7 Days of Super Simple PastaDay 1: Lemon Pepper Rotini

Pasta is a super cheap ingredient, so Adam and I tend to have a lot of it in the house. Well, that and the fact that pasta is crazy good. We love pasta in our house and so as to not get bored with it, I'm often experimenting with different kinds of sauces and ingredients. That's how I came up with the idea of doing 7 Super Simple Pastas. It's a week of 7 different pastas made with 7 different types of noodles. This is great for those trying to budget because each pasta has only a few ingredients, a lot of which will already be in your house, or are things you can use in other simple dishes. I hope you enjoy these easy to make pastas. I know I enjoying making them and Adam enjoyed eating them.


Lemon Pepper Rotini Ingredients
2 1/2 cups uncooked Rotini
About 1/4 cup Lemon Pepper
1 tbs Vegan Parmesan
1 tbs oil
1/2 cup cooked asparagus


Cook rotini according to direction. Cook asparagus whichever way you like best. (I sautéed mine with a little lemon juice) Drain cooked pasta and return to pot. Add remaining ingredient and mix well.

I served mine with some homemade garlic bread. This is a really light pasta that you don't feel bad about after eating.

Lavash Press [Vegan]

This recipe is one of my favorite dishes. It's from a restaurant in Studio City called Jumpin Java. It's the only thing I've ever tried from that place because it is so darn amazing. It's filled with lot's of cheese (the original recipe uses string cheese), basil and sun-dried tomatoes, and it comes with an amazing tahini dip. Unfortunately, after Adam & I moved to Long Beach, we weren't able to enjoy the fine restaurants the Valley had to offer and I believe I haven't had this dish in over a year. Something else, not so unfortunate, now that I'm vegan I couldn't eat this even if I did make the trek up the 405. So, on a whim, I decided to try this using vegan cheese. It was missing the "stringy-ness" from the real cheese but it still tasted wonderful. I recreated the tahini dip for the first time when I made this vegan version of the lavash press (it's a secret recipe and even my friend Joe, who used to work for the chef who created it, didn't know what was in it). It turned out almost exactly like the restaurants version. This meal goes well with a nice sweet, fruity white wine.

Tahini Basil Sauce
8 oz Tahini
1 cup Fresh Basil Leaves
1 tsp Apple Cider Vinager
2 tbs Water
1/4 tsp Garlic Powder

Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend. Sauce should become a light shade of green with small pieces of basil not entirely processed. This sauce is relatively thin. If it's at all thick, add more water, a tablespoon at a time, and blend until it is a thinner consistency. Place in fridge until ready to eat.

Lavash Press Ingredients
2 pieces Lavash Bread
6 large Basil Leaves
1/2 cup Sun-dried Tomatoes
8 oz Vegan Mozzarella, shredded
2 tbs oil (olive or grapeseed work best for flavor)

Lavash is a thin flatbread. It is soft and flexible like a tortilla. Though it will break like a tortilla if bent to harshly. Lay your two pieces of lavash bread on a flat surface. Place 4 oz of the cheese on each lavash, close to the bottom right corner and middle, placing it at an angle so it leads up to the top right corner and down to the the middle of the bottom.

Next, place half the basil and sun-dried tomatoes over the cheese on each lavash. Then you can begin to fold the lavash. Start by folding the bottom right corner into the middle, covering most of the filling. Next, fold the bottom left corner so you have almost have a triangle. Fold the top right corner in and lastly fold the top left corner over the whole lavash. (Picture of steps below)

Brush the oil over both sides of the lavash and place in a frying pan. Heat on low, low medium. You want to cook it slowly so the cheese has time to semi melt. Vegan cheese is difficult to melt so the slower it cooks the better. Although you don't want it to melt completely because it will become runny. So once both sides of the lavash are becoming a crisp golden color, you can remove from heat. I microwaved my lavash for 30 seconds after I took it from the pan, just to give the cheese a little extra heat without burning the bread. Cut lavash in half and serve with tahini basil sauce.

The lavash is meant to be dipped into the tahini basil sauce. I do not reccomend pouring it into or onto the lavash as it will be very messy. This is a nice meal as it's unique and not something many people have had. It's wonderful for when you want to try something different. It's simple to make and has few ingredients, all of which are foods everyone loves. This is still one of my favorite foods.

Fried Pickles [Vegan]

I love pickles! I'm crazy about pickles. I remember just snacking away on giant pickles when I was little. I also love fried food. So, it was quite surprising, when I'd heard of these, that I'd never had a fried pickle. I tried one for the first time while I was in Oklahoma this last Christmas. They were amazing. I decided to make them at home as that would be the cheapest. This recipe is super simple. If you love pickles, you'll love these tasty little treats.

