Midnight Express Mushroom Pasta

If you looked in my pantry, you would probably think that I am preparing for a long winter storm. I have at least 2 cabinets and a few drawers filled with tea, at least 6 pounds of pasta, jars of dried beans and grains, an 8pd bag of potatoes, and other items that I consider essential. Pasta is something that I always have on hand. It's filling, cheap (if you buy the right kind), quick, and you can easily dress it up or down. For those of you with intestinal troubles, like me, pasta is also a great bland food for when you're not feeling so great. 

Since I was a kid, noodles with butter and salt has been one of my comfort foods. A few weeks ago, I had a thought: why not try tamari and vegan butter? I tried it over some GF soba noodles and was floored. The combo of umami tamari and rich vegan butter was more than a success, so now I'm hooked. Last night I took the time to fancy it up a little by adding mushrooms and green onions. I'm not sure why I'm calling it Midnight Express Mushroom pasta, but let's just roll with it. It's quick, cheap, and damn delicious! Make it as rich as you want it to be, just don't use too much tamari or it will be too salty.

Midnight Express Mushroom Pasta

• 1 pd GF pasta or soba noodles (I recommend soba)
• 3-4 cups thinly sliced cremini or shiitake mushrooms
• 2 TBS vegan butter, divided (do not substitute this with oil), plus more for serving
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 bunch of green onions, thinly sliced diagonally (you could use a whole bunch)
• 1.5 TBS GF soy sauce (tamari), plus more for serving

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook your noodles according to package directions. Note that soba noodles are cooked differently than pasta. When finished, drain and rinse and return to your pasta pot.
2. Heat a small or medium sized skillet on medium heat. Add 1 TBS vegan butter and swirl it around the pan until melted. Add the mushrooms, a tiny pinch of salt, and stir. Cook mushrooms until buttery and soft, about 10 or more minutes. They should be wonderfully browned and almost caramelized.
3. Add the green onions and cook, stirring frequently, until the onions become lightly browned, about 1-2 minutes. Add the last 1 TBS of vegan butter and 1.5 TBS of tamari. Stir well and let cook for about 30 seconds, letting a thick sauce form. Immediately pour over the pasta.
4. Stir the mushroom mix into the pasta evenly. Taste for vegan butter and tamari, but do not add salt because that's what the soy sauce is for! I added about an extra tablespoon of vegan butter and two teaspoons of soy sauce. It just depends on how rich you want it to be!

Black Bean Spaghetti + Garlicky Balsamic Peppers

School is back in session (ugh), so time is short in my little kitchen. I am trying to learn to throw together quick meals and not fall back into the easy habits of processed food. I am also trying my best to not go to the store for just one single thing. Pantry cooking rules! I promise, with a well-stocked one, you can do it too. Here's something I pulled together late last night that is packed with flavor and protein. Black bean spaghetti has a whopping 80g of protein for the entire bag. So next time someone asks you where you get your protein from and you're vegan, just shove a bag of that pasta in their face. Deal? :)

Black Bean Spaghetti & Garlicky Balsamic Peppers

• 1 bag of black bean spaghetti or regular GF pasta
• olive oil
• salt
• dried thyme, red pepper flakes + dried oregano
• 5-6 baby sweet peppers or 1-2 large bell peppers, cut into thin strips
• 1/2 C mushrooms, chopped (optional)
• 3-4 small tomatoes or 1/2 cherry tomatoes, sliced (do not de-seed)
• 2-4 garlic cloves, minced
• balsamic vinegar (note: I eyeballed the measurements for the vinegar, so they aren't accurate) 
• red wine vinegar (or red wine) 
• fresh basil

1. Bring a pot of water to boil for your pasta and cook according to package directions (note: black bean spaghetti cooks on simmer not boil). Heat a skillet over medium high, add about 1 T oil. Add mushrooms, peppers, a few pinches of dried thyme and a pinch of salt to help release water. Saute until almost softened, 3-4 minutes.
2. Add the tomatoes and garlic. Cook 2-3 minutes, being careful not to burn the garlic. Add dried oregano and red pepper flakes, and more salt if desired. Stir and turn up to high.
3. Add about 2 T red wine vinegar to the pan and 1/4 C or more of balsamic vinegar. The fumes will be very "acidic" and could be unpleasant to the eyes, so be careful. Bring to a quick boil, then turn down to simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally 3-4 minutes, until the "sauce" has reduced in half. 
4. Plate your spaghetti and top with sauce. Add more red pepper flakes and fresh chiffonaded basil on top. Voila! 

(871) le semaine d'examens

That's right...I somehow made it to exam week and I'm still alive! I also have more things going on right now than I have had during the entire semester, not including school. Not sure how that happened, but I am ready for classes to be done so I can focus on them. I am also *slowly* preparing for my trip to France next year, which means getting a passport, and hopefully an honors grant too! 

Trying to do DIY/homemade gifts for everyone this year. This is the only one I've started because it requires no attention and needs to sit for 3 weeks: homemade vanilla extract. //baked bree

I still eat snacks like a five-year old: bugs in the bed/ants on a log.

