Italian Shmitalian

A look at some Italian eats:

Garlic Knots

Fresh-baked garlic knots with a cold marinara dipping sauce from Bella Faccia Pizzeria on 29th and Alberta. My guest and I sprinkled on loads of nutritional yeast (of course), oregano, salt and pepper. We both like things heavenly-seasoned (just ask anyone who attempts to eat the popcorn I make), but on their own they were still warm, soft and doughy-delicious.

 

Pizza

One night last month there was an epic slumber party with 3 of us gals. It involved pigtails, pillow fights, pinot, pizza, and pajamas. It was pretty much the most fun ever, in part due to the yummy pizza we made. We used store-bought pizza dough, bruschetta sauce, mushrooms, onions, tofurkey sausage, and lots of red pepper. I know the lighting isn't terrific for these pics (we ate at 11pm) but I hope you can catch a glimpse of it's pure awesomeness. Turns out a pizza stone really does make a difference.

Spinach and Mushroom Lasagna

 

Lasagna Rolls

These last two are recipe tests for the Happy Herbivore cookbook coming out this fall. All fat-free vegan, easy, and super flavorful.

 

Poor (Wo)Man’s Pasta

 

So the other day, I was S-T-A-R-V-I-N-G and had very little food in my house to eat. Rob was hungry too, so I wanted to make something really filling.

Say hello to my little friend: Poor (Wo)Man’s Pasta!

 

I made a quick cheese sauce (Earth Balance, flour, nutritional yeast, water, mustard, miso, salt and garlic) while boiling the pasta. Once the cheese sauce thickened, I threw in some of Nate’s Meatballs (from the Grocery Outlet—one of my favorite places in the WOOORLD!) to warm up. Once the pasta was cooked, I drained it, threw in a can of black beans (protein! fiber! genius!) and some garden spinach before tossing it in with the cheese sauce.

It was incredibly filling, pretty easy, and surprisingly tasty. I would have thrown whatever I had in there, but this combination actually worked out quite well.

Spinach Pesto Pasta

Spinach Pesto

Preparation time: 15 minutes

4 Cups packed and rinsed spinach leaves
2 large cloves garlic minced
¼ cup pine nuts
¼ teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Place spinach leaves in food processor. Puree leaves until they are all crushed, adding more as there's more room in the bowl. Add garlic, nuts, and sea salt and puree again. Gradually add olive oil while pureeing the spinach mixture. Blend until mixture is a thick, smooth paste. Add lemon juice and puree until blended.

I made some of this:

and added it together with this:

And ate this for lunch:

Perfect way to get loads of greens in! Super nutritious lunch.