Summer Vegetable Fettuccine

Day 250

I realize I skipped three days. Laura made a fantastic veggie stew with dumplings which she ate over the weekend and I had some last night. I was away on a trip over the weekend and ate egg salad sandwiches, mainly.

Summer Vegetable Fettuccine

Garlic Scapes!

This was our first year growing garlic and the first scapes we've ever tasted. They're so amazing!

Garlic scapes

Chopped scapes

Summer Vegetable Fettuccine

Ingredients
1 package of fettuccine
Homegrown baby kale
Zucchini
Organic red pepper
Organic tomatoes
Homegrown shallots (last year's)
Homegrown scapes
Fresh mushrooms
Feta
Pinch of red chili peppers
3 cubes of basil/olive oil

Cook pasta in:
3 litres water
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil

Summer veggies & feta

Directions
Wash and chop veggies and sauté everything together for 10 minutes. Add the cooked fettuccine and feta. Stir for a few minutes until cheese mostly melts. Serve.

Fettuccine cooking

Altogether this meal took 35 minutes from start to finish. The chopping took 20.

Summer Vegetable Fettuccine

Reviews/Comments

Laura found it to be a little on the spicy side, and it kind of was, but we both still gave it a 10. Also, there are leftovers so supper tomorrow will be a breeze.

Oven-Roasted Potatoes, Broccoli/Cauliflower & Garden Salad

Day 246

I love summer.

Oven-Roasted Potatoes

Broccoli/Cauliflower & Garden Salad

Oven-Roasted Potatoes

Peel, chop, toss with olive oil and lay out on the pan. Shake some sea salt and freshly ground pepper over it and toss some herbs over it and roast for about 40 minutes at 350 degrees F. This part of the meal was simple.

Oven-roasted potatoes

The herbs were handpicked by Laura the Gardener herself and include:

• Rosemary
• Greek oregano
• Parsley
• English thyme
• French thyme

Herbs

Garden Salad

First salad of the summer. And plenty more coming behind it. This part of the meal required the washing and drying of leaves and stuff.

Garden greens

Salad Ingredients
Baby leaf lettuces (Lollo Rossa, Black-seeded Simpson, & red and green Oak Leaf lettuces)
Kale (Red Russian)
Scallions
Fresh oregano
1/2 red onion (from last year's harvest, believe it or not!)
1/3 English cucumber
1/2 cup roasted, salted peanuts
1 can mandarin oranges
Pansy petals for garnish

Garden salad

Zingy Poppyseed Salad Dressing
Original recipe
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup oil
1/3 tsp dry mustard
1/3 tsp salt
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1/2 tbsp minced red onion
2 tsp poppyseeds

Zingy poppyseed salad dressing

Broccoli/Cauliflower

With Hollandaise, of course. The original idea was to have broccoli stuffed baked potatoes, but the potatoes we had were small and looking a bit aged. So, we went with broccoli and cauliflower as a side instead. And couldn't give up the idea of Hollandaise since Hollandaise makes everything better.

Broccoli & cauliflower

Oven-roasted potatoes

Garden salad & broccoli/cauliflower

Reviews/Comments

Well, this meal had a lot of our favorite things plus a few nutrients to use later, so we both rate it a 9-er. Again, I'm looking forward to lunch tomorrow.

Veggie Sausages & Fiddleheads

Day 245

Tonight's meal was so quick and easy that even with grocery shopping to do first, we had not only finished eating but also had the clean up done before 8:00 pm. How great is that? Left me with an hour and a half to be outside loving the weather.

Veggie Sausages & Fiddleheads

Veggie Sausages

These aren't bad. The texture is a little dry, as in not greasy like meat sausages, and they could be spicier, but they're pretty good. They're more enjoyable because you know that not once will you bite into cartilage, bone or any other questionable texture, and I love that.

Yves veggie sausages

Vegetarian sausages frying

Fiddleheads

These are the last of the last batch of fiddleheads I bought, so that's it for this year. See you next year fiddleheads! There are a few perogies in the picture below, as well. I made them for Laura because I wasn't in a perogie mood.

Perogies & fiddleheads

Veggie sausages & fiddleheads

Reviews/Comments

Laura rates this an 8, mainly due to the fiddleheads. I thought it was good, and give it an 8 too.

Here's how I break it down:
Enjoyment: 6/10
Quickness: 9/10
Easiness: 9/10

Leftover Stew

Day 244

We added barley and lentils so it's even better. Plus, stew is always better the 2nd day.

Veggie stew & roll

Beefless Stew

Day 243

Ahhhh...mmm...comfort food at its finest. Laura had decided what we were going to have for supper before I even got home from work, after having seen this posted on Devin DeGray's Facebook page. Since he had already posted the recipe, she didn't even have to ask for it! Thanks, Dev, for taking the guesswork out of supper.

Beefless Stew

Beefless Stew

The best thing about this one is that Laura made it, not I. All I had to do was go to Sobey's and fetch some carrots, portobellos, tomato paste, a bag of peas and a fresh bulb of garlic. We wouldn't have even had to buy peas but there was an incident the other night...

Spilled peas

Original recipe

Ingredients
1 organic onion, chopped
6 Eco-spuds* potatoes, cubed
6 organic carrots, cubed
3 portobello mushrooms, cubed
5 cloves of garlic, minced
2 cups peas
1 can tomato paste
5 cups water
1 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp Italian seasoning
2 tsp fresh oregano, chopped
2 tsp fresh rosemary, chopped
1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped

Chopping carrots

Sexy portobellos

Cooked cubed potatoes

Chopped onions

Fresh-from-the-garden herbs

Directions
I guess this meal was made in the usual way of stews, with a lot of washing, chopping and then cooking vegetables until soft, etc. I did take some pics while she slaved, but couldn't give you a play by play. I do know there was some blending involved. Laura says she followed the recipe with the exception of omitting the celery and altering amounts of a couple things.

