Welcome back and spaghetti squash recipe

Happy New Year, readers!

Sorry for the long break. You know, post-holiday chill.

JUST KIDDING.

Post-holidays extended hours at work. 10 and 11 hour workdays, one on top of the other. I went hoarse from giving so many belay lessons, started getting sick, and my nose piercing is very irritated from the increased dust inhalation. BUT, I have New Year's Eve and New Years Day off! Rest!

Per usual, my kitchen got TRICKED OUT this holiday. Other things as well.

From my sister, the Babycakes cookbook! I've drooled over this cookbook for ages, and finally I will get to make the delicious snacks revealed within.


She also got me a new kickass bonnet.


For those of you who know me, you know I have many, many hats.

Wine. Distilled unicorn tears.


Mitten mittens.


Mom and dad got me all sorts of nice little tools for the cooking trade to keep me thoroughly busy in the kitchen (Immersion blender! Soup!). I'm quite excited about all of it.

ANYWAYS, HOW ABOUT A RECIPE?



I came across this recipe when I was trying to decide what to make with my spaghetti squash. I altered it slightly to suit my tastes and my kitchen's inventory. Time to break out the frozen summer goodies!

For the sauce:
1/4 cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic
2/3 cup chopped bell peppers of any and all colors
1 1/2 T water
1 roasted red bell pepper, chopped
Salt to taste
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp lemon pepper
2-3 T nutritional yeast

I prepared my spaghetti squash using the microwave method: Cut in half, place face-down in a dish with some water, cook 10-15 minutes, or until al dente. I scraped it out and put it in a dish.

For the sauce, I began heating the olive oil over medium-low heat, and tossed in the garlic. As the cited recipe suggests, don't cook over too high of heat, as you don't want the garlic to brown or burn. After a minute or so, I added in the peppers. I'm suggesting an addition of 1 1/2 Tablespoons of water because my peppers were frozen from the summer farmer's markets, and as they defrosted some liquid was added to the pan. If you are also using frozen veggies, ignore the addition of water! At this point, I also turned up the heat slightly.
After several minutes, I then added the roasted bell peppers to the mix. Mix in the oregano, salt, and lemon pepper. Cook for a minute or two more, and finally mix in the nutritional yeast. I put on 2 tablespoons here. After pouring the sauce over my squash "noodles" and mixing, I gave it a taste test, and decided I was desiring a bit more nutritional yeast, so I put on another 1/2 tablespoon or more. Done!

Delicious! I had it with some vegan Italian sausage, the recipe from Vegan Brunch.



As for those vegan poptarts I discussed earlier, they were a delicious addition to my trip. The trip, however, ended unfortunately early.

Yay! Fun! Carefree!


SHIT!


We then drove home through sleet storms for 13 hours. So it goes.