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Spinach Penne with Red Bell peppers Spinach Penne is a creamy, filling and vegan pasta dish.
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Meatless monday or any weeknight quick fix! Powder some cashews, mix in with water, salt, roasted garlic, chipotle habanero sauce. Get your pasta ready. Stir fry some veggies, toss in the pasta and sauce, cook for 2-3 minutes until sauce thickens. done! You can call this alfredo-ish sauce if you add some nutritional yeast for the cheesy flavor. Easily made gf too. The cashew cream makes this very filling.
In case you missed the homemade, not store bought, Doritos Spice in this Quick Pasta dish.. you should try it for another fun weeknight meal!
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Dont like pasta, Add the veggies and cream to some cooked whole grain like Quinoa, barley, wheat berry!
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Its one of those days when I dont want to take 100 pictures and edit them! I’d much rather spend time in the kitchen and keep cooking/baking and of course eating. Instead of thinking up compositions, lighting, photographing the result and then editing the whole bunch.Â
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Spinach Penne with Red Bell peppers, Cherry tomatoes in Chipotle Habanero garlicky Cashew cream sauce. vegan
A creamy, filling and vegan pasta dish
Ingredients Â
For the sauce:
- 1/4 cup raw cashews powdered
- 1/2 cup water
- 5-6 garlic cloves
- 1/3 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons Chipotle Habanero Hot sauce or to taste, I used Melinda's Chipotle Hot sauce, start with 1 tsp and add more 🙂
- Or 1 chipotle pepper and 1/2+ teaspoon plain habanero sauce or any hot sauce.
Pasta:
- 1 teaspoon organic canola oil
- 1 cup veggies, we uses some sliced up Red and Green bell peppers and cherry tomatoes
- 1.5 cups whole grain Spinach Penne
Toppings:
- 1/3 cup Cherry tomatoes
- 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
- nutritional yeast, optional
InstructionsÂ
- In a large pan, add the oil and heat on medium. Add garlic cloves, stir and cook till they are golden 2-3 minutes, or use roasted garlic cloves and continue to the blend step.
- In a blender, add powdered cashew, roasted or golden garlic, water, salt, chipotle hot sauce(or chipotle peppers and hot sauce) and blend until smooth.(It will be a thin cream)
- Prepare pasta according to instructions. Reserve some of the water.
- In the pan with the oil, add sliced/chopped veggies. We used sliced red and green bell peppers and a few cherry tomatoes. Cook on medium till the veggies are half done.( 3-4 minutes).
- For Oil-free version, saute the veggies in water or vegetable broth.
- Add the pasta and cashew cream, mix well and cook on low until the cream starts to bubble and thicken.
- The cream will start thickening very quickly after this point.
- Taste and adjust salt and spices. Add a few Tablespoons of the pasta water to adjust sauce if needed.
- Take off heat.
- Serve hot topped with halved cherry tomatoes, some dried basil and nutritional yeast sprinkle.
Notes
Nutritional values are based on one serving
Nutrition
Calories: 711kcal, Carbohydrates: 116g, Protein: 28g, Fat: 20g, Saturated Fat: 3g, Sodium: 508mg, Potassium: 982mg, Fiber: 9g, Sugar: 3g, Vitamin A: 9485IU, Vitamin C: 38mg, Calcium: 136mg, Iron: 8.6mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Did you make this recipe? Rate and comment below!
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This pasta is heading to Slighlty Indulgent Tuesdays, Hearth and soul blog hop, Allergry Free Wednesday, Ricki’s Wellness Weekend.
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On this delicious note, a must read “Clean your plate and save the world“
An estimated 30 percent to 50 percent of the food produced in the world goes uneaten.
The average American throws away 33 pounds of food each month. about a 5000$ per year.
33 million tons of food waste hit landfills and incinerators in 2010.
Eat small portions. Finish your food! Find ways to use up leftovers.
Growing up in a middle class household in India, we always knew the value of food, money, what we have and how to reuse, recycle, use, finish, what we use or eat. Throwing away is frowned upon. It is one of the lessons which takes a back seat as soon as you land into the consumeristic, everything more than needed kind of outlook. Eventually though, the good old lessons learnt while growing up, work best whether it comes to food or anything else in life.
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That looks soooo good!
An Unrefined Vegan
Awww, if only cashews werent so expensive here- this looks so good!
Thanks! You can use other nuts or coconut cream!
What a delicious looking meal! I love the combination of flavors and the dairy-free sauce! Thanks for sharing this with the Hearth and Soul Hop.
Wow, what a great combination! Thanks for sharing on Allergy-Free Wednesday. Hope you’ll join us again this week with another great recipe!
The picture reminds me of this dish that I had eaten long back. Now I don’t remember what the dish was, nor do I remember if it was a pasta dish, but I do remember it was absolutely delicious! And this falls in the same category, and even though I haven’t tasted it, I am pretty sure it tastes great.
And I totally understand when you say that photographing for your blog can be so much work at times. Composing a shot, uploading, then editing. But then its nice to know when your efforts get appreciated, and these pictures are sure worth all the appreciation!
Thank you Shumaila. The cashew cream is very filling and healthy at the same time!
I absolutely love this. Saw it on Pinterest and I can’t wait to make it!!
Thanks Sara. Let me know when you do!:)
I have those days where I’m tired of the pictures too lol. This is really beautiful, though, and looks delicious!
I also wanted to let you know I’ve nominated you for The Liebster Award :)! You can check here for more details: https://cookingactress.blogspot.com/2012/03/awards.html
Thank you so much for the award! xoxo,
These pictures are from my night time shots which i still havent perfected in terms of lighting.. Let me know if you have any tips on nigh time shots!:) Have a great day!
I love how cashew cream kicks everything up a notch with the decadence.
I feel you on the food photography, I find that editing photos to be the most tedious part, but then that’s probable because I have no idea what I’m doing. Your photos are beautiful, so when you’re going through the monotony of setting up the photos, taking the photos and editing the photos, just remember that we really appreciate them!
Thank you for this comment Maggie! xoxo:)
The editing is a very tedious job.. also because the pictures I take are not perfect in terms of lighting or composition to begin with.. Its a long learning process.
you had me at creamy and chipotle….pinned!
Thank you Tessa!
A few weeks ago – for the first time in my life – I had cherry tomatoes with my pasta. And it was pure heaven. I am going to HAVE to try this (with GF pasta, of course).
really!:) i love cherry tomatoes! they look so cute and add that special sour touch to the pastas and pizzas without making things too tomatoey!.