Dressing

My favorite dressing recipe is this. 

A great recipe to begin with, I altered it to fit my needs of being vegetarian, gluten-free, and dairy free.  Toasted Udi's multigrain bagels replaced the sourdough bread, Earth Balance replaced the butter, and vegetable broth was used.  I was cooking for a mushroom hater so artichoke hearts made it into the mix instead.  Leeks are great in this recipe as well.

sweat vegetables

 

add in herbs

  

pour in broth

 

stir in bread

 

put in greased pan, top with parsley

 

bake until set

Salad

I placed a slice of feta in each corner so that I could easily avoid it.

Slow-Roasted Cherry Tomato Spaghetti

To balance the last quick pasta, now I'll share one that takes several hours but is still quite easy.

Grab some of the loveliest cherry tomatoes you can find--I love the mini heirlooms from Trader Joe's.  Preheat your oven to 250.  Chop the tomatoes in half and place on a foil-lined flat pan with the cut-side up.  Add in some garlic cloves and fresh basil and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil.  Place in the oven for however long it takes for the tomatoes to shrivel up into deliciousness--think of sun dried tomatoes.

Once they hit this state I like to throw them in a skillet with some more olive oil.  I add a few gf breadcrumbs for texture.

Cook some spaghetti--I prefer corn spaghetti.  Mix with your sauce, add some fresh basil, parsley, or both, and eat up.  I served with garlic bread for those that can have it and a Udi's hamburger bun covered in Earth Balance and parsley for me.

Quick Fire Roasted Tomato Pasta

This is a pretty easy and quick dish to throw together.

Get some water boiling for your pasta. 

In the meantime, saute some diced onion in extra virgin olive oil.  After a few minutes throw in a couple of chopped cloves of garlic and red pepper flakes.  As this becomes translucent, add in a can of fire roasted tomatoes.  Season with some salt, pepper, and fresh garlic.  I added a few roasted red peppers to my sauce on this particular occasion--feel free to add whatever strikes your fancy.

Your flavors will come together as you throw your pasta in the boiling water.  Add your salt and cook according to package instructions,  I used brown rice rotini.

Add pasta to your sauce, mix together, and serve with more fresh basil.  Some fresh mozzarella would be fabulous mixed in at the last minute.