if you can't decide between Italian or Mexican...

Might I suggest taco fettucini?

Hillary found this wonderful whole wheat, taco flavored pasta while galavanting around the Texas Hill Country this weekend. We then used our friend Google to see if there was a Mexicanish pasta sauce we could make with the taco fettucini. Sure enough, others have braved the challenge of taco pasta. We used the sauce from this recipe in constructing the dish. 


It came out really good. If you can get past the oddity of Mexican flavors and fettucini together, it really is uniquely delicious. It reminded me a bit of a bolognese sauce because of the heartiness of it. It also reminded me of areas of the country which serve chili over spaghetti (here's looking at you, Cincinnati). And once the flavors melded in your mouth, it is very reminiscent of the taste of enchiladas-- with the pasta replacing the corn tortilla as that soft carby element. And, it is a vegan dish as well!


Taco Fettucini
- 1/2 pound pasta, preferably our delicious taco fettucini

- dash of olive oil
- 2 onions, chopped
- 1 bell pepper, chopped
- 1/2 cup sweet corn kernels
- 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained
- 1 (14.5 ounce) can peeled and diced tomatoes
- 1/4 cup salsa
- 1/4 cup sliced black olives
- 1 1/2 tablespoons taco seasoning mix
- salt and pepper to taste

1. Dice up the pepper and onion and saute in oil in a pan on medium for about 10 min.

2. Add corn, drained beans, diced tomatoes and juice from can, salsa, black olives, taco seasoning, and salt and pepper. Simmer on low for 5-10 min.

3. Prepare pasta according to directions. Drain. Toss with sauce and serve.

Enjoy this Italian-Mexican mash-up!

adventures in vegan birthday cake

Hillary's birthday was this week and after some investigation, I found out the only bakery in town that specialized in vegan/gluten-free type items was not a walk-in bakery but a call-ahead only place. So lots of help that was. This put me in a position where I had take the burden of preparing Hillary's birthday cake on my shoulders. Thanks to Google, I found a promising looking vegan lemon cake recipe and decided to put my own spin on the icing (which is more accurately, a "glaze"). That was the manliest sentence I've ever written. I was excited to find this recipe because lemon is one of Hillary's favorites. There was also some room to tinker with the recipe, which I did, making it a lemon cake with a blueberry-lemon-vanilla glaze. 

So with my recipe, my itunes playlist, and our dogs, I got to work.

The cake itself was very easy to make. I made 2 sheet cakes out of doubling the recipe. I had ambitions to layer the sheets and make a very impressive cake, but the icing turning out to be more of a glaze and time constraints but a lid on that plan. The icing/glaze was a different story. It never got creamy like icing should. No matter. I consulted with Hillary and after I described the consistency of the would-be icing, she said that sounded more like a glaze. Excellent! I took the glaze and we poured it over the warm cakes. Be sure to poke some hole in the cake to allow the glazey goodness to seep deep down into the cake.

Below is the lemon cake recipe taken from the website credited below and the glaze which is an adaption of what they originally suggest. A third twist to the cake is to add lemon-curd as a middle layer. I must say it sounds delicious, but the cake is great without it, and it significantly adds to the prep time.

And remember kids, the cake is totally vegan. We brought the 2nd cake, which was not consumed at the birthday festivities over to Hillary's dad and grandma without telling them it was vegan. They were surprised to learn it was, and this is not the first time we have tricked Hillary's dad into eating vegan. I think he would stop trusting us if he didn't enjoy eating our food so much.

