Fridge Bits Vegetable Fettuccini

Did we all have a beautiful extra long sunny summer long weekend? I spent it up North at my cottage and am still here – sunning, funning and wild raspberry picking. And cooking! There’s a simple recipe I want to share with you – my fridge bits vegetable fettuccini.
As I may have mentioned before, we don’t have running water up here so we always do our very best to make our food using as few pots and pans as possible. This lends a whole new level of creativity to the cooking process. We like to use up what we have leftover and then build upon to make the best ever dinner there ever was.
This pasta is one of my absolute favourite go-to dinners or lunches.
Fridge Bits Vegetable Fettucini
I always stress the importance in my classes of using up the ingredients that you have on hand – the best whatever to use being the ingredient in your fridge, on your shelf, in your freezer, etc.
So when we make a fridge bits vegetable pasta, the noodle and the fresh made sauce become the unifier and you can literally throw in whatever else you have around. That “whatever else” can be:
- steamed veggies
- grilled veggies
- your fave meat, fish, bean or tempeh
- greens
- sprouts
- and any other goodies
Now, you want to be careful that you don’t mix too many different flavours or things that already have sauces on it. Simple is where it’s at.
Now when it comes to pasta – I don’t care what healthwashing is covering the label. You know what I’m talking about right? The labels that say “whole grain” or “high protein” or labels that make extravagant promises.
What will matter is what is written in the ingredient list and what you do with it. The ingredient list should really just be a gluten-free whole grain. I love whole buckwheat soba noodles.
See, you can serve a massive bowl of pasta with a jar of tomato sauce, throw in some factory farmed ground beef, sprinkle it with processed parmesan and build yourself a nutrient-depleting meal that is calories without meaningful nutrition.
Or you can take the same pasta, mix it with loads of vegetables and a healthier organic protein, a made from scratch sauce, top it with some cold pressed flax oil and sea salt and you have a very different story being told on your plate (and in your body).
Pasta on its own, in any form, is a processed food to some degree. So if you are going to eat this treat we call pasta, it really should comprise only a small portion of the total dish- and not the main filler.
You ready to toss this vegetable fettuccini pasta dish together for en easy breezey summer mealsy? Here I share my version, but you best be knowing I want to know what lands in your version.
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Fridge Bits Vegetable Fettucini
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 1 serving 1x
Ingredients
For the Pasta
- 1 serving of pasta (1 cup cooked or a quarter in diameter dry)
- 1 cup cauliflower florets, steamed
- 1 cup broccoli florets, steamed
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1/4 cup onion, coarsely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 block tempeh, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
- 2 Tbsp gluten-free tamari
- 2 cups kale, chard or spinach, coarsely chopped
- 2 Tbsp capers
For the Cream Sauce
- 3/4 cup cashews, soaked and drained (note: use cashew or almond butter if you don’t have a high powered blender)
- 1/3 cup water
- 2–3 Tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 tsp gluten-free tamari
- 1 clove of garlic
- pinch of sea salt
Instructions
- Cook pasta as directed (or use leftovers).
- Cut broccoli and cauliflower in desired bite size pieces and place in a separate bowl.
- In a pan over medium heat, heat olive oil and add in garlic and onions. Cook until fragrant (about 5 minutes).
- Add in tempeh and tamari and cook until tempeh is slightly browned.
- Add cooked vegetables in with steamed broccoli and cauliflower and mix in capers and greens of choice.
- Mix thoroughly, allowing heat from tempeh to wilt the greens. Set aside.
- Blend the sauce ingredients together until smooth and creamy.
- In a large mixing bowl, mix together vegetables, pasta and sauce.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
What is your go-to summer dinner?
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