Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Pasta Times Two

I was craving pasta today and I was very busy with the business, etc. so I had to cook between customers and before a meeting so pasta was a good choice. Lunch was Seitan O' Greatness sandwich in a whole wheat pita with spinach and mustard or Vegenaise (or both for me) and I finally made Pasta Della California from Veganomicon. I used whole wheat fettucini instead of linguine and I didn't have a lime so I used a couple drops of lemon extract instead of lime zest (don't laugh it tasted great). I used bottled lime juice and the rest of our spinach instead of arugula. The boys loved it and I can see this will be a warm weather favorite. We each had a banana too which actually went well with the rest of it. Josie couldn't get enough of the broccoli and spinach.

Dinner was last minute so I just improvised a recipe loosely based on Broccoli Soba with Peanut-Pumpkin Sauce from Vegan Family Favorites which I've blogged about before, but it ended up different enough that I'll give you the recipe. I'm lucky there isn't a camera in my kitchen because you would all see the crazy nursing and juggling that is cooking in my house. I had to nurse Josie with one arm and try to measure ingredients with the other hand, but she sees this and gets distracted and tries to eat everything I am working with (like hot pepper sesame oil) and gets very vocal when I don't let her so I have to give her frozen peas to calm her down so she can then decide she really would like to nurse and it starts over again. Be warned I didn't really pay much attention to amounts so your mileage may vary, but it was good for a quick meal basically out of a can/bag. The kids had frozen mango with their dinner.

Coconut Pumpkin Udon

1 lb. udon noodles
Veggies of your choice (I used two bags of frozen peas and carrots)

Sauce
1/2 can coconut milk (I used organic, of course, and it was regular not low fat)
1/2 can pumpkin puree (not the pumpkin pie mix, just the pumpkin)
1 cup peanut butter (almond butter would work, but I'm out)
2 Tablespoons Bragg's Liquid Amino Acids
2 teaspoons favorite hot sauce
1 teaspoon hot pepper sesame oil

Mix everything for the sauce together in sauce pan over medium heat, stirring frequently. Cook udon noodles according to package instructions and a couple minutes before they are done add frozen veggies (or better yet, some fresh ones). Use some water from the pasta/veggies if sauce needs to be thinned. Drain pasta/veggies when done and serve with sauce poured over.I'll leave you with a picture of Parker and Josie at the local children's museum because I was so lame today with cooking.

6 comments:

Lisa -- Cravin' Veggies said...

Hey Linda! I am going to try SO'G. Do you ever tweak the ingredients? Substitute other herbs/spices? Juuuuuust wondering...

Lisa

Lisa -- Cravin' Veggies said...

oh, and BTW... the pic of Parker and Josie is adorable! You have such cute kids!!

Billy said...

Mmm, that looks really good.

Cute kids by the way.

Thanks for the comment on my blog. I added your blog to my vegan blogroll.

VeganLinda said...

Cravin' Veggies, We didn't change the herbs/spices (Rob made it and he is a follow the recipe kind of guy). It is so easy and is supposed to freeze well although we never have any left to freeze.

CV and Billy,

Thanks!

urban vegan said...

I could eat pasta every single day.

The kidlets are so adorable.

VeganLinda said...

UV, We do love pasta, but it is so quick and easy I feel lame making it. Thanks!