Homemade FTW!

Making stuff from scratch is fun! I've been having lots of fun the last few days in the kitchen with that trusty stand-by Vegan Planet.

My basil plant has several huge bunches on it just screaming to be picked and used before they get too old. Of course, the natural thing to do is to make pesto! I have to say that the Vegan Planet recipe is not my favourite, I found it too salty and a bit too oily, even when I added extra basil to dilute out the salt. It was meant to make 1 1/2 cups I think, but it made closer to half that volume. No pictures of the pesto, but here is a picture of what I did with it...



Here is Pesto-Stuffed Tofu Steaks with Summertime Tomato Sauce! I was a bit worried about the tofu slabs breaking when I tried to stuff them, but there were no problems. The Summertime Tomato Sauce recipe is sensational! Fresh tasting, a little bit sweet, full of flavour. So yummy! It sugested serving the tofu with pasta, so I made the Simple Spaghetti Sicilian Style from The Vegan Gourmet. Really easy to make and full of garlic and chili! I also had some mixed leaves with it. A great dinner!

The pesto made enough for one other recipe, which led me to my next homemade adventure - Basic Vegetable Stock. For some reason, I had never made stock before. I have no idea why. I guess it is like seitan - I didn't make that for ages. And then I did. And now I do. So why did I not make stock before? Easy and tasty and really so little effort involved. The recipe said it made 6 cups, but it ended up making 5 cups.



OK, so it is not the most beautiful looking picture. But it is stock! What I did with it next...



Farm Stand Vegetable Stew with Basil Pesto. It is loaded with fabulous summertime vegetables - tomatoes, zucchini, squash, green beans, fresh corn - yum! The pest is stirred through at the end of cooking giving a beautiful, creamy and tasty finish. I served it with some grilled turkish bread. Grilled on the George Foreman Grill to give it pretty stripes.