[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!