Fettuccine with Basil-Pea Cream

Fettuccine with Basil-Pea Cream from Vegan Italiano

My second recipe I tried from the cookbook Vegan Italiano looked pretty but other than that it was not much of a success.

I was expecting the dish to be a slightly sweeter version of pesto. But instead of the intense garlic or the herby burst of basil normally found in a pesto - all of the flavors ended up being a bit dull and muddied.

And I am beginning to wonder if the recipes in this vegan cookbook depend heavily on salt in order to make the flavors pop.

 
But, do not fear, I am not ready to throw in the towel quite yet.

I am going to try find a recipe in the book that does not require much salt and see how that one turns out.

I hope everyone is having a great Thursday!

 

My favorite gym personality

There are lots of personalities at the gym. 

The Talker

The Poser

The Serious, iPod wearing, Leave Me Alone Type


but the gym personality that is my favorite made an appearance today -


The Screamer


There are two types of screamers - 

1) The type that actually lifts heavy weights and they workout with a vein bulging (possibly stroke inducing) intensity. That one is not my favorite.


2) The type that clearly rarely works out, never lifts more than 10lbs but they give the performance of a lifetime with every lift. And my ultimate favorite is the screamer that ends the lifting scream with cave man like panting and grunting.


I would really look forward to going to the gym if it could be guaranteed the screamer would show up every time.


After my fun filled time at the gym I put together a salad (with some protein) for lunch.

Tomatoes, carrot, brown mushrooms, turkey breast, cucumber, spring mix and homemade salad dressing.

The dressing was a mix of Udo's oil, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, black pepper, mirin and rice wine vinegar.


I contemplated adding in some pickled cabbage but I ended up leaving it out.

Turkey for muscle building protein!

For dessert it was all about the berries:

Sliced strawberries and blackberries.

Time to get back to work!

What's for dinner?

Since I was still nursing my poor injured finger - I kept things simple for dinner. The dogs had to make do with plain kibble.

I steamed up some broccoli.

Then I tossed mushrooms, garlic powder, basil, oregano with some olive oil and sauteed them till they browned. Next, I poured in some spaghetti sauce (from a jar) and added some cubed tofu. I let it cook down for a while and then the cooked spaghetti went in.

Fresh chopped parsley on top.

 

Nice to know

This morning I made 2 cups of brown rice and while I was cheerily chopping up mushrooms and collard greens to add to the pot - I cut my finger.

It was bloody. It was horrific. I will spare you a picture of the mangled digit.

Did the dogs rush over in concern? Nope. As I stumbled around looking for band-aids - they sighed (my interpretation - "Well, crud, breakfast is going to take forever now...) and went back to bed. 

It is nice to know that if I ever bleed out they won't let it interfere with catching some shuteye. 

The mushrooms and greens pre bloody incident

Despite the dogs shocking lack of interest in my well being they got this for breakfast.

 
Brown rice with greens and mushrooms with broiled Halibut. I know it seems strange to feed the dogs this stuff - but truth be told - the fish was about to turn bad and I didn't want to eat it - but for the dogs? It is a delicacy. 

I poached one of the farm stand eggs and placed it on top of a bed of rice.

 

 While it looks yummy just the way it is - I ate it like this.

 The addition of a dash of blue cheese and some black pepper resulted in perfection!

 Happy Saturday!!