Well, we did it. Moving week is over. Phew! That was kinda crazy and hectic and boy are my arms tired. And I have a good cluster of bruises and scrapes still lingering and healing up. Everything feels fresh and new and I am trying to get used to all the new spaces and set ups. It's funny how muscle memory works not just with sports and activities, but in our own homes! I keep grabbing for handles in all the wrong places and I am still getting used to all the odd sounds and different nuances to every crevice of this new space.

But overall, I am so happy things are going great! And most importantly, that the kitties are super thrilled about the move.

So how has cooking been going? Well, as usual, moving week was filled with takeout from Veggie Grill and Whole Foods, super easy breakfasts and lots of fruit, smoothies and Kind bars. Matcha and lattes too. Cooking wise, I had only made a few breakfast sandwiches and smoothies when I decided I was ready to a cooked entree. This vegan Easy Garlic Butter Pasta was moving-week-comfort-food perfection! I made it during the day and we had it for dinner that night -- along with a few giant side salads. If you want to add tomato sauce over top to layer the flavors even more, go for it, but as-is the buttery-garlic flavor is lovely.

The flavor? The sauce has cheesy garlic bread vibes and the pasta gets all tender and buttery, marinated with toasted garlic aromas, a hint of Italian herbs and savoriness too. Next time you need a super easy comfort food pasta dish, give this one a try!...

When you don't really have a photo set up yet... use a stool!

Add as much garlic as you are craving. Some added roasted garlic would also be delish!

A bit of garnish on top. Also try olives, fresh basil, red pepper flakes or even your fave veggie meatballs or vegan sausage. Field Roast would be great on this!

Sochi loves checking out the views from the new windows..

And sleeping in some new spots..

"Yeah, ok, I meowed all night the first night here .... but now I kinda like it here...."

While they are getting used to these new windows I have put in double screens and we re-screened all the screens with new material. It is easy to buy retractable screens that pop in the windows to get extra security.

Happy cats are the best for home cozies! MrWhite fell right in love with this place.. (thank goodness!)

Meanwhile, I am just beginning to test out allllll the possible lighting scenarios in this new place. The weather has been crazy overcast the past few days so everything has a kinda moody glow to it in these shots. Gray skies all day. It will be fun to see how the light changes and where my favorite photoshoot spots end up being. I just cannot tell yet with all these gray days!

So yeah.. food photographer talking here.. Don't mind the lighting in these pics. still working my shots out and waiting for bright sunny days!

Simple comfort food..

Ps. HHVH and 365VS cookbook fans! Don't forget to enter my Vitamix Giveaway! Ending soonish.... Enter in this post

Buttery, garlicky Ziti noodles...

Garlic-Butter Pasta

This comfort food pasts is super simple and is filled with buttery-garlic, Italian herb flavors.

5 from 1 vote

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Prep: 5

Cook: 15

Total: 20

Servings: 3 servings

Ingredients

PASTA

2-3 cups cooked pasta, any variety

SAUCE

1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoon vegan butter (Earth Balance)
6-10 cloves garlic, minced or thinly sliced
3 tablespoon nutritional yeast
1-2 teaspoon Italian herb seasoning, salt-free blend
⅛ teaspoon sea salt - or to taste
freshly ground black pepper OR red pepper flakes, to taste
Garnish options: fresh basil, diced tomatoes, vegan Parmesan cheese, olives, pea shoots, chopped parsley

Instructions

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the pasta. cook until tender.
While the pasta is cooking, warm a medium sauce pot over high heat. Add the olive oil and garlic. Turn heat to low after a strong sizzle toasts the garlic. Once the garlic is nicely toasted, stir in the vegan butter. allow it to fully melt as you stir. Next, stir in the herbs, salt and nutritional yeast - keep stirring for 3-4 minutes, keeping the sauce on the lowest setting. Turn the heat off and allow the sauce to sit. The trick here: You want to be very careful as to not burn the garlic - garlic burns quite quickly. You really just want to toast it and then soften it and thicken the sauce a bit into a cheesy, buttery mixture. The aroma will smell like cheesy garlic bread!
Drain the pasta and pour the sauce over top. Using a wooden spoon, fold the sauce into the hot noodles for 1-2 minutes to fully saturate and marinate the pasta. Add salt to taste or about ⅛ teaspoon to really make the flavors pop.
Serve with optional garnishes such as fresh herbs, red pepper flakes, vegan Parm shreds or sprinkle or DIY version, olives, chopped greens and more. Or just keep or super simple and lovely as is.

recipe author: Kathy Patalsky