So, with no further delay, the recipe (it seems like a lot to do, but it really doesn't take long):

Vegan Lemon Cake with Blueberry-Lemon-Vanilla Glaze*   

Lemon Cake Ingredients:

- 2/3 cup vegan margarine

- 1 cup sugar

- 3 1/2 cups white flour

- 3 1/2 Tblsp cornstarch

- 2 1/2 tsp baking powder

- 1/2 tsp baking soda

- 1/4 tsp salt

- 1 1/2 cup almond milk or other non-dairy milk

- Dash of vanilla

- 1/2 cup lemon juice

- Zest from 1 lemon

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Butter and flour a 9 x 12” pan or 2 9” round cake pans

3. Mix almond milk and lemon juice and set aside to curdle

4. Cream butter and sugar

5. Combine flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and salt

6. Add dry ingredients, almond milk mixture, and lemon zest to butter mixture

7. Mix all ingredients together until just blended

8. Spread the batter evenly in the pan(s) and bake 35 to 45 minutes until slightly golden in color and firm in the center. The 9 x 12 pan will take longer to bake than the 9” rounds

9. Remove from pans and cool on racks. Chill cake and all ingredients

(optional) 10. Spread lemon curd between the 2 layers, then drizzle with the glaze

Blueberry-Lemon-Vanilla Glaze Ingredients:

(Makes enough for one cake)

- 1 cup vegan margarine

- 1 lb powdered sugar

- Zest from 2 lemons

- 1 tsp lemon extract

- 3-4 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

- 1 cup frozen blueberries, defrosted in microwave but cooled off

Lemon-Blueberry Frosting Directions:

1. Using a hand-held mixer cream together margarine, sugar, and zest until smooth

2. Gradually beat in lemon juice 1 Tbsp at a time

3. Add blueberries in same manner

Refrigerate in an air tight container until needed

Lemon Curd Ingredients (optional):

Makes 1 cup

- 1/2 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice

- 1/4 cup water

- 3/4 cup white sugar

- 2 Tblsp cornstarch

- Zest of 1 lemon

- 6 Tbsp unflavored almond milk

- 1 Tbsp vegan margarine

Lemon Curd Directions (optional):

1. Whisk together lemon juice, water, sugar, cornstarch, and lemon zest in a saucepan

2. Place on the stove on medium heat and continue to whisk until the mixture comes to a boil

3. Allow mixture to boil for 1 minute without stirring

4. Remove saucepan from heat and stir in almond milk and margarine

5. Cool to room temperature and then refrigerate in an airtight container for 8 hours or overnight before using


(*Recipe taken from and adapted from savvy vegetarian)

easy weeknight veggie meals

Here are some easy meals that can be thrown together in no time. The first one is a traditional stir fry recipe. At Costco this past weekend I bought a big bag of stir fry vegetables. One night this weekend we were running around like crazy and it was easy to throw everything in the pan and cook it. The thing that took the longest was the brown rice. We buy ours in bulk so I'm sure the heat up bag kind would be much faster. 

From our kitchen to yours :)


Vegetable Stir Fry
adapted from veggie stir fry


1 bag of stir fry frozen vegetables
brown rice
STIR FRY SAUCE:
1/3 cup veggie stock
2 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tbsp. lime juice
5-7 cloves of garlic
1 tsp. liquid honey
2 tsp. corn starch dissolved in 4 tbsp. water
1 tsp. chili sauce


Start by making the stir fry sauce. Place all ingredients in a sauce pan over medium-high heat- except garlic and cornstarch. When sauce begins to bubble, reduce heat to medium-low. Now add the garlic and cornstarch(dissolved in water). Stir until sauce thickens- about 30 secs to 1 min. 


Saute frozen or fresh veggies over medium heat. Adding stock as necessary. When cooking almost thoroughly add stir fry sauce. Serve over cooked brown rice. Enjoy :)


