Zucchini Pesto : : Pasta

it was a hot summer day...

all i wanted was some fast, simple food that used lots of veggies and basil from the garden (mine and my mom in law's).

Zucchini Pesto Pasta is what i came up with.

I julienned up 2 big zucchini on my mandolin.

for the pesto i blended:

2 cloves of garlic

2 handfulls of basil

1 large zucchini

olive oil

salt

pepper

juice from 1 lemon

1 handfull of cashews

put the julienned zucchini in a large bowl.

add 1 package of cooked whole wheat pasta

pour pesto sauce over noodles and zucchini.

stir  and serve.  

this is good cold or warm and was a hit with the adults and the kids both!

Beef Stroganoff : : Vegan

most of the key ingredients...forgot to put all in the photo.  i will get better at this!

after a couple of weeks of eating lots of veggie based dinners...salads, wraps, stir-fry's...i was ready for some good ol'fashioned comfort food!  so I came up with this "beef stroganoff" recipe that was a big success!

i've been playing around with making 'cream' sauces using soaked cashews and had great success.  i made a sweet whipped cream by adding vanilla and maple syrup last week.  I poured it over fresh berries and success!  yummy dessert.

then i was missing sour cream on my burrito. so, i made another batch of cashew cream...but this time i added cumin, garlic salt, lime juice, cayenne pepper and oregano.  special burrito sauce was a big success!

now i was feeling bold...ready to make the sauce the star of the meal, not just a condiment. 

 i'm talking gravy here folks.

Start by boiling a package of your fave noodles.

sautee about 1/2 an onion in olive oil until it starts to soften.

add mushrooms.  sautee until soft and brown.

add meat substitute crumbles.  i used soy 'beef' crumbles from trader joe's.

season with salt and pepper.

veggies done.

now for the cream sauce.  in a high speed blender blender add: 

~1 cup soaked cashews 

1/2 sup unsweetened soy milk

2 cloves garlic

garlic salt

nutmeg

onion powder

cayenne pepper

fresh cracked black pepper

salt

(i don't measure when i cook...i just do it by feel.  so play with it, trust your gut!)

Blend until smooth and creamy...add more soy milk if necessary to thin.

add cream sauce to veggies.

pour over i package of your favorite pasta and stir.  i had this fat spiral on hand...a flat wide noodle would be more stroganoff-y.  

the pic doesn't look terribly appetizing but i promise it was delish.  the fault lies in my photog skills...not the food!

enjoy!

Some Stripes

If you know me you know I love stripes.  I've been wanting to paint stripes on the big blank wall in our living room for years.  I put up a mural of sorts about 3 years ago (you can see it below) using a template I had created out of contact paper.  It was fine for a while...but I have been over it for a couple years now.  The ceiling in that room is vaulted so I knew it would be high impact to have stripes go from floor to ceiling, which I believe is about 11 feet at it's highest point.

 I had always thought that I would do a black and white stripe treatment, but when I was talking it over with Chris one night he mentioned the idea of doing a gradation of color.  That little suggestion was all it took...It was like a spark in my brain....and once I get excited about something there is no stopping me.

 I started painting the very next morning.

This was  $0 project because we had about 1/2 gallon of charcoal grey paint left over from a previous project and a quart of white paint that I always keep on hand for trim and door touch-ups.

The first stripe, on the bottom, is the original Charcoal paint with no white mixed in.  From there I just sort of eyeballed it adding more and more white paint to achieve the gradation...or 'grey-dation' as I like to call it.

It was a fun and easy project that only took me a few hours spread out over a few days.  The most time consuming part was having to wait  in between stripes for the paint to dry so that I could tape off for the next color.  If I would have put the tape on too soon the the paint would have peeled away when I removed the tape.

Ta Da!  I'm still working on the gallery grouping, but I like how it makes the light switch and thermostat sort of disappear.

welcome.

this is the beginning.