Round Up: Part 2
I realize that by titling this post “Part 2,” I’m insinuating that there will be future “Round Up” posts. I also realize that if there are future posts I will now have to remember what number I’m on. This is getting hard. If this series ends after today or I post another “Part 2” on accident, don’t say I didn’t warn you.
So let’s get to the stuff I’ve been keeping from you all week.
1. On top of spaghetti, all covered in vegan parmesan cheese.
Does anyone know the rest of the words to that song? I can’t even remember the words to the original.
While food gawking, I came across a recipe for vegetarian “meat”balls. Made of tempeh? Sign me up!
We halved this recipe and ended up with an old classic with a new (and healthy!) twist.
This obviously wasn’t your average run of the mill spaghetti.
It was part pasta, part zucchini.
Check out those zucchini ribbons. Zucchini pasta is so easy to make. Just peal the outer skin off then peal into a pile of “pasta.”
Then add your “meat”balls. The flavor of the “meat”balls are awesome I’m just not really sold on the texture. I wanted it to be more like the texture of tempeh.
I plan on playing around with the whole “meat”ball thing.
Pour on homemade pasta sauce. Which tastes as good as it smelled, by the way.
Then top with vegan parmesan chese, which is just blended roasted sesame seeds, nutritional yeast and salt.
As it turns out, homemade marinara makes up for any “meat”ball texture issues.
2. Who says you can’t call socca & marinara pizza?
Not I!
Socca is made of chickpea flour, which in the world of alternative flours happens to be relatively cheap. Almond flour and coconut flour? Not so much.
Loved the texture and taste.
3. Baked oatmeal can be eaten as cereal.
I baked some apple pie oatmeal on Wednesday while waiting for my stove top oats to cook then I covered it and threw it in the fridge for Thursday morning.
Topped with granola, peanut butter and a large pour of almond milk. Cold is delicious!
4. I’m hungry now.
5. I bought buckwheat from WF yesterday and can’t wait to try it out for the first time! Anyone out there a buckwheat veteran?
6. Did I mention we inherited a dog last week? Okay, so Joey has always had a dog named Tonka, it just hasn’t lived with us since we moved into an apartment almost two years ago. His mom was graciously housing him for us but we re-adopted him last week.
7. Just for fun:
Can you name the 8 ingredients in a cobb salad? Be specific, i.e. specific dressing and cheese names.
I couldn’t do it!
Sauces and Spreads
I almost freaked out on Monday night when I realized I had leftover pasta and “meat”balls (don’t worry, that post is coming) but had just run out of marinara sauce. That is, until I read the ingredient list on the back of the jar and realized I had everything I needed to make my own. And an empty jar to store in it!
Homemade Pasta Sauce:
- 28-oz. can diced tomatoes (drain the liquid and save it)
- 2 T olive oil
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 2 t oregano
- 2 t basil
- 1 t thyme
- 3 T tomato sauce
- 1/4 cup tomato liquid
- salt and pepper to taste
- Heat olive oil in a pot.
- Add garlic and tomatoes and cook 5 minutes.
- Add remaining ingredients and simmer for 30 minutes.
- Use a blender or immersion blender if you want smooth sauce, otherwise leave it chunky.
I blended but left some chunks.
You have no idea how good this smelled. I seriously had to leave my apartment because I was tempted to drink the jar for breakfast.
Jar re-filled = crisis averted.
Once the smell has faded and I had got my workout on (4 miles in 39 minutes + some lifting) I returned to dirty some more dishes.
Peanut butter is so worth the mess, though.
Peanut butter is seriously so easy to make at home. You just toss some roasted peanuts into a food processor, press on and let it go until you get some seriously drippy peanut butter love. I left mine get to this point then added in a handful of peanuts and pulsed.
Result: crunchy peanut butter.
I always buy smooth peanut butter but crunchy really appealed to me today so I went for it.
I still had some peanuts left over so I got a little crazy creative.
Coconut Cranberry Peanut Butter
Told you I’m obsessed with cranberries.
For this batch I just added in some coconut butter and a handful of dried cranberries.
It was everything I’d hoped it would be. Rich peanut taste, slight hint of coconut, chunks of tangy cranberry. I am in love.
How do I get a job as a professional peanut butter flavor tester?
Have a good one!
Long Overdue
Every week I make a list. Okay, I make several lists on a daily basis (to do, to bake, to buy, etc.) but that’s a different story. The list I’m talking about is the meal/grocery list with 5 meal listed at the top, followed by two columns titled, “Produce” and “Other.”
If you only knew how many times that list had “Maple Baked Beans + Veggies” written on it. Every week I have the intention of making those things but it always ends up being the one recipe that gets left out so it gets recycled to the next week’s list and so the cycle continues.
Good thing dried beans don’t go bad. Veggies are a different story.
I was determined to make those beans this weekend. Don’t get in the way of me and my determination.
Without further adieu, I give you maple baked beans. (You can find the recipe here).
Why, oh why did I wait so long to make these?
If you like canned baked beans you will love these. And consequently you won’t love canned baked beans anymore because these just blow anything else out of the water. A mix of sweet and savory plus the dried cranberries are the icing on top of the cake, or maybe I’m just obsessed with dried cranberries and want to find a way to incorporate them into everything I eat, but more on that tomorrow.
If you’re not jazzed about eating a giant bowl of beans I don’t want to talk to you anymore pair a smaller portion with a big ol’ green salad.
And if you’re me, resist the urge to top the salad with dried cranberries too.
Oh and there will be leftovers. Leftovers galore. I, for one, am not complaining.
And speaking of things that are long overdue, I realized I haven’t made steel-cut oats in forever. Mostly because they take forever to cook. It feels like forever, anyways.
When Joey forgot to purchase my 4 pound bag of rolled oats I had no other choice but to make steel-cut. As it turns out, when you have enough time to cook them fully, they’re really good.
Or maybe it was the trifecta of butters I had on top.
From left to right: maple cinnamon almond butter, Justin’s chocolate hazelnut butter and coconut butter. (Did you know Justin of Justin’s Nut Butters has cancer? I hope he’s okay!)
Love that chewy texture!
Nom.
Are you a steel-cut or a baked beans fan?
Lauren Loves Good Food 