Pasta Fagioli

Pasta Fagioli: olive oil, celery, carrot, onions, garlic, vegetable broth, crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, kale, navy beans, macaroni, oregano, red chile flakes, pepper.

Served with homemade whole wheat flax bread and roasted cauliflower.

Local (vegan) color

Pasta Primavera D'Estate (that's Italiano for summer kids): Whole wheat macaroni with local collards, summer squash, tomatoes and garlic sauteed in earth balance with salt, pepper, red chile flakes, oregano and chopped walnuts.

Summer is coming to an end and I'm really going to miss the fresh local produce even if I havent been as diligent as I should have about getting my butt to all the Greenmarkets New Yorkers have to choose from. Recently I checked out the Red Hook Farmer's Market run by Added Value which is just a 15 minute walk from my apartment in Brooklyn. Added Value is a non-profit focused on sustainable development in Red Hook and youth-powered urgan agriculture helps supply the market with gorgeous fresh produce. When I was there I picked up onions, tomatoes, garlic, collard greens and tiny yellow sugar plums. I only wish I had started checking out the farm sooner; they are doing some amazing things over there. In addition to youth empowerment through urban agriculture (including the market and farm-to-school education programs), they also work on sustainable business development and restaurant partnerships, critical in a community where, according to the Added Value webiste:

"Twice in the past three years Red Hook's only full-service grocery store closed, forcing residents to walk three miles and cross an eight lane road or take a $10 cab if they want to shop there. If you are have limited resources or are physically unable, as much of our population is, the only options are corner stores and delis which stock few fresh fruits and vegetables, carry meat and dairy products of questionable quality and charge inflated prices. With few healthy choices available, our neighbors eat many meals at fast food restaurants; and the preferred diet among teens is chips, honey buns, and a "fruit drink".

Limited access to healthy safe and affordable food and limited understanding of proper dietary practices has contributed to a neighborhood health crisis. Red Hook residents suffer disproportionately from asthma, hypertension, high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes. Child hospitalization rates for diabetes are over twice that of NYC; for adults, the ratio is roughly three to two."

Lucky and priviledged person that I am, I can generally afford to pay for the more expensive organic foods and have the luxury of time, transportation and education to think about these issues both generally for my city and our planet and also specifically as they apply to my dinner table. Unfortunately many New Yorkers do not have access to these resources and as a result poverty is the largest idicator of obesity and many other diet-related illness. Currently I am doing some research at work on how to integrate food security as a social justice concern into my office's best practices. Since all of our clients are all indigent and low-income people in crisis situations, many of them could benefit from our assistance with issues of hunger and nutrition.

Speaking of lucky, lucky me and my fantastic workplace, I came into some organic produce from Norwich Meadows Farm of Norwich, NY, when a foodie enthusiast co-worker generously offered to let me pick up her weekly CSA (community supported agriculture) share at the Stonehouse Olive Oil shop near our office while she was out of town. I was pretty excited to recieve baby salad greens, assorted summer squashes, tomatoes, garlic, red onions in addition to some sizeable red beets which I have previously been too intimidated to cook. That's one thing I love about the seasonable, local food available through CSA's and farmers markets: unfamiliar or uncommon vegetables inspire culinary innovation and bravery in the humble home cooks like myself. Anyway, I'll let you know what I make with the beets and also how much surface area of my kitchen has been stained hopelessly red.

Vegan pronto

Two quick Italian dinners:







Basil-almond pesto with kale: basil, almonds, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper, brown rice pasta, kale.












Polenta with spring vegetable ragu: cornmeal, artichokes, spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, pine nuts, onion, garlic, red chile flakes, oregano, basil, rosemary, thyme, salt.

Sometimes I don't cook...

So Roommate was inspired to cook by our lovely new kitchen and promises to make it a weekly occurance. I hope so! She made the Pumpkin Baked Ziti with Carmelized Onions and Sage Crumb Topping from Veganomicon which was awesome. It's really mellow and creamy and a crowd-pleaser I'm sure. This would be a great Thanksgiving dish as its not too complicated or time consuming, it's made with familiar ingredients and best of all it can be made in advance and baked later.

