Lemon Artichoke Pasta

...I am a parmesan cheese addict. There, I said it. When I was a kid, I would boil up some pasta, slather it in butter and and then cover the whole thing in a thick layer of parmesan cheese. In my neck of the woods, that was known as "ghetti". I did not like pasta with sauce, I did not want pasta with sauce. Just give me some ghetti and I was good to go.

Now that some 20 years have passed, I have matured into a sauce-loving gal, however I still love to coat my pasta in lots and lots of parm. Sometimes, if I have parmesan in the fridge, I'll make a big ol' bowl of pasta, just so I have an excuse to eat the parm...I might even sneak a heaping spoonful of parmesan when I'm home alone from time to time! I know, I know....I have issues ;)

When I started my meal planning, I wanted to try using up some non-perishables that had been lurking around in my pantry for way too long. I found half a bag of brown rice fettucine and a can of marinated artichoke hearts and this is how the idea for this pasta was born....of course, I also knew I had a brand new container of parmesan in the fridge, so I think this was the very first 'planned' meal that I made.

Lemon Artichoke Pasta

Serves 2

6 - 8 oz your fave pasta (I used brown rice fettucine)

2 + 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

3/4 c grape tomatoes, halved

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 c sliced black olives

1/3 c sweet onion, diced

14 oz can artichoke hearts, quartered - drained

1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

1/4 - 1/2 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper

2 large basil leaves, thinly sliced

parmesan cheese

Cook your pasta according to the package directions.

While the pasta is cooking, heat 2 tbsp of the oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add your garlic and onion and cook for approximately 5 minutes until the onion is softened.

Add the artichokes, tomatoes and olives and cook for another 3 - 4 minutes. Add your cookied pasta and stir in your basil.

Drizzle the remaining tbsp of olive oil and the lemon juice over the prepared pasta dish.

Garnish with some additional slivered basil and some parmesan cheese.

The lemon and olive oil give this pasta a fresh, light taste. Lemon is one of those fresh tasting flavours that I associate with Spring. Adding a little, or in my case, alot of parmesan and fresh basil tops this meal off and you have absolute perfection!

What flavours do you associate with Spring?

Is there a food from your childhood that you still love as much now as when you were a kid?

Have a fab day!

Andrea

xoxo

Lemony Penne with White Beans & Spinach

Happy Monday!! Sadly our gorgeous sunny weekend has sped by and we're back into yet another work week. Are you still enjoying warm weather in your neck of the woods? It was warm and humid here and our office building was so hot! I struggled to keep my eyes open all afternoon because it was so warm. It felt great at the end of the day to step out into the cool breeze and get some fresh air. It's supposed to cool off into single digits tonight but I really hope the Spring weather is here to stay!! (I'm knocking on wood right as I type this :-))

This morning I woke up and thought to myself "I have no idea what I'm going to blog about!" I've been trying to decide what recipe I wanted to feature next and nothing has been exciting me....that was until I started catching up with all my favourite blogging buddies to see what everyone had been up to over the weekend. There were so many fabulous recipes posted over the past few days ~ I think I have inspiration to last me at least a week or two. I've bookmarked several new recipes that I must try in the very near future!

Lemony Penne with White Beans & Spinach
Adapted from The Healthy Apron

This is a fresh lemony pasta that tastes great and packs a healthy dose of beans and greens! Make sure you put the full half cup of reserved liquid into the sauce at the end. I thought 1/2 c would make it watered down, so I used 1/4 c and I can see that my leftovers are going to be drier than I would have liked.

2 1/2 c dry brown rice penne (your fave penne will do)
1 tbsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 c sundried tomatoes, chopped
1/2 orange pepper, sliced
2 handfuls baby spinach
4 green onions, sliced
1 can white beans, drained and rinsed
juice of one lemon
1 tbsp tahini
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
pinch black pepper

Cook your pasta according to the directions ~ remember to salt your water ;-)  Reserve 1/2 c of cooking water for the sauce.

While the pasta is cooking, heat the olive oil in a large skillet. Add the garlic and pepper and saute for 2 - 3 minutes. Add sundried tomatoes and spinach. It was at this point that I found 4 green onions tucked way back in my crisper, so I sliced them up and tossed them in as well. They were a wonderful addition!

Once the spinach has wilted, add the beans and pasta.

In a small separate bowl, combine lemon juice, reserved cooking water, tahini, salt, cayenne pepper and black pepper to taste. Toss with pasta mixture. Cook for 3 - 4 minutes until the sauce has reduced slightly.

Serve and enjoy ~ garnish your dish with a lemon wedge - it tastes fantastic with a fresh squeeze of lemon right before digging in!

