Dinner and Dessert for a Valentine's Day Girls Weekend

I put on my best Chefs/bakers hat this last weekend and whipped up a home cooked meal for my lovelies...Miss Football and Bestie. I had originally planned on making PW's fettucini Alfredo, but that went out the window when the non-dairy business showed up. Stupid non-dairy. So, with that I decided to make my favorite pasta dish from the Olive Garden, Capellini Pomodero-a light and healthy pasta. Now, for some reason the grocery store was out of fresh basil...so I had to improvise and kinda just threw in a bunch of stuff that I had in my spice rack. I also used whole wheat linguini instead of Angle hair pasta. My version probably wasn't quite like Olive Gardens. Here is the recipe for the Olive Garden version.

Photo courtsey of Miss Football, editing courtsey of picnik and myself.

Olive Garden's Capellini Pomdero

Cook Time: 12 minutes

Total Time: 12 minutes

Ingredients:

• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cans (14.5 ounces each) good quality diced tomatoes, or about 2 pounds fresh peeled and diced tomatoes
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 cups fresh chopped basil leaves
• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 12 ounces dry angel hair pasta, cooked

Preparation:

Heat olive oil and add garlic; cook until garlic is tender. Add tomatoes and pepper and heat through, stirring constantly, about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat. Transfer hot, cooked pasta to large bowl. Toss pasta gently with tomato mixture, the fresh chopped basil, and half of the Parmesan cheese. Serve immediately and pass remaining Parmesan.
Serves 4.

Super duper easy.

Now for dessert, I made some yummy Vegan Red Velvet Cupcakes in honor of Valentines Day. My mom makes these all the time and they are seriously delicious. So moist, best Red Velvet I have ever had


Decorations courtsey of moi



Vegan Red Velvet Cupcakes
Adapted from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
Makes 24 cupcakes

2 cups soy milk
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
4 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup vegetable oil
2 ounces red food coloring
4 teaspoons vanilla extract

• Add vinegar to soy milk, and set aside to curdle.
• Sift flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.
• Add vegetable oil, food coloring, and vanilla extract to the curdled soy milk, and mix.
• Pour liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients, and mix.
• Fill cupcake liners ¾ full.
• Bake in a preheated 350° oven for 20 minutes or until

Now, I cheated and just bought cream cheese frosting from the store, but here is a yummy version of Vegan Cream Cheese frosting

Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting

½ cup margarine, room temperature
½ cup Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 cups confectioners sugar

• Cream margarine, cream cheese, and vanilla extract.
• Slowly mix the confectioner’s sugar into the creamed sugar, and then beat until smooth and fluffy.
• Frost cooled cupcakes

I also, served this wine with dinner one of my favs...Galo wine's Moscato.