Vegan Mofo V Day 6: Gnocchi Didn't

Today I'm back on topic now with another magazine recipe. This is "Gnocchi With Roasted Cauliflower" from Real Simple. I love this magazine and have had a subscription for the past two years since I am a sucker for school fundraisers. I think my niece's school has a different program this year so I'm not sure I'll renew. I still have my VegNews and Bust subs to keep me busy, but will probably resubscribe when I have income again. Anyway, the magazine always includes a vegetarian recipe that could easily be made vegan, some of the omni recipes are easy to convert as well. I think this is the only the second recipe I've made, but there are more RS recipes lurking in the binders waiting for their day.

I really want to make my own gnocchi someday. I even bought a ricer 8 or 9 years ago that is hiding out in the back of the cabinet, but for now I cheated and used some from the store. Maybe I will do it for the "Stuff I Always Say I'm Going to Make, but Haven't Yet" theme. I'm still not sure if that is going to be a whole week of posts or if I will alternate it with other things. Depending on what I choose it could be a scary and daunting week.

This recipe was super easy to make and didn't take too much time, even for me. I served this on a plate, but it is probably better in a bowl so you can just scoop it all up. I love roasted cauliflower so I almost didn't want to mix it with the gnocchi, but they were good together. I just realized I forgot to sprinkle some parm on top, but it tasted great without it. I'll add it in when I am eating the leftovers. There is so much food going on this week!

easy cheesy

I've been receiving Real Simple and Vegetarian Times for about a year now. My friend's daughter had a magazine fundraiser and if some poor sucker bought a certain amount of magazines she would get a "cool" t-shirt. To quote the prince of Soul Glo, "anything for the kids".

Both magazines have tons of great recipes I've yet to try. I have magazine ADD or something. I do a flip, then a read, and by the next time I see it, can't really remember why I bought the darn thing. The most recent issues of each, which are my last, are extra awesome. It almost makes me want to renew but I got two gift subscriptions to other magazines for Christmas (VegNews and Cesar's Way!) and there is no way I can take all that glossy paper. Even though I love getting mail, it's just too much.

Real Simple always has a vegetarian recipe, but this is the first time I have tried one. It is for "cheesy baked pasta with spinach and artichokes". Even though I love to take forever in the kitchen, it is good to have some quick go-to recipes for when I only have 30 minutes or so. I didn't find mezzi rigatoni so I used regular rigatoni. I probably could have cut them after they cooked, but I can just use a smaller pasta next time. I subbed daiya for the mozarella and used about a shot glass of vegan parm. I think that's roughly an ounce. I put everything in a cake pan and thew it in the toaster oven on broil for a little over five minutes. Daiya take a bit longer to melt than dairy and I'm also not so sure the toaster oven "broil" is as hot as the oven broiler.

I definitely wish I had gotten some wine and bread to eat with this. I would double the amount if serving as a main course. My sister and I finished it quite easily, but we have "healthy" appetites.

p.s. The Texas Caviar killed the easter picnic yesterday. It was one of the first dishes to go. My cousins were psyched when I brought it out and asked if it was the one I made last year. It's similar but I like this one better since it doesn't have corn- I'm kind of grossed out by corn lately. I did add about a tbsp of cayenne and cumin to it since it needed some more flavor.

p.p.s. There is only one slice of strawberry pie left, gonna make another one tomorrow.