Pasta Salad with Black Beans (Vegan recipe)

Memorial day is right around the corner and if you are looking for a dish to make, then here's an easy to make and tasty Pasta Salad with black beans and veggies. It's completely vegan, if you use vegan mayo but if you have regular mayo then go ahead and use it instead.

I am always looking for opportunities to try new dishes, so last weekend I took this pasta dish when I went to meet my blog buddies, Sushma, Rajani, Usha, Mir and Amara. The good thing about this dish is it can be made ahead of time and chilled until ready to serve, which makes it a great dish to make for picnics. barbecues or for take along lunches.

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Pizza Mac and Cheese

Blogging Marathon# 60: Week 4/ Day 2

Theme: Bookmarked Recipes

Dish: Pizza Mac and Cheese

It was crazy snowy weekend in our neck of woods. I don't think I've seen that much snowfall in one day in all of my 15 years in the US. Storm stuck around the whole day Saturday and Sunday was spent in cleaning up the mess. Thankfully my husband was around for the shoveling, though I had to do my part too.

Coming to today's recipe for BM, I bookmarked this Pizza Mac and Cheese from Food52. I made this dish 3~4 times in the past couple of months. You can guess why -- who doesn't like pizza and pasta separately, now if you put them together it is absolutely delicious. My son went gaga over this dish.

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Greek Orzo Salad

Blogging Marathon# 60: Week 2/ Day 1

Theme: Take-Away dishes from Metropulos, Santa Barbara

Dish: Greek Orzo Salad
My theme for this week's blogging marathon is very interesting. Valli gave us a list of 10 best take-out restaurants in 3 travel destinations. We had to pick a destination and a restaurant from that list and cook 3 dishes for the week.

After a lot of browsing, I chose Metropulos restaurant from Santa Barbara. It is a fine foods market that sells amazing sandwiches, paninis and a ton of gourmet specialty food items. After reading about the place I have added it to my bucket list of places to visit :-)

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Pasta with Poblano Chilies, Corn and Cilantro Cream

October is 'National Pasta Month', so I wanted to post a pasta recipe before the end of the month. Thanks to Usha for her pasta post, without which I wouldn't have known about it.

Last month's Vegetarian Times magazine had a whole spread of pasta dishes that can be made under 30 minutes and are perfect for weeknight dinners. This dish has Mexican flavors with poblanos, corn and cilantro. I used wholewheat penne pasta and the sauce is made with 3Cs -- cilantro, corn and cream. Dish also has ground cumin to emphasize the Mexican flavor.

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Creamy Pesto Pasta

Blogging Marathon# 54: Week 1/ Day 3

Theme: Vegetarian Italian dishes

Dish: Creamy Pesto Pasta

Kids sure are very unpredictable. My son is the picky eater in the house and my daughter is an adventurous eater, but they are slowly reversing their likes. The little one is becoming too picky and doesn't want to try anything new.

I made this creamy pesto pasta for dinner one day and since I wasn't sure if the kids would like it, I made them something else too. But my son declared that pesto sauce is his second favorite pasta sauce right after marinara sauce. Then my little one tried a little bit and wanted to eat it for her dinner too. So the kids ate most of the pasta and the adults ended up eating what I made for the kids.

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Asparagus & Spinach Pasta with Checca Sauce

Blogging Marathon# 54: Week 1/ Day 2

Theme: Vegetarian Italian dishes

Dish: Asparagus & Spinach Pasta with Checca Sauce

Today's dish is a simple pasta with sauteed asparagus and spinach that is then mixed with a no-cook checca sauce. We had this dish at California Pizza kitchen couple of months back and I wanted to try it at home ever since.

The first time I made it, I wasn't sure if the kids would like it. But both the kids came back for seconds. This dish will be in my meal rotation now.

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Cherry Tomato & Kale Pasta

I love cherry tomatoes and usually keep a pack of red or yellow cherry tomatoes in the fridge. They are so juicy and can be eaten just as is. They are great to add in salads, pastas and even on crostini.

