alyssa came over for dinner tonight and i concocted this pasta dish out of my fridge contents.  fusilli pasta, grilled portabellas marinated in red wine, tamari, and garlic, fresh cherry tomatoes, and tempeh marinated in dijon mustard, wine, basil, thyme, with wilted spinach and topped with nooch.  light and filling, perfect for a fall-is-in-the-air outdoor dinner.

earlier in the day i made some “chedda cheeze” from the ultimate uncheese cookbook, and tonight veganized a savory scone recipe to use up the last of my watercress and leeks.

fresh out of the oven!  and here, topped with some earth balance:

i have done a lot of deep cleaning (bathroom, stove and oven) in the apartment today, and even though i woke up at 1.15pm(!), i am totally exhausted.  i don’t have much energy for blogging, except to add as a side note that today i ordered some delicious fabrics from reprodepot to recover couch cushions and dining chairs in after we move.  thrills!!

i am really liking the swiss cheez… i can’t stop eating sandwiches!  this is romas, fresh basil, swiss, herbamare and black pepper on rye.

i think i might make the swiss again before i try anything else, but i am definitely interested in the colby and muenster block uncheeses too.  the best part is i definitely have a recipe for a fall fondue party!

i was saddened by the 70s cookbook look of my previous reuben post, although i have a certain fondness for 70s casserole cookbook photography.  just not in my food photography.  and i’ve been craving and consuming these tempeh reubens like mad!  last night i made a half-batch of the swiss cheez from the uncheese cookbook, subbing white wine for most of the water, and incorporated that into my sandwich as well.  here is an assembled, pre-cut photo:

following that, a cut and plated tempeh reuben with swiss and gedney sauerkraut–crispy, crunchy, juicy, tangy and rich:

i dunno… maybe it still looks slightly washed out.  but it’s better.  one day i will have perfect reuben-porn.

today i made the traditional macaroni and cheese from the ultimate uncheese cookbook (pictured with a baby spinach salad with red peppers and italian dressing). the recipe seemed so simple and almost boringly so, but oh boy, it is totally AMAZING. i don’t know if it’s because i haven’t had cheese in so long or something, but this was so so good. i think it helped that it wasn’t overly nutritional yeast-y (even though i love the stuff), and maybe my addition of diced shallots, tomatoes, and a splash of lemon juice to the sauce helped. i do think i cooked too much pasta for the dish, though, because it could have been saucier, but i am still really happy with it.

my version of the uncheese sauce (for 160z. pasta):

2 tbsp olive oil
1 shallot, finely diced
1/3 c oat flour
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
1/8 tsp cayenne
1/4 tsp paprika
2 c soymilk, heated
a couple squirts of ketchup (optional, mostly for color)
1/2 c nutritional yeast
1 small tomato, diced
splash of lemon juice
salt and pepper
heat the oil in a small saucepan, then add the shallots and cook for a couple minutes. whisk in the flour, cayenne, paprika, and dijon to make a thick roux. slowly add the soymilk a little bit at a time, allowing the mixture to continuously bubble between additions. if the sauce gets too thick, add a little more soymilk (it should be like a very very thick cream, but still pourable).  add ketchup if using.  remove from heat and stir in nutritional yeast, tomatoes, lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste.

pour this over cooked pasta, stir to coat evenly, and bake in the oven at 350 for 20-25 minutes until the top just starts to brown. serve with a nice green salad.

also, i have been making a couple tasty things, like tasty s’mores cupcakes (except i had to use animal crackers because i couldn’t find any vegan graham crackers) topped with vanilla buttercream and shaved chocolate, and an equally tasty tempeh reuben from the candle cafe cookbook. sadly, however, i had no digital camera with which to capture their glory, for i have been using a’s, and she left for her three-and-a-half-week-tour yesterday. so today i splurged and got myself a canon powershot sd750 digital elph (!), to ward off any unfortunate camera-less opportunities in the future. i like it very much! and am learning to use macro mode and set my focus and all that sort of thing. i hope my food porn will continue to improve.

now that i am functionally single for most of the month, i think i will find a lot more time to cook until unholy hours of the night and make shite-tons of baked goods (my new interest). get ready…