Monday, April 24, 2006

Pasta and Spuds

I've been *trying* all day to study for my last exam tomorrow...sigh...I can't wait til its over. I just wanna get the destruction over with! For dinner I made How It All Vegan's garlic roasted potatoes and La Dolce Vegan's roasted cherry tomato pasta with Kalamata olives and capers. The potatoes ended up being more of an appetizer than a side dish, I couldn't stop picking at them while I was making the pasta, they were so flavoursome! My sister really liked them too. Needless to say, they were gone before the pasta was even ready. The potatoes were tossed in olive oil and mixed with lots of garlic, sage, rosemary , pepper and salt.














The pasta dish is similar to the roasted cherry tomato pasta I made a while back with some slight variations. It was good, but I enjoyed the other one better. I didn't like capers the first time I tried them but decided to give them a chance in this dish. I guess I'm just not meant to like them. I'm also not an olive fan but have enjoyed them in choice meals. I would make this again, the organic cherry tomatoes were great, but I would leave out the capers and olives. Now, if you enjoy capers/olives, I'm confident you will thoroughly enjoy this dish. All in all, it was a very agreeable meal. I like pastas with simple toppings like this. Oh yes, there was also some grated mozzarella "cheese" in there. For some reason, Vegan brand cheese doesn't melt in any way except on the stove top.














Billy and I will be BBQ'ing on Wednesday or Thursday to celebrate me finishing a hellish semester. I'm thinking veggie burgers, seitan veggie kabobs and potato salad *drool*, oh yes and maybe some fruit tarts. I can't wait. Hopefully the weather cooperates so we can sit outside.

3 comments:

Catherine Weber said...

You know, I don't much care for capers or olives, either. Never have, actually. One of the very few things I REALLY don't like.

Good luck with wrapping up your semester!

Michelle said...

the first (and for a long time, only!) brand of "cheese" we could find was the Vegan cheese.. the kids would gobble it up in slices or cubed, but i could never get the darn stuff to melt!

we've since discovered Earth Island vegan cheeses (same people who make Follow Your Heart, but CND i think), and they melt so nice! i wish we had more access to some of the stuff other people can get in the states!

i personally can't eat vegan cheese in slices, yet, but love some melted "cheese" in certain dishes, especially the first recipe for roasted tomato pasta :)

Melissa said...

Catherine, I'm with you on that one. I'm not quick to dismiss a food, but I guess you just can't love everything!

Yes, I recently was able to get some Earth Island cheeses too... I hope they're a permanent addition at the health store (the mozzarella is so good for pizza and the nacho cheese is great melted over nachos). I don't mind Tofutti's cheese slices on veggie burgers.