vital vegan

Fresh flavors

I was trying to use the veggies I bought yesterday in the easiest way possible, without masking their fresh taste. So I roasted some olive-oil sprinkled zucchini in the oven, then cut up the amount that wouldn’t fit on the baking sheet, adding it to shallots. I sauted them together, then added a few handfuls of cherry tomatoes and garlic. I added the “sauce” to rotini pasta. I ate most of the roasted zucchini with just a bit of salt. Simple but super flavorful. I have a weird love of zucchini, probably because I used to eat fried battered zucchini as a kid from some places my dad used to take me to.

Addition: How much do I want to veganize this? I’ll definitely post pics and invite some of you to partake if I do.

More market

Wednesday is co-op day. More lobster and chanterelle mushrooms. Got unsolicited instructions on how to clean dirt off them before cooking (so didn’t need that explained). Bought many more pears (previous post had red bartletts) including comice and bosc. Bought giant container of baby cherry tomatoes for lots more pasta making, zucchini for roasting and/or soup ingredient. Went into the co-op for lots and lots of flour (needed for cinnamon roll recipe, if I make the full batch), spelt flour for future bread making, barley to put in soup, and polenta for more experimental cooking next week.

Another P

I totally forgot that I had a whole lot of pears, so baked them up Tuesday. I was catching up on The Splendid Table podcasts on Monday when I heard the recipe, but decided to change it a little. I baked them a few minutes cut side down, then flipped them over and added a crumbly topping to them. Around the pears I added a little water and a sprinkling of sugar. As they baked, the pear juices added to the caramelization taking place. Pretty damn tasty.

And I love how you can tell what time of the year it is based on people’s outdoor decorations:

National Nut Day

Wednesday was National Nut Day, which I found out a little late, but that’s OK because I had made an Asian stir fry meal with cashews late Tuesday for Wednesday’s lunch.

In talks with Jillie Bean earlier, I agreed to make cinnamon pecan rolls, so went to Trader Joe’s for some nuts. I don’t know why they seem to be cheaper there than other places, but they are. I checked the co-op, Whole Foods and Grocery Outlet first (yes, I did a lot of shopping today), but no go. Trader’s FTW. I’ll likely use Martha’s recipe and do my own wacky filling.

Oh, and finally here’s a picture of the peanut butter and chocolate chip loaf cake I made over the weekend:

I like things that start with P

Yeah, I’m noticing weird food choices more and more lately. I had some zucchini I wanted to cook that I had put in the freezer with the cut-up eggplant from last week, so figured I’d make something. Took spelt bread, crumbled it, added salt and dried herbs to become breadcrumbs. Breaded the eggplant with it after dipping it in oil and a bit of hemp milk first. Roasted it and the zucchini.

Totally forgot to take pics of it though, because was busy making…

Slightly weird combo foods:

While the zucchini and eggplant were cooking, I tried to figure out what else to make as long as I had the oven on. Spotted polenta on the shelf in one of those tubes. De-tubed it, added hemp milk until creamier, put in rest of bread crumbs, shallots, more herbs and drizzled olive oil on it. Baked in large flat casserole dish. Made black beans, with grilled shallots and cumin and other random spices. Cut up Tofurky Italian sausage and added some (grilled first) to beans. Ate together.

And here’s some more pictures, since I seem to have forgotten to post between now and Wednesday:

Corn from the farmers’ market at PSU (seen on corn-themed veggie plate), chanterelles from the same, ditto to potatoes, and shallots in the green beans with shallots side dish. Added a bit of barbeque sauce to Tofurky sausage while heating it.

Pre-pooch pasta

Went to Doggie-palooza w/ Jill and furry Guy on Sunday. Knew we’d be there a while, so figured I’d bring something to munch on. Had chanterelle mushrooms from Saturday’s market and zucchini from the co-op plus two kinds of pasta that weren’t enough on their own for a meal, so cooked up everything. And added a bit of fake parmesan. Here’s the results:

Saturday Produce Market

I love Portland. it’s weird, really. I feel way too comfortable here sometimes. And I’m always finding new and surprising things the more I go out and explore the city. Saturday was one of those days. Hit the PSU farmers’ market and found the Oregon Historical Society’s museum was having a free day, so had to stop in. Here’s a few pics:

Caught up, I hope

So, let’s see … Oct. 14? Really? I suck. So here’s a million pictures:

Again with the pasta and munching of food from farmers’ markets. Pretty awesome.