Whole Wheat Pasta with Sun-dried Tomatoes

Today's lunch was really a last minute decision. Yesterday, I already had in mind that I was going to bring some type of pasta for lunch today. My original plan was either some type of pesto, or maybe something with olive oil, garlic & spinach. But I was sitting at home watching television after work and I was watching one of the shows that I like on Food Network called Barefoot Contessa. It's true that I won't eat most of the things that Ina Garten fixes since they contain meat, eggs or dairy, but I still enjoy watching her show and some of the recipes can be easily veganized, like the one she made yesterday. I saw her making Pasta with Sun-dried Tomatoes and I thought, "Mmmmm... that looks good." So I went into the kitchen and made it myself with just a couple of alterations. It was quick and very easy.

I pretty much followed her recipe except I made the following substitutions. First of all, to make the dish a little bit healthier I used Ronzoni Whole-Wheat Pasta. I didn't have a fresh tomato to dice so I just opened up a can of diced tomatoes, drained and rinsed them and threw them in. I didn't have any red wine vinegar, so I just used balsamic vinegar instead. And I, of course, didn't put the cheese in that she did. Instead, I used some of the Follow Your Heart Vegan Gourmet Mozzarella and some vegan parmesan sprinkles that I had picked up at the health food store (be careful when buying this and make sure it says VEGAN right on the bottle, because there is another bottle out there that just says VEGGIE, made by the same company, that contains casein). Other than that, it's pretty much Ina's recipe. I tasted some last night after I made it and it was delicious.

I also brought some seasoned yellow squash, onions and red peppers that just came from the freezer section of the grocery store. This will probably be the only item from today's lunch that I will reheat at work in the microwave. I think the pasta might be best served cold.

And then for a couple of raw things I added some cashews and some fresh raspberries that I snagged on sale at the store.

So I guess that's lunch for Friday. Thanks for reading the blog this week. Have yourself a great weekend and I'll see everyone on Monday!

P.S. Here are a couple of tips for reading this blog that I thought I might post in case some people don't know. Feel free to click on the pictures in this blog, to open a larger version, and on any of the links that appear in my write-ups. I always format my links to open up in a new window, so when you click on something a new window will pop-up and show you the link. When you're done with it, just close that window and you are right back where you were in my blog. I like it better when links open in new windows, it makes it easier to keep your place in the original blog. Also, depending on how you discovered this blog, you may or may not know that the easiest way to get here, if you don't have it bookmarked, is to just type www.veganlunchcast.com into your browser. It will bring you here to this same blogspot.com address, it's just a little easier to remember.