Sniffles and Spaghetti

It's that time of year again... the time when every single person on my college campus collectively gets sick. We call it the plague. I thought I had successfully avoided it, but the endless amounts of Vitamin C and tea can only fight it off for so long.

Instead of wallowing in sniffles and coughs, I'm trying to look on the bright side of being sick, for once. Now, I can catch up on some much-needed sleep, watch movies that I've had saved up in my Netflix forever, and finally finish that great book I started reading! Yay!

...But let's be real. Being sick actually mostly sucks.

I was going to make myself a big pot of soup today, but I realized I'm all out of vegetable broth. Instead, I might make another batch of this cajun white bean spaghetti that I had about a week ago for dinner. 
I got the delicious recipe here, from Noelle at the Peaceful Plate, except I made some minor changes. I used spinach instead of kale and had to mix up my own cajun seasoning using equal parts oregano, paprika, cayenne pepper, black pepper and salt. 

All in all, it tasted super yummy and made great leftovers for a couple days! This will definitely be a weeknight staple around here. Maybe the spice will help to clear up the stuffiness in my head a little bit, too.

More yummy dessert recipes to come when I'm better! For now, time to doze off watching reruns of Mad Men.

Rosemary Sweet Potato & Mushroom Pasta

Ohio has some of the most bipolar weather I have ever seen. One morning I wake up to a thick layer of snow out my window and by the end of the day it's all melted and birds are chirping. It's a little confusing.  

It is still staying consistently chilly, which means I continue to crave warm and comforting wintery flavors- like this pasta! I made this dish from the random leftovers in my fridge (seems to be how most of my best meals are created...) and it came out so delicious. The earthy flavors will melt away any lingering winter chills!

Rosemary Sweet Potato & Mushroom Pasta

serves 2

1 sweet potato, baked (or microwaved), peeled and cubed
1/2 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
about 8 mushrooms, sliced
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp brown sugar
2 tsp dried rosemary
salt and pepper to taste
~6 ounces whole wheat spaghetti, or pasta of your choice

Boil water for the pasta and cook according to the package instructions. While the it's boiling, heat up the olive oil in a medium pan over medium-high heat. 

Add the onion and garlic and saute until the onions begin to turn transparent. Toss in the mushrooms and cook until they get juicy, then add in the sweet potato, brown sugar and rosemary. Heat for about 5-8 more minutes, stirring gently so you don't break up the sweet potato too much. 

Serve over prepared pasta with salt, pepper and a drizzle of olive oil. 

Quick and easy pasta dishes are my favorite.

Berkley and Lillian's Shallot Spaghetti

love.

Well. I spent my weekend living in a house with my very liberal cousin and her 9 male, conservative, mormon roommates. How was your weekend?

Seriously, though, I felt like I was in the middle of a ridiculous sit-com or something! They were all super nice guys, but there were some semi-awkward debates about politics and a lengthly explanation of what exactly being a vegan means.  

Speaking of which, Berkley is like vegan heaven. Almost every restaurant at least had options for me, but some were all vegetarian or vegan. There is this ice cream sandwich shop called Cream that has vegan ice cream sandwiches. Oh. My. God. I got chocolate cookies with white chocolate chips stuffed with cherry chocolate chip soy ice cream and practically had a heart attack at the first bite. I would have taken a picture to try to show you how incredible it was, but it was gone within a couple minutes.

Sorry the photo quality isn't great- it was dark and there were no leftovers to photograph in the daylight!

My cousin and I also made a lot of our own yummy meals. This one we created from some random things we had on hand, but I wanted to share it because it was so amazingly good! Lillian said that one of her meal-time staples is to make pasta with caramelized shallots and garlic. The secret is to slice the shallots super thin and saute them slowly, so that they are soft and stringy and blend in with the texture of the pasta. We did a spin on this basic dish by adding mushrooms and parsley for a richer flavor. The measurements are not set in stone, so feel free to adjust them slightly to your taste- just don't skimp on the shallots! 

