Butternut Squash Filling is Why Ravioli Was Invented, Right?

The first time I had butternut squash ravioli it was thanks to a Lean Cuisine a few years ago. Now, before you question my tastes, just know it was actually really, really good. Lately I have been meaning to make ravioli the kind of homemade/kind of lazy way, using wonton wrappers, but when I found frozen butternut squash ravioli sans cheese in the freezer section for under $4, I figured that would be way better- and way easier. I did, however, go ahead and make a sauce from scratch and fancy it up with lots of veggies to compensate.


So, here's dinner. On the floor. In front of our sliding glass door. Here in Colorado-Land it's about to start getting dark around 4:30, and anything that is even remotely sauce-y looks super gross and slimy under our dining room lights, so I have to work to get any kind of natural light. This photo doesn't do this yummy pile of deliciousness justice though. Despite being pre-made, the ravioli was really good and well seasoned. I made a creamy garlic sauce with about 5 cloves of fresh garlic, half a cup of unsweetened coconut milk, some olive oil, and various spices of paprika, thyme, basil, rubbed sage, and a sprinkle of flour and some vegan butter to thicken it up. I cubed a large 'bella mushroom and thinly chopped three big rainbow chard leaves, sauteed them in light oil, and then tossed them in the sauce. When the ravioli was done cooking it too was tossed in, and chopped roma tomatoes were added at the very end, just so they were warmed through but not cooked down. Everything except the 'bellas came from our CSA, and you could really tell with the tomatoes- they had such a good flavor.


Because the main dish was pretty decadent thanks to the creamy sauce I wanted to keep things light on the side. Broccoli, squash, carrot, and chopped rainbow chard were tossed in a very light coating of rosemary balsamic dressing, then topped with chia seeds and a handful of trail mix- pistachios, almonds, walnuts, sunflower seeds, brown and golden raisins. Everything except the chia seeds/trail mix came from our CSA. I'm going to miss my weekly dose of local, fresh picked, organic food once winter rolls around. There are a few winter farmers' markets, but it's not *quite* the same. While I don't miss living Texas I have to say to those of you that have a year round growing season- you're very lucky.

Check out www.localharvest.org to see what CSA's and farmers' markets are available near you. Usually they're somewhere around $30 a week, and you get a ton of food. Plus you're cutting down on emissions from eating locally, the food is fresh and better for you, and it's often organic as well. You'd be surprised what's out there- Dallas is far, far, away from being remotely "green and crunchy" and yet there is a CSA with drop off points in 3 different areas of the metroplex. You might discover an entire underground of local food advocates right under your nose!

CSA filled Tacos

Last night, after we ate this dinner, we headed off to a party. My internship director invited me, and all he said was "they have a treehouse, they hired a DJ, and they're roasting an entire goat". We did time it to show up when the goat *wasn't* being roasted, and had already been taken down and divvied up. We both had a great time, and the party was wonderful. The DJ even jumped over the side of the treehouse in the rock climbing harness they keep for that purpose. Oh, and there was a keg. Let me just say, having lots of drunk people crawling up into a two story + tree house, and then jumping over the edge, seemed like it was full of YouTube potential. As a non-drinker, I always get to enjoy the antics of those around me who *are* partaking. But, on to what you come here for- the food!



Lately I've been trying to use up the random things I have in the pantry before buying more groceries, since between said random things and our CSA I have a lot of options. This was a pantry + CSA = dinner creation last night. Blue corn organic taco shells that had been hiding on the top shelf were stuffed with sauteed squash, zucchini, green bell peppers, and white onions, topped with the avocado sauce from the other night, chipotle salsa, red onions, and chopped rainbow swiss chard. Everything except the salsa and avocado sauce is from our CSA. We've been getting so many different things the last few weeks and it's been awesome. I served it with black beans and rice from a box, to which I added two cups of some more chopped rainbow swiss chard. This was super good and very easy. It might not be gourmet, but that's not really my aim :) I like healthy, simple, and relatively quick when it comes to day to day dinners. I'm much more likely to cook, and enjoy cooking, without having to make everything a big production.

