Sunday, February 17 Penne with Zombie Sauce (The Vegan Zombie) and Spicy Sausage (Happy Herbivore) Rating: 4.75

Ladies and gentleman, we had a first. Seth cooked from a recipe. OK, maybe not a first, but definitely a rarity. He found this Vegan Zombie recipe for tomato sauce and really wanted to give it a try. He did a great job and the sauce was delicious. It looked like it was going to be sort of thin, but super chunky - if that makes sense – so he decided to puree it a little with the immersion blender. We both loved the sauce and it will probably be our go-to sauce from now on. I really wanted to make some sausage. I’ve only done it once before and was pretty happy with the way they came out. My first try was the chorizo in Viva Vegan – if you have the book, give them a try, they’re good. Anyway, we love Happy Herbivore recipes, so I went with the spicy sausage recipe in her first book. They were predictably easy and made from items I already had in my pantry. The only thing I had to fudge on was not letting them chill for long enough in the fridge, because my day got away from me and I started on them later than planned. I think that’s why they were a little less dense than they should have been. They were super tasty, but I’m glad I cut back on the cayenne in the recipe – it just seemed like a lot to me. Plus, Seth was a bit heavy handed with the red pepper in the sauce, so dinner would’ve been way too spicy. We used one sausage in the pasta and put the rest in the freezer. I’m thinking pizza. And maybe red beans and rice. And pizza. Seth made one of his famous salads and a batch of his 8^th deadly sin garlic bread to round out the meal. Happy tummies.