Vegan cooking: pasta and fried rice

A little update on the veganism... we tried the pasta with beans and tomatoes. This was disappointing - it was a little bland. Maybe I didn't use enough tomatoes, but overall it had all the makings of a good recipe and ended up edible but bland. We leaned heavily on ground pepper at the table to give it a little kick. Nevertheless, adding beans to a pasta dish like this is a a great idea. One of my go to cookbooks is No-Cook Pasta Sauces - all the recipes I've tried over the years have plenty of flavor, so I think I will trying tossing in some beans.

I also made the fried rice. It was good, but not amazing. It was also a little on the bland side, but it was good enough that I would experiment with it again to perk it up. It did remind me I need to get back to cooking with tofu. I used to use it a lot but fell out of the habit when we moved to San Francisco (how does that make any sense?).

So I guess neither of these come with whole-hearted recommendations. My guess is that in both cases it had more to do with me than the recipes. If you try them and have success, pass on your tips please!