Apologies for the cheesy title...couldn't help it and it's been a long day.
Now who doesn't love Italian food....for me it is the ultimate comfort food. Since going plant-based I have veganized some of my favorite Italian food, Pasta Primavera, Lasagna but I have yet to tackle my favorite of all the Italian foods...Fettucini Alfredo.
Ever since I can recall Fettucini Alfredo has been my favorite. Who can resist the buttery, creamy, cheesy goodness? Well...me...for the past 10 years. Blame it on a decade of watching calories but I haven't touched the stuff since I became legal to drink. Now that I am plant-based I definitely can't have it...or can I?
I was surfing around one of my favorite blogs (happyherbivore.com), seriously check it out she is a genius with fat free and low fat vegan recipes and has awesome cookbooks. The baking she can do with applesauce is impressive (60 calorie/0.7 gram of fat chocolate chip cookies umm...yes please!). Back to the point, I noticed that she had a recipe for Instant Vegan Alfredo. Be warned omnivores, some of the ingredients are a little scary...I mean I was a little afraid to make this. Silken Tofu, Nutritional Yeast?? Seriously? I have dabbled with nutritional yeast (nooch if you want to be a cool vegan) but never gone this far with it.
Well I got over my initial fear, bought some silken tofu and nooch the other day and decided to make it for dinner tonight. It came together in a jiffy (15 minutes total). In addition to the posted recipe; I add 3 cloves of garlic (why not), a little extra salt & pepper, and about 1/2 teaspoon of oregano. Also just at the end of the pasta cooking I threw in some frozen peas (maybe about a cup) and frozen broccoli (probably a cup as well).
This TOTALLY hit the spot. I mean if you are a connoisseur of Alfredo sauce then yes, you will think this tastes nothing like it. But if, like me you have taken a vacation from Alfredo for any length of time then this satisfies that need completely. I didn't even have time to take a picture with my legitimate camera I was eating it so quickly, trying to figure out how many more minutes I would have to spend on the elliptical tonight to justify eating the whole pot! As an added validation of it's tastiness, even Dan thought it was good and he is tofu's toughest critic!
I keep thinking of other veggies you can add to make this a different meal every time. Maybe some sun-dried tomatoes and basil. Perhaps some asparagus...the options are completely endless. I would also make sure to serve this immediately. Although it still tastes good after it's sat for a while, it definitely does not look as appetizing. Probably going to have this in my lunch tomorrow so I'll let you know how it reheats.
So what I learned this evening is that although I usually will try anything once, don't be scared to try something in very uncharted territory, it may surprise you.
What's something you were nervous to try but it turned out to be one of your favs?
No comments:
Post a Comment