We ended the work week with getting Chinese take out for dinner tonight.  I had vegetable lo mein and the hubby had combination fried rice.  The veggie lo mein is loaded with a lot of goodness.  This includes broccoli, carrots, scallions, mushrooms, cabbage and snap peas.

This weekend will be a busy weekend of working out in the vegetable garden.  It is time to pull some weeds out of the beds.  I am also going to plant hostas and ferns in a shady place under a couple of trees.  Since we now have a fence, I can plant some of my favorite plants without the deer munching on them.  I also plan to get a rose bush and gardenia to plant.  I know the deer can jump a six-foot fence so I am going to plant a few plants at a time to test the deer.  I want to make sure that they will not jump the fence, before planting a lot of plants.

Do you subscribe to Runner’s World or receive the email newsletter?  There is an interesting article in the newsletter about Scott Jurek.  Not sure if everyone knows who he is, but he is vegan and a ultramarathoner.  Very impressive!  He is vegan, not because of animal rights but because it makes him feel good.  He has book coming out titled, “Eat & Run”.  You can read the article from the Runner’s World newsletter here.

There was one yellow squash ready to be picked in our garden today.  I had already bought one yellow and one zucchini squash in the grocery store for the pasta sauce today, but since one of our squashes was ready I threw that in the sauce.  I grilled the veggies for a nice smoky flavor.

There was also basil ready so that went into the sauce as well.  I am growing Genovese Basil, which has a very good flavor with a little sweetness.  I added a handful to the sauce which equals about a 1/4 of a cup.  A lot of times when I make sauce for pasta, I do not measure items.  It is more like a pinch of this and a handful of that.

For lunch, I made a sandwich with my version of eggless salad.  I like adding mashed avocado instead of a lot of mayonnaise.  The avocado gives it moisture which is what I would usually use the mayonnaise for.  So instead of adding a few tablespoons of mayonnaise, I just added one tablespoon along with half of a mashed avocado.

Pasta Sauce

1/4 cup olive oil

1 yellow squash, grilled and then chopped

1 zucchini squash, grilled and then chopped

1 can 15 oz peeled whole tomatoes, crushed

1 tablespoon garlic, minced

1/4 cup basil, chopped

salt and pepper to taste

Cut yellow squash and zucchini in half.  Brush with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Place on grill and cook for 5 minutes on each side.  Remove to a plate and set aside.

In a large saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat.  Add garlic and cook until fragrant. Add tomatoes.  Reduce heat to medium low and simmer, breaking up tomatoes with the back of a spoon until crushed.  Continue to simmer until thickened.  Add water if necessary if sauce is too thick.

Slice the grilled vegetables and add to the sauce.  Add basil and salt and pepper to taste.  Add sauce to your favorite cooked pasta and serve.

Eggless Egg Salad

1/2 of a 16oz container of firm tofu, rinsed, drained and pressed for 30 minutes, crumbled

1/2 of an avocado, mashed

1/2 stalk of celery, chopped

2 tablespoons onion, chopped

1 tablespoon dill pickle relish

1 tablespoon vegan mayonnaise

salt and pepper to taste

In a medium bowl combined all ingredients.  Chill for 3o minutes or longer.  Serve on bread or a pita with lettuce and tomato.

I used the Vegan Slow Cooker cookbook this evening.  I have been neglecting my slow cooker lately.  It is so nice to have dinner ready when I get home from work, yet my slow cooker is under-utilized.  One of my favorite slow cooker cookbooks is Vegan Slow Cooker by Kathy Hester.  It is full of a variety of recipes from soups to desserts.  Her website has great recipes too and is definitely worth the visit.

The White Bean Sweet Potato Soup is very good.  I used kale instead of swiss chard because that is what I had on hand.  The hubby suggested spinach next time since he is not a huge kale fan.  I think this soup would be good with any choice of greens that you like.  I do not like swiss chard, but I am trying to enjoy it.  I read something and I do not recall where I read it, but if you try something ten times you will start to like it.  So I am trying to like brussel sprouts and swiss chard.

This soup is nice because there are not a lot of ingredients so even if you wait until the morning to prepare it for your slow cooker, it only takes about 15 minutes.  But definitely if you have the time and the space, preparing the night before is the best.