I am not very confident about cooking things that aren't by a recipe, but there are a few things that I know how to cook easily; oven fries is one of them. Cut sweet potatoes into uniform pieces (peel if desired but I dont think its necessary). Toss with olive oil, salt, pepper, paprika, cayenne, smoked paprika, etc. There are many ways to dress these! Bake at 400 for about 15-20 minutes, flipping halfway through, until soft and crunchy on the outside. 

This tofu scramble certainly helped me do a bit of improvisation, which I never do. I have also been searching for the perfect tofu scramble, like the one I used to get at a restaurant in High Point which is not only closed, but used to be so cross-contaminated that I was always sick from it. It was delicious though, and this is the closest thing I can find. Use any vegetables in your fridge for this and any spices you desired. This batch was: curry, cumin, paprika, cayenne, dried oregano and lots of nutritional yeast (which helps browning) and for vegetables: carrots, mushrooms, onions, and spinach. This is why I like to keep a package of tofu in my fridge because this was easy to pull together! //chickpea magazine

A little more improvising was done with this dish (yay!). It's hard to find a good, creamy vegan pasta that isn't loaded down with vegan cheese or soy milk. This vegan pumpkin pasta was perfect. I was quite hesitant about the nutmeg added to the sauce, but it compliments the salt and pumpkin perfectly. I added some white wine, vegan butter sauteed mushrooms and shallots to the sauce and it was amaaaazing. Definitely tasted better the first day but was still lovely. //chickpea magazine

Couldn't resist. Hot toddys are in my near future.

My latest meal goal is to eat something green with every meal, which doesn't necessarily mean a salad (as you can see by this post and the one below). This wonderful side dish, which didn't last in my kitchen for 10 minutes, was a lovely roasted broccolini with a smoked paprika vinaigrette and sunflower seeds for crunch. I may have to make this again next week. The flavors are just fantastic. //the year in food

I can't honestly say that I have ever had a brussel sprout. I just remember them being the butt of every vegetable/child related joke. They got picked on, as a vegetable, which I never understood. They couldn't be that bad. I mean, they weren't the stewed cabbage that was eaten in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Anyways...I have had my blog roll blown up about brussel sprout recipes in the past two weeks. So finally I roast the damn things and good lord. What have I been missing this whole time? They are perfect. I made these as one of my green sides but they are phenomenal. I would like to have them at the Christmas dinner table. So yeah. Don't hate on them, just go roast them! //oh, ladycakes!

I have been stalking this traditional Israeli breakfast dish ever since I started reading Deb's blog and seeing this pop up everywhere. What makes it so popular? Well, first of all, one of its alternative names is "eggs in purgatory" (clearly Dante would eat this) and not only is it easy to make, but it's cheap too. It consists of a spicy, anaheim chile laced tomato sauce (use San Mazrano tomatoes on this trussst me) topped with poached eggs which are directly cooked into the tomato sauce. I have never poached an egg, and didn't really poach these, but they are still edible and that's what is important. This would be great to serve a crowd at brunch because it makes a ton, haha. I served mine with garlic basil polenta rounds and brussels sprouts. //smitten kitchen

(855) hail mary

Well at least I know now that these two weeks in November will always be slightly crazy. My birthday, then two of my best friends' birthdays, then Thanksgiving, then Black Friday, then exams...you see where this is going. I am still trying to get back to my normal cooking routine, which I did somewhat this week. 

I miss chicken noodle soup. I used to eat the Campbells kind all the time when I was kid. I found a pretty good replacement with kale, carrots, and white miso: chickpea noodle soup. I ate this soup for days with lots of pepper and crackers. 

new job, new shirt. 

cooking with wine: practicing for France.

I've had this recipe from chickpea magazine hanging over my head for a while now. I changed it up a little bit just to make it easier on myself: I used leftover frozen mac+cheese sauce (from here), I used extra mushrooms, and just ended up slicing the squash and roasted it with olive oil, salt, pepper + herbs de provence. If anything just go roast acorn squash with herbs de provence. The lavender in the herb blend plays wonderfully off the squash's sweetness.

Traditional French wine for us Frenchies

Tomatoes, red onions, peppers, mushrooms, kalamata olives, roasted garlic paste, swiss chard, roasted herbed potatoes. Sticks and Stones promised me an amazing GF/V/daiya-free pizza, and I got it.

Kathryn's birthday!

I have never breaded/fried tofu, but this turned out pretty well. I would've liked the tofu to be fried a little more evenly, but it was still really good for being vegan/GF! I used to love orange sesame chicken as a kid. From Vegetarian 'Ventures.

Second night of birthday celebrations. Last night of drinking I need for a while...

Practicing latte skills at Geeksboro with almond milk, which is incredibly hard to froth.

I went crazy on Friday and made the orange tofu, these cookies, and the nuts below within about 2 hours. I think I was trying to ignore my homework since I was so excited to go out. Anyways, these cookies come together in minutes, are healthy, and taste amazing! The honey and ginger work so well together here.

Toasty nuts from Sara's book: walnuts, cashews, almonds, pecans, sesame seeds, raw quinoa, herbs de provence, maple syrup, cayenne pepper, paprika, salt, pepper.