Sunshine Burgers at Sunset

After a week in Chicago with our mutual friend Jo, Bobby flew out to join us on Friday night. The three of us spent the weekend in the city, and then Bobby and I hopped on the Amtrak Labor Day afternoon and headed back to Colorado. It's a pretty painless train ride- we got on at 2 p.m. on Monday, and arrived in Denver at 8:30 a.m. the next morning. We got a sleeper car, which was very much like staying in a Transformers Hotel room. Everything in it served at least two functions, and could be folded and turned into something else. Plus it's much more comfortable than sleeping in the coach car seats- I've done the 36 hour Los Angeles to Seattle train ride, and it's hard to sleep when someone keeps waking you up to offer you vodka. But anyway, on to the food...


It was pretty painful to have to toss out so much CSA produce, but Bobby simply couldn't eat it fast enough on his own, and then both of us were gone for those three days. So, after cleaning out the fridge today, I threw together a meal- yes, this sounds just like my post before last, I know, but we've been doing tons of traveling lately! We had BBQ sunshine burgers topped with a sauce I threw together in the food processor: avocado, red onion, fresh garlic, garlic salt, pepper, a splash of raspberry lime dressing, a handful of cashews, and a dash of Frank's Red Hot. Tomatoes from the CSA were chopped and sprinkled on top.

The burgers were served with pickled beets purchased from our local farmer's market, as well as roasted veggies spiced with cumin, salt, and pepper: green bells and squash from our CSA, and organic red onion. I topped them with more of the spicy avocado spicy cream sauce because it was really, really good.

Right as I was finishing up my last bite, I noticed a streak of pink from the sliding doors. I got up to investigate, and found this awesome sunset filling up the sky. Literally 5 minutes later it was gone. I loved Chicago and I already miss Jo, but it is so good to be back home.

Chicago Diner

I spent a week in Chicago with our mutual friend Jo, and then Bobby flew out on Friday night to join us for his birthday weekend- his birthday is today actually, I'm glad he was born to say the least ;)

He flew in late Friday night, so Saturday we decided to hit up Chicago diner for lunch. It was AWESOME. Please go if you're ever in the area, it is very worth it and is pretty accessible from the L- we walked about a mile, which is really nothing in the grand scheme of city walking.





When the waitress asked for our drink order, I went first and ordered a cola. Then Bobby and Jo ordered shakes, so I decided that sounded good. Bobby got cookie dough, I got vanilla chai. Mine tasted like a pumpkin pie shake and it was really, really good. The restaurant is all vegetarian but most things are vegan, like the shakes.

I got the "Pork" Tacos, and they were a very, very good choice. The seitan (wheat meat) is marinated in a pineapple sauce, then grilled, and it was piled with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, salsa, avocado slices, and vegan sour cream- this was my favorite sour cream, as it was light and creamy, almost fluffy.

I ordered a side of biscuits and gravy with "sausage"- also seitan. I was a bit disappointed, if only because every vegan/veg restaurant I've gone to makes brown gravy and biscuits, not white gravy. I'm a Southern girl from Texas, brown gravy doesn't make sense to me on biscuits. On stuffing, yes. Biscuits.. where's that creamy white gravy? I've had vegan white gravy before, and I've made it myself, so I guess I'll just have to keep cooking it at home. But the search continues.

All in all, this place rocked. Great service, and although it was packed there was a quick turnover and we were seated immediately. Plus, it wasn't pretentiously expensive like a lot of vegan/veg places can be. I would definitely go back the next time I'm in Chicago, and I highly recommend it!

Using up This and That

With all the trips Bobby and I have been taking, we've eaten a lot of fruit, crackers, granola bars, and PB&J's on the road. Upon returning (briefly) to our homebase, there were lots of odds and ends to use up. This is the result of cleaning out the fridge...



