cold curry and pasta salad

I've been going to the sunset valley farmers market recently, and I bought another pesto from sgt peppers - red curry, which is mainly roasted red peppers and curry powder, with some sunflower seeds (in place of the pine nuts) and some parm.

TO prep for this recipe, I've already cooked up some chickpeas and have them stored in the fridge in their cooking broth, canned in fine too, you'll need about a cup of chickpeas for this recipe.

For the pasta, I like bowties (farfalle) or cavatappi, but gemelli would work well too.

Get a large pot of water on high heat for the pasta and a large saucepan for the curry sauce. Add a little oil to the pan, preferably peanut or olive. Finely chop a small onion and saute. Dice 3-4 medium roma tomatoes and set aside. Finely dice (like 1/4" cubes) a zucchini and a summer squash and add to the pan with the onions. Add the tomatoes to the pan when the onions begin to look translucent and reduce heat to medium. Season liberally with curry powder and a littel salt and pepper. Add 1 C cooked chickpeas with some liquid and reduce heat to medium low. Let simmer while you cook the pasta (probably 8-10 minutes). Drain the pasta and place in a large bowl or tupperware container.

Add 2-4 tbsp of the pesto to the pan, reduce heat to low and gently mix until the pesto and curry mixture are combined. Pour over the drained pasta and mix. Serve chilled or hot, depending on the season.

creamsicle smoothie

Silken tofu is pretty awesome, it's got great texture and a lot of protein. It will taste like whatever you want it to taste like. Use soft tofu for smoothies, and firm for dips and spreads.

Add 1 block silken soft tofu to a blender. Add 1 C orange juice and 1-2 tbsp orange juice concentrate. Add 2 tbsp sugar and 1 tsp vanilla extract. Blend until combined and add 4 ice cubes, then blend again until ice cubes are crushed. Pour and enjoy!

almond joy cookies/cookies filled with preserves

These cookies are great, and actually decently full of protein because of the almonds.

Melt 1/2 C butter and cream with 1/2 C unpacked brown sugar and 1/2 C white sugar. Cream until smooth and beat in one egg and one tsp vanilla extract. Add 1 1/4 C white flour in several additions, then grind 1 C blanched almonds in a spice grinder until powdery and mix in.

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Get a bag of high cocoa chocolate chips and some shredded coconut. Roll a tsp ball of batter into the coconut, place on a cookie sheet and use your thumb to make a small inentation in the cookie. Put 2-3 chips in each indentation.

For preserve filled cookies, grab some good jam (we tried strawberry, raspberry and orange marmalade) and roll the dough into ball, then indent with your thumb and fill with about 1/4 tsp preserves.

Bake on ungreased cookie sheets for 8-10 minutes, until browed. Let cool before removing from the pan.

farfalle with roasted chipotle pumpkin pesto

I paid a visit to the Sunset Valley farmers market in So. Austin yesterday. Sgt Pepper's Hot sauce company sells a line of lovely and creative pestos as well as hot sauces and i tried and loved the chipotle pumpkin - slightly sweet and smokey.

I got a pot of water heating and a bag of farfalle out. Chop a zucchini and a small onion and get them to saute-ing in a little oil. Season liberally with garlic, italian seasoning and fresh herbs if you got any (especially basil). Reconstitute some sun dried tomatoes (put in a glass bowl with some water and heat for 90 seconds in a microwave OR pour some boiling water over them to cover. Once they are soft, pout the liquid into your pan with the onions and zukes, then dice and add to the pan. Add a small quantity of tomato puree or marinara sauce and stir until you have a chunky sauce with a thin liquid beneath it. Let everything cook down a little, then reduce heat to low and add about a 1/4C of pesto and mix to combine.

When the water boils, add the farfalle and boil for 10-14 minutes (just taste the pasta occasionally and stop it when done and drain). Top with a little olive oil, then some sauce. Garnish with a little parmesan if desired.