Creamy Avocado Pasta. Oh…my….gosh. Alert the grocery store because there is going to be an avocado shortage in my town. Well, more than usual that is. [And yes, I said ‘store’. As in singular…We’re small town folk.] You can whip up this pasta dish in under 15 minutes flat! Yield3 servings Prep Time Cook time Total Time Ingredients: 9 ounces (255 g) uncooked pasta (use gluten-free, if desired)1 to 2 small cloves garlic, to taste1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, plus more for serving1-2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, to taste1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil1 ripe medium avocado, pitted1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon (1 to 2 mL) fine-grain sea saltFreshly ground black pepper, to tasteLemon zest, for serving Directions: Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. I used some fun pasta to increase the nutrition factor- first, 1 serving (3oz) of spelt pasta.
Spelt pasta has a great nutritional profile with 12 grams of protein and 3 grams of fibre per serving. I also used one 3oz serving of Kamut pasta. A couple of the out of focus ones… Petite Lasagnas. Recipe slightly adapted from Hungry Girl (makes 12) 12 oz raw ground turkey ¼ tsp salt, divided ¼ tsp pepper 1 cup chopped onion ½ cup chopped mushrooms 14.5 oz can crushed tomatoes, or tomato sauce 2 cloves garlic, minced 3 tsp dried oregano, divided ½ tsp dried basil 1 ½ cups part skim ricotta cheese 24 small square wonton wrappers (the kind near the tofu in the refrigerated section of the produce dept) 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese Preheat oven to 375ºF. Add the crushed tomatoes and 2 tsp of oregano. In a large bowl, combine the ricotta, a pinch of salt and pepper, the remaining teaspoon of oregano, and the basil. Coat a 12-cup muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray. Using half of the ricotta mixture, divide it among the 12 muffin cups.
Gently press another wonton wrapper on top of the mozzarella layer. Repeat the process by distributing the remaining ricotta, then the remaining tomato sauce, and finally the rest of the shredded mozzarella. Nutrition Info for 1 petite lasagna: Garlic Scallion Noodles. Son and Daughters #1 and #2 LOVE noodles. They adore them. Husband likes them quite a bit as well, but Son and Daughters will take down more noodles than most people I know. To give you an idea, to feed all three of them, we have to order two large bowls of pho noodles (and they like the one with bits of beef and tripe and all the lovely extras).
Sometimes two large bowls are not enough for them and husband and I find ourselves sharing our bowl of noodles with them. They are noodle hogs. But somehow, garlic noodles don't do it for them. I decided to try a different version using a regular dried wheat pasta noodle instead of the traditional egg noodles, to see if I could get a more desirable texture. I have to say I took a bigger bowl of these into my own stomach - more than is good for me, and I know it means extra time in the gym tomorrow. If you LOVE traditional garlic noodles, go ahead and substitute some egg noodles instead. Deliciousness going into my tummy. Lemon Garlic Spaghetti.
This meatless Monday thing, I’m getting the hang of it. Don doesn’t like the idea of meatless Mondays (Boys. They like meat). Even worse for him is that Tuesdays end up being meatless, or at least pescatarian, because we do Taco Tuesdays at Rubio’s and eat nothing but fried fish tacos (Tuesdays are also Teatime Tuesdays, and I lay off on the coffee). Wednesdays, I don’t have any cutesy jingles for, so dinnertime finally returns to the usual routine. But! This is a tweak on the lemon garlic gnocchi that I posted a long time ago. Everything is eyeballed because this is one of those lazy day recipes, but you get the gist of it. Lemon Garlic Spaghetti – serves 2 4 oz dry spaghetti 1/4 cup grated parmesan 2 tsp olive oil 1 clove garlic 1/2 lemon 2 tbsp pine nuts 5-6 basil leaves, chiffonaded First, start your garlic oil.
Chiffonade some basil leaves. Then you take some cheese… Some pine nuts… And dump it into a large bowl, with the garlic oil, garlic chunks and all. (image from Wikipedia) Lasagna Rollups. Pumpkin Gnocchi.