I came across Angela of Oh She Glows recipe for 15 Minute Creamy Avocado Pasta and I thought it sounded really great. Since I had a bunch of avocados to use up this week I decided to create this recipe with a twist; I really wanted to add more veggies and protein to the dish and spice it up a little.
The first thing I did was weigh out four portions of pasta, two for this dish and two for a dish I made for our lunches. I love using a kitchen scale for things like pasta and snacks because it gives a much more accurate portion than just counting how many crackers are in a serving or approximate measurement.
Preheat the oven to 400F. Place the chickpeas and tomatoes in a medium oven safe bowl and roast for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and set to the side.
Cook your pasta according to the directions on the package.
In a mini chopper or food processor add the avocado, lemon juice, garlic, salt, pepper, basil olive oil, and smoked paprika and blend until smooth.
To a large bowl add the baby spinach, tomatoes & chickpeas and sauce and top with the cooked pasta; mix to combine. Serve immediately.
This weekend was freezing in Vermont so the Hubz and I spent more of our weekend inside working on a number of projects. I am happy to say that I was able to organize the closets in our bedroom and purge a number of items that we had been holding on to for too long. I also attempted to work on organizing our office but I think I just made a bigger mess. We are in need of some major organizational materials and have visions of how we want things to look but until we head south and by south I mean to NYC and Connecticut where there is better shopping (Ikea and Target) we will just have to make do. Who knew we were such pack rats?
As for food this weekend I spent a lot of time working on recipes from Veganomicon for the Vegan Cookbook Club. On Friday night I made Sauteed Seitan with Mushrooms and Spinach; I was lazy and decided to just purchase pre-made seitan to save me time. Overall I thought the dish was really good but I’m not going to giveaway all my thoughts here you’ll just have to wait for my full review of Veganomicon. For the remainder of the night the Hubz and I just relaxed enjoyed an Ottercreek Black IPA and attempted to watch Dinner for Schmucks but we just couldn’t get into it; it really just wasn’t as funny as I hopped it was going to be.
Saturday was spent making a mess of the office while drinking coffee and watching The Real Housewives of Atlanta. Unfortunately for the Hubz my way of organizing is to make a huge mess and then clean it up so the state of our office is in disarray right now- however the closet in there is amazingly organized so WIN! We are heading to NYC and CT in a few weeks and will be hitting up Ikea and Target for some items to help in our organizational project but I should probably make one last effort to at least get that room orderly. The second half of Saturday was spent getting lattes, groceries and gas- exciting I know. I didn’t photograph dinner and I can’t remember what we had so it must not have been that exciting. I did make the Lower Fat Banana Bread (muffins) from Veganomicon though and they were tasty. I added chopped up dates to them and they were so good.
Sunday I was up early and ready to tackle the closets in our bedroom but first a mini french press of coffee and a two banana bread muffins. Then I was on to organize and purge items in our closets, as well as take over the walk-in closet which the Hubz ended up with some how when we moved in. I never realized how much I could get a workout just from cleaning and organizing our bedroom; by lunch I was sweaty (TMI) and had worked up an appetite. Lunch was a pasta dish per the Hubz request and included chickpeas and spinach in a creamy garlic sauce. I tried out my sample of Jovial Brown Rice Pasta, it was pretty good for gluten free pasta, but I prefer the Jovial Whole Wheat Penne.
After spending most of the weekend doing our own thing or sitting behind our computer screens the Hubz and I decided we needed a date night. Instead of spending money to go out we decided to stay in and enjoy a bottle of wine and a home cooked meal; we even showered and got dressed (I’d been in yoga pants all weekend). For dinner I made the Chickpea Cutlets with Mustard Sauce from Veganomicon with roasted butternut squash and cornbread stuffing on the side. I thought both the cutlets and the sauce were really tasty however I have a few criticisms regarding the wording of the recipes and the fact that in the directions for the sauce it left out a step that included major ingredients; again you’ll here more about this in my final review of Veganomicon.
Now it’s Monday morning and I am sitting back enjoying a mug of coffee and blogging. I started out my morning with a bowl of creamy oats with a spoonful of pumpkin butter and a little cranberry cinnamon granola on top for crunch. I picked up this Sticky Fingers Bakeries pumpkin butter from Marshall’s on sale and it is really amazingly good on oatmeal. Alright that is my weekend wrap up now it’s time to get ready for my work week. Enjoy your day!