A vegan sausage patty sandwich on onion poppy seed bread with spring mix, swiss chard, tomatoes, sliced beets/radishes, chopped green and red bell pepper, and a good slather of vegan mayo and spicy horseradish mustard. About half of those veggies were from our CSA. The sides are asparagus, and CSA green beans with walnuts sauteed in fresh garlic. Not too bad for a meal consisting of little bits and pieces and odds and ends.

Letting Someone Else Cook

I had been wanting Thai food for a while, and Bobby had asked around work for good suggestions. We were pointed in the direction of Bann Thai restaurant downtown. I am so glad we went, because we will definitely be going back.



Bobby and I shared a bowl of tom kha soup, with tofu instead of veggies- this was one of the options on the menu, not a special request. With the tofu it was vegan, how easy is that? If you've never had tom kha, it's a lemongrass flavored coconut milk soup with carrots, mushrooms, and usually chicken. My favorite place in Dallas makes it vegan, and then just adds in chicken at the end, so that's pretty friendly too :)



The main event, pineapple stir fried rice- I ate about 1/3 before I remembered to take a picture, it was that good. This was the best version of this dish I've ever had. I really love the smoky taste of fried rice, that's one flavor that can be lacking even in a vegetarian diet since it's usually accompanying grilled meat. This dish also had the option of 3 different kinds of meat or tofu, I would usually forgo the tofu but I tried it this time. It was filled with carrots, tomatoes, small bits of broccoli, toasted cashews, and juicy pineapple chunks, and would normally come with eggs but those were easily left out. All of this was flecked with basil and topped with cilantro and green onions. Bobby had a pineapple curry, and we were happy to discover that they didn't use fish paste in *any* of their curries or other dishes. We'll be back for more menu exploration I'm sure.

Thai food is a great eat-out option for vegans that doesn't make you feel like you've created a bunch of gaps in your meal with the absence of animal products. The main thing to look out for is the fish paste in the curries, and asking them to leave out the eggs on the stir fries. Even in Dallas, which is far from veg/vegan friendly, there was always an option for tofu in all of the stir fries and curries to sub for the meat. Plus, Thai food is just delicious, so it's always good to try and have some in your life.

Clapping over a Pot

Forgive me kittens. Even with a good camera and somewhat ok light, it is terribly difficult to take an attractive picture of a creamy pasta dish. This doesn't come close to capturing in photo form just how good this was. The sides are simple- asparagus pan fried in a smidge of olive oil, seasoned with only black pepper and a hint of salt. The potatoes were roasted in the oven with sage, rosemary, garlic, and olive oil. The pasta sauce was made up of 3 colors of bell peppers, zucchini, squash, red onions, beets, and leftover swiss chard all sauteed in fresh garlic, red onions, and olive oil. Then it simmered in a light covering of homemade tomato sauce. In the end it was all doused in the red pepper cashew cheese sauce I discovered a while back. This velvety veggie goodness was piled on top of tri-color pasta, and served with onion poppyseed bread.

If you're eating vegan and you miss that creamy, rich mouthfeel and taste of buttery pastas, I highly suggest playing around with the hundreds upon hundreds of variations of cashew cheese out there in the wide world. Yes, nuts are fatty and higher calorie, but so is a pile 'o cheese and butter. In the end, you don't use that many nuts- this had 1/4 of a cup of raw, unsalted cashew nuts in it, and it fed 4 adults with two meals left over. So, very low nut to person ratio. Plus, the fat in nuts is the kind of fat that would make your body happy, and it would give you a high five for it, but really you'd just be standing in your kitchen clapping over a pot, so maybe don't do that ;)

Don't worry if your first tries at cashew cheese fail, I tried two recipes before I just kind of made up my own based on two others I combined. Any Google search of "vegan cashew cheese" will happily return heaps of pages for you to sift through. One thing I've found out- most include lemon juice, in copious amounts. The lemon gives it a necessary tart element, but I generally like using about half of what they suggest. I usually just squeeze out one lemon and call it a day. Let me know if you try any cashew cheese recipes!