King and I OST ~ Shall We Dance?
Melissa Etheridge ~ Miss California
Faith No More ~ We Care A Lot
Dead Sara ~ I Said You Were Lucky
Cult ~ Fire Woman
Foo Fighters ~ Walking After You
The Gossip ~ Coal To Diamonds
Beth Hart ~ There In Your Heart
Pitbull ~ I Know You Want Me
Sting ~ Desert Rose
Weezer ~ Buddy Holly
The Pretty Reckless ~ Light Me Up
Eddie Vedder ~ Once In Awhile
Katy B ~ What Love Is Made Of
Today I have the pleasure of the company of my littlest niece Layla so no doubt it will be a busy day lol. She recently turned 3 and already I have her practising her kitchen skills. lol. She can peel root veggies like a pro (on a bad day..ahem) and she loves to bring her stool into the kitchen and stand next to me as I cook at the stove. She enjoys stirring the pot (flipping half of the contents over the hob..lol) and her smile when we've finished making her soup for lunch is adorable..the little minx. I am awaiting her arrival so right now I am unsullied but give Layla an hour and I'll be covered in paints, drinks and food products. lol. I love it...and I'm learning Spanish watching Dora, don't ya know lol.
Last night I made a new pasta recipe and I have to say I gave it an 11/10 in my scoring system. It was delicious. I served mine with a little buckwheat fusilli which was a good combo and, as always, some steamed side veggies. I don't know about you guys but I always save my favourite part of my meal until last. I like to savour the last few mouthfuls which is almost always Brussels sprouts or broccoli...or chickpeas. However last night I hastily ate my side veggies and slowly ate every mouthful of the pasta and sauce, taking in every flavour as it hit my palate.
This sauce recipe comes from Linda Majzlik's A Vegan Taste of Italy. I have the whole series of Majzilk's cookbooks and they were among the first I ever bought. I love them because they are interesting recipes, made with great ingredients and I haven't had a duff one yet. Maybe one that wasn't to my personal taste but you can't hold that against her..lol. I am always on the lookout for new pasta sauce recipes as pasta is one of my favourite foods. And now I have found a good version of GF shaped pasta, I decided to give this one a go.
I adapted it by using dried herbs because I didn't have the fresh ones available but I don't think it lost anything for it. The hardest work when making this recipe is finely chopping the carrots but, really, is that hard work? lol. I can only use one brand of tinned tomato because they don't put citric acid in them and when I added them to the pan it was clear that it would need a little tomato paste (also without citric acid added) boost so I added 1 tbsp of that too.
I really lucked out with my cannellini beans yesterday because they were tender and succulent and not hard as bullets as some canned varieties can be. The sauce they were cooking in was intensely herby and the onion, celery, garlic and carrots cooked down into it beautifully. To be honest I could've happily eaten the sauce without the pasta and may do just that with the leftovers. As the recipe serves four I separated it into four portions...one to eat last night..one as leftovers in the fridge for later in the week and two portions for the freezer. Marvellous..and I think this recipe would be great with pasta, rice, jacket potato, quinoa..oh well, with all the usual suspects...lol
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| Cannellini Beans in Tomato Sauce...so good! |
Cannellini Beans in Tomato Sauce Serves 4
(Recipe from A Vegan Taste of Italy/Majzlik)
30oz/850g tinned cannellini beans, drained and rinsed (I used 2 tins)
14oz/400g tin of chopped tomatoes
8oz/225g carrot, peeled and finely chopped
2 celery sticks, trimmed and finely sliced
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tbsp olive oil (I used 1 tsp)
1 dsp finely chopped fresh sage (I used 1/2 tsp dried)
1 dsp finely chopped fresh basil (I used 1 tsp dried)
freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp tomato paste/puree (my adaption)
roughly chopped flat leaf parsley to garnish
Heat the oil in a large saucepan and gently fry the onion, garlic and celery until softened. Add the remaining ingredients and stir well. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for about 30 minutes until the vegetables are tender and the mixture thickens. Stir frequently to prevent sticking. Serve..
Enjoy!
Thanks for stopping by and I hope your Tuesday is as busy as mine but also as full of joy...
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| Grrrrrr...Polar Bear sugar cookies ala Layla & Auntie R...lol |
~Red~
NB: This is not my recipe so therefore I take no credit for it. It is the hard work and creative talent of Linda Majzlik and hers alone. I thank her for such a great cookbook series and the inspiration...~R~
