Friday, May 05, 2006

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.

6 comments:

Laura said...

Have you tried Parma? http://www.veganstore.com/index-store.html?deptid=&parentid=&stocknumber=237&page=1&itemsperpage=12 I've never been able to find it locally (but I'm moving to Knoxville soon, so maybe Earth Fare will have it), but I've been wondering if it's better than the other vegan parmesan substitute. The ingredients of Parma are really simple, though...just walnuts, nutritional yeast, and celtic salt. I have no idea how celtic salt differs from regular sea salt, but I decided to make my own the other day w/ just regular sea salt. It wasn't bad, and much cheaper than buying it in store, I think. Although I just had to guess at the measurements...

Anonymous said...

Thanks again Ken, for the great inspiration! I've made the bbq pizza more time than I care to admit this week (and last).

And today's pasta looks delish, so I'll be trying that this weekend :)

Anonymous said...

Ken, You are so generous with your information. I love that!

I've been wondering how much planning you do for your lunches. Do you decide the night before, or do you do a week at a time? Do you cook the night before for the next day? Any tips would be helfpul.

VeggieMamacita

Jackie said...

Perfect.I got some great sun dried tomatoes yesterday so I now know what to make for lunch. Thanks.

kennyboy said...

Yeah, I usually just decide what to take the night before VeggieMamacita.

It would be nice to plan further ahead, but I don't.

;o)

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the reply, Ken. I'm trying to get into the habit of planning a week of meals in advance, and I have to admit I'm not good at it. I was hoping you'd give me the magic formula. :)

Of course, I could just copy what you did for the past week. Hmmm...why didn't I think of that sooner?

VeggieMamacita