Spinach Basil Pasta Sauce
My training has slowly started ramping up, and that means I'm going through that phase where I'm hungry all the time. Realistically this is nothing new for me as my default state is hungry with a case of resting bitch face. But there's a difference between standard hunger and "I ran 8 miles on a Tuesday then went to work for 9 hours" hungry. One food I end up really craving when I'm in this state is any sort of pasta.
When I'm making pasta I try and make sure I have an even amount of pasta and veggies/veggies & beans so I'm still getting a diverse pile of nutrients and I'm not just participating in a one woman carb-a-thon. I also tend to make my own sauces so I'm aware of the ingredients and not loading myself up with too much sodium or oil. This recipe is a new favorite sauce--one that came into creation because I didn't have all of the required ingredients to make pesto. It's got the right taste for pesto--zesty & garlicky, but it's also mellowed out by the spinach and quite a bit more liquidy so it sticks to your pasta better. It's a really beautiful green color, to boot.
Items You'll Need:
One cup of spinach, densely packed
Half a cup of basil (stems are fine!)
Three garlic cloves
One tablespoon sun dried tomatoes (optional)
One and a half tablespoons of lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup water
Directions:
Combine all ingredients except water in your vitamix
Pulse gently to combine, adding water until you get the consistency you want--you may not need all of it, you may need more
Do a taste-test and see if you need to add more of anything
Add this sauce to your pasta/veggie mix (or rice, etc) after it's totally cooked and all excess liquid has been drained away so it doesn't get watered down
Extra Notes:
The veggies I ended up using were what I had in my fridge--onions, spinach, parsnip, zucchini. On top I opted for some fermented almond milk feta cheese I made earlier in the month, but you could also go with cracked red pepper or fermented yeast flakes. This actually microwaved really well for my lunch the next day, so make extra!
