Avocado and Spinach Pasta

When I tell people that I use avocado as a warm ingredient in pasta, their reaction is not always so positive. If you are someone who believes that avocado should only be eaten cold, in sandwiches or in guacamole, you are missing out on the creaminess that it offers in a pasta dish. Try it!

Avocado and Spinach Pasta

454g bag of linguine or other pasta
2 tbsp olive oil
4 large cloves of garlic, crushed
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 cup white wine
1 cup vegetable broth
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tsp salt
fresh ground black pepper
4 cups chopped fresh spinach
2 tomatoes, cut into chunks
3 avocados, peeled and chopped into chunks (the riper the avocado, the creamier the sauce)

Cook the pasta according to package instructions.

Heat the olive oil over medium heat. Toss in the garlic and red pepper flakes. Stir around for a couple minutes making sure the garlic doesn't burn. Add the wine and let it bubble another couple minutes. Add the broth, lime juice, salt, and pepper and bring up to a boil then reduce the heat to simmer. Toss in the tomato and once it is heated through, add the spinach and mix until it is wilted.

Toss the pasta and sauce together and leave on the heat for a few minutes until it is all hot again. Stir in the avocado and let it heat through. Enjoy!

I love lasagna!

I used to make lasagna quite often but gave this wonderful one-pot meal up when we became vegan. I really don't like many of the soy cheese products and I try to avoid as much wheat as possible but when I came across this recipe in the Accidental Vegan cookbook I just bought, I could not resist (with a few modifications of course!) I was having good friends over for dinner so I decided they could be my guinea pigs. That's what good friends are for!

There are several steps for this recipe because you make all three sauces but each one is made quickly so the overall time is not a big deal. You could melt soy cheese on top but as we have recently discovered, some brands have casein from milk in them. Check your labels carefully.

I use the instant lasagna noodles because I hate fighting with lasagna noodles that stick in my pot when I am boiling them and then fall apart as I transfer them into the lasagna pan. It limits my options for "flavours" of lasagna noodles but for these rare occasions, I don't mind just eating plain white semolina flour noodles.

Spinach Pesto Lasagna

1. Spinach Tomato Sauce
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp dried oregano (been to Abby's yet?)

2 tbsp dried basil
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp pepper
6-8 large tomatoes skinned and chopped or just chopped fine
1 pkg frozen spinach, thawed

Heat the oil in a saucepan, add onions, garlic, herbs, spices and salt. Fry on medium heat until the onions start to become translucent. Add the tomatoes, lower heat, cover and let simmer 30 minutes. (This is when you make the other sauces.) Squeeze the water out of the spinach and mix it into the sauce. Let it heat through.

2. Pesto
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, reconstituted in boiling water
2 cloves garlic
3 cups loosely packed fresh basil leaves
1 cup shelled walnuts
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup fresh parsley
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Put the garlic cloves in the food processor and chop finely. Drain the tomatoes and add all the ingredients to the food processor. Process until finely chopped and well mixed.

3. "Cheese" Sauce - nothing like cheese at all really except the creaminess of a cheese sauce
1/2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup nutritional yeast (great source of B12 - one of the only sources for vegans)
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp prepared mustard

Gently heat oil over medium-low heat. Add flour and yeast and whisk until it is all mixed together. It will be a combined crumbly mixture. Add the water, raise the heat to medium and whisk continuously until the sauce boils and thickens to the consistency of pea soup. It will burn fast so it is important to whisk it all the time. Remove from heat and whisk in the salt and mustard. 

