Pages

▼

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Spaghetti Night!!

My boyfriend Paul is NOT vegan. He's not even vegetarian. But I met him in my pregan days (I was vegetarian then, not vegan), so I consider him to be grandfathered in. I wouldn't date a new meat eater, but Paul knew me before I was vegan, so I can look past his obvious flaws.

Paul rarely eats anything healthy, but the one veggie dish that he absolutely loves is meatless spaghetti. We don't typically eat dinner together, but every few months, we have a Spaghetti Night. Every Spaghetti Night begins with the most important ingredient — wine! Tonight, I selected a vegan-friendly, sulfite-free, organic bottle of Orleans Hill Cote Zero (it even says "vegan" on the label ... and it's only $9!):

Check out my gimped-up finger ... remember that cat bite from December? Yep, totally messed my index finger up. I can't use it for another 2 weeks!

Next, Paul starts the mushrooms:

Nobody fries up mushrooms like Paul. In fact, I hated mushrooms when I met him, but his tasty 'shrooms changed my mind. These were sauteed in lots of Earth Balance, cumin, sriracha, and Bragg's:

I'm in charge of the homemade sauce — broken-up whole canned tomatoes, lots of garlic, dried basil and oregano, sea salt, a pinch of sugar, and a splash of red wine:

We serve our spaghetti over half-whole wheat angel hair pasta. I'd prefer all-whole wheat, but Paul's picky:

I also topped my pasta with some Lightlife Smart Ground veggie crumbles, but Paul opted for a totally meat-substitute free plate. And I served mine with an olive and romaine salad. Yum!
at

21 comments:

  1. The Health SenseiJanuary 26, 2011 at 5:49 AM

    superyum

    ReplyDelete
  2. Vegan GeorgiaJanuary 26, 2011 at 6:34 AM

    Wow, those mushrooms do look awesome! Meatless spaghetti is one of my favorite meals too.

    ReplyDelete
  3. foodfeudJanuary 26, 2011 at 6:54 AM

    Kitchen in action shots! Hot stuff.
    My boyfriend is ALMOST vegan and so good about eating most of what I make but good for you being able to compromise with Paul.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousJanuary 26, 2011 at 10:49 AM

    My boyfriend was also grandfathered in. I get so sick of people asking if my bf is vegan too, and if it bothers me that he eats meat. If it bothered me, we wouldn't have been together for the past 7 years, duh!

    ReplyDelete
  5. lynzielooJanuary 26, 2011 at 10:57 AM

    Paul sounds exactly like my husband - whom I fell head over heels for in my 'pregan' days as well.
    Since we both like spaghetti so much, I am considering a mandatory spaghetti night in our home!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Leslie RichmanJanuary 26, 2011 at 11:29 AM

    Yum! I hope I can find that wine to try!

    ReplyDelete
  7. MeloMealsJanuary 26, 2011 at 11:43 AM

    That looks delicous! I love the idea of putting the mushroooms on top of the sauce like that..

    ReplyDelete
  8. joyceJanuary 26, 2011 at 11:45 AM

    that looks really good! i can't wait to try spicing up my mushrooms like you did.

    ReplyDelete
  9. ErinJanuary 26, 2011 at 12:27 PM

    Funny, spaghetti is one of the only meals that my boyfriend and I will cook together too! He warms up the sauce and adds meat to his portion though. He'll even eat garlic bread if I make it with earth balance.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Kendy PJanuary 26, 2011 at 12:51 PM

    My boyfriend is omni, I a met him when I was vegan and slowley he has really cut back on non vegan stuff.

    We have pasta night once a week. I add Tofurky Italian sausage to my sauce - he loves it!

