Backlog Photos Of Foods I Ate.

When my husband cooks for me, he almost always makes me pasta. This is a simple spaghetti with marinara (we buy Gina Rispoli, Newman's, or Mezzetta) and Trader Joe's meatless meatballs. Very hearty and filling.

Homemade sandwich on whole grain with Tofurky italian deli, Chao cheese, avocado, red onion, lettuce, tomato and Vegenaise!

Awesome sandwich.

Had my sandwich with a cup of Annie's tomato soup. This is so good if you don't have time to make your own soup.

Last Thursday was my birthday and I made my own cake! Chocolate with penuche frosting. I got the frosting recipe from a vintage Betty Crocker cookbook. It's a brown sugar frosting that is sooooo good.

My dad bought me a birthday pizza from Domino's. Thanks Dad!

For my birthday weekend, my husband and I spent time in Santa Barbara. We ate at the following restaurants:

British fish n chip shop. The chips are so good.

While my husband ate fish n chips, I had chips n baked beans.

At The Natural Cafe there are some good vegan options.

Like this sandwich. It's called the "Local's Favorite". Ask for no mayo and get a side of tahini sauce. Such a good little spot to grab lunch.

On our last night we hit up Galanga for amazing Thai food.

Spicy Mint Noodles with tofu. Make sure to order without fish sauce and egg.

Delicious veggie red curry. No fish sauce.

My plate. I was so full afterwards. Can't wait to go back to SB!

Harissa Spaghetti with Spinach, Mushrooms and Chickpeas

I am so in love with the homemade harissa that I made. I want to use it in everything! Luckily I know about this delicious spaghetti recipe that combines the wonderful flavors of spicy harissa, tomato and saffron. It is also cooked in a broth so there is so much flavor! Recipe here.

Spaghetti w/ Red Wine and Rosemary Marinara

Made dinner with help from my new cookbook 'Vegan Italiano' tonight. Very simple sauce that came together in under 30 minutes. I added lots of fresh basil and zucchini. I topped my portion of pasta with a blob of creamy cashew cheeze sauce that I got from work (sorry can't give you the recipe). The sauce was great when mixed in with the pasta, it made it very creamy and so yummy!

VeganMoFo: Spaghetti, Tunisian-Style

Last night's dinner was wonderful! I got to open up my Classic Vegetarian Cooking from The Middle East and North Africa cookbook that I've only used twice before. I love this book. I take it everywhere with me, to my room, the living room, kitchen, studio...just to flip through it for inspiration. Yesterday I decided on a recipe and luckily I had almost every ingredient. The book says that according to some modern food writers, pasta in the Arab lands has an ancient history and may have been invented in Mesopotamia where it traveled to China via traders and onwards to Italy by Marco Polo. This particular dish though may be of Italian origin, brought to Tunisia by Italian settlers. It is very similar to italian pesto but the ingredients are different. The sauce is a blend of almonds, fresh parsley, basil, garlic, olive oil, butter (I used Earth Balance margarine), dried oregano, cayenne, salt, pepper and parmesan cheese (I used a vegan blend of cashews, miso paste and nutritional yeast). A very delicious sauce paired with spaghetti. I squeezed lemon on top of my pasta for a bright finish. Husband gave this two thumbs up. It's a keeper!

VeganMoFo: Happy Birthday To Me!

Hello! Welcome to the VEGANMOFO! Vegan Month of Food that is! For the whole of October I'll be blogging about vegan food as much as possible to spread the word that vegan food is delicious and worth talking about. There will be a ton of action from the blogosphere so to keep up with it all, bookmark this public RSS feed!

Today is my 33rd birthday and it was a great one. I came into work and got lovely cards and a beautiful birthday cake that my boss made for me. It's apple-walnut and looks like a giant apple fritter! It was soooo delicious and I'm happy to enjoy it for the next few days. Hope it lasts that long!


We sampled some pieces at work so here it is photographed after I got home.


Moist and delicious with chunks of apples covered in a sticky sweet glaze!

When I got home, I got wonderful gifts and cards from my parents and my inlaws. My husband presented me with a sentimental card that made me cry, a stash of gifts (Vicar of Dibley boxset and books about tea and spices!) and he cooked a lovely dinner!


Spaghetti Al'Arrabiata from The Mediterranean Vegan cookbook with olives and vegan sausage. Red wine and bread made it all complete. It was a lovely lovely lovely birthday and I feel so loved.

Noodles with Ginger Peanut Sauce!

Boy was this ever good! I got this recipe from the latest issue (I think it's Sept.?) of Vegetarian Times. I forgot the actual name of the recipe but it was simple, quick and perfect for hot summer days. It only requires you to boil up some pasta (soba noodles in recipe but spaghetti here in real life), chop up some fresh veggies (in this case red peppers, cucumber, carrot and cilantro...I added steamed asparagus), blend up a quick peanut butter sauce flavored with yummy things like rice vinegar, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, lime and agave syrup and toss all together. It was absolutely divine.

