Earth Day and Pasta!!

Happy Earth Day, one and all! This has always been one of my favorite days of the year. I remember growing up, we always got to plant trees at my hippy Elementary School on the Southern coast of Oregon, and always being the little tree-hugger that I was, I would literally count down until the day I got to plant trees with my class and learn how to plant a garden and all that fun stuff! I sure hope that schools still do those kinds of things, it honestly does teach a child valuable lessons about the planet we live on. Sometimes I think that we spend too much time worrying about other planets and outer space, when we really know so little about the land we walk on each day! But I’m not here to get all political with everyone, I just hope that today you can all be a little more aware of the beautiful planet that we have been blessed with, and maybe, gradually, we can move through each and every day with the same feelings toward our home!

On another note, I am happy to report that my omnivore fiancé is really beginning to see the amazing transformations I have been going through on this journey. I told him from day one that this is something that I would never force on him, and I would not judge what he ate so long as he supported me. He was completely on board with me going vegan, but said that there was no way he’d do it. Well, it only took a little over a month for him to finally come around to the idea! He told me that when we eat at home (which is nearly every meal), he wants to eat whatever I am eating, but when we go out to eat he may or may not still eat carcasses or puss products (meat and dairy). I thought that this was amazing! The only difference between our diets at home is that he really needs something to substitute his meat with. So, we picked up some Gardein products for him to add to his meals, since he isn’t quite ready to try things like tempeh or seitan yet! So last night, I made a quick pasta dish. I wanted to use up all of our veggies that were in the fridge, since we are going out of town tonight and won’t be back until Monday evening, so I figured I could puree all of our veggies into a nice sauce so that we not only used up our perishables, but also got a nice hearty, healthy meal! So here we go!

Linguine with Vegetable Tomato Sauce (and Gardein for the new convert!)

½ box brown rice or whole grain linguine (take your pick on your favorite brand)
1 summer squash, sliced into 1/4inch rounds
1 head broccoli, chopped
8 pieces asparagus, chopped
1 handful spinach
1 can pureed tomatoes (or fresh equivalent, I was just using what we had)
2 tblsp minced garlic
1 tblsp EVOO
2 tblsp balsamic vinaigrette
1 tomato, chopped
Garlic powder (to taste)
Onion powder (to taste)
Fresh Basil (to taste)
(Optional) Gardein Chikn’ Scallopini breast

In a large pot, bring water to a boil and cook/drain your linguine (if you don’t know how to do this, then I’m sorry, but I can’t help you anymore!)

In a blender or food processor, puree squash, broccoli, asparagus, spinach, and can of tomatoes. Pour this lovely veggie sauce into a small pan and slowly heat through, adding garlic powder, onion powder and fresh basil to taste.
In a small skillet, warm the EVOO, balsamic, minced garlic and more basil. When warm, add Gardein product. Cook all the way through, flipping over halfway (follow cooking time on bag depending on frozen or thawed product). When there are only a few minutes left to cook, throw in your chopped tomato and allow to lightly sauté in the oil mixture with the Gardein.

Mix the linguine and sauce together once warm, place Gardein on top (or without) and cover with sautéed tomatoes. Sprinkle on nutritional yeast if you like, and viola! A simple, 15 minute vegan culinary masterpiece!

I had mine without the Gardein, but made it for my man, since I’m so happy he is “converting”! And if making him a little bit of processed vegan food is what it takes to wean him off the meat, than I’m all over that!


Image is not too great...snapped a quick shot with the cellie before my boy dug in!