant that you scooped out to make room for the stuffing.  I also added in a clove of minced garlic to the veggies.  Saute in a wee bit of olive oil until just beginning to get tender.  Add about 1/2 cup raisins or dried fruit of your choosing (cherries, cranberries, apricots would all be good) and about 1/2 cup white wine.  At this point, I also threw in a bay leaf.  Turn up the heat and allow the wine to reduce so that there is no liquid left.  Seas0n with salt and pepper.  Once the wine has completely cooked off, combine with an equal amount of the cooked stuffing so that your final stuffing mixture is about half stuffing and half sauteed vegetables.  Stuff into your vegetable of choice.

If you are using portobellos, you’ll want to scrape the gills off with a spoon before stuffing.  I also rubbed mine on both sides with olive oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper.  Once stuffed, place into a 425 degree oven for about 10 minutes.  After 10 minutes, turn on the broiler and broil for about 2 minutes or until the top of the stuffing is crunchy and golden.

These turned out really, really good… and I have to mention that I detest mushrooms.  I could eat these every day and not get tired of them.

And now, let’s talk dessert!  When I returned home from Sac, I found that all of my bananas had spots on them.  Even one spot on a banana indicates it’s too ripe for me (I prefer mine slightly green and starchy), so I peeled and sliced them and put them in the freezer.  When they were frozen, I put them into my food processor (sorry, but you will need a food processor for this… a blender isn’t going to work) and processed them until smooth like ice cream.  It’ll take a little while to get them super smooth and you may even find that you need to let them defrost a bit.  Once smooth, add about 2 TB peanut butter– I used 5 bananas to give you an idea of the banana to peanut butter ratio– and a drizzle of agave.  Either eat right away or place back in the freezer to solidify.  Actually, you may even want to make dessert before dinner so that it can be freezing while you make and eat dinner.  I topped mine with a drizzle of chocolate sauce, but I think a handful of vegan chocolate chips would have been yummier.  Any kind of nut butter will work here, so use your favorite or leave it out if you want plain banana.  I’ve made this type of “ice cream” with all kinds of different fruits, so play around with it.

There are so many recipes of this sandwich filling floating around, most calling themselves a faux tuna spread.  I’ve even posted my recipe here.  Well, to me it’s not really fishy tasting and not really that much like tuna, but it is so darn tasty that we had it for dinner the other night.  Seriously, you can’t beat this stuff.  It’s easy to make, cheap!, and full of good stuff– protein, vitamins, etc.  This time, I added some nutritional yeast, celery and sweet relish to my recipe and we had it on some yummy homemade bread!  My husband commented: “hey!  this turned out really good,” which is a total win in my book.  He’s not picky at all when it comes to food and he’ll eat pretty much anything I make (or at least try it), but when he actually says something tastes good, you know it’s awesome.

Yes!  A new recipe!!!!

I made this for dinner last night and it was SO EASY to make and was also really flavorful (and my kid ate it with minimal complaining).  Feel free to add whatever veggies and fruit you like or have on hand.  It’s a great use-up for those that may be on their way to the compost bin, if ya know what I mean.  Grapes or nectarines would be a really yummy addition.

Easy Peasy Creamy Pasta Salad

2 cups dry pasta, any shape

1 cup carrots, chopped

1 cup peas, frozen

1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 pint cherry tomatoes, halved

1/2 cup cucumber, seeded and diced

Dressing:

1/3 cup vegan mayo of your choosing (I use Vegenaise)

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (from 1 large lemon)

S&P to taste

Bring a large pot of water to boil.  When boiling, salt the water and add the pasta.  I used penne, which took about 9 minutes to cook through.  When your pasta has about 3-4 minutes left on it’s cooking time, add the carrots to the boiling water.  When it has about 2 minutes left, add the peas.  Cook until the pasta is tender, then drain and rinse with cold water.

While your pasta is cooking, whisk together the dressing ingredients in the bottom of a large bowl.  Add the remaining ingredients and the pasta/carrot/pea mixture once it has been drained and rinsed.  Toss to coat with the dressing and refrigerate until ready to eat.  If the dressing made just enough to cover everything, you may want to consider making a little extra since the pasta will absorb it and your leftovers may be a tad dry the next day.

To go with our pasta salad, I made Tofu Fish Sticks from Vegan Lunch Box.  These are so simple to make and are really good.  While the texture isn’t quite the same as I remember real fish sticks being, the taste is spot on.  I made a quick tartar sauce to dip them in by mixing some Vegenaise with sweet pickle relish.  Really, could our meal have been any simpler to prepare?!  I love easy (and relatively inexpensive) meals like this one.

The pasta salad could even stand alone as a meal itself, if paired with a simple green salad or something.  It’s got good protein in there from the beans and peas (yep, peas are pretty high in protein), as well as a good mix of veggies.  Like I mentioned above, the addition of some fruit would be really good.  When my mom made pasta salad when I was a kid, she always added grapes or nectarines and it was so good.  Seriously, you have to try it!