Note: If you look at vegetariantimes.com, you will find the recipe there. I don't think it's up quite yet because I just got the issue in the mail but if you check back later next month, the recipe should be there.

I Love Pasta!

Hello Friday! Good to see you. I got out of work early today (3pm) so I wanted to celebrate an early start to the weekend by cooking up a big pot of my special red wine vegetable marinara. I really love this sauce. It's rich and deep with a hint of sweetness and full of a variety of veggies. Whatever I have in my fridge is what goes in this sauce. I had zucchini, carrots, red bell pepper and onions which made a wonderful chunky sauce. I haven't had pasta in a while so this was a treat. My husband brought home a fresh loaf of french bread. It was definitely a carb heavy dinner but it was worth it! Underneath the pasta there is a big handful of fresh baby spinach. The topping is "Parmezano Sprinkles" from The Ultimate Uncheese cookbook.

Spaghetti with Spinach and Mushrooms + Strawberry-Mango Crumble

I made this pasta recipe the first year I went vegan. I had just subscribed to Vegetarian Times magazine and I was exploring and trying recipes from various issues. That was about 2 1/2 years ago so I thought I'd come back and make this dish again. This recipe requires baking the dry spaghetti in the oven for a while to toast them which creates a nutty flavor. The toasted spaghetti is then cooked in a broth flavored with mushrooms, tomato paste and harissa (a North African red chili paste) and allowed to plump up which creates a rich and silky texture. The mushroom flavored broth with the kick of spice from the chili made it taste similar to asian style noodles. Very comfort foody.


Not the best picture, I was too anxious to start eating! I served it with fresh slices of ciabatta bread.

I also made a strawberry mango crumble for dessert. Behold...



I veganized this recipe which simply required substituting Earth Balance margarine for butter. Otherwise it was all as written. I did switch out rhubarb for strawberries, I kind of think they have a similar tarty sweetness, don't you?


Not pictured but I had this with a scoop of vanilla non dairy ice cream. It was perfect. So glad I made this!

More cooking with Gimme Lean "Sausage".

After being impressed with this meat alternative with last night's pancakes, I decided to use it in the spaghetti sauce I was making for dinner tonight. I really liked the texture. It's nice and firm with great sausage like flavor. It added a good body to the sauce and made it quite flavorful along with mushrooms and red wine. If you are interested in buying this meatless sausage, you can find it at most chain grocery stores in the same refrigerated case where they keep the tofu and other vegetarian products. I bought mine at Vons supermarket.


I sprinkled a little 'Parmezano Sprinkles' (almond/miso/nutritional yeast mixture) on top.


'Sausage' Mushroom and Red Wine Spaghetti Sauce

2 TB olive oil
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 celery rib, chopped
8-10 button mushrooms, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tube of Gimme Lean Sausage Style, crumbled
1/4 cup red wine
1/2 tsp oregano
1 veggie bouillon cube or 2 tsp. veggie broth powder
1 28oz. can crushed tomatoes (or whole peeled tomatoes, blended in blender)
1/2 tsp salt
freshly cracked black pepper to taste
1 tsp sugar

Heat olive oil in a large pot. Add onion, carrot, celery and mushrooms and saute until onion is translucent. Add the sausage crumbles and cook on med-high heat until nice and browned. Add the wine, oregano and veggie cube. Stir until wine cooks out. Add the tomatoes, salt, pepper and sugar. Bring to a boil then turn heat down to low and simmer for 1 hour. If it seems too thick you can add a little water and let it simmer longer. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.

Spaghetti and "Meatballs".

For dinner tonight I decided to try something from a new cookbook I just got called Country Life Vegetarian Cookbook. Along with some tempting loaf recipes (I dig veggie loaves so much.) there are also a few "meatball" recipes, one of which are made with tofu. I decided to try that recipe and use them for spaghetti and "meatballs". This afternoon I made a quick marinara and let it simmer while I made the tofu balls. While they were cooking in the oven, I was able to catch the Dodgers on tv. Yes, they won! (And Casey Blake is still my boyfriend.) Here is a picture of the meatballs cooling out of the oven.


Later on at dinner time I just reheated the sauce and meatballs and put a quick salad together with the "Sauce Rouge" dressing from the same cookbook. Sorry about the quality of photo, it got darker by this time.


It all went deliciously well. The tofu balls were very nice and surprisingly filling. They reminded me of mini tofu loaves. Three balls on top of the spaghetti and sauce was enough for me. Lots of leftovers for tomorrow!