Pasta, Pizza, and Carmel-PB Apple Bars

Last night I really wanted something with mushrooms. I didn't really care what it was, it just needed to have lots of mushrooms. That's usually how I decide what to eat: I crave something intensely and then build a meal around it. (What's really weird is when I crave something I've never eaten before- and, no, I'm NOT pregnant).

I was going to make mushroom wild rice soup, but Mike prefers not to eat soup unless it's my seitan and dumplings, so I decided to make a mushroom pasta dish instead- An instant winner in Mike's eyes. I cooked some fusilli pasta (white pasta, even!). Then I sauteed portobello and button mushrooms with thyme and sage and set them aside. I made the sauce with a flour and Earth Balance roux and added almond milk, tamari, sage, thyme, salt/pepper, a bit of nutritional yeast, and a big blob of plain soy yogurt.


The sauce thickened up nicely and looked a lot like a stroganoff. Mixed with the pasta it was a perfect 11pm dinner!

Today is Sunday, so that's my day to really pull off a great dinner. We eat dinner together as a family several times a week, but Sunday I try to make something really special to look forward to. Unfortunately, I felt like crap all day and didn't think I'd have any energy to cook. But I got a great idea to use up last year's bumper crop of pesto (before we harvest this year's basil). I made two big batches of pizza dough and added 3 ice cube sized things of pesto to eat batch. The crust looked kinda green which might be a turn-off to some people, but it smelled and tasted great! It would be really nice for foccacia bread, too. The toppings were local red onions, martini olives, green peppers from the garden, homemade tempeh sausage, and an awesome quick "cheese" sauce modeled after the late great Spokes Pizza in Minneapolis.


This close up makes me want to go to the fridge right now and eat the leftovers! But I'll be happier if I wait and eat them for breakfast.After all the talk on the PPK about Isa's PB Caramel Apple Bars, I really wanted to try them. And when Mike walked in the door with 3 bags of free Granny Smiths, I knew this was my chance.

WOW! Even just the Caramel PB Sauce is enough to make this amazing, not to mention the crust, apples, and crumble topping.

Next time I'm going to try the topping and sauce on top of a thick apple pie, though. The toppings are a bit rich for such a thin bar... But maybe I'm just a wuss.