Pancakes & Linguine

My subject might sound strange, but don't worry they were two separate meals. :)

When I eventually rolled out of bed this morning (I am embarrassed to admit what time it was) my wonderful husband had banana pancakes for me hot off the skillet. And I was so pleased he made them vegan for me AND he used whole wheat flour. This was extra special because he knows I love and prefer whole wheat flour and I know he prefers most things, except sandwich bread, to be made with white flour. (I haven't written anything about myself yet, how I eat or why I eat the way I do. I figure I'll get there when I get there.) These pancakes were delicious. I smothered mine with Adam's peanut butter and pure maples syrup. Mmmmm! Definitely not a breakfast I'd start everyday with due to the amount of peanut butter and syrup I consumed, but a tasty treat on this Thursday morning that we had off together.

I fell in love several months ago. Not with my husband, that was years ago. I fell in love with an app. I don't even have a smartphone (that is an ongoing debate inside my head), but I did recently become the owner of a second-hand iPod touch. I downloads, for FREE, the Whole Foods Market Recipe App. It is wonderful. If you don't have it, GET IT! I have not made anything I don't like. There was one recipe that wasn't my absolute favorite, but it still wasn't bad and I know what I'll do different next time.

The app allows you to specify a diet (I always choose "vegan"), a course (tonight I chose "main course"), and a category (tonight I chose "quick and easy"). Of my options I had almost all the ingredients for the Linguine with Spinach, Artichokes, and Red Lentil Sauce. I just had to pick up a few ingredients at the store. And I couldn't find brown mustard seed, so I just used yellow. I've never cooked with brown mustard seed, so I don't know how that may have changes the dish. My guess is, not much.

I invited my mother-in-law, Barb, over for dinner. So you have two opinions of how the meal turned out. :) I thought it was great. It truly was "quick and easy." I mise and placed all my ingredients before I began and once the mustard seed started "popping" I just put everything in the pan except the lemon juice until the sauce was ready. Then I stirred in the lemon, tossed the sauce with the noodles I prepared while the sauce was cooking, added the spinach and artichoke and voila... dinner was served. I thought the lemon in the sauce gave a nice freshness that paired will with the bit of tang the artichokes offered as well as with the spinach which remained fresh, not cooked. I can't wait to feed the leftovers to my husband and get his input, but I can definitely see myself making this again. Did I mention how easy it was? Some nights you just need an easy meal. And this one is so nutritious.

picture from: wholefoodsmarket.com

I did only have about 1/2 pound of pasta on hand and still used all the sauce and spinach even though the recipe called for a full pound. I liked the amount of sauce it provided and would probably do it this way again. I also love artichoke hearts, so I used the entire can even though the recipe only called for four. I bought a can that was water packed opposed to the oil packed. I find the oil packed ones overly oily and messy and I think oil can add unnecessary and unhealthy fat as well as detract from the natural flavor or the vegetable. So if you love artichokes I'd say feel free to toss in as many as you like.

I will also admit I bought a loaf of bread. I don't have anything against bread, but as I mentioned I believe in eating whole wheat and the bread I bought was not. You may have gathered my thoughts on bread from the title of my blog. But what the title does not say is that even brown bread is not always made from whole wheat flour. This bread was brown because it had unbleached flour as the first ingredient, but it was just wheat flour and yes there is a major difference when the word whole proceeds the word wheat. To find that out you must read the ingredients list. I bought my bread from Fred Meyer. Maybe I shouldn't admit this, since I will be working at Whole Foods. I just was not willing to drive the 30 minutes to get to the closest one for the three ingredients I needed to make dinner. I have a feeling Whole Foods will forgive me. I do know that if I made the trek to Bridgeport I would have found a loaf of whole wheat bakery bread. I mean, come on Fred, is it really too much to ask from your bakery department to have ONE whole wheat loaf for sale?