Caprese

Mozzarella Tomato Basil. Need I say more?

Enjoy it slightly warmed on grilled bread
 

Or as a salad, no bread necessary to enjoy this scrumptious combo
 

Have I Mentioned this Pizza?

As soon as you get the chance, go to Carmelita for happy hour. The pizzas are so amazing, you will not be disappointed, nor will you be able to stop thinking about them. Ever since my first visit, I have been constantly trying to recreate them and while none of these are quite as good as theirs, we've been enjoying the results of my aspirations.

This is a Newman's Own Spinach and Cheese with the additional toppings of cremini mushrooms, pecans, roasted garlic, and wild arugula tossed with truffle oil, salt and pepper
 

The same store bought pizza again, but with some treats from the forager - porcini mushrooms and fiddlehead ferns, pecans, and green garlic slices.
 

Once it's out of the oven, I topped it again with the arugula tossed in truffle oil with salt and pepper.
 

Once, I was brave enough to make my own pizza whole wheat pizza dough. So good. This one is topped with roasted delicata squash, delicata seeds, kale, mushrooms, roasted onions, roasted garlic and a little parmesan. Love winter squash on pizza.

Creative Tacos

Since giving up meat, I've discovered that most vegetables/vegetarian dishes make delicious tacos. Though I am still occasionally wistful for carnitas, trying everything else in a tortilla has been a satisfying endeavor. Here are some great combos you can try at home.

Sauteed Zucchini, Basil, and Parmesan - this actually has yellow squash and squash blossom as well, but I just happen to have that. If you don't mind a little half and half, it coalesces the mix nicely, but is not necessary.
 

Banh Mi taco - we had some banh mi fixings left over and no bread, so I popped this into a corn tortilla instead. Charlie walked into the room as I was spreading the mayo on the tortilla and said "I like where this is going." We were still laughing as we ate.
 

Paneer curry with edamame, green beans, and carrots. The sauce I used is the coconut curry costco sells. You can also use any curry simmer sauce from trader joe's or make your own. This could be made vegan by subbing in tofu or potato for the paneer cheese. I had planned to only serve this over rice, but I remembered my odd taco successes of late and served it with tortillas as well, which really isn't a far cry from the round Indian flatbread Roti. When we were in Malaysia, a very popular street food dish was Roti Canai - which was basically a curry taco with Roti. This turned out so good that in future I'd make this for lunch without the rice.


Nearly every Mark Bittman post is irresistible to me, so after he posted about fava beans as an untraditional breakfast, I swooped into The Spanish Table to get some. I knew from experience at The Phoenicia restaurant on Alki, that ful madammes could not be made with fresh fave from the garden, but was a product of dried cooked beans and given how laborious it is to prepare fresh fave, I figured I would just pick up a can. Later, I read a blog post from a couple who tried doing the dried beans themselves and I am seriously glad I went for canned! Ful madammes is usually served with flatbread or pita, so why not a breakfast taco? Delicious!


Yet another variation of the Marination Mobile's "Sexy Tofu." Love this. Marinated tofu grilled up with some creamy slaw.

Oven roasted cauliflower

This is a totally amazing, easy low-calorie side dish. Chop your cauliflower into florets as you wait for the oven to hit 400. Toss the florets onto a greased pan (I find metal caramelizes it best) and sprinkle with smoked paprika, salt, and pepper, and roast it for about 20 minutes or so. I never can hold back enough to have left overs, but I bet that they would be good in quesidillas, pasta or topped with a fried egg :).
 

I miss the Green Cat Cafe

The Green Cat Cafe was a fabulous vegetarian restaurant on lower capitol hill's Olive Way. I loved everything on their menu, but two things I've had some success in replicating are the Buddha Bowl and the Tofu Scramble.

Buddha Bowls are a classic veggie meal - stir-fried tofu and vegetable atop brown rice with some peanut sauce. I've seen a billion variations on this with different sauces and vegetable combos, and being creative is totally the way to go with this. Still, pictured below is a classic combo that you can't go wrong with.
 

Green Cat's tofu scramble was special in a few ways. It was made heartier by being served on top of delicious roasted potatoes and the combination of curried tofu, broccoli, carrot and onion was simple and satisfying. The secret to good tofu scrambles is to add a tablespoon of nutritional yeast to the tofu. Nutritional yeast is one of my favorite things right now - it provides good protein and B12 to vegetarians, plus it tastes like nutty Parmesan cheese. It's umami amazing.
 

Eggs with Fines Herbes

Scrambled eggs are fantastic with the Fines Herbes combo. This is an awesome reason to grow some herbs. The combination is chervil, parsley, tarragon, and chive. Yum. I've never found chervil in the store, but if you can't grow your own, you can still try this. I noticed eggs with fines herbes on the menu at Toulouse Petit when we went there for the delicious breakfast happy hour with Jill and Morgan. You don't want to miss it!
 

Spanakopita

Spanakopita is a substantial vegetarian dish readily available in Greece, particularly during Lent. This is a great dish to make when you have too many leafy greens, especially if you have a combination of different types. During Lent this is made with sauteed leafy greens, oregano, dill, mint, onions, and garlic in a phyllo crust. During the rest of the year, eggs and feta are often added to the greens mixture. When I don't have feta, I've made a great Americanized version with cottage cheese.