Lillian's Shallot Spaghetti with Red Wine Mushrooms and Parsley

serves 2

1/4 pack of whole wheat spaghetti
olive oil
6 shallots, thinly sliced
6 cloves garlic, minced
8 white mushrooms, sliced thinly
1/4 cup red wine
1 medium bunch of parsley
salt and pepper, to taste

1. Heat olive oil (enough to cover the pan) in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the shallots and half of the garlic and lower the heat. Saute for about 30 minutes or until they begin to brown. Stir occasionally to prevent burning.
2. While the shallots caramelize, heat a little bit of olive oil in a medium pan and add the rest of the garlic and the mushrooms. Once the mushrooms begin to cook, pour in the red wine. Stir and let simmer until all of the liquid has evaporated. 
3. Prepare your spaghetti according to the package directions. To serve, divide up the spaghetti among plates and top it with a generous helping of shallots, mushrooms and parsley. Sprinkle on some salt and pepper and enjoy!

We turned our meal into a whole feast, complete with a salad that we threw together from mixed greens, strawberries, and fresh-squeezed lemon juice, complements of her backyard lemon tree.

And a dessert plate, of course, with strawberries and yummy No-Cookie Cookies.

This is one of my favorite new pasta dishes- it tastes like a gourmet meal, but it is so simple!

Candles and red wine make everything fancier.

Pasta with Broccoli-Walnut Sauce

To be honest, I don't really cook meals that often. When given the time, I usually choose baking over cooking just because it's what I'm better at. Another New Years Resolution of mine is to be more creative with making meals for myself- I'm getting a little sick of basic stir-fries and salads. 
I just got this fantastic new cookbook for Christmas, Big Vegan by Robin Asbell, that I think will help with my goal. I've only tried a couple recipes so far, but they turned out amazing! I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a thorough vegan cookbook.

The first recipe I tried was Roman Broccoli-Walnut Pasta. The sauce had a very light and subtle flavor, but was really delicious. It's not too difficult to make, you just have to let the veggies simmer a while. It helps if you have a friend to help you with all the chopping.

Pasta with Broccoli-Walnut Sauce (slightly adapted from Big Vegan)

2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 rib of celery, chopped
1 medium carrot, chopped
4 cups broccoli florets and stems, chopped
1 medium tomato, diced
1 cup white wine
3 cloves garlic, sliced
1/4 cup silken tofu
1/2 cup walnuts
salt to taste
1/4 cup soy creamer
about 8 oz. whole wheat pasta

1. Bring a large pot of water to boil. In a large pan over high heat, saute the onion, celery and carrots in the olive oil until the veggies are soft. Add the broccoli, tomato, wine and garlic. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer until there is almost no liquid left.
2. Meanwhile, place the tofu in a food processor and puree until smooth. Once the vegetables are ready, carefully add them to the food processor. Add in the walnuts, salt and soy creamer and blend until it forms a thick sauce. 
3. Cook the pasta according to the package's directions, drain, and put back into the pot. Add the sauce and stir well to combine. Serve with salt and pepper and enjoy!

Currently loving: this song.

Let's Start it Simple

Hello and welcome to That's So Vegan! I've been thinking about starting a food/lifestyle blog for a couple months now, and I finally worked up the courage to do it.

I started reading food blogs last winter when I went through a sort of food crisis in my life. I needed to make some changes in the way I ate so that I could feel healthier and happier.

So I went vegan.

And it's actually pretty great.

However, being a broke college student with an ill-equipped kitchen, I found that there was a lacking number of cooking blogs aimed at my demographic. Which is why I thought, "What the hell, I'll start my own."

I'll be honest and say that I don't know exactly what this blog will evolve into, but you gotta start somewhere, right?

My first recipe here is not quite a real recipe, seeing as there are not exact measurements. My friends and I made this simple pasta dish a few weekends ago on a trip to my  family's cabin in one of my favorite small towns, Grand Marais, MN. This recipe was actually thought up by my friend Evie, but we all helped put it together and it was absolutely delicious and fresh.



We started with about a pint of cherry tomatoes, chopped in half and sautéed them in 2 tablespoons of olive oil until they began to get sort of wrinkled. We then added 3 cloves of garlic and a big handful of fresh basil and mixed it around until the garlic browned a little. Served over pasta, this twist on a regular tomato sauce is probably my new favorite dinner.