This recipe is from 'Meatless' cookbook by Martha Stewart Living. Cherry tomatoes are cooked till they burst and then stirred with pasta and kale. It is a very simple recipe with few ingredients and can be whipped up in less than 30 minutes, perfect for a busy weeknight.

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Pasta with Curried Vegetable Sauce

Blogging Marathon# 50: Week 3/ Day 3

Theme: Different Pasta Sauces

Dish: Pasta with Curried Vegetable Sauce

Final day of this week's 'Pasta Sauces'  is an Indian-Italian fusion dish. I was wondering what to make for the 3rd day and then saw this recipe in Tarla Dalal's newsletter in my inbox, so curried vegetable sauce was served for dinner that day.

I think curry powder works well in a lot of dishes, so it's not out of place in this pasta sauce. Also adding lot of veggies makes it colorful and filling too. I used peppers, broccoli and corn along with tomato puree in this dish. A splash of cream or half-n-half is added to make the pasta just a little bit creamy.

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Red Pepper & Almonds Pasta Sauce

Blogging Marathon# 50: Week 3/ Day 2

Theme: Different Pasta Sauces

Dish: Red Pepper & Almonds Pasta Sauce

I consider myself at least 5 years behind technology especially social media. The only one that I use is Facebook and that is mainly for the blog and sometimes to share pics of the family. I have no clue where to play and how to play on Facebook. So there you have it -- now you know there is no point in sending me that Farmville request because you got it -- I don't know how to play -- Thank you. But if I compare myself with my husband, I am at least 10 years ahead because he has no Facebook account and he thinks I'm snooping around and violating someone's privacy by reading their status update, hehehe :-)
I digress, coming back to the case in point. I recently started using Instagram, even though I've had the account for almost 2~3 years now. What I'm stumped is the hashtags used in Instagram. Most of the time I'm #totallystuck #havenoclue #howtousehashtags. Any tips, tricks and inputs into expanding my #hashtagknowledge would be highly #appreciated :-) Please leave them in the #comments section below. Thank you.

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Pasta with Roasted Cauliflower Sauce

Blogging Marathon# 50: Week 3/ Day 1

Theme: Different Pasta Sauces

Dish: Roasted Cauliflower Sauce

My theme for this week's Blogging marathon is 'Different Pasta Sauces'. Like most kids, my kids love pasta and I make it at least once a week. I'm always looking for new pasta sauces, so this week I've tried 3 new pasta sauces that I enjoyed quite a bit and have been added to my weekly repetition already.
First up is this creamy and yummy roasted cauliflower pasta. Couple of years ago, cauliflower was the hottest veggie in town (just like kale) and chefs and food bloggers have cooked and posted many many interesting recipes. This roasted cauliflower pasta sauce is inspired from some of those recipes.

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Kid Approved Mac and Cheese

Blogging Marathon# 47: Week 2/ Day 1
Theme: Kid's Delight Event -- Pizza & Pasta
Dish: Macaroni & Cheese

We are starting 2nd week of blogging today and my theme for this week is 'Pizza & Pasta'. Mir is hosting this month's Kid's Delight event and asking us to send kid favorite pasta & pizza recipe. Valli is the brain behind Kid's Delight event.
For the first day I made 'Macaroni & Cheese', one of my kids favorite pasta dish. Unfortunately they love the mac & cheese from the box and the many times I tried making it at home, they were not really pleased with it. They like their macaroni to have that signature orange/ yellow color and the chalky cheese taste (??) which obviously a homemade version can never live up to. So I gave up and started buying Annie's mac & cheese for them.

