East Meets West Veg

Easiest Weeknight Pasta Ever (this one is extra saucy because I felt like having a lot of sauce)

Florence, Italy

Florence, Italy

The food at this restaurant was simple and absolutely delicious! I still dream about that pasta. It's unlike any I've had in the US, even though you can find authentic Italian food in the US. Maybe it was just the whole experience that made it seem more magical to me. When we arrived, we actually talked to the owner and she knew what 'vegano' meant so we were in luck. We just trusted her to make us something delicious. Being a person obsessed with food, I think about this pasta often and I sometimes crave it but haven't been able to find an exact recipe for it. I kept asking my husband and mom if they remembered this pasta and I had to have a way of describing it. Since I don't remember the name of the restaurant where we had this, and, we had pasta at several restaurants in Florence (leaving out the name Florence Pasta), I sometimes refer to this as 'Locked in an Italian Bathroom Pasta." (Luckily, THAT only happened once)

Maybe my mom just needed a sign like this

Falling in Love with Italy

You could certainly eat this pasta alone for a quick, easy, tasty, lycopene-filled weeknight dinner, but if you have a couple more minutes you could pair it with a nice salad topped with cannelini beans, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil like we had throughout our trip to Italy. This could also be paired with an easy side dish like my Spicy Lemon Garlic Broccolette, my Super Easy Chickpea Salad, some vegan Italian sausage, or Chocolate Mousse Pie.

Ingredients:

Quinoa with Fresh Vegetables and Herbs

Tonight we had a very fast, simple and healthy dinner. It was one of those 'we need to clear out the fridge and we need to eat right away' type of dinners. Since quinoa cooks in only 15 minutes and goes well with all vegetables and herbs (what was filling my fridge), I knew this would be the perfect combination to meet our needs. If you are not familiar with this ancient superfood of the Incas, it is a versatile seed that is usually treated as a grain and can often replace rice or other more familiar grains in dishes. It's quick cooking time and excellent nutrition have made it very popular as of late.

A lot of vegetarians, especially new vegetarians, like quinoa because it is a complete protein and is packed with minerals and nutrients. It is a good source of protein, iron, fiber, thiamin, riboflavin, vitamin B6, folate, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, copper, manganese, and selenium. It's also a source of vitamin E and calcium. Quinoa has a low Glycemic Index (GI) ranking. Of course, it's also cholesterol free as all plant foods are, and is low in fat, with no saturated fat or trans fat. I found some of this information by looking at the Self Nutrition Data for Quinoa. You can see the amino acid profile and amounts of each nutrient there.

This is not really a recipe, but describing it in a paragraph didn't feel right so I wrote out the steps I followed to give you an idea of a starting place. Again, this was just a very simple meal so you could really get creative here. I also listed the ingredients I used for a reference point.

Ingredients:
Vegetable bouillon or other vegan bouillon
Chicken curry masala (it's vegan)
Turmeric (1/4 tsp)
Quinoa
Cashews
Assorted vegetables (we had green bell pepper, chilies, carrots, radish greens, lima beans, green peas, potatoes)
Assorted herbs (we had fresh basil, parsley, dill and cilantro)

Method:
1. Dissolve vegan bouillon and spices in hot water.
2. Add half as much quinoa as water, chopped vegetables and herbs (you can save the herbs until the end when it's all cooked if you're not feeling too lazy and hands-off).
3. Boil quinoa, then simmer for about 15 minutes.
4. Toast cashews and garnish finished dish with them.

I was originally going to make a nice, hearty stew today because we've had some chilly nights (and days), but then I checked the weather and saw that it was going to be 97 degrees F (36 C)!! In three short days the high temperature will be 60 F (15.5C) with a low of 46F (8 C). This is Michigan for you, I guess. Anyway, it was WAY too hot for me to cook or eat hot food today so I had to find a no cook dinner.

I decided to make some super easy burritos with salsa verde. I've never made anything with tomatillos before so I didn't even know if I'd like it, but I thought it tasted fresh and delicious. Alone, I thought it could use some more salt, but it was perfect with the chips.


This Salsa Verde recipe is from Food Network. It is very easy and requires only a few ingredients. There were two versions on the show, but I made the raw version. I just put these items in the blender, then mixed it with chopped onion and salt. Click here for the recipe.


To make the meal complete (though I really could have eaten just the salsa verde and tortilla chips), I put together some simple burritos.