Monday & the Missing Meat: Peppy Pasta.

If you can bear with me on my “dairy free” kick, I’m going to post a few more recipes that won’t have you missing the dairy farm. I’m not into preachin’, just saying, if you can dodge it, it’s healthier and you won’t miss it— why not?

So one of my favorite missing meat go-tos is any pasta. When you have so much happening in a “one pot wonder”, who has time to long for the beef?

I tested this out over the weekend and it received rave reviews from our household. Tiny critics included (their’s was minus the pep). This was made with gluten-free pasta, which again, if you doll it up enough, you can’t tell a difference. We have found that a few brands are better than most of the brands…our choice gluten-free pastas are Barilla and Bionaturae brands (the latter is the best, in my opinion).

Here goes….While draining the pasta in a colander after it has cooked, throw some olive oil back into the same (now empty) pasta pot. Heat the oil and add some diced garlic. After the garlic and oil have simmered for about a minute, add the pasta back into the pot, coat heavily in more olive oil, add a few good scoops of your fave tomato sauce (from a jar?:), and then— this sounds a little rogue- but add 2-3 big scoops of plain non-fat (non dairy, if preferred) yogurt. It adds another nice layer of flavor and gives it that “diablo” feel  minus the heavy cream guilties :)

Combine all and let cook together on low heat for a few minutes, tossing often. Top with lots of freshly squeezed lemon, red pepper flakes if that’s your deal, and chopped parsley. (–Or hey- top with a bolognese sauce….I’m not judging.)

Ciao & Salute!