Spinach Florentine Ravioli

April 23, 2012 | 4 Comments »

One day while walking through the frozen foods section of Whole Foods I spotted a package of this wonderful looking 365 brand Organic Spinach Florentine Ravioli. I grabbed a package and brought it home not knowing exactly how to prepare something like this. It seemed too fancy to just throw some marinara sauce on top and call it a meal. I wondered how it would taste with some slow roasted grape tomatoes – similar to the Shells With Slow Roasted Cherry Tomatoes I made last year. I took the container of slow roasted grape tomatoes out of the fridge, combined it with some butter, and the Spinach Florentine Ravioli and was blown away at how amazingly delicious it was. I’m so not kidding. This is probably one of the tastiest things I’ve EVER eaten. And it’s so simple to throw together. Here’s what I did…

Start off by preheating your oven to 250°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and lightly coat with cooking spray.

Wash your grape tomatoes and then slice them in half lengthwise. When you’re finished with that place the tomatoes on the baking sheet cut side up.

Chop up the shallot and mince the garlic. Sprinkle over the tomatoes. Spray a little more cooking spray over the tomatoes/shallots/garlic. Add a little salt and pepper if using then pop in the oven and cook for about 3-4 hours. Keep an eye on the tomatoes to make sure they don’t turn too dark. The original recipe I followed to slow roast tomatoes called for 6-8 hours in a 200° oven. I decided to speed up the process a bit.

Once the tomatoes are done cooking, remove them from the oven and set aside. Cook the ravioli according to instructions on the back of the package. Drain and set aside.

Using the same pot, melt the 2 tbsp of butter. Add the tomatoes/shallots/garlic, 1 tsp of oregano, and mix until well combined. Add the ravioli and stir until evenly coated and heated through (about 3-5 minutes).

Now you may proceed to nom the heck out of it.

This recipe makes 2 servings. The nutrition info below was entered into my MyFitnessPal account and does NOT include salt/pepper.

Calories: 337 Fat: 6 g Sugar: 16 g Sodium: 496 mg Protein: 13 g Iron: 22%

I like to stock up on the Spinach Florentine Ravioli because this really is a quick and easy meal to throw together. It might seem like a lot because of the slow roasting, but really once you pop the tomatoes in the oven you can just go about your day. The ravioli doesn’t take long to cook either. I swear, it only looks and tastes like I’ve fussed over this dish all day long.

Holy mother of plagiarism

April 18, 2012 | 9 Comments »

ETA: The photo has been taken down as of Wednesday morning. For future references, if you’re going to use someone’s photo you should ALWAYS link back. Give credit where credit is due. But that just goes without say. Do the right thing, people!

So this isn’t REALLY a food post, but it is something that I just had to get off my chest.

Remember my last post where I went on about how awesome Native Foods Cafe was? Well, I thought the food was so good that I decided to check out their blog in search of some good recipes to try. I’m clicking through the pages when I come across this one. I’m staring at the last photo pretty hard because I can’t get over how familiar it looks. I recognized that bowl. Of course I did. That’s because it’s my mother-in-law’s bowl with MY spaghetti squash dish inside of it. Here is the original photo which I uploaded back in 2009 for Vegan Mofo (I believe).

Now I don’t know. Maybe some of you are thinking ‘What’s the big deal? It’s JUST a photo.’ Don’t get me wrong. A small part of me is extremely flattered that someone thought MY photo was cool enough to use in their blog post. But then I started to get angry. There’s no link back. No mention of it being MY photo. It’s clear someone just right clicked and uploaded the photo to be used in their blog post without my permission. That’s just not cool. Now I sent an email using the ONLY contact that was available on the site. I haven’t heard back yet. And commenting is conveniently turned off for all blog entries. I’m really hoping to get this resolved because I’d be really bummed out if these guys just acted as if nothing happened. I take time out of my busy day to put together my blog entries complete with my OWN photos. They might not be the best entries, recipes, photos, etc. But they’re MINE and I work really hard at what I do. A link back or simply just asking before taking isn’t asking for much at all. Quite frankly I’m shocked and rather turned off. It’s unprofessional.

I’d also like to point out that there isn’t an ounce of cilantro in that dish. It’s clearly parsley.

MidwestVeg goes to Chicago

April 14, 2012 | 2 Comments »

On Thursday my husband surprised me with a quick trip to Chicago. I really shouldn’t say quick because it was a whole five hour drive there and another five hour drive back home. But we didn’t really stay long. It was a business trip, but hubby took me along for the ride. It was a hectic trip, but some good did come of it.

I stopped by the South Loop Whole Foods store to see if I could find some goodies that aren’t available in the St. Louis Whole Foods. Like the new Daiya Wedges! I got the Jalapeno Garlic Havarti Style and the Jack Style wedges. I haven’t tried them yet, but when I do you’ll be the first to know about it. Ok maybe second. I do tend to post on Facebook A LOT! I also got some of my favorite Pom Tea. I seriously can’t find this stuff anywhere around here. I was pretty excited to see it chilling in the cooler alongside the other delicious looking Pom beverages.

Before heading back home we stopped by Native Foods Cafe. I thought this place was pretty awesome. The service was excellent and the food was amazing! I ordered the Double Cheeseburger Deluxe Pizza, a Carrot Cream Cheese Cupcake, and a cup of Native Iced Tea. First of all, that iced tea was GOOD! And after walking aimlessly around Chicago it was just the thing I needed. When I first took a sip I was expecting an unsweetened black tea. But that’s not what I got. It was a mixture of floral and fruit while lightly sweetened. I need to drink that stuff daily. Seriously. I need more of it in my life.

Look at that pizza! I don’t think my photos do it much justice. Anyway, I had to take my food to go because it was getting late. As my husband carried the pizza all through The Loop back to the parking garage the smell was taunting me. It smelled just like a cheeseburger! So once we got into the car I ate a slice. I don’t like eating in the car, but I couldn’t help myself. It smelled SO good! Five hours later I walked through my front door and the very last thing I wanted to do was photograph my dinner. But I had to share this with you. It was too good not to. Afterward I popped the slices in the oven and ate it… ALL.

I’ll probably end up recreating this pizza sometime in the near future. I know I’m going to end up craving it and getting frustrated because I can’t have it. Just like when I moved 900+ miles away from Veggie Heaven and could no longer enjoy my favorite vegan Swedish Meatballs. I still dream of those meatballs.

The only photo I have of my cupcake is my Instagram photo which you can view here. The cake itself was good, but I wasn’t too crazy about the frosting. The texture was a little weird to me. It was sort of jelly-like? Not the best description, I know. But that’s what comes to mind.

Overall I was very impressed. I can’t wait to go back. I do however think they should consider opening a St. Louis location. There are lots of cool vegans down here. I’m sure they’d love having a place like this around about as much as I would.