Thank you VegNews!

Wednesday, May 6th 2009

breakfast
I'm pretty predictable when it comes to breakfast. I like cereal, and I like bagels... I love tofutti cream cheese, so I try to avoid it, or else I have more than the "suggested serving size" This morning I forgot to eat. You know when you get up early and start accomplishing things and you're like "yeah I'm getting so much done before I go to work, one more chore..." and then it's like "holy crap I'm just barely going to make it to work on time!" That's me a lot of days....

lunch
Did I mention how much I liked Nate's 3 bean sauteed with onions over jasmine rice? Oh I didn't, ok well this is the third time I've had it this week....still very yummy!

dinner

No Soy
Vegan Baked Ziti
Sauteed Zucchini
2 Scoops of
So Delicious Chocolate Velvet
ice-cream

Tonight I had dinner with friends from work, we do this at least twice a month, lots of fun, and they are always very open to my strange vegan dishes! Fantastic test subjects I might add! So this week I tested a new recipe even for me! I love Pasta, I love baked pasta dishes, like Ziti! Well usually my Ziti consists of some sort of faux cheese, like VeganRella, and at least 1/2 a package of tofu for the ricotta. Well I recently got my new issue of VegNews,and inside I found an interesting recipe for Ziti, no soy, the cheese was all made with nuts!

I've done mac & cheese with cashews, (actually that's how I always do it...) but this called for cashews as the creamy sauce, and macadamia nuts as the ricotta, mmm, rich! (and expensive, haha) My friends were eager to try this interesting recipe....I'm kicking myself now because I took a picture, but left my camera at work..so I will post the photo tomorrow when I edit the post. (I find myself editing these days after...hmm)

It came out delicious, and now I can share with you a very yummy recipe!!

For the Pasta
4 quarts water
1 tbs salt
12 oz ziti

Tomato Sauce
(They give a list of spices and of course tomatos...but make your own...experiment! I will tell you they call for 28 oz of fire roasted tomato puree)

For the Ricotta:
1 1/2 cup of macadamia nuts, soaked for at least 4 hours in water (this is important)
1/4 cup water
1/8 tsp garlic minced
1/2 tsp salt
1tbs olive oil

For the Cashew Cream:
3/4 cup raw cashews
1/8 tsp dried dill
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tbs lemon juice
1/3 cup water
1/4 tsp rice vinegar
3 tbs fresh parsley

Directions
1. Prepare pasta, when al dente, set aside and drain.
2. begin your sauce (onions and garlic sauteing...add your other stuff, let it simmer)
3. Preheat oven to 350
4. Add ingredients for Ricotta into a food processor, grind until macadamia nuts are fluffy and the texture you desire. Set aside in a bowl (about 2 minutes of blending)
5. Add Cashews to food processor and blend into a powder. Add salt, dill, lemon juice, rice vinegar and water, blend until smooth.
6. In a large bowl toss the Ziti with the red sauce with the freshly chopped parsley. Add in the the Ricotta leaving chunks, and then add the cashew cream sauce. Mix all and pour into a casserole dish.
7. Bake for 30 minutes. Serve garnished with fresh parsley
Bon Appetite!

Thursday May 7th, 2009

breakfast
This morning I had Kashi cereal with raisins and bananas, with almond milk, simple and yummy!

lunch
Leftover Ziti! How could I resist?

snack
2 apples
1 banana
1 Strawberry Silk Yogurt






dinner
Mashed Potatoes, Steamed Broccoli, creamed corn and Morningstar Farm's Riblets

When I came home Nate had prepped all of the side dishes for dinner, "You make the main course" he said.... ah-ha! He didn't know I had a trick up my sleeve! We rarely rarely buy packaged foods, like faux meats, we usually make our own seitan or use tempeh, but we did have a box of Morningstars revamped 'riblets'.... 4 minutes in the microwave and my end of the deal was done!