pasta and inner peace

I've discovered that cooking is a pretty calming distraction from wedding planning. Last night, after an exhausting conversation with my mother that kept my brain distracted all day, I made my first batch of vegan mac and cheese. The miso sorta poked at it a bit until I fessed up about the ingredients, but then he went in for seconds, so it must have been edible. The 'cheese' came from an interesting mixture of nutritional yeast, flour, soy sauce, and turmeric (for orange color) and the entire dish was baked in the oven for 20 minutes with some bread crumbs on top. It felt very wholesome and the miso swooned (a bit too much) at the sight of me in an apron discussing techniques for making the sauce less thick. I might as well have been barefoot and pregnant.

A few nights ago, after I found out my favorite Russian River winery doesn't have private events, I made another pasta dish (that was only vegetarian so we could use up the pesto), which was super easy and super tasty, so I've added the link below.


http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/PASTA-WITH-WHITE-BEANS-PESTO-AND-SUN-DRIED-TOMATOES-102472

I might just be able to cater my own wedding if things continue along this path.