All-veggies-left-in-the-fridge Pasta

I do my grocery shopping on Sundays so for dinner last night, I wanted to make sure I used up any veggies left over from the past week that could soon go bad. I had some leftover broccoli from last Sunday's stir-fry and some zucchini and red pepper I had planned on using for a recipe I didn't have the energy to make yesterday. I chopped up all of these and threw them in a large pan along with a can of chickpeas to sautee in a little bi of olive oil, garlic, herbs, salt, and pepper. I covered the pan to make sure everything cooked thoroughly while I boiled some rotini. Tossing the cooked rotini with a splash of olive oil and salt and pepper gave it a bit of flavor but the star of this dish was the veggies. As soon as the zucchini was cooked through, I served the veggies atop the pasta for a light, easy, and delicious dish.

Broccoli Stir-fry with Rice Noodles

Another adventure in quick vegan cooking. I really am liking Short-Cut Vegan for easy meals when I don't feel like waiting an hour or more for dinner. This recipe provided two different options for sauces, included in the front of the book. I chose the maple and mustard sauce, very light and very tasty. The stir-fry itself had red pepper and water chestnuts along with the broccoli. Water chestnuts remind me of getting Chinese take-out as a kid. I was an even pickier eater then than now but I did love water chestnuts.

Spicy Tempeh and Brocolli with Pasta

I'm fairly new to tempeh. I had never tried it until this past winter at Weird Fish in San Fransisco. I had not had it since but I've had a craving for it recently and looked for a good tempeh recipe. This recipe is from Veganomicon and is actually "Spicy Tempeh and Broccoli Rabe with Rotelle" but I'm more of a broccoli person. I'm not even sure if the groceries around here carry broccoli rabe anyway.

This dish is absolutely delicious. I made the full recipe so I could bring the leftovers for lunch the next day and I even had some leftover for dinner the next night. It was that good. The dish is a bit complicated to make and does take some time because there are three different parts of the cooking process: boiling the pasta, steaming the tempeh in a marinade of sorts and then stirfrying it, and also stirfrying the broccoli. The tempeh is so flavorful as a result of the marinade with the right amount of bite from red pepper flakes. I love tempeh because of its nuttiness. Tofu can be bland and its texture uninspiring but tempeh is just great.

Once the three components are cooked, all are tossed into a large bowl and mixed together. The spiral of the pasta catches crumbles of the tempeh. There is no real sauce for the dish. Rather, the tempeh and broccoli are strong enough to stand on their own and a bit of red wine vinegar and salt and pepper is sprinkled over the mixture. The lack of heavy sauce is refreshing and again, the tempeh is just so good. I will definitely be making this dish again.