PS - Happy Birthday to my sweet hubby. Yesterday we went out for dinner with friends. I got my Bellini. He got a Ceasar...or two. We even got to enjoy our dinner on a patio. Life is good.

Even the dogs got in on the birthday celebrations. Don't they look impressed ;-)

Have a wonderful evening!

Andrea

Easy Creamy Avocado Pasta

First of all, I want to say a quick apology to my Google followers. It came to my attention yesterday that my feed was not updating in Google Reader and today you were bombarded with a bunch of my posts. I hope you enjoy each & every one of them :-), but I do apologize for the overload.

Last night I was up several times with Dora who was having some gastro-intestinal issues (ew!). By 5 a.m. I decided that I might as well get myself up and go to the gym for a 6:15 a.m. Spin Class. The class was great and I felt energized and fabulous until about 1 p.m. and that's when I crashed. The afternoon draaaggged by and I was so happy when we reached the end of the day and I was able to head home because I could barely hold my eyelids open.

Derek had to work tonight, so I had all the dog duties to myself. Luckily today was a beautiful, sunny day so I was able to put the dogs out in the backyard to romp around and play for a couple of hours to wear them out. Sadly, the mud has not yet dried up in our yard, so before they could come in from their fun, it was in the bathtub they went. I swear that they have spent more time in the tub than we have in the past 2 weeks!

By the time all of this was done and I was able to think about my own dinner, I was pooped and just wanted something quick and easy. Enter "Easy Creamy Avocado Pasta."  I've been wanting to do a post about this recipe for a while because this is the easiest, creamiest pasta ever! I've tried a couple of different variations, but they never come out as good as the original recipe, so I am going to share a recipe that I saw on Angela's blog earlier this year.

Easy Creamy Avocado Pasta
Recipe from Oh She Glows

This is a fantastic pasta recipe! It is so creamy and rich and there isn't a drop of butter or cream to be found. The lemon combined with the avocado make this a delicious Spring dish.

1 medium sized avocado, peeled and pitted
1/2 lemon, juiced
2 garlic cloves
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 c fresh basil
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 servings of your choice of pasta (I used brown rice spaghetti)
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
pinch of nutritional yeast for garnish OR lemon zest for garnish (optional)

Cook your pasta according to the directions. I'm sure you've noticed that I use brown rice pasta alot. The more I use it, the less I like whole wheat pasta - I just find it too chewy.  If you've never tried brown rice pasta, I would really recommend that you do. I got this package at the Bulk Barn and it is about the same price as a box of whole wheat pasta. I love that it is gluten free and did you notice it's organic too?

While your pasta is cooking, make your sauce. Place the lemon juice, garlic and olive oil into a food processor and blend until smooth.

The Ingredients - the produce was starting to look pretty sad,

so I was happy to be able to use up so many things in this recipe

Next, add the avocado, basil and salt. Process until smooth and creamy. You may want to adjust the salt to your tastes - I sprinkled more on my serving, but remember I love salt.

Once the pasta is cooked, drained and rinsed place it into a large mixing bowl. Add your sauce and mix until well combined.

Doesn't that sauce look gorgeous?

Serve & enjoy. I garnished mine with nutritional yeast (another Bulk Barn buy) and a pinch of black pepper. Angela garnished hers with black pepper and lemon zest. I'm not a fan of any kind of "zest", so I improvised :-)

Who knew a sauce without cream could come out so creamy?! This pasta dish is divine!

Note: This is a dish that must be served immediately. The avocado does not keep and this will not be good if reheated.

You might notice that I had to use my itty bitty mini processor to blend this sauce. I am happy to say that I am planning to go blender and/or food processor shopping this weekend, so hopefully we will be the proud new parents of some fabulous new appliance within the next few days ;-)

Have you ever tried different pastas that are not made with wheat?
What is your favourite brand of blender - I would love some input when making my purchase!

I hope your Thursday was wonderful and your Friday flies by....now it's time for bed for this gal.

Goodnight y'all,

Andrea

Spaghetti & Italian-Style Bean Balls

Last week I was checking out one my favourite blogs, and the first lines read like this:

"When I was knee high to a grasshopper I loved meatballs in my spaghetti.  I used to love how my mom would put a dish of powdered Parmesan cheese on the table right in front of me and as the sauce was still steaming I would dump hideous amounts onto it." <source>

This could have been written by me because that was me for many, many years. I love all things made with ground beef including barbecued hamburgers, meatloaf and yes MEATBALLS!! Just because I don't eat meat anymore doesn't mean I didn't love (some of) it. My mouth still waters at the smell of hamburgers on the grill or meatballs at a potluck.

