Quick + Easy Pasta Meal
This is one of those meals that is simple to make and we usually have all of the ingredients stocked in our kitchen. Our goal is to eat mostly organic whole food, with a lot of vegetables, a variety of protein sources and some healthy fats.
Even though pasta is not a whole food, the girls and I love it. This quick and easy pasta meal is gluten-free, egg-free, dairy-free and vegan. For our plant-based protein, we have chickpeas, which are an excellent source of fiber. Baby spinach is a super green veggie filled with antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and essential nutrients.
In the delicious sauce, we have tomatoes which contain lycopene, a powerful antioxidant and also vitamin C. Olive oil is famous for being one of the healthiest forms of fat available. And finally, we have hemp hearts to sprinkle on top. These are a great plant-based protein source with a nice balance of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids.
Ingredients:
1 box jovial gluten free organic brown rice pasta
½ to ¾ cup mashed chickpeas (about ½ the can)
4 to 6 cups sautéed spinach
1 ¼ cup Rao’s marinara sauce (about ½ of the 24 oz jar)
2 to 4 tablespoons olive oil (or organic grass fed butter if it doesn’t need to be vegan or completely dairy free)
4 to 6 teaspoons hemp hearts
Dash of Redmond Real salt
Directions:
Boil water, cook one box of the pasta and strain out the water.
Mash the chickpeas with a fork.
Sautée the spinach with a little bit of water and strain out the excess water.
Mix the cooked pasta, sautéed spinach, mashed chickpeas and tomato sauce in a big pot.
Add olive oil (or butter) to mix into the pasta.
Scoop pasta into a bowl.
Sprinkle about 1 teaspoon of hemp hearts and a dash of salt onto the bowl of pasta.
Bon appétit!