LASAGNA

1 pkg express lasagna
1 pkg soft tofu, drained and crumbled into a bowl
the 3 sauces above

Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Mix the pesto into the bowl with the crumbled tofu. In a 9x13 pan, spread 1/3 of the tomato-spinach sauce. Layer noodles onto the sauce. Spread 1/2 the tofu-pesto sauce on top. Add another layer of noodles. Spread 1/3 of the tomato-spinach sauce on top then cover with the rest of the tofu-pesto sauce. Another layer of noodles. Cover with the rest of the tomato-spinach sauce. Pour the "cheese" sauce on top, cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes. Remove the foil and bake another 15 minutes. Take out of the oven and let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Each of the sauces are good on their own for pasta. I boil macaroni then fry onions and tomatoes together, toss in the macaroni, add the "cheese" sauce, put it in a baking dish, cover it with breadcrumbs and bake it for 20 minutes. Makes a great lunch!

Garlic Pasta with Tomato, Avocado, Artichoke and Spinach Sauce

Corey calls this a good "shoulder" season dish because when avocados are in season, tomato and basil are not. However, the tomatoes don't have to be fresh out of the garden flavourful because there are other flavours that are strong and the tomatoes just complement the dish. The garlic pasta cold be made for any other dish or could just be eaten as is without any sauce at all.

Nutritional yeast is a vegan fridge staple because it is used in many dishes. It is also a slight source of B12 which is important for vegans although a B12 supplement (chewable or sublingual taken three times a week) is also a must for full vegans. B12 is not found in many vegan foods apart from this inactive yeast and fortified breakfast cereal (have you checked the sugar content and salt content in those? EEK!)

Nutritional yeast has a nutty cheesy flavour and can be sprinkled on pasta to give a cheesy flavour if you don't think too hard about it. We have tried to make "Mac-n-Cheese" with nutritional yeast and although the two recipes we've tried swear that it's amazing, we've not been fooled. Still a must-have ingredient because a small amount is worth adding to the recipes that call for it. It's not a star actor but it's excellent in supporting roles.

Garlic Pasta with Tomato, Avocado, Artichoke and Spinach Sauce

1 pkg pasta of your choice
salt and a dollop of olive oil for the pasta water
2 tbsp olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp nutritional yeast
2 tbsp tamari or low sodium soy sauce

2 tbsp olive oil
1 red onion, chopped
1 clam-shell grape/cherry tomatoes, cut in half
2 avocados (softer make a creamier sauce, firmer leaves more chunks in your sauce), sliced
1 can artichoke hearts, drained and cut into quarters
2 cups spinach, chopped
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
fresh ground black pepper
salt

Get the pasta cooking in salted and oiled water. Mix the 2 tbsp olive oil, garlic, yeast and tamari together in a small bowl and set aside.

Heat the other 2 tbsp olive oil in a large frying pan on medium heat. Toss in the onion and cook until the onion starts to brown around the edges. Toss in all the vegetables (yes tomato and avocado are fruits, I know. Don't be difficult.) and the basil. Give the mix a good crack of pepper and a good pinch of salt. Mix gently to not break up the avocado too much. Put a lid on the frying pan and turn off the heat. The spinach will wilt and the veggies (fruits) will heat up. Just leave the frying pan alone now. You can give the sauce a stir when you are dishing it onto the pasta.

When the pasta is cooked, drain it well and rinse it. Put the pot back on the burner on low, toss the pasta back in and pour the garlic mix into the pasta. Mix all around and let it start to sizzle a bit. Once it's heated up (don't let it burn, stir it frequently but this will only take a couple minutes), dish into bowls and top with the sauce. You can sprinkle more yeast on it to add more of a cheesy flavour but we just cracked a bit more pepper onto ours.

It seems odd to heat up avocado but this was really tasty. I have another recipe for stuffed avocados that I want to try but I have to go get more avocados. And for those of you who don't eat avocados because they are fattening, don't be silly. The oil in avocados is great for you. And if you only eat avocados at this time of year when local veggies and fruits aren't available then it doesn't matter how many you eat. I probably eat 3 a week on average for the month of January and February. I don't bemoan my avocado weight. And what about that "choose whatever fast food sandwich you eat to put in here"? You think the avocado is going to affect your weight?

You need to be honest with yourself if you truly want to make a difference for yourself!