When I found a recipe for Italian Bean Balls on Kris's site, I almost jumped up and did a happy dance right on my desk. My co-workers would have thought  think I was am nuts (in a good way of course). I've been dreaming about spaghetti and meatballs and all things Italian ever since and finally today seemed like the perfect opportunity to satisfy my craving.

Italian-Style Bean Balls
Recipe by Kris @ i heart wellness
I made a couple of very minor changes to suit what I had on hand, but otherwise it is very close to her original recipe.

1 19 oz can of navy beans, drained & rinsed
3 tbsp brown rice flour (or all-purpose flour would probably work)
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 freshly squeezed lemon
1/4 c water

Preheat oven to 375. Line a small baking sheet with parchment paper or non-stick spray.

Add all of your ingredients into a large mixing bowl.

Using a potato masher, mash all of the ingredients together. 

Roll the mixture into 6 large bean balls. Place onto baking sheet.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Do not flip.

They should be golden and crisp on the outside but still soft and moist in the middle.



While the bean balls are cooking, boil and cook your favourite pasta. Tonight I used whole wheat rotini. I have to tell you that my preferred pasta right now is brown rice pasta. It doesn't cost much more than whole wheat pasta and I find that whole wheat pasta is too chewy for my liking while brown rice pasta is just right. 

I topped my pasta with my homemade marinara sauce.  It was perfect.

Top with 2 bean balls, serve & enjoy.

You can serve your bean balls on the side.....

 ...or my preference was to smother the bean balls in the marinara sauce.

 "Molto delizioso!!"

This recipe is in honour of my inner "guidette" and to celebrate mourn the fact that tonight is the season finale of Jersey Shore :-)  Thank goodness True Blood Season 3 reruns start next week. I require at least one hour of guilty pleasure TV per week!

 

What do you prefer brown rice pasta v whole wheat pasta??

Do you brown bag it to work? What are your favourite types of lunches??

Have a wonderful evening!!

Andrea

Marinara Sauce with Vegetables & Lentils

Momma Mia!! Do I have a terrific recipe for you!
A few days ago, I came across a fabulous looking marinara recipe on Nourishing Eats. I have been thinking obsessing about pasta and marinara sauce and lots of veggies ever since. I've never made my own marinara sauce, but this recipe is really easy and I love that you can freeze it for a rainy day!

So, let's find our inner Italian and get cookin'!!

Marinara Sauce with Veggies & Lentils
Inspired by Nourishing Eats

1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 large clove garlic, minced
7 c diced tomatoes (I used canned tomatoes)
1 tbsp Italian seasoning
1 1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 tbsp honey
1 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
salt & pepper to taste
5 c of your favourite veggies, chopped (I used spinach, peppers, mushrooms, zucchini)
1 c lentils

Heat olive oil in a large pot. Add onion and garlic and cook until softened (do not brown).

Meanwhile, add your tomatoes to a food processor and process until they are mostly pureed. I used my Magic Bullet and pulsed the tomatoes, so that they were mostly puree with a bit of chunkiness.

Add the tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, honey and spices to your pot. Mix well. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to medium. You will need to simmer for 30 minutes. Taste the sauce periodically while it is simmering, so you can adjust the spices to your tastes.

Once 30 minutes has passed, remove the pot from the stove and throw in your veggies & lentils. Stir into the sauce and cover the pot. Let sit for 5 minutes.

I am still in the misdt of  my three week cleanse and I do not want my veggies over-cooked; I simply want them softened. If you want your veggies cooked more, add them to the sauce during the last 5 minutes of cooking.

I decided to serve my sauce with brown rice pasta. I cooked my pasta according to the directions (do not forget to salt your water - grandma says pasta just isn't right unless the water is salted and I agree 100%!!) Once the pasta has been cooked and drained, top with marinara.

If you have any sauce leftover at the end of your meal, you can store it in an airtight container in your fridge. I'm not sure what the fridge life will be, but I am planning to eat the leftovers within the week. Of course, you could always freeze the leftovers and enjoy it a few weeks down the road.

What a versatile recipe!! This sauce is full of wholesome goodness and you can change it up in so many ways. If you are a meat-eater, you could easily add lean ground beef or ground turkey to this recipe. In fact, this would be really good with veggie ground round as well.

Marinara doesn't just have to go along with pasta either. What about serving it as a dip for some gorgeous and delicious garlic bread? I used to be a lover of mozza sticks dipped in marinara as well. I'm telling you the uses for this sauce are limitless!!

I wish you a very productive and happy Monday,

Andrea