vegan cherry tomato pesto

Even though Lidia from Lidia's Italy has a suspiciously strong affinity for anchovies and pecorino cheese she is a great inspiration for vegan dishes. She is always doing something awesome and simple with fresh veggies. Our Garden is suddenly on fire with cherry tomatoes and I veganized Lidia's fresh cherry tomato pesto a couple times to put some of the bounty to use. It was also a great way to use our precious purple basil.

Here's how to make it:
1/2 cup almonds
1/4 cup olive oil
1 pint cherry tomatoes (preferably from your backyard)
2 medium garlic cloves
a handful of basil leaves
a few flat parsley leaves
2 Tbsp nutritional yeast
salt to taste
pepper

1 pound of hot pasta (the bow tie was good, but I think Lidia uses Capellini)

Pulse almonds and garlic in a food processor until they are coarsely ground. Add oil and tomatoes and pulse 6 times. Add remaining ingredients and pulse until basil is finely chopped. Pour over hot pasta and serve immediately.

cupcake city

The only good thing starbuck's ever did, other than give my darling baby sister a job, was create instant coffee that isn't disgusting. They have made vegan coffee buttercream possible. So now my dream of vegan mocha cupcakes has been realized.
I used the chocolate cupcake recipe from Vegan with a vengence and made the frosting from 1 cup of earth balance, 2/12 cups of powdered sugar, 1 tsp of vanilla, and 1 packet of Starbuck's instant coffee dissolved in 1 Tablespoon of water.

It was a good friend's going away party so I also made her favorite peanut butter chocolate cupcakes and coconut lime. They really eased the pain of losing another wonderful pal to the lure of New York.