    ReplyDelete
  11. The Kuntrageous VeganJanuary 26, 2011 at 1:11 PM

    My husband is omni as well. I was raw when we started dating, but quickly ended up eating meat again. Within 6-8 months I got super sick and a doctor recommended cutting animal products out of my diet. I love telling people my doctor told me to go vegan :)

    I have this theory that cumin makes things delicious...or maybe I'm just obsessed :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. NicoleJanuary 26, 2011 at 2:21 PM

    Deeelicious! I have to admit, I don't enjoy mushrooms at all, but I feel that with the right recipe I might learn to enjoy them- at least a little little. Maybe this is it! I've got to give them a go soon.

    ReplyDelete
  13. JessicaJanuary 26, 2011 at 2:27 PM

    Cumin mushrooms on spaghetti? I'm not convinced, but they do sound good. Maybe with something besides tomato sauce.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Just UsJanuary 26, 2011 at 2:36 PM

    My husband sounds just like your boyfriend. Spaghetti is the only vegan thing that he will eat...oh, wait... he will eat bean burritos too...
    We are coming to Memphis on Monday for our anniversary. Do you have any recommendations of a good place that we can go eat that has good vegan options as well as omni?

    ReplyDelete
  15. AnonymousJanuary 26, 2011 at 4:03 PM

    Hey There-
    My name is Brian Woz. I'm a vegan living in Nashville. Just wanted to say I'm a big fan of your blog and recently started one of my own called The Vegan Man Cave, http://theveganmancave.blogspot.com/. Hope you don't mind but I linked your blog from my site.

    Thanks for the great vegan info. keep it up.

    ReplyDelete
  16. AnonymousJanuary 27, 2011 at 4:50 PM

    Michelle, I'm Paul, Bianca's boyfriend. I'm a bartender at On The Border on Poplar Ave here in Memphis. We have a separate vegetarian menu. All of those items can be veganized. I work the morning shift there if you wanted to come by and say hi and try the food. It's well priced and the portions are nice. (off Mondays and Saturdays) Anyways, just a thought.

    ReplyDelete
  17. SusanJanuary 27, 2011 at 7:38 PM

    Cat bites can be nasty! I sometimes get bitten at work and I just get straight on the antibiotics to smoosh it on the head. I only seem to get bitten by cats with manky teeth, never the ones with the clean shiny teeth. ;) I hope your finger is on the mend and will be feeling better soon!

    Is that a pink toaster I spy? Please, tell me more...

    ReplyDelete
  18. misss_eJanuary 27, 2011 at 10:47 PM

    Those mush's look good and I dont like them. I might try those.

    ReplyDelete
  19. AnonymousJanuary 30, 2011 at 8:54 AM

    We have spaghetti at my house alot! My daughter and hubs are not vegetarian or vegan but I am slowly converting them. Neither of them eat pork anymore and the hubs does not eat beef. Both still eact chicken, just not at home. I only cook vegan stuff so they are vegan by default at dinner. Thanks for the wine suggestion, the only wine I can find on the grocery store shelves here that is vegan is Fish Eye and it is not super great. Another yummy thing I like to add to spaghetti is a jar of drained marinated artichoke hearts!

    ReplyDelete
  20. AnonymousJanuary 30, 2011 at 8:59 AM

    Sorry had to comment again. Just saw Pauls post about On the Border and I have been meaning to email Bianca about this because she did a big OTB post. Not all OTBs have that seperate menu. I live in ATL and the one I go to does not. Also the flour tortillas at mine have milk in them. They get them in as little dough balls and then make them but the manager read the ingredients to me and they say milk! The corn tortillas are vegan though and they tell me the black beans are too. The veggis fajitas, guac, salsa and chips are also vegan. They assure me that they do not fry their chips in anything that animals have been cooked in. Even with the differences in veganess since your post OTB has become one of our fav places to go eat out! Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Funkinutt McFlyApril 10, 2011 at 1:19 AM

    I love the cat finger bite (had my cat send me to the hospital with a staph infection once) and Paul rockin' the shrooms. ;)

    ReplyDelete

I live for your comments!! Seriously. I'm waiting right now for you to write something.