After swimming for a long time tonight, I was looking for something quick to make for dinner. Opening all of the cupboards in succession and pondering, as usual, I decided to use up the rest of the anellini pasta, making what else but Spaghetti-Os. Mark said I should name this dish “Renae-Os”, but I decided Smark-Os sounded better. Plus Mark (whose nickname is Smark, much to his chagrin) really liked them.

Smark-Os

2 cups anellini (small rings) pasta
1/2 onion, minced
1 stalk celery, minced
1 small or 1/2 large carrot, minced
5 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed (I love garlic, so maybe that’s a lot to some people, if so, just use less)
1 14.5 ounce can tomato sauce
1 1/2 cups veggie broth (that’s the frozen stuff in the measuring cup in the photo)
3 cubes frozen basil, or 1 tsp dried
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 – 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp beet powder, for color (optional)
1/4 cup Dragonfly’s Bulk, Dry Uncheese Mix, or nutritional yeast
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
juice of 1/2 small or 1/4 large lemon
3 vegan “franks”, sliced (optional)

Cook the anellini until barely al dente and drain. Meanwhile, heat a small amount of oil in a soup pan. Add the onions, celery, carrot, and garlic.

Cook until very soft. If necessary, deglaze the pan with white wine or some of the veggie broth.

Add the tomato sauce, broth, basil, oregano, and red pepper flakes.

Add the uncheese mix or nutritional yeast and simmer for 10 minutes.

Puree using an immersion or regular blender.

Pureeing it turned it an orange color, so I added the beet powder to take it back down to red. I also thought it would add a subtle tangy sweetness, but honestly I couldn’t taste the beet powder. I did like the color better though.

Add the anellini and optional franks. I happened to have some vegan hot dogs on hand in case I decided to celebrate our nation’s independence by eating faux pig innards. Heat until franks are cooked through (about five minutes).

It was hard to take a decent picture of this plated, or “bowled”.

But Smark liked the Smark-Os even if they aren’t very photogenic!

I made Bryanna’s okara parmesan with that dried okara I had. It’s pretty good; the miso makes it. I sprinkled it on top of my Smark-Os. Tigger was pretty interested in it, which was no surprise considering it contains nutritional yeast.