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Lentil Bolognese

Blogging Marathon# 45: Week 3/ Day 2
Theme: Kid's Delight -- Nuts & Legumes for Kid's Lunchbox
Dish: Lentil Bolognese

My kids love Pasta and I feel they would rather prefer me packing pasta in their lunchbox than rice. So I'm always in the look out for new pasta dishes that they would like. My son likes tomato based sauces and I usually keep good quality store bought tomato sauce in hand for quick meals.
As I was looking for recipes with legumes I found this lentil bolognese recipe and I was surprised that I never thought of making this vegetarian bolognese before.

Bolognese sauce is a meat based sauce originating from Bologna in Italy. It is a slow cooked sauce and is used to dress flat pasta shapes like pappardelle or fettuccine or with short tube shapes like penne or rigatoni.

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Italy - Pasta Alla Norma (Pasta in Spicy Eggplant & Tomato Sauce)

BM# 44: A-Z Cooking Series -- Around the World in 30 days

Country: I for Italy

Dish: Pasta Alla Norma (Pasta in Spicy Eggplant & Tomato Sauce) 
We are going back to Europe, to Italy today. Italy seemed an obvious choice and my son thinks he's half Italian because his favorite foods are pizza and pasta. But come to think of it, I like Italian food too. What's not to like about pasta, cheese and pizza.
Italy also is on my bucket list not just to enjoy the local food but also to tour the beautiful, historic and touristic places. Many hollywood movies are shot in Italy, I especially remember the beautiful locations in George Clooney's 'The American' movie. Lot of Indian movies have shown us Venice, making it a definite stop in Italy while we are there. Oh, how I wish, my dreams can come true.
Italian cuisine is characterized by its simplicity with many dishes having only 4~8 ingredients. Italian cooks rely on fresh, quality ingredients rather than elaborate preparation. Ingredients and dishes vary by region. Cheese and wine are a major part of the cuisine.

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Pasta with Fresh Tomato Sauce

Past weekend we went to Apple picking for the very first time. I'm not a big fan of apples and apple picking never appealed to me that much. But I wanted to do something fun with the kids on the weekend and found a pick your own apple farm very close to my sister's home. We didn't pick too many apples since it started to drizzle and rain and the kids started getting restless. They actually had fun playing in the hay bale maze for a little bit before it started to rain harder.

You must be wondering, why the talk about apples when the dish here is made with tomatoes. As I said we didn't pick too many apples, but the farm also has a fresh produce market and they had colorful cherry tomatoes that I picked up. Since it is almost the end of summer and finding fresh, juicy tomatoes is going to be difficult, I couldn't resist from buying them.

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Summer Pasta Puttanesca (Vegan recipe)

Weather in our neck of woods is very Spring like -- hot one day, sprinkles and chilly the next day. Spring is one of my favorite seasons -- I love the budding trees, blooming flowers and the crisp mornings. Not many might agree with me, which includes my husband and my son, who suffer from Spring allergies. But I still like spring.
Coming back to today's pasta dish, I watched this being made on America's Test Kitchen cook show and I really liked how the chef made a fresh tomato sauce using grape tomatoes. Grape tomatoes are consistently good all through the year, so this is a great dish to make any time of the year.

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Poblano & Corn Baked Mac & Cheese

Blogging Marathon# 37: Week 4/ Day 1
Theme: Member's Choice
Dish: Baked Mac & Cheese with Poblano & Corn

We are starting our last week of blogging marathon for this month and I chose 'Member's Choice' as my theme. Valli compiled a list of dishes that all the BM members suggested and we were asked to pick 3 dishes for this week.
When I saw 'Baked Mac & Cheese', I knew I will definitely be making it. I like mac & cheese, but rarely make it because my husband is not a big fan of it -- he thinks it is too milky and cheesy for his taste -- the two reasons I really like it. But now my sister is in town and she is a fan of it. Gives me a chance to try mac & cheese recipes that I have been bookmarking from a while now.

Today's mac & cheese has a Mexican twist with poblanos, corn and cilantro in it along with the regular ingredients of cheese and milk. I thought the addition of poblanos was going to make this dish spicy, but it was very mild with a slightly smokey taste in the background. Original recipe had mushrooms in it, but I skipped them and used some onions instead.