All the cool vegans...

are posting Mac n' Yeast lately... *Warning: delicious peer pressure to follow* I served some of the good stuff here with some Italian spiced veggies: eggplant, artichokes and spinach. I usually just mix in some broccoli with the noodles and top it all with cornflakes or breadcrumbs though.

I can't believe it's not even cold out and we're already in comfort food mode. Not that I'm complaining anything ('cept maybe about the impending doom posed by global warming since c'mon, it's almost November)... This was actually one of the first dishes I veganized (before I went vegan) just to make sure I could do it-- between this stuff and the cupcakes I definitely don't miss a (pus-filled) thing. I don't have a recipe for Mac n' Yeast since I just make it up every time. Essentially it's whole wheat macaroni topped with a roux based yeast flavored sauce. (White flour, canola oil, salt, nutritional yeast, soy milk, pepper, paprika, tomato paste, garlic powder, onion powder, mustard powder, red chile powder, turmeric.)

If you've never used nutritional yeast before you might want to go easy on it at first, it's a different flavoring than what you might be used to-- it seems strange, I know, but you'll grow to love that bulk-sized tub in time; I promise. Just be sure to buy the "vegetarian support formula" since I've actually seen non-vegan varieties, ew. Plus the vegetarian support kind has *tons* of vitamin B-12: the only vitamin us vegans gotta watch out for.

Check out the yummy vegan groupthink here:
*A recipe by the lovely Lolo whom I met this week-- what a cutie! Her cookbook will coming out soon, remember to pre-order from Amazon soon!
*And another one from the truly prolific Susan at Fat Free Vegan Kitchen.
*Lindyloo the delightfully profane has a version too of course!
*Here's Jess of Get Sconed fame with a updated New Farm Cookbook recipe
* Plus, Lori of Pleasantly Plump Vegan with a nice lookin' plate
*And I know someone posted a pic with the Mac plated with eggplant and spinach which is where I got the idea for my dinner-- but I forget who it was. Will this yummy vegan blogger please stand up?

Perfect summer pasta

Make it while you still can!

Ingredients:
*Whole wheat fettucine for two.
*2 medium tomatoes (or 4-6 plum tomatoes), diced
*1 can artichokes, drained, rinsed and quartered
*1/3 cup white wine
*1 tsp tomato paste
*2-3 cloves garlic, minced
*1/2 tbs olive oil
*1/2 tbs margarine
*handful of walnuts, lightly crushed or rough chopped
*two handfuls fresh spinach rough chopped
*1/2 tsp. oregano (dried, more if fresh)
*1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
*squeeze of fresh lemon
*kosher/sea salt and black pepper to taste

-Boil pasta in salted water
-In large skillet, melt margarine and olive oil together
-Toss garlic in the pan first, letting it flavor the oil just a few seconds before adding the next ingredients
-Add tomatoes, wine, tomato paste, artichokes, lemon, oregano, pinch of salt and red pepper flakes and cook until tomatoes have given up some juice and a light sauce has come together in the pan, moving vegetables around the pan gently
-Add the spinach, basil and walnuts, remove from heat when spinach is just wilted
-Grind on lots of fresh black pepper, add more salt if needed
-Toss with cooked pasta

Quick pasta

Been busy cooking for an upcoming extraVEGANza, so I was not feeling like a complicated dinner. Here's a pic of what I came up with: whole wheat penne with butternut squash and spinach sauce. I just cooked the pasta, and immersion blender-ized a can of butternut squash puree, some pre-washed spinach, a clove of garlic, some pignoli nuts, tomato sauce, tomato pasate, oregano, red pepper flakes, black pepper and nutmeg. Garnished with some fresh flat-leaf parsley and more pignoli.

Look out for a ton of food pics tomorrow. There won't even be any more mushy brown-orange food either :)