Cooking From My Cookbooks - 30 Minute Vegan

My cookbook collection has gotten pretty large over the years. So big in fact, there are some books that never get much attention. I thought I'd roll a few goals into one ongoing project: cooking something from all of my cookbooks, eating healthier by greatly reducing my use of processed food and eating out less. I may be a big old food geek, but I'm pretty excited about it.

I'm starting off by going alphabetically, but who knows how it will go. The first book I opened up was The 30-Minute Vegan by Mark Reinfeld and Jennifer Murray. This book was a gift from my lovely friend Julie. She is one of the most thoughtful people. She never forgets a birthday or any other holiday for that matter. I need to cook for her more often for sure. I think this gift may have been her hint to me.

I've been a bit lazy and not wanting to heat up the kitchen, so anything that required turning on the oven was a big no! I had some fresh spinach in the crisper and a hankering for greens. Fred always loves pasta, but is a self proclaimed "red sauce guy", so I wasn't sure this would be his thing. I opted for the Pasta Florentine (page 221). It wasn't red sauce, but how can you turn down a dinner you didn't have to make? I am not a huge fan of faux cheeses, so I left out the mozzarella. I did however slice up and brown some of Julie Hasson's Italian Sausages that I had made last weekend. They were yummy on this fairly simple pasta dish. I think without them it may have been a little boring. But it was a nice filling and quick week night dinner.