Spinach with Chickpeas and Fresh Dill

When I think of dill I usually think of potato salad. However, since it has taken over our garden (who knew it was a weed!?) I wanted to find or come up with some main dishes that used it. I stumbled across this recipe and thought it looked interesting. I had never had dill with spinach before but I have to say it was a nice party in my mouth :). The dill with the lemon juice, spinach, and earthiness of the chickpeas all worked well together. It also is a great low carb vegetarian meal. I am finding that when traditional protein is not an option we tend to fall back on carbs. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as we should eat many whole grains, but it can get old. One of the books I read on my turning vegetarian path is Alicia Silverstone's book The Kind Diet. I know what your thinking...the girl from Clueless is probably not the smartest cookie in the jar and doesn't need to be giving any sort of eating advice. But upon further research (thank you wikipedia) Alicia didn't write most of the book, a ghostwriter nutritionist did. This made me feel much better about liking it so much. Any who, in the book Alicia (or nutritionist) says to try to eat three key ingredients at ever meal: whole grains (quiona, brown rice, rolled oats, etc.), protein (lentils, black beans, chick peas, etc.), and veggies (preferably green veggies i.e. green cabbage, bok choy, etc.). We try to follow this as much as we can, at least for dinner. She is a super vegan who eats green vegetables for breakfast. I'm just not there yet. But here is a easy weeknight meal that can be served with quinoa or brown rice. We ate ours with whole wheat pita bread. Enjoy!

Spinach with Chickpeas and Fresh Dill

Olive oil for pan

1 large onion thinly sliced

1-2 cans of chickpeas, drained and washed

1 pound of fresh spinach

1/2 cup fresh dill

2 lemons, juiced or 2-3 tablespoons lemon juice

Salt and pepper to taste 

In a large skillet heat olive oil or cooking spray over medium heat. Saute onions until soft. Add chickpeas and coat in oil. Add dill and spinach. Cook until tender. Stir in lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Serve warm. 

homemade "pizza"

One of my new found favorite meals is homemade pizza. I didn't realize how delicious crust could be until I made it myself. I had always thought of homemade pizza crust being some impossible thing that had to rise and would take forever. However, when we were snowed in for a week I made a couple of batches and it turned out so delicious and was SUPER easy! I have combined a couple of recipes that I have found around the internet and in some of my cookbooks. Here is the recipe that works for me:


Homemade Whole Wheat Pizza Dough
(Vegetarian)


1 tsp. yeast
1 cup warm water
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cup wheat germ
1 tsp. salt
1 tablespoon honey


Pre-heat oven to 350. Combine the yeast and warm water and let sit for about 10 minutes or until creamy/foamy. Meanwhile, mix flour, wheat germ, and salt. When the yeast mixture is ready mix in honey. Make a well in the middle of the flour mixture and add the wet mixture. Stir to combine until dough starts to form (sometimes I did it in my mixer with a dough hook attached but stirring works fine.) Cover and set in a warm place to rise.* Roll dough onto pizza pan and poke with a fork. Allow to rest a couple more minutes if time allows(if not pizza will still turn out fine). Bake without toppings for approximately 10-15 minutes until it starts to pull away from pan. Take it out and put on toppings. Bake a few more minutes until toppings are hot. Enjoy!


* I usually put a bowl of water in the microwave and heat it up to boiling. I then take it out and put the dough mixture in the microwave to rise. 

So Friday we had planned on having pizza. Kevin made the pizza sauce (recipe at bottom of post) during the day so all we needed were the toppings! Now I put pizza in quotes above because I'm not 100% sure it's OK to call it pizza if it doesn't have cheese but we make ours without cheese. We could make it with soy cheese but Kevin says he would rather have it without. We loaded ours with so much we didn't miss the cheese for a second! Here is what we topped ours with but the possibilities are endless.


-zucchini 
-onions
-peppers
-mushrooms
-olives
-sun-dried tomato 
-artichoke heart
-pepperoncini
-fresh herbs from our garden: basil and parsley

Homemade Pizza Sauce (quick and easy)

You want your pizza sauce to be smoother and thicker than normal tomato sauce or marinara sauce.

-3 small cans hunts tomato sauce

-1 can tomato paste

-Oregano, garlic powder, basil, 2 teaspoons each 

-1/3 onion, very small chop

-2 teaspoons minced garlic

Spray pam in small saucepan, brown onion and add garlic in last minute of browning. Add the 3 cans of tomato sauce and spices, simmer for 15 minutes. Add tomato paste, simmer for 10 more minutes.

From our kitchen to yours :-)