Pesto Pasta, Baked Cabbage Wedges, Creamed Spinach, and Tomato Bread

Saturday night was another easy dinner to put together. No theme for this night, just bookmarked recipes that needed testing.

I had in the pantry some Tinkyada brown rice pasta I had never tried, so I decided to make my version of “Shells with Beans and Broccoli” from Vegetariana. My pasta was corkscrews instead of shells, and the recipe doesn’t have a pasta “sauce.” I didn’t want dry noodles and veggies, so I made Sundried Tomato Pesto from VWAV to toss into the cooked pasta.

That idea was a winner.

The topping is basically a stirfry of broccoli, onions, garlic, red pepper, cannelini beans, olives, and fresh herbs. Crystal, I meant to make your parmesan, but I forgot! I still want to try it though. Even without the parmesan, it was quite good.

One of our sides was “Spinach with Peanut Sauce” from Peanut Butter Planet. It’s a creamy sauce of coconut milk and peanut butter over fresh spinach. This is a perfectly delicious way to add calories and fat to your healthful spinach!

The other side was “Baked Cabbage with Garlic” from The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen. I asked Chase before I bought the cabbage if he thought he would like a wedge of cabbage for dinner, and he was understandably a little skeptical. But after tasting it, he said it was his favorite part of the meal. To prepare, you quarter and core the cabbage, then steam it for about 8 minutes. Transfer it to a baking dish and top it with garlic oil. Pour a little veggie broth in the bottom of the dish, cover, and bake for about 20 minutes. I used purple cabbage because it’s so pretty, and I also added potatoes and carrots to the platter as suggested in the recipe. It’s so easy and so delicious.

Saturday morning I baked a yeasted Tomato Bread. The flavor was spot on, made with tomato paste and a perfect combination of seasonings, but I thought it turned out way too dense. I had seen a tomato quick bread recipe in Vegetariana, so I made that too. It wasn’t near as tasty as the yeast bread, but it was good. I’ll work on the yeast bread so I can give you a recipe. You’ll love it with a bowl of chili this winter!

Tomato Bread – yeast type

Tomato Bread from Vegetariana

I tried to be healthy and fancy for dessert, but I wasn’t thrilled with the outcome. I diced a couple of peaches and added in a half cup of ground toasted almonds, a little sugar, and spices for a filling. I cut filo sheets into four strips, laid on some filling, rolled them up, topped with a few more almonds, and baked them.

I lost interest after a rolling up a dozen and put the rest of the filling into a tart – a few sheets prebaked on the bottom, filling, and then 2 sheets on top.

The problem with these - by the time we got around to eating the rolls, the filo was already soggy :(

Fortunately, Soy Delicious makes everything better.

I hope I'm not entering a baking slump. I think I’ll feel better when my two new inspirations arrive. I’ve preordered Veganomican and Eat, Drink, and Be Vegan! Not that I need more cookbooks, but honestly, is there anything better than getting a new vegan cookbook in the mail? I can’t wait!