I was chatting with a friend the other day and she mentioned that she was shopping around for a popcorn popper.  Confused, I asked her why she would need such a thing.  She explained that the microwave stuff has BPA in it, or something else not good for you.  I agree with that, but I still don’t understand the need for a popcorn popper.

I’m all about kitchen gadgets, don’t get me wrong, but the popcorn popper is one gadget that I just can’t fathom purchasing.  Unlike the food processor or blender, a popcorn popper only serves one purpose– making popcorn.  Call me old fashioned, but I like to make my popcorn in a big ol’ soup pot right on the stove.  It’s so super easy that I thought I’d take a minute to describe the process here to people who may not know how easy it is.

1. Take the biggest soup pot you’ve got and put it on the stove at medium-high heat.  On my stove, I do this at 5, with 6 being the next hottest before “high” which I would use to boil water.  You want it pretty hot, but not so hot that it burns the kernels.
2. Drizzle about a TB of oil in the bottom.  You don’t need much.
3. Sprinkle 1/3 to 1/2 cup of kernels in the bottom of the pot.  Try to get them to land in a single layer, if  you can.
4. Put the lid on it!  This is pretty important or you’ll have a mess on your hands.
5. Wait til you hear some popping, then give the pot a little shake.  When the popping has stopped or slowed down considerably, remove from heat.
6. Remove the lid and top with your favorite toppings or seasonings.  We like popcorn salt on ours (it’s a finer grain than regular salt and sticks better to the popcorn).  I’ve also read that some people like nutritional yeast on theirs for a cheezy taste.
7. Enjoy!

It’s really that easy!  And you don’t have to pull out some heavy piece of machinery to get it all done.  Popcorn is one of Emma’s favorite snacks and I feel good giving it to her when I’ve made it myself, know exactly what’s in it and where it all came from.  Besides that, it’s SO cheap!  I buy the kernels from the bulk bin at Whole Foods at something like $2 per pound (hey, the organic stuff is a little more expensive than the Jiffy Pop), but this is one snack where you can get a lot of bang for your buck.  A $2 pound of kernels makes A TON of popcorn.

What’s your favorite way to make popcorn?

If you’ve got a small army to feed (or if you just want to have leftovers for the next week), then do I have a recipe for you!  I originally set out to make enchiladas, but when my dry tortillas started falling apart and when my bowl of filling started overflowing, I decided to throw it all into the baking dish and call it a day.  And, it worked out really well.  This dish has actually been better as leftovers, so I would recommend baking it in advance (if you can) and then reheating it when you’re ready to serve it– like make it on a weekend when you have extra time to serve at some point during the week.  If you don’t have time to make it ahead, no worries!  It’s delicious any way you want to eat it.

Feel free to mix up the veggies here.  I would think that mushrooms would be a nice addition, but I don’t particularly like them and don’t use them often.  Eggplant may also be interesting.

Enchilada Lasagna

(serves an army of hungry vegans)

1 onion, chopped

1 tsp cumin

1 TB chili powder

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp seasoned salt (or regular salt)

1/4 tsp pepper

1/2 red bell pepper, chopped

1 generous handful of baby spinach

1 cup broccoli florets

1 cup cauliflower florets

1 zucchini, chopped

3 small potatoes, boiled and cubed (they’ll need to be mostly cooked)

1 cup pinto beans

1 cup black beans

1 package corn tortillas

2 cups enchilada sauce

2 cups marinara sauce

1 small can black olives

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Spray a 9 x 13 baking dish or cake pan with non-stick spray.  Line the bottom of the pan with one layer of corn tortillas and set aside.

Saute the onion in a little bit of oil and add all of the spices (everything through the pepper).  Cook until onion is tender then add to a mixing bowl with all of the other veggies and the beans.  Mix well and pour on top of the tortillas in the pan.  Add another single layer of tortillas (you’ll probably need 12 or so total).  Mix together the enchilada and marinara sauces and pour over the top.  Top with olives and bake (uncovered) for 45 minutes to an hour.

We had ours topped with some guacamole and some avocado slices.  Have I mentioned how good this is?  You should make some tonight!

Okay, I’m sure I’m not the first person to come up with something like this, but it was so darn easy and tasty that I couldn’t help but blog about it.  We don’t have any vegan bread in this house and I’ve been too lazy (and it’s been too hot) to make any.  Even just using the bread machine heats up the house.  Anyway, what I did have were some tortillas left from last night’s burrito fest, so I made a PB&J-dilla.  And it was SOOOOOOO good!!

Spread some natural (organic) PB on one side of your tortilla.  Top with J of choice (I used strawberry).  Add some fruit, if you want.  I added some sliced banana and green apple.  Fold.  Place in a hot skillet and toast about 2 minutes per side.  Remove from pan and enjoy!

a peak at the inside