Cherry Tomato and Roasted Red Pepper Bruschetta

I got 'Vegan Italiano' yesterday and wanted to break it in so I made this delicious bruschetta. So simple and so fresh, it has cherry tomatoes, roasted red peppers, garlic, fresh basil, olive oil and a touch of balsamic vinegar. This makes me think of what summer is going to be like. Fresh and colorful foods, baseball, sunny days...can't wait! (And this is coming from someone who loves rain and grey weather as well.)

Eggplant Chickpea Stew, Russian Salad and Lemon Cake

Munazalit Bathinjan or Eggplant and Chickpea Stew from "Classic Vegetarian Recipes from The Middle East and N. Africa". Origin of this recipe: Lebanon and Syria. It's wonderful both hot and at room temperature and served with pita and/or quinoa.


I made this delicious Russian Salad (from The Olive and The Caper cookbook) a few weekends ago and made it again today. It has potatoes, green beans, carrots, peas, baby lima beans and lemon caper mayo. This time I added lots of fresh dill.


Lemon cake!

Risi e Bisi (with carrots!)

This is the Rice and Pea soup from 1,000 Vegan Recipes aka "Risi e Bisi" in Italian. I only had "peas and carrots" in my freezer so I used them. The arborio rice is really creamy and gives the soup a comfort factor. It reminds me of Thai rice porridge. This is dinner tonight after an active day at work.

Pita Pizzas & Penne with Walnut-Dill Pesto

I'm really enjoying all of these mediterranean foods I've been eating. I already know that a lot of the ingredients in mediterranean cooking are very healthy and should be eaten as often as possible. Fresh vegetables, legumes, whole grains, fruits and all of the wonderful flavorings like garlic, olive oil, spices, herbs just make this the most wonderful kind of cooking in my book.


Last night for dinner I made pita pizzas using whole wheat pita bread, tomato sauce, fresh sliced tomatoes, red onions, mushrooms, tangy black olives, faux feta and oregano. Delicious!


For lunch today I made this tasty penne dish with walnut-dill pesto, sauteed garlic, eggplant, zucchini, tomato, mushrooms and olives. A gorgeous symphony of flavors!

Weekend Meze.

It rained last night and the forecast had predicted rain today but it has yet to come. I took advantage of the current blue skies and sun with slight breeze to lunch al fresco once again. I'm really getting used to this! It makes me look forward to the weekend. Come summer, this is will be a regular thing. Can't wait.


Another meze lunch with lots of things to nibble on and again with the mediterranean theme. I just got a new cookbook, "The Greek Vegetarian" and I wanted to use it today. I made from it Eggplant Puree with Walnuts and Fava Bean Stew with Mint. I also made hummus and a greek salad.


Hummus on the left and Eggplant Puree with walnuts (Makedonitiki Melitzanosalata) on the right. The eggplant puree was delicious and garlicky. The walnuts are first ground to a paste and then processed with roasted eggplant pulp.


Fava bean stew with mint (Koukia Stifado me Dyosmo). Delicious and filling tender fava beans with a base of tomatoes, red onions, garlic, mint and dill. I added dill because I'm crazy about it and a lot of greek dishes have fresh dill so it seemed rather fitting.


Greek salad with cucumbers, olives, red onions and "Betta Feta", a tofu based faux feta from The Ultimate Uncheese cookbook. Drizzled with olive oil and lemon juice.


First of the jasmine blooms I've seen this year.


Buster eating pita.


Dessert is banana bread that I made with the biggest ripest bananas that I found in our fruit bowl. The cake sunk in the middle a bit because of my impatience. I peeked in the oven way too many times!

Drunken Spaghetti with Tofu

I'm a big fan of Drunken Noodles or in Thai, "Pad Kee Mao" which is a delicious pan fried noodle dish flavored with Thai basil. Thai basil has a gorgeous flavor which has been described as slightly licoricey or minty. It's just wonderful! Unfortunately for me I didn't have any Thai basil today. I did have fresh mint leaves from the garden which I substituted with great results. This recipe is from the 1,000 vegan recipes cookbook. I chose it today because I had a ziploc bag of cooked spaghetti in my fridge that I had no idea what to do with. I used garlic, red onion, red pepper, kale, zucchini and mint with thin slices of fried tofu to whip up this fast and easy dish. In the Thai version of this dish we use flat rice noodles and they can be a pain to work with. The spaghetti makes this dish very easy. It came out very tasty and I plan to make this again.

Zucchini-Lemon Couscous

Ah...another gorgeous day in sunny California. More Mediterranean flavors here with the zucchini lemon couscous from a great cookbook called 'The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen' by Donna Klein. I believe this is the first vegan cookbook I ever bought and it's been wonderful. It doesn't call for any meat substitutes or tofu or tempeh or anything like that. It's just fresh and inherently vegan recipes from the mediterranean that have ingredients that are easy to find at your grocery store. Buy this book!