Carrots, garlic & onions cooking

Beefless Stew

Reviews/Comments

Does it taste like beef stew? No. It's better than that. It tastes like what it is, vegetable/mushroom stew. The fresh herbs were wonderful in it. I give it a 9.5. Laura rates it a 10 as well.

Here's what I would do to make it a 10. I would add 1/2 cup lentils to thicken the broth and add that extra level of flavor and nutrition, and I would also add some barley for heartiness. Next time it will be perfect.

Laura says she would add an extra 1/2 cup potatoes and blend them to thicken the broth.

Red Quinoa with Vegetable Korma

Day 241

We spent the day doing outdoors stuff and came inside at 9 pm feeling like we were hit by a truck so fussing over dinner didn't sound like what we should do.

Red Quinoa with Vegetable Korma

Red Quinoa

So, I made a pot of quinoa. You do have to wash quinoa to take the bitterness out, but other than that it's as easy to make as rice or oatmeal. I bring it to a boil, then cover and turn the heat off for 20 minutes.

Red quinoa cooking

Vegetable Korma

The directions for this are literally, "boil in salted water in the package for 5 minutes". Seriously easy. These packaged sauces are delicious and nutritious. Not a lot of fat and calories, but lots of flavor. We like them a lot.

Vegetable Korma

Reviews/Comments

Laura loved this and rated it a 9. It was definitely fortifying. I give it a 7.

Spinach Feta Linguine

Day 240

I didn't post yesterday, but you didn't miss much. It was slightly less burnt pizza. Just like Tuesday, leftover George's pizza, reheated a bit too long, but not as bad as on Tuesday.

Spinach Feta Linguine

Spinach Feta Linguine

Ingredients
8 oz organic white mushrooms
1 red bell pepper
1 clove garlic
2 organic tomatoes
5 oz organic baby spinach
6 oz feta cheese
Pinch of red pepper flakes
2 liters water
1 package of fresh linguine
1 tsp salt

Fresh linguine

Fresh baby spinach

Directions
Wash all the vegetables. Add 1 tsp butter to a saucepan or skillet and turn heat to medium. Slice the mushrooms, toss them in the pan. Chop the red pepper, toss them in the pan. Mince the garlic, make a well in the pan and drop them on the bottom of the pan. Stir it around directly on the metal for a few seconds, then mix in with the other veggies. Chop the tomatoes, toss them in. Give them a stir each time you toss something in.

Mushrooms, peppers garlic & tomataoes

Meanwhile, boil the 2 liters of water for the pasta. Add 1 tsp salt and when it's boiling hard, put the pasta in the water and boil 5 or 6 minutes.

Add the spinach to the veggies and stir it in. It will wilt within a minute. Add the pasta to the cooked veggies and stir it in, then finally add the feta and mix it in well.

Linguine before stirring the feta in

The feta will melt and become cheesy. You will be amazed with how good this is.

Spinach feta linguine

Reviews/Comments

This tasted like the best thing we've eaten in weeks. And, it may have been. I think the simplicity of it worked in its favor. We both give it a 10.

Greco's Burnt Garlic Fingers

Day 238

Only a day after the burnt pizza, too.

Greco box

Burnt Garlic Fingers

No, we did not reheat these. They came this way. Not sure if they put them through the oven twice or what. Perhaps not completely burnt, but very, very, very overdone. Yes, we ate them anyway. Yes, they were tough as heck.

Burnt garlic fingers

Reviews/Comments
Hmm...I give these a...4. Laura gave them a 4, too!

Burnt Pizza

Day 237

Laura was thinking ahead today and ordered a medium George's pizza for lunch, figuring we'd also have it for supper.

Burnt Pizza

We each had a piece right after work to hold us over until all errands were run, etc. Later I preheated the oven and put the last 3 pieces in and promptly forgot about it. Oops!

Burnt pizza

BK Veggie Burgers

Soooo, I ran down to Burger King and got us each a veggie burger and side. No drinks. Ugh...not our best choice of the week but we still haven't had time to replenish the pantry. Soon...has to be soon...

BK take-out

Reviews/Comments

Meh. I give this meal a 2. Meaning that with 100 vegetarian meals presented before me, this would fall in the bottom 20, with at least 80 meals looking better to me than this.

Laura gives it a 5. WOW! It's because she had cheese sticks, which she really enjoys...lol

Mediterranean Vegetable Linguini

Day 236

With few groceries in the house, and no time to shop, ordering supper seemed like the logical option.

Mediterranean Vegetable Linguini

I've had this before, so I knew that one order feeds three people, so not only did we both have it for supper, but I also have lunch for tomorrow, which is one less thing to worry about. Are leftovers not the best thing to have for lunch at work? I love that!

Mediterranean Vegetable Linguini

Boston Pizza Take-Out

To check out the link to this item on the Boston Pizza menu, click here.

Reviews/Comments

Not bad! I give it a 7.5. Laura gives it an 8. Thought it was good "for Boston Pizza".

Vegetable Samosas with Chickpea Curry

Day 235

Laura slaved over these yesterday and we had them for both lunch and supper. These are a treat because they're a bit of a process to make, so we don't have them a lot even though we love them. We eat a lot more mini pizzas than samosas.

Vegetable samosas with chickpea curry

Get the Recipes

If you're looking for the recipes, you should check out the blog entry from the last time we had them, on Day 148.

Chickpea curry

Vegetable samosas

Reviews/Comments

Lunch got a 7 and dinner got a 10. The difference? Lunch was reheated in the microwave at work. The samosa dough was soggy...boooo. Supper samosas were reheated in the oven and the curry on the stove top and it was sooo good.