Italian Food and Dessert (Vive le Vegan!)

I love Italian food. When I was a kid I ate lots of pasta, lasagna, and pizza. Maybe that isn't even close to real Italian food, but I love all the flavors and herbs, and they seem so familiar to me. I am part Italian too.

So I made lasagna and gnocchi. I've actually never had gnocchi before, but I LOVE it now.
Inside the lasagna is broccoli, onions, olives, red pepper, green pepper, spinach, basil tofu ricotta, fresh basil and rosemary, pesto, diced tomatoes, and O Organics Pasta sauce (I didn't like this sauce very much). The noodles I used were Hodgson Mills Whole Wheat Lasagna Noodles. I think I bought them before when I made lasagna last year, but this time they were not good at all. They were rubbery and had a strong wheaty/seitan-y flavor. I have never encountered this with whole wheat pasta, as I prefer it to white pasta. Maybe it was just this batch? I won't be buying them again though. On top I poured a can of tomato sauce, added some sliced onions and olives and sprinkled on some fresh basil. Even with the mishaps, this lasagna was YUMMY!
Gnocchi from Vegan with a Vengeance with Classic Pesto from Vegan with a Vengeance. And some O Organics pasta sauce.
Blueberry Coffee Cake from Vegan with a Vengeance!!! I put it in a 8" round cake pan instead of a square dish. I like to add some blueberries to the batter, pour half in the cake pan, then add a layer of blueberries and pour the rest of the batter on top. It makes a nice gooey center. This cake was devoured by me, my parents, brother, and grandma! I <3 my grandma.
I bought Vive le Vegan! by Dreena Burton over the weekend! All the recipes look so yummy. These are the Chocolate P-Nut Butter Squares.
I've also made the Banana Oat Bundles, Simple Dressing and Fudgy Brownies. My only complaint with the book so far is that the recipes don't make as much as they call for. When I made the fudgy brownies, I only had enough batter to fill half the pan (I used a 8x4 and halved the recipe) and same deal with these Chocolate P-Nut Butter Squares. I'm not discouraged though because Dreena's recipes are so delicious! I couldn't wait for the brownies to come out of the oven, so I took them out half-baked and my brother and I ate the WHOLE pan in 5 minutes. Mmmm, I have a new brownie recipe staple.