The fact that the Atkins diet was once so popular baffles me. Why would people willingly give up delicious carbs? Pasta, bread, muffins, scones, pizza crust, potatoes… those are my favorite foods.

I recently made a delicious loaf of bread that was half all-purpose and half-spelt flour. It tasted the same as a loaf made of all-purpose, but the crumb was softer and more delicate. It made for a great firm but gentle dough, and it turned out to be fantastic for sandwiches. I topped it with sesame and sunflower seeds.

I need to work on a way to make those seeds stay on the bread. I tried to press them into the dough before baking a little, but when I took the bread out of the loaf pan half the seeds still feel off of the top. I’m definitely open to suggestions.

Last night for dinner I made gnocci with cashew pesto and the Greek salad from American Vegan Kitchen. The gnocci was significantly easier than I imagined it would be. All you have to do is boil or bake the potatoes until tender, peel off the skin, and mash them. Then add oil and flour until it makes a sticky (but not wet) dough, roll it into tubes, slice, and boil. I probably spent 10 minutes doing actual work on these.

I’m really proud of the pesto. It turned out great. I used cashews rather than pine nuts, and I started by blending the cashews and olive oil together for almost 5 minutes, until it produced a super-creamy base. Then I added the basil, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, and salt and pepper. It was perfect.

The salad was delicious, and the only change I made to Tamasin’s recipe was using green olives rather than kalamata. I got most of the vegetables off the salad bar at my local grocery store because it’s cheaper than buying them separate. I let the tofu “feta” marinate for approximately 7 hours, and although it didn’t taste exactly like feta, it still contributed very nicely to the salad.

Have you ever made gnocci? If so, what’s your favorite sauce to use?