Ingredients
1/4 cup sliced pickles
1 cup bread crumbs
4 tbs egg replacer
1/4 tsp garlic powder (optional)
1/4 tsp onion powder (optional)
1/4 tsp parsley (optional)
oil for frying

Place pickles between two paper towels to absorb the juice from them. Mix bread crumbs and seasonings in a bowl. Prepare egg replacer in another bowl. One at a time, place pickles in egg replacer mixer and then in bread crumbs. Be sure to cover the whole pickle slice. Gently pat the bread crumbs on the pickle. Set aside until all pickles are covered.

Once you are done covering pickles, heat oil in a frying pan on medium to high heat. Once hot, place pickles in hot oil, only a few at a time. Fry each side until golden brown.

Allow them to cool a minute before you attempt to eat. I know the wait can be difficult but you don't want to burn your taste buds before you can really enjoy these little masterpieces. They are great with vegan ranch.

Buffalo Wings &Blue Cheese Dip [Vegan]

I told my friend Joe that if I ever went to New York, I'd forsake my vegetarianism and eat a real Buffalo Wing. That was true when I said it but I know now that I could never and will never eat meat again. But I was still curious as to how a buffalo wing would taste. I already tackled Buffalo Style Mac & Cheese, so I knew I had to take on the staple of the city of Buffalo: Buffalo Wings. I did some research on which products make the best fake meat, and how to make real buffalo wings. What I came up with was nothing short of a vegan masterpiece. This was my first experience using and consuming seitan. It is truely amazing as a meat substitute.

Ingredients
6 oz Seitan (cut into strips)
1/2 cup flour
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp paprika
oil for frying

1/4 cup vegan butter
1/4 Franks Hot Sauce (Must be Franks or its not authentic. Well, as authentic as vegan wings can be)


In a large bowl, mix flour, garlic powder, chili powder and paprika. Dip seitan strips into bowl, covering with the flour mixture. (The seitan should be sticky enough to hold the flour mixture. If yours isn't, dip seitan into either egg replacer or vegan milk before you place in flour.) Once all the seitan is covered with the flour, place them on a plate and put into the fridge for atleast an hour.

Once you are ready to cook seitan, heat oil in a frying pan on medium-high heat. Place seitan in hot oil and cook for 15 to 20 minutes, turning as needed to ensure all sides are cooked. Meanwhile, in a small frying pan, melt butter with the hot sauce.

Once the seitan and hot sauce are done, place seitan in a large bowl and pour hot sauce over. Shake or mix to cover seitan completely. I suggest not leaning over the bowl because it made my eyes water and burn just being close to the hot sauce.

Blue cheese is to Buffaloians, as ranch is to Californians. What we use ranch for, they use blue cheese. And the place that created Buffalo wings decided that the only dressing to dip your wings in is blue cheese. So when I made vegan buffalo wings for Superbowl Sunday, I had to find a way to make a vegan blue cheese to go along with it.

Blue Cheese Dip Ingredients
6 oz Vegan Blue Cheese (I use Soy Blue by Vegcusine.net)
4 tbs plain & unsweetened nondairy milk
2 tbs Vegan Sour Cream
2 tbs water


Crumble blue cheese and place in food processor. Process till it's been reduced to tiny pieces, almost grain like. Add remaining ingredients and continue processing till it reaches a thick liquid consistency. You can add more water or milk if you want it thinner. Keeping it a bit thick will help it stick to whatever you're putting it on. Chill in the fridge for about an hour before using.

This was super yummy! I've always hated the taste and texture of meat, so I'm one vegan who doesn't even like the mock meat. But this was so good I didn't mind that the texture was crazy close to the real thing. The best strips were crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. The buffalo wing and blue cheese dip combo was prefect and made my vegetarian man very happy.

Superbowl Sunday Menu [Vegan]

Oh, Superbowl Sunday, the day that guarantees Adam will be glued to the tv. The day men believe they should never have to work. The day where us women who care nothing for sports, become invisible. And though I hate the sport of football, I do love this day. For as much as Adam likes to watch football, he likes to eat. And as much as he likes to eat, I like to cook. I was planning my menu for weeks. Since it turned out to be only Adam and I, I had to cut it down to only a few select dishes, most of which I was creating for the first time. Heres a preview of the Superbowl recipes I'll be posting:

Buffalo Wings & Blue Cheese: Guacamole: Mexi-Cheddar Nachos: Olive & Blue Cheese Ball

Spur of the moment, I decided to make some cupcakes. And while they turned out very pretty, they were also pretty gross. I don't think I've ever made a bad cupcake before. We threw them all away they were so bad.

Besides the cupcakes, everything was delicious. Adam was full and happy which always makes my day. He loved the vegan buffalo wings best. And I must admit, they did kick ass. I'll make sure to post the recipes soon.