good carbs: creamy avocado pasta
Sara introduced me to the Oh She Glows blog a couple of years ago and every now and then when I'm feeling like I need to check in with the vegan world and see what I can fit into my omnivore world I stop by. Thought for sure someone would need me to make guacamole last week with avocados averaging $1 a piece everywhere prior to the Big Game so I stocked up. And then no one needed the guacamole. Too many avocados is not an actual real problem. I eat them in salads, on sandwiches, my favorite avocado toasts and etc. But clicking around Oh She Glows and looking for something completely different, I found this recipe for Creamy Avocado Pasta. Bingo.
Greg was down this weekend with the big cold I had a month ago and I can tell I'm fighting it again. One sign is always my body craving carbs. I know sugary carbs wreck my immune system, so today I fed the beast with a little brown rice at lunch and whole wheat pasta at dinner. Lots of fruits and veggies made the cut too. Plus I started the day with a very needed detox-ing hot vinyasa class. After the fun and cheesy dip-filled Super Bowl bash, I knew that was going to hurt a little. Just a little woozy there in the middle, but that's a good sign from my over-fed body. Followed it up with tennis team practice and finished the day with a highly entertaining ballet barre class with two lulus, one of which is a guy. He totally knew he was entertaining for us. Good sport.
And back to the pasta. I had a two servings of whole grain angel hair pasta and everything else I needed except for fresh basil. Without the basil this dish was divine, so throw that in when I'm growing basil by the buckets this summer along with some fresh cherry tomatoes and it's a whole new kind of amazing. Lemon and avocado is as perfect a combination as lime and avocado. I know carbs are the enemy for a lot of people, but you know I believe in balance. Whole grain carbs are good energy sources for most of us. If you are moving and you are not clinically diagnosed as Celiac or gluten intolerant, have a little whole grain pasta. Have a little brown rice (Trader Joe's frozen brown rice is ready in 3 minutes instead of 50, genius). Enjoy a toothsome, crusty, seeded whole grain bread. Life is short. Sweat it out. Every day if you can. Balance, my friends, balance.
Make this yummy pasta for dinner and serve a nice little chicken breast or go easy and have a little rotisserie chicken from Costco with it. Make a crunchy salad. Quick and filling. I have Meyer lemons while they are in season and I think the sweetness of the juice worked very well in this pasta dish. Plus they are very easy to zest. You can easily double this by using two avocados and lemons, but I would keep the olive oil to 3 tablespoons and leave the salt and pepper the same unless more is needed after tasting.
Creamy Avocado Pasta
two servings of whole grain pasta (spaghetti, linguini or angel hair would be nice)
one avocado, pitted
one small lemon, zest and juice
2 cloves garlic, peeled
2 T olive oil
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
2 T fresh basil leaves, optional
cherry tomatoes, optional
Bring a pot of water with 1 tablespoon of salt to a boil and cook your pasta to al dente as directed.
Meanwhile, zest the lemon and then cut it in half. Place garlic, lemon juice, olive oil and salt in a food processor and process for about 30 seconds. Add avocado, ground pepper, lemon zest and basil (if using). Process until smooth.
Drain pasta and pour over avocado mixture. Toss with cherry tomatoes in season if you like.
Serves 2
Greg was down this weekend with the big cold I had a month ago and I can tell I'm fighting it again. One sign is always my body craving carbs. I know sugary carbs wreck my immune system, so today I fed the beast with a little brown rice at lunch and whole wheat pasta at dinner. Lots of fruits and veggies made the cut too. Plus I started the day with a very needed detox-ing hot vinyasa class. After the fun and cheesy dip-filled Super Bowl bash, I knew that was going to hurt a little. Just a little woozy there in the middle, but that's a good sign from my over-fed body. Followed it up with tennis team practice and finished the day with a highly entertaining ballet barre class with two lulus, one of which is a guy. He totally knew he was entertaining for us. Good sport.
And back to the pasta. I had a two servings of whole grain angel hair pasta and everything else I needed except for fresh basil. Without the basil this dish was divine, so throw that in when I'm growing basil by the buckets this summer along with some fresh cherry tomatoes and it's a whole new kind of amazing. Lemon and avocado is as perfect a combination as lime and avocado. I know carbs are the enemy for a lot of people, but you know I believe in balance. Whole grain carbs are good energy sources for most of us. If you are moving and you are not clinically diagnosed as Celiac or gluten intolerant, have a little whole grain pasta. Have a little brown rice (Trader Joe's frozen brown rice is ready in 3 minutes instead of 50, genius). Enjoy a toothsome, crusty, seeded whole grain bread. Life is short. Sweat it out. Every day if you can. Balance, my friends, balance.
Make this yummy pasta for dinner and serve a nice little chicken breast or go easy and have a little rotisserie chicken from Costco with it. Make a crunchy salad. Quick and filling. I have Meyer lemons while they are in season and I think the sweetness of the juice worked very well in this pasta dish. Plus they are very easy to zest. You can easily double this by using two avocados and lemons, but I would keep the olive oil to 3 tablespoons and leave the salt and pepper the same unless more is needed after tasting.
 |
Creamy Avocado Pasta
two servings of whole grain pasta (spaghetti, linguini or angel hair would be nice)
one avocado, pitted
one small lemon, zest and juice
2 cloves garlic, peeled
2 T olive oil
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
2 T fresh basil leaves, optional
cherry tomatoes, optional
Bring a pot of water with 1 tablespoon of salt to a boil and cook your pasta to al dente as directed.
Meanwhile, zest the lemon and then cut it in half. Place garlic, lemon juice, olive oil and salt in a food processor and process for about 30 seconds. Add avocado, ground pepper, lemon zest and basil (if using). Process until smooth.
Drain pasta and pour over avocado mixture. Toss with cherry tomatoes in season if you like.
Serves 2
 |
| ingredients |
 |
| garlic, olive oil, salt and lemon juice |
 |
| blurry addition of avocado, zest and pepper |
 |
| avocado mixture ready to go |
 |
| hot drained pasta with avocado mixture |
|
| my dinner |
Comments
Post a Comment