If your garden is overflowing with basil, green beans, and potatoes this is the perfect recipe. Do you have chickweed growing (unintentionally) in your garden? Don’t throw it in the compost! It makes the most delicious, earthy pesto. This pasta whips up in the time it takes to boil the potatoes, so it’s a terrific weeknight meal. Inspired by Food52.
I am all about one pot meals, you guys. Anything to make dinner easier while working a full-time job and parenting at two and half year old. We could all use more recipes that are easy, quick, and tasty. Technically I did use a food processor to make the pesto but the potatoes, green beans, and pasta all boil in the same pot!
The best part of this meal though? Much of it was grown from the garden! Free food!! The basil and chickweed came from my garden, and the green beans from my stepmom’s. I tried to use my own potatoes I grew but I dug a few up and they weren’t quite ready yet. I’m growing Magic Molly potatoes which are purple inside and out! They have a rich and nutty flavor that I just can’t get enough of. My grandpa used to grown them and when I found them at our local nursery I had to get some. Fun fact: As a child I used to sneak away and dig up my grandpa’s “treasures” well before they were ready because I just couldn’t contain my excitement. It appears as if I have not outgrown this. There is just something so exciting about digging up potatoes! Is it just me?
Garden Pesto Pasta
By Katie Henry - Produce On Parade
If your garden is overflowing with basil, green beans, and potatoes this is the perfect recipe. Do you have chickweed growing (unintentionally) in your garden? Don’t throw it in the compost! It makes the most delicious, earthy pesto. This pasta whips up in the time it takes to boil the potatoes, so it’s a terrific weeknight meal.
Ingredients
- 1 large red or Yukon Gold potato, peeled and quartered and cut into ¼ inch thick slices
- ¼ lb fresh green beans, chopped into 1 inch pieces
- 8 oz dry thin spaghetti (if using regular spaghetti increase cooking time)
- 1 cup packed fresh basil leaves
- 1 cup packed fresh chickweed, removing any thick stems and cleaning thoroughly (or basil, spinach, arugula, or other greens)
- 2 whole garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
- Heaping ¼ cup pine nuts (or walnuts)
- 1 tbsp miso paste
- ¾ tsp table salt
- ⅓ cup vegan shredded mozzarella cheese
- ⅓ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- Garnish of vegan parmesan (optional)
- Place the sliced potatoes in a large pot of cold water. Bring to a boil then salt; continue to boil for 5 minutes then add the pasta and green beans. Boil for an additional 5-8 minutes until all the vegetables and pasta are cooked. Drain and return to pot.
- While the pasta cooks: to a food processor add the basil, greens, garlic, pine nuts, miso, salt, and cheese. Pulse until coarse and grainy. With the processor running drizzle in the olive oil and process until mixed thoroughly.
- Stir the pesto into the cooked pasta and veggies. Serve hot and topped with vegan parmesan!
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Yield: 3-4 servings
Vegan Dracula's Revenge
Delicious roasted garlic and browned vegan sausage mingle in a creamy, cheesy sauce mixed with penne pasta and baked to golden perfect. If you like garlic, cheese, and sausage this dish is going to become a staple!
Every september for years and years my family would make Dracula’s Revenge. It was my little brothers absolute favorite dish and he would always request it for his birthday. How he even found out about this oddly named pasta bake is beyond me. It seems like a weird request from a seven year old but what do I know.
For some reason, the other day, I was really craving it. Of course Dracula’s Revenge is decidedly NOT vegan but it certainly wasn’t hard to veganize this nostalgic dish. It did not disappoint! Have you ever had or heard of it before?
Vegan Dracula’s Revenge
By Kathleen Henry from Produce On Parade
Delicious roasted garlic and browned vegan sausage mingle in a creamy, cheesy sauce mixed with penne pasta and baked to golden perfect. If you like garlic, cheese, and sausage this dish is going to become a staple!
Ingredients
- 1 large garlic head
- ½ tbsp olive oil
- ½ tube (7 oz) Gimme Lean Lightlife Sausage
- 8 oz dry penne pasta
- 3 tbsp vegan butter
- 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 2 cups plain, unsweetened soymilk
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
- ½ tsp salt, to taste
- ⅛ tsp dried rosemary
- ⅛ tsp dry rubbed sage
- Dash of white pepper
- A few drops of liquid smoke (optional)
- ¼ cup shredded vegan mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to boil for the pasta and preheat oven to 350° F.
