Creamy pasta

Today was a long day and it's been a long week. I got home from work today and the only thing I wanted was to have take-out or a big gooey cheesy pizza or box mac n cheese. On days like today I try to take a step back and think about how I'll feel after I eat any of these things. I'm not saying I never have that food but when I'm already stressed the last thing I want to do is stress about how I feel after I eat. So instead of the tofu scramble we planned on having I decided to whip up a creamy pasta dish. Comforting, creamy, easy, and I already had all the ingredients on hand. I can't take any credit for the recipe- it comes from Oh She Glows. Angela served hers with some sautéed greens and I served ours with sautéed garlic, onions, red pepper and spinach. Basically we used up the veggies left in our fridge. Don't expect alfredo sauce but it really is a nice, creamy sauce. I think I'll play around with the non-dairy milk and try something other than almond next time. Sometimes the almond taste comes through too much for me, even though we use just plain, unsweetened.

Ingredients:

16 oz or less of pasta
1/3 heaping cup raw cashews
3 garlic cloves
3 Tbs nutritional yeast
3/4 cup + 2 Tbs almond milk (as needed to make it as thin or thick as you'd like)
1 Tbs lemon juie
2 Tbs Earth Balance
2 tsp soy sauce
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp miso paste (optional)
1 Tbs tahini
pinch of nutmeg
salt, to taste (about 1/4-1/2 tsp?)
1/2 tsp paprika, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
veggies or herbs of your choke to add into the mix

1. Cook the pasta according to directions. Cook veggies.

2. Add all ingredients except for pasta and veggies to a blender and blend until smooth. Set aside.

3. When pasta is done, drain it and pour in the sauce and veggies and cook on medium heat until heated through.

4. Serve with a nice glass of red wine, especially if you've had a long week!

With just a little teeny bit of work you can skip the processed crap and still have an easy and comforting dinner after a long week. This dish took all of 15-20 minutes. You could even skip the fresh sautéed veggies and add some frozen spinach or broccoli and garlic powder into the mix. Even easier!

Mom's tomato sauce

I made this sauce on Sunday afternoon and for one of the first times our new house smelled like a home! I mean, it was probably a mix of the freshly cut grass from Saturday, the rain that was coming down and this sauce, but still! The sauce smells wonderful. But really, anything with sautéed onions and garlic smells amazing. It brings me back to my childhood when my mom often had a pot of this simmering on the stove.

A key to this recipe is the quality of canned tomatoes you get. I like Muir Glen because they are organic, good quality and the cans are now BPA free! My mom likes Red Pack. The point is- don't get the cheap store brand stuff. This recipe makes a lot of sauce but the good news is you can freeze it in small containers and pull it out as needed (which is what we did!). Feel free to play around with the herbs and spices in the recipe or to substitute fresh ones. I just pruned our basil plants and used them. I also added a splash more wine:)

Without further ado...

Mom's Tomato Sauce Recipe

2 cans (29 oz) Tomato Puree

1 can (29 oz) Whole Tomatoes (you chop or cut up)

 ½ cup dry red wine (or as much as you like)

3 Tbsp olive oil

1 sm onion chopped well

4 garlic cloves minced or chopped and crushed

¼ cup green pepper chopped fine (you may omit this if you want)

2 tsp salt

2 tsp sugar (or agave nectar)

ground pepper (to taste)

2 tsp dried Basil

2 tsp dried Oregano

(I added some rosemary)

1. Cook onions and garlic in oil just until tender (don’t brown).

2. Add tomato puree, tomatoes and wine.  Bring to just boil and reduce to simmer.

3. Add rest of ingredients and simmer for about 1 ½ hrs (stirring occasionally).

4. Taste to adjust spices (may need more).

See! It's really easy. Plan ahead and freeze a bunch of containers of it and then you'll have sauce on hand for whenever you want it!

Creamy avocado pesto with broccoli

Mmmm pesto. I love it. Even though basil isn't quite in season yet- once in awhile I make a splurge! This pasta dish is so creamy and delicious and was exactly what I wanted to eat tonight for dinner. I love when that happens. I got the recipe from Oh She Glows. Angela Liddon is amazing! Her original recipe is half of what I have here and it serves 2 but we were pretty hungry so I doubled it and we have some leftover. I also added broccoli to the mix because we wanted to have some more greens in the dish- broccoli is perfect with this creamy sauce because it sops it up and you get a mouthful of delicious creamy pesto. We'll see how the leftovers taste- I'm not planning on re-heating them because avocado doesn't heat well. The lemon juice should preserve the avocado enough to taste good cold for lunch. Think- pesto pasta salad. I'll let you know!

Serves 4

Ingredients:

2 medium sized avocados, pitted

1 lemon juiced plus lemon zest to garnish

4-6 garlic cloves to taste (of course we used 6)

1 tsp salt, or to taste

1/2 cup fresh basil

4 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

8 oz pasta of your choice (I used whole wheat shells)

2 handfuls broccoli florets

freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1. Bring several cups of water to boil in a medium sized pot. Add in your pasta, reduce heat to medium and cook until al dente, about 8-10 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, make the sauce by placing the garlic cloves, lemon juice and olive oil into a food processor. Process until smooth. Now add the pitted avocado, basil and salt. Process until smooth and creamy.

3. About 5 minutes before pasta is done cooking add the broccoli florets into the water. When pasta is done cooking, drain and rinse in a strainer and place pasta back in the pot with a little olive oil so it doesn't stick. Pour on sauce and toss until fully combined. Garnish with lemon zest and freshly cracked black pepper. Serve immediately.

I added freshly cracked black pepper- and I liked it. For those of you who know me, this is a huge step!