Creamy Avocado Basil Pasta

So I know I said just the other day that my new addiction is Garlicky Kale, but I may have found something better (blasphemy, I know). My new new food addiction is this fresh Creamy Avocado Basil Pasta. And by addiction, yes, I do mean that I've made and eaten this dish four times already this past week alone. Don't judge till you try it.

Creamy Avocado Basil Pasta

Did I mention that once again this recipe is from Oh She Glows? Best. Blog. Ever.

The most amazing thing about this recipe is that it take as long to make as the pasta takes to cook. So fast, so easy, and pretty easy clean-up as well.

Start off by bringing your favorite pasta to a boil. I find myself going back time again to fettuccine, and I recently bought a spinach variety that was wonderful as well. Check the package to find out al dente cooking times.

While the pasta is cooking, get out that handy-dandy food processor of yours. Add:

• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 avocado
• juice of half a lemon
• 1 tsp of lemon zest
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large fist full of basil--about a cup
• 1/2 tsp freshly cracked pepper
• 1 tsp salt

Blend until smooth, adding an extra splash of olive oil if necessary to get that creamy consistency.

Once the pasta is done, simply drain, mix in the avocado sauce, and serve with an extra sprinkle of finely ground sea salt on top!

 

 

Note: The original recipe called for the pepper and lemon zest to be put on top of the mixed up pasta as the last step. I found that the avocado was kind of lost that way, so I started to use less of both and began blending it up in the sauce instead.

This dish also works great if you want to add some veggies. I've used spinach on several occasions, returning the drained noodles to the heat and adding some fresh baby spinach while I stir in the sauce. You just want them wilted a little bit. I bet mushrooms or asparagus would be lovely as well!

 

 

It is difficult to get this recipe exactly right, just because you can't control every factor, such as the size of the avocado or garlic clove. Play around, figure out how you like it, and enjoy!

 

As a last note, do not store this pasta in the refrigerator and attempt to reheat it later. Make the amount of pasta you need and store any extra sauce in the fridge. That way when you want leftovers you can quickly and easily make more pasta and stir in the cold sauce with the hot noodles.

Soba Noodle Bowl

This soup is one of my favorites, but it originally contained chicken and chicken stock. A little tweaking produced a delicate and flavorful vegetarian dish that is mild enough to be enjoyed for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

Soba Noodle Bowl

Begin by bringing to a boil:

• 2 cups of water
• 6 cups of vegetable stock
• 1/4 cup soy sauce (or more to taste)
• 1 lb of sliced mushrooms (I used button because they were on sale)
• 2 bunches (6oz) of buckwheat soba noodles
• 1 tbsp of finely chopped garlic
• 3 slices of peeled ginger (about 1/4 to 1/8 inch thick)
• 1 bay leaf
• freshly cracked pepper

After about 4 minutes, add:

• 5 sliced scallions
• 1/2 cup thawed frozen peas
• 2 generous cups of fresh baby spinach
• 1/2 cup of sliced sugar snap peas

Feel free to play around with any other vegetables you may have on hand, such as water chestnut, carrot, or onion. Boil two more minutes, remove ginger and bay leaf, and serve. This is one of the fastest and easiest recipes to make, especially if you buy presliced mushrooms and jarred chopped garlic. This recipe serves four, and the SparkRecipes Recipe Calculator tells me that each serving is 250 calories, has almost zero fat, and contains 3.5 grams of fiber. Healthy and delicious!

Enjoy!

Singapore Noodles

While picking up large rice noodles for the Hakka Noodles at Kroger, I noticed a package of really thin mei fun rice noodles. One of my favorite Chinese-American fast food dishes is Singapore Noodles, so I decided to hang the meal plan and make these for lunch one day.

Singapore Noodles

These noodles are incredibly simple to make. Soak some rice noodles in hot tap water for 10 minutes and then rinse with cold water and drain. In the meantime, saute some garlic, ginger, and and vegetables you'd like. I used snow peas, onion, and scallions. I bet carrots, sprouts, and cabbage would be wonderful as well. You will want a little bit of oil, just a tablespoon or two, one you put the noodles in just so that they don't stick. Fry the noodles for a minute or two, tossing with tongs throughout. Then start adding in soy sauce and curry powder. There really isn't any right amount--whatever looks (and more importantly tastes) right. Next time I may add a little bit of vegetable stock towards the end just to get a bit more moisture, but these noodles are supposed to be dry rather than saucy.

Kind of like Filipino pancit, this is the kind of dish that you can throw whatever leftovers you've got in the fridge in, including meat if you aren't following a vegan diet. Fast, easy, cheap, and incredibly flavorful. What else could you ask for?

Hakka Noodles

These noodles had the potential to be amazing, but they need a little bit of tinkering with first. I will be experimenting with this dish in the future for sure.

Hakka Noodles

This recipe had a ton of ingredients originally. I pared it down and decided to use just what I had on hand. I used:

• al dente fettuccine-size rice noodles
• crushed red pepper
• carrots
• napa cabbage
• onion
• garlic
• ginger
• snow peas
• bell pepper
• fresh cilantro

In a separate bowl mix up some ketchup, apple cider vinegar, and soy sauce. This is the part I've got to play with still. Too much ketchup makes the noodles way too rich and overpowering. Dump this on the stir-fried vegetables and mix them up and they are ready to eat.

I'll let you guys know what progress I make on these--they have a lot of potential.

Dan Dan Mian

This is probably one of my favorite recipes thus far, but then again it doesn't take very much Asian food to sway me. This also happens to be one of the quickest and easiest recipes as well, and I can easily see this becoming a lunch time staple from now on. I've only eaten hours ago and I'm already craving another bowl.

Dan Dan Mian

Don't ask me what the name means, by the way. I haven't a clue.

Basically all you have to do is boil some soba noodles noodles for 4 minutes. Soba noodles are made of buckwheat, but mine had yam as well. One bunch, or about 3.5-4 ounces, of noodles is one generous serving.

Soba Noodles

Next, in a small dish you'll want to mix up the sauce. I used 1/2 teaspoon of chili paste and 2 teaspoons of rice wine vinegar. Then I added enough soy sauce to dilute the spiciness to the level I wanted. Low sodium soy sauce is always the way to go if you are using more than a teaspoon.

The chili paste and rice wine vinegar came from an Asian market.
The soy sauce and sesame seeds came from Food Lion.

One the noodles are done, drain them and return them to the pot. Dump the sauce over top and stir (you'll have to play around to get the amount of sauce right--I ended up having to use extra soy sauce). Serve them with green onion and sesame seeds on top.



So much awesomeness in such a little bowl...

This recipe also called for pickled cabbage on top but I didn't have any. Maybe next time!