Another great thing about this weekend was the weather! Yes, I’m being Minnesotan again, but seriously folks, who can deny that 40+ degrees can make you so happy? We were able to go on a few walks and truly enjoy the smell of spring.
Although spring is right around the corner, we still have to wait a little while for fresh and local veggies. I get through it by still making tasty recipes such as this dish for Cheese and Spinach Stuffed Mushrooms from the latest issue of Eating Well.
I was lucky enough to find huge mushroom caps at Valley Natural Foods along with some great looking spinach. While the mushroom caps were roasting in the oven, I was able to chop and mix together the other stuffing quite easily. I made the marinara sauce from scratch.
Ever since we ran out of spaghetti sauce unexpectedly a few weeks ago, we’ve been obsessed with making our own marinara. It’s so easy and I used the Veganomicon recipe for reference.
Here’s what you do:
Heat a teaspoon of olive oil in a saucepan.
Mince a few cloves of garlic and cook until fragrant.
Add herbs of your choice (basil, oregano, whatever you have) along with a 15 ounce can of crushed tomatoes (or diced tomatoes to make it chunkier).
Cover and let simmer for 15 minutes.
After simmering, I add some garlic powder, a couple pinches of sugar, and a sprinkle of salt and pepper.
Well, I’m off to enjoy the nice weather again and go for a quick jog (need to burn some calories to compensate for a happy hour tonight!)
Hi, Cyan,
ReplyDeleteWe also make our own marinara sauce when we buy a bushel of ripe tomatoes at the end of the season from the Mpls farmer's mkt. We freeze it in quart size bags and are down to our last two portions!
I am trying out your Cooking Light seitan tacos on my kids tonight. Searching for seitan recipes brought me to your site--it's a wonderful read, and I'll be back again.
Thanks Sujata! I can't wait until we can get a ton of tomatoes. I'll keep it in mind to freeze them to last us through the winter.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the tacos - they are great!
Crystal
I hear ya about the weather! On the weekend we hit 16C, which is roughly around 60F! It's supposed to stay "warm" for most of the week. People are digging out and wearing their shorts already. Then there are some crazies that wear shorts in the winter. Is that just a Canadian thing or do you have those kind there too? HAHA!
ReplyDeleteI'm not a fan of the mushroom, but the cheese and spinach part looks delish.
I, too, will be freezing more tomatoes this next winter. I like to slow roast them . . . gives them a really good flavor.
ReplyDeleteI could never serve the mushroom to Ron, but he would go for the spinach and cheese. So I'll have to try this and put his on some kind of toasted bread :)
Love You!