- Remove the excess papery skin from the garlic head but leave the head intact; wrap the entire thing in parchment paper then aluminum foil. Bake for 1 hour then remove from the oven and allow to cool to the touch. Turn up oven to 400° F.
- Once cool, separate the cloves and squeeze to extract garlic the pulp. Smash the garlic in a small bowl with the back of a wooden spoon to make a paste; set aside.
- In a large cast iron skillet heat the oil over medium-high heat. Break up the sausage into bite size pieces by hand and saute for about 5 minutes until browned. Remove from heat and set aside.
- When the water is boiling, cook the pasta according to package then drain and set aside.
- In a large pot melt the butter over medium heat. Whisk in the flour and cook for about three minutes until lightly browned. Slowly whisk in the milk, ensuring no lumps, and cook for about 8 minutes until the mixture has thickened. Stir in the remaining ingredients until well combined; then stir in the pasta and sausage.
- Spray a small casserole dish with a nonstick cooking spray then transfer the pasta into the dish. Bake for 15-20 minutes until thoroughly heated. Serve hot and topped with additional cheese if you like.
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Rigatoni with Mushrooms and Vegan Sausage
This is a wonderfully quick and delicious meal that’s hearty and packed full of healthy protein. A comfort meal of pasta, cremini mushrooms, and vegan sausage that’s nutritious, simple, and fast; I think your entire family will absolutely love the creamy goodness in this dinner! We hope you’ll add this dish to your weeknight rotation.
*sigh* I aim for one recipe per week and wind up making it to about one per month! It’s not ideal, I know, but it’s hard work, with a wee man running around, to get the adequate time needed to recipe develop, create and make a recipe, do the photography, then write up a post. It seems simple enough, and it is (albeit there is a lot of toil that goes into making a post) but it just takes so much darn time.
It’s a great joy to be able to cook and write and share it all with you. However, now that Todd and I have a little family, I prioritize my free time with them; whether it’s skiing on the weekend with friends or just simply chillin’ inside by the fire reading and playing with stuffed animals. We actually cook and bake a lot, but Oliver loves to help and there isn’t a lot of measuring happening and we really just wing things together. Messily and quickly. It’s not super kosher for sharing recipes here on Produce On Parade.
While I try to navigate dedicating time to this space but not sacrificing time with family and friends, I want to thank you for being so patient. You’re all so wonderful; I love hearing from you, especially those of you who have been here since the beginning six years ago. It blows my mind it’s been six years already. Thank you guys! Happy Valentine’s Day to your loves, your friends, your family <3 Love makes you want to stay. Love is a day full of hugs. Love is cheers when you get home.
Bear with me today, I’m on Tamiflu (I don’t have the flu, but opted to take it prophylactically due to work exposure) and it really makes it difficult to concentrate. I think I’ve spent about 20 minutes trying to write one paragraph!
Rigatoni with Mushrooms and Vegan Sausage
By Kathleen Henry - Produce On Parade
This is a wonderfully quick and delicious meal that’s hearty and packed full of healthy protein. A comfort meal of pasta, cremini mushrooms, and vegan sausage that’s nutritious, simple, and fast; I think your entire family will absolutely love the creamy goodness in this dinner! We hope you’ll add this dish to your weeknight rotation.
Ingredients
- 1 lb dry rigatoni pasta (or pasta of choice)
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- ½ yellow onion, diced
- 3 whole garlic cloves, minced
- 1 (14 oz) package of Lightlife Gimme Lean Veggie Sausage
- 12 oz fresh cremini mushrooms, sliced
- 1 ¾ cup unsweetened, plain soymilk
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp cornstarch
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp dried thyme
- ½ tsp salt, to taste
- Dash of white pepper (black pepper will work)
- Dash of shiitake mushroom powder (optional)
- ¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped
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Instructions
- Over high heat, bring a large pot of water to boil for the pasta. Cook according to package until al dente, about 9 minutes. Drain and set aside.
- In a large rimmed frying pan, heat the oil over medium heat. Saute the onion and garlic for about 3 minutes then add the sausage, breaking it into bite size pieces with a wooden spatula. Add the mushrooms; saute an additional 5-8 minutes, until the mushrooms have darkened and shrunk.
- Whisk the nutritional yeast through the mushroom powder into the soymilk and stir into the mushroom mixture over medium-high heat. Stir occasionally until slightly thickened, about 3-5 minutes; while deglazing the pan. Remove from heat.
- Stir in cooked pasta. Serve hot, topped with fresh parsley.
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Yield: 5 servings
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