[Vegan MOFO] Mama Mia Monday - Simple Pasta Sauce

I recently bought the book The Glorious Vegetables of Italy - hoping it would inspire me and add more flair to my Italian dishes. First recipe I tried was the Simple Tomato Sauce - since it was cheap: I had garlic from the farmer's market, canned tomatoes, olive oil (always on hand!) and dried basil (I subbed the fresh for dried since Trader Joe's was my shopping store for the day and they do not have fresh basil ever...)

The sauce is good - a bit plain perhaps. I added a big pinch of nooch on top of the sauce with garlic bread (of course). The sauce calls for two cloves of garlic - I am thinking it needs 4 cloves or more, I did not really notice the garlic flavor. Also besides salt the only other spice/seasoning is basil. Next time it will get a kick of pepper, red pepper flakes and oregano.

I am still not done with the bags of organic pasta I got from Costco - good thing we like pasta! Also we scored more loaves of bread for garlic bread there this weekend! I never really had garlic bread growing up, bread from the oven at my grandmas would be olive oil and cheese...Mom would serve pasta with fresh bread from the store. Matt had garlic bread at home.Now we are all about the garlic bread! Garlic bread is now my comforting favorite!

[Vegan MOFO] Mama Mia Monday - Dreaming Of A Creamy Pasta Sauce

When I am trying to come up with a meal and nothing is coming to me I reach for one of the "Cooking With Trader Joe's" cookbooks. Cookbooks based around shopping/buying from Trader Joe's. That way - everything is in one store and it helps me get focused at creating a fuss free shopping meal by limiting me to one store. 
I picked orecchiette with creamy tapenade from I Love Trader Joe's Vegetarian Cookbook.
I am one to go for red sauces so I thought a creamy sauce would be a change. I swapped out the orecchiette for penne (I have it on hand) and had most of the other ingredients around (seasoning, almond milk and vegan cream cheese). I picked up the tapenade from Trader Joe's and went to work.
The sauce was not as thick as I would have liked, actually it was watery. I thought it would be a creamy white sauce, even with turning up the heat and letting it simmer longer I still had a watery sauce, I should have added some cornstarch or something thinking back on it. Also the sauce, since it was so watery lacked flavor. The salad with tangy sweet dressing and garlic bread saved it though. Mar did like the pasta - he meowed for more.
Not all dishes are winners. I wanted to try something new, I did and I learned (stick to red sauce!). Plus using up stuff in the pantry is a goal of mine: pasta and vegan cream cheese were on hand. Waste not want not right? Also good garlic bread and a simple salad makes every meal complete or can actually be a meal itself!

[Vegan MOFO Day 1] Mama Mia Monday - Zucchini Pasta

Family fact: My Grandma Cookies (that is what we called her due to her cookie jar) made my grandpa pasta everyday. Everyday it was some sort of pasta dish - I assume she switched it up. When we were over there I remember my grandma bringing a plate or bowl of pasta to my grandpa at the table.

Pasta holds a special place in my heart. First thing - I am a Sicilian girl - I love pasta, I have organs made of noodles, marinara blood and olive oil for life fluid in my brain! My mom - busy working mom would make pasta for us, not the way grandma did but using jar sauce, ground meat and a loaf of bakery bread...In high school when I went vegetarian she started making me my own little pot of sauce so I could eat it meat free. Sometimes there would be a salad on the side - with ranch dressing. I find the idea of ranch + tomato based Italian sauces so tasty when others think it is gross. Whatever! I made pasta for Matt and I about 2 years into our relationship, I bought quinoa pasta and made olive oil chocolate chip cookies for dessert. That night I discovered I am deathly allergic to quinoa and what a good guy Matt is, when he spent the night cleaning up my barf from the bedroom to the bathroom.

I do buy jars of sauces, doctor up loaves of bread from the store with a garlic-nooch-olive oil spread and do not eat pasta every day....BUT I make my own noodles - kind of...

Enter the spiralizer. After finding out Matt can tolerate zucchini this summer (it is green after all) I went zucchini crazy! My mom gave me an Amazon gift card for my birthday and I read reviews and watched videos and decided on getting the GEFU Spirelli Spiral Cutter. I liked the size, the design and the ease of it.

I wanted to get my zucchini pasta on in full force but knowing Matt I knew he would not dig that. So I have been doing 1/2 whole wheat pasta noodles and 1/2 spiralized zucchini. After draining the cooked pasta, I toss in the spiral zucchini and toss in the marinara sauce, so everything is at the same temperature.This is a good way to get greens into your pasta, cut down on wheat and/or try something new. People often think pasta dishes have to be heavy - you can lighten things up this way and still have all the great classic taste!

Recent Eats - Tofu Pizza, Greek-ish Salad & GF Ice Cream Sundae

Pizza night last week: garlic pizza dough from Trader Joe's (soooo good) topped with pizza sauce, Daiya, savory baked tofu and balsamic vinegar. To go with it a nice side salad!

A scoop of Purely Decadent Coconut Cookie Dough, smothered in chocolate sauce ontop of Lucy's brownies makes this one tasty vegan & gluten free sundae!

Summer calls for salad! This was on last night dinner plate: organic baby greens and a large organic tomato dressed in lemon juice, olive oil and herbs. Topped off with marinated balsamic tofu and zucchini slices and pine nuts. I used The Vegan Foodie's balsamic glaze recipe but adjusting a few things. It was so good. I had extra marinade so In tossed in a sliced zucchini and baked it for 15 minutes...I served the salad with some cheezey garlic bread and I can't wait to have it again!

Cheezey Pasta Bake & Garlic Bread

Last week I picked up I Love Trader Joe's Vegetarian Cook Book because the recipes looked great and each recipe had a vegan version. When I got home I spent some time with the book and decided to go for the Spaghetti and Meatballs Bake. However I did not pick up the vegan meatballs when I was in the store and made do with Tofurky Italian Sausage cut up into pieces. I tried the vegan mozzarella they started carrying for the first time, I have been hesitant to try it because besides Daiya, I really do not care for other cheese subs.I scaled the recipe down to a 8X8 baking dish from a 9X13 -  as always I cook for two (with a bit for Mar thrown in of course!) not a family.
With the pasta bake I made the garlic bread recipe featured in the new Everyday (with Rachele Ray) magazine, veganized of course. I used garlic powder instead of minced garlic because I had it on hand. This meal was a huge hit! Matt hates lasagna - I loved it growing up and missed it. Anything pasta-y is pure comfort food for me. So when I asked Matt if he wanted seconds as I was going for mine he said "yes - it is so good"...Mar even dug it but then again that cat loves pasta and pizza - well anything Italian. Mar is a real Meow-rio Catali! This pasta bake is easy to put together and reminds of lasagna but is friendly to those that hate it. The garlic bread was super good too, buttery and warm! We never really had garlic bread growing up, I remember seeing the plastic wrapped loaves in the frozen section but I was spoiled with grandma's fresh baked bread or a loaf from the bakery. Garlic bread is good!

The meal was around $12 for two people and a cat who love pasta, I used a fresh loaf of bread and the Tofurky - which made it under $10. Still budget friendly compared to going out to dinner.