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Roasted Peppers Pistachio Pesto

Blogging Marathon# 34: Week 1/ Day 1

Theme: Cooking with Capsicum/ Peppers

Dish: Roasted Red Pepper & Pistachio Pesto with Cheese Ravioli

Its time to start this month's Blogging Marathon, BM# 34. My theme for this week is 'Cooking with Capsicum/ Pepper'. I use bell peppers a lot in my cooking either to make a curry or sambar or  add them to rice dishes. So when I saw the theme, I thought I should try making some new dishes with peppers.

For the first day, I'm using store-bought roasted red peppers from the jar. You could roast your peppers if you have the time, but store bought ones are just as good to make this dish. Recipe is from America's Test Kitchen. 

Here pesto is made with roasted red peppers, toasted pistachios and the usual pesto ingredients, parmesan, olive oil and garlic. This can be used as a pasta sauce or as a sandwich spread or even a dip for some crudites and bread.

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Pasta with Asparagus, Mascarpone cheese & Walnuts

Blogging Marathon# 33: Week 2/ Day 2
Theme: Favorite Celebrity Chef Recipes
Dish: Giada's Pasta with Asparagus & Mascarpone cheese
My Celebrity chef of choice for Day 2 of BM# 33 is Giada De Laurentils. She is an Italian chef and is a regular on Food Network. Her Italian recipes look doable and easy to make with every-day available ingredients.
I learnt a lot of Italian recipes watching Giada's shows. One of the fancy ingredient I started to buy after watching her is Mascarpone cheese. She uses it in both sweet & savory preparations like cheesecakes, pastas etc. I buy a tub on mascarpone cheese when on sale and use it in various dishes.

Today's dish is Giada's Farfalle with Asparagus & Mascarpone. I was making this for my sister who doesn't eat mushrooms, so I used peppers instead. Also I jazzed up the recipe with sauteed onion and garlic for added flavor. Addition of walnuts was the highlight for this recipe and I really enjoyed the crunch. Final dish was colorful, creamy and filling.

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Israeli Couscous with Pesto & Carrots

Blogging Marathon# 28: Week 4/ Day 3
Theme: BM Pairs - Chef Mireille's Gourmet Global
Dish: Israeli Couscous with Pesto & Carrots

For the final day of this month's BM, I'm paired with Chef Mireille who blogs at Gourmet Global. Her blog's name says it all. She has tons of gourmet dishes from all over the globe. I was lucky to meet her in person and she is as lively and bubbly in person as she is on her blog.

I've bookmarked a ton of recipes to try from her blog, but today I made this very simple one-pot dish, Pesto Israeli Couscous with Carrots. Mireille used Roasted garlic spinach pesto in her dish, but I made broccoli-mint pesto. Other than that I followed her recipe to the 'T'. 

This recipe uses Harissa, a Middle Eastern chili sauce. Luckily I had a jar of harissa in my pantry, an impulse buy from a Turkish grocery store. The combination of pesto and harissa gave this dish a very unique and interesting taste that I totally loved. I loved it so much that I added them both again to a 3 grain pilaf I made the very next day :-)

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Pasta with Mushrooms and Chipotle Cream Sauce

I have signed up for this month's Taste & Create event after a long time and I'm paired with Min @ The Bad Girl's Kitchen. There are a ton of dessert recipes that I looked awesome and I really wanted to try them from her blog, but it's just me and my 5 year old at home this week, so didn't feel like making a whole batch of anything. 

When I saw this penne pasta with chipotle cream sauce recipe, I knew I had to make it. It sounded delicious and I had all the ingredients at home. I made very few minor changes like using rotelle pasta instead of penne and I used frozen wild mushrooms instead of fresh. I reduced the amount of chipotle sauce since I'm not a big fan of smoky stuff.

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