Roasted Heirloom Tomatoes Over Pasta

At Trader Joe's this past weekend, I came across cartons of colorful heirloom cherry tomatoes. I bought two cartons of tomatoes and decided to use them to make a quick and simple dinner on Saturday night. Yum!

Roasted Heirloom Tomatoes Over Pasta
Serves approximately 4

16 ounces pasta (I used pappardelle)
2 pounds (2 cartons) heirloom cherry tomatoes
1/8 - 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Basil leaves, torn

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Slice the tomatoes in half and toss them in 1/8 to 1/4 cup of olive oil. Add salt and pepper, and roast the tomatoes in the oven on a foil-lined baking sheet for about for about 20 minutes.


About 10 minutes into the roasting process, bring a large pot of water to a boil.

Before removing the tomatoes out of the oven, drop the pasta into the hot water and cook according to the directions on the package. Take the tomatoes out of the oven when they become soft, but not mushy. Set the tomatoes aside.

Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and saute for about 3 minutes until softened. Add the tomatoes and turn the heat down to low. Add the basil leaves and, if necessary, additional salt and pepper.

When the pasta is done cooking, drain the pasta thoroughly. Spoon the tomatoes over the pasta and serve.

Cobb Salad

For a bacon substitute, I cut Lightlife brand's smokey tempeh strips into small pieces and sauteed them in some canola oil until they were crispy around the edges. I arranged the defrosted sweet corn, "bacon" bits, chopped boiled eggs, diced tomatoes, diced avocados, black olives, and some crumbled blue cheese on top of a bed of romaine lettuce that I had tossed in some store-bought blue cheese dressing.

Easy. Filling. Yummy!

Vegan Jambalaya

I really liked this dish, which is my vegan adaptation of a Rachel Ray recipe.

I pretty much followed Rachel Ray's recipe as written, except that I did use more cayenne pepper than called for. I also used vegetable broth and vegan worcestershire sauce and, of course, omitted the shrimp and chicken.

And, yes, the entire dish took less than 30 minutes to prepare!