Spicy Quinoa and Chickpeas

Now that it's getting cooler out, It's time for some hearty warming foods! I've added more cooked grains into my diet because they're warming and . This meal is a stir-fry made with peppers, zucchini, onions and chickpeas. I added red peppers flakes and hot peppers to add some spice to the dish. This meal is perfect for a cool fall evening!

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Pasta with Zucchini and Tomatoes

Look at how gorgeous this heirloom tomato is! It almost seemed a shame to eat it - but I did anyway!

This dish was inspired by a recipe I saw in Vegetarian Times, although I didn't really follow the recipe at all. It's a simple summer dish. I realized that I've been eating pasta more since I've gone gluten-free than I did before, but that's probably because it's nice and light and doesn't require the stove to be turned on. 

For this dish, I shredded zucchini with a julianne peeler and diced a few heirloom tomatoes. I cooked them in a little olive oil for a few minutes and then added them to the cooked pasta along with some chopped olives and a little shredded Sheese. This was quite tasty and was a good use of all the tomatoes and zucchini that I picked up at the farmers' market.

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Pasta Shells with Chickpeas and Zucchini

This is a recipe from my friend Vanessa. It originally came from a cookbook her mom has but it's been passed down and altered, so I have no idea if it resembles the original recipe at all. It's quite easy and very delicious, especially if you're a chickpea lover like me. Any type of pasta can be used, but shells work well because they chickpeas sit inside them nicely.

The recipe Vanessa gave me made a huge vat of pasta, so I'll be eating this for lunch for the next few days. The next time I make it, I'm going to cut it in half.  The recipe calls for three cans of chickpeas, half of which was pureed with the liquid from the can in a food processor. I chopped up an onion and a few cloves of garlic and sautéed them together, and then added the chickpeas (both puréed and whole), a large can of chopped tomatoes, and chopped basil and rosemary. I let it simmer while the pasta was cooking. The longer it simmers, the thicker the sauce becomes. I then added chopped zucchini (I had a really jumbo yellow zucchini from the farmers market) and continued cooking until the zucchini was soft. 

I liked this so much that I think it's going to be in my regular meal rotation. I will probably add some spinach or kale the next time I make it. Gotta get those greens in! 

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Stacks of Veggies!

I found a really cute little round zucchini at the farmers' market and couldn't resist buying it. I also bough eggplant and tomatoes. I thought it would be fun to stack them, lasagna style. 

I made batches of cashew ricotta and spinach pesto. 

I stacked slices of the zucchini, eggplant and tomato and layered the ricotta and pesto in between.

The stacks ended up being much higher than I expected! I cooked them at 400 degrees for about an hour. They were really delicious, but I think I've had the oven on way too much lately and it has been horribly hot all week. Back to raw meals next week!

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