Pita sandwiches to die for, soup, squash and spice cake!

God this was so good. Hummus, olive tapenade, avocado and tomato in a pita.

Gorgeous isn't it?

Another sandwich, this time with pico de gallo instead of plain tomato. Just as delicious.

VWAV split pea soup never disappoints.

Beautiful baby squashes with shaved brussels, roasted.

Spice cake from a box made with canned pumpkin and topped with cinnamon bun frosting.

It's a lovely and relaxing Saturday. Nibbles to nosh!

We love to nosh on delicious spreads that go well with baguettes and crackers. They are especially nice on weekends because we are relaxed and unhurried and martinis are usually on the menu as well.

First up, we have really amazing hummus and garlic spread from Fresh n Nova that find at Whole Foods. So far this is the best packaged hummus for me. I don't know why it's so hard to find good packaged hummus! Below is the garlic spread which is very much like the famous garlic spread at local middle eastern restaurant Zankou Chicken. So garlicky and amazing.

My husband is a runner (I'm more like a "kind-of" runner!) so he was excited to get this book which has both meat and veggie recipes. The vegan recipes are clearly marked which I like. It's a gorgeous book with tempting recipes.

Pretty photos too and clear, concise recipes.

Here is the chickpea spread. I made it pretty much how it was written except I added the juice of a small lemon. It needed some brightness. I also chilled it a bit instead of serving it hot. It's really good!

And a quick olive tapenade made with chopped black and green olives, red onion, white onion, garlic, red wine vinegar and olive oil.

All together now. Let me tell you, it's all scrumptious and vegan! My husband loved it so much he wants it all again tomorrow!

I Love a Good Sandwich.

This sandwich was calling my name so I gave in and bought a fresh baguette. I spread Vegenaise, dijon mustard and piled lettuce, avocado (hiding under the tomatoes!), tomatoes and homemade olive salad. Damn. This was so good.

Olive Salad Recipe

1/4 cup black olives, chopped
1/4 cup green olives, chopped
1/8 cup onion, chopped
1/8 cup pepperoncini peppers, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 TB red wine vinegar
2 TB olive oil or more
Mix all ingredients together and store in a tupperware container in the fridge.

Olive Tapenade Pasta

Used up the leftover olive tapenade to make this pasta. I just sauteed it with olive oil, garlic, red onions and mushrooms and tossed it all with noodles. Simple and delicious!

Hummus, Black Olive Tapenade, Black Pepper Cheeze

To continue yesterday's delicious Mediterranean theme, I made a few things to enjoy today. The rain had gone, leaving a bright, breezy and sunny day in it's wake. I was not going to waste a weekend by staying indoors and not enjoy the beauty. I brought my book and a tray of delicious snacks to the patio.


My tray of deliciousness. I made hummus and I always use the same recipe everytime which is from the "Tables of Lebanon" cookbook. It's creamy, lemony and garlicky and just perfect. I also made black olive tapenade, black pepper cheeze and mint iced tea. And of course with all these dips and spreads, I had pita bread and fresh baguette slices.


Black olive tapenade. Recipe from "The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen". It's made with olives, garlic, dijon, capers, herbes de provence and olive oil. So good. I can see this being used to toss with hot pasta.


Black pepper cheeze from "Ani's Raw Food Kitchen", made with cashews, garlic, lemon juice, black pepper and crushed red pepper.


Mmm, can you imagine?

Pasta. Again!

It's just too easy. I made this last night after staring into the refrigerator for about 5 minutes, totally stumped as to what I felt like having. I saw broccoli. I saw grape tomatoes. I also saw olives and "Parmezano Sprinkles"*. I'll make pasta! Luckily I had a box of angel hair pasta in the cupboard. Not my favorite (I'm into spaghetti and linguine) but it would have to do. I sauteed the broccoli, tomatoes and some garlic in olive oil, cooked the pasta and tossed it all together, adding lots more olive oil, 4-5 more cloves of crushed garlic and the olives. I sprinkled some crushed red pepper flakes and the vegan parmesan (not pictured) over the top. It was delicious. It made a mountain of pasta so we'll be having it again tonight.

*"Parmezano Sprinkles" is a recipe from The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook. It's a vegan parmesan cheese substitute which uses almonds, miso paste, nutritional yeast and salt. Email me if you want the recipe! devilandmouse[at]yahoo.com

Gimme more pizza!

After two days of eating healthy casserole (I ate that whole thing by myself!), I am ready for some junky food. I was so in love with the pizza I made the other day that I had to make another one. I got some whole wheat dough to make it a little healthier this time. This one has lightly sauteed onions, garlic, cremini mushrooms, black olives, broccoli and red peppers. Oh and a little leftover "pepper jack uncheese" that was left over and vegan parmesan sprinkled on top. All that's missing is red pepper flakes. Yum yum yum yum yum...

Several pics to show you the goods.






I was hypnotized by this piece of mushroom drowning in a pool of "uncheese".

VeganMoFo: I Heart Olives.

Whenever I go to Whole Foods Market, I like to stroll by the fresh olive bar and just feast with my eyes and nose. They've got a serious variety of mouthwatering olives, some stuffed, some unstuffed, in black, purple, green, brown... They are beautiful. But unfortunately in this time of financial concern, they are way too expensive, like $13245677 a pound. No, not really but still way more than I can afford for a tiny container of olives. I've bought some before here and there in the past and they were divine but haven't lately because of the price tag.

The only olives I cook with are the really bland California black olives or jarred green olives and now that I think about it, that's kind of sad. And I don't really eat those out of hand because they don't offer that much in flavor. I was flipping through my new favorite cookbook, 'Olive Trees and Honey' and I found a section on marinated olives. I had a large jar of plain green spanish olives in my pantry and decided to use them to make these Moroccan Fiery Marinated Olives or Zeitoom al Had as they are called in Arabic. Wow, these are hot and so flavorful! They are cooked in a sauce of tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, cumin, lemon slices and harissa and then left to cool. These would have been great as part of the meze last night.