Vegan Meal of the Week: Pasta and Veggies

Today I came home and I was starving. I had no idea what to make, so I literally took out every workable ingredient I could find and tried to figure out what to do.

I decided to use my frozen spinach, frozen peas, onions, garlic, half a can of chick peas (leftover), pasta sauce, Tofurky Kielbasa (which I actually don’t like – for more info, click on my personal blog post about fake meat here), and Tofutti sour cream. 

If you couldn’t tell, I’m trying to be a vegan. (If you’re interested check out that personal blog link!) This recipe is easily adaptable, just substitute meat balls for the tofurky and regular sour cream for the vegan kind and you’re done!

Ingredients:

1 jar pasta sauce

½ box whole grain pasta

1 Tofurky Polish Kielbasa sausage (substitute meatballs if desired)

1 bag frozen spinach

1 bag frozen peas

2 onions

2 cloves of garlic

1 can of chick peas

3 tablespoons Tofutti sour cream (which I previously made taste better by adding dried dill to taste)

Before anything, chop your onions and garlic so you don’t have to worry about that during the cooking process. 

Then get your pasta water boiling while you start to prepare your other ingredients. (keep an eye on this throughout the cooking of everything else and cook your pasta throughout the process)

            *Remember: salt your pasta water, it adds flavor!

In a big pot (first I used a sauce pan because I didn’t realize how much food it’d be – learn from my mistake!) sauté your onions and garlic until your onions are transparent but still crisp (this will ensure that you won’t end up with mushy onions because they’ll continue to cook in the next step!)

            * Remember to salt your onions when you put them in the pan– the salt draws out the water (it’s called “sweating” them) and helps them cook faster

Then add the frozen spinach, peas, chickpeas, and sour cream and cook until everything is heated.

            *As you add ingredients (spinach, peas) keep adding salt to season – not too much (or don’t, it’s up to you) – if you’re in doubt about how much to add, add small amounts until you think it’s good – you can always add more but   you can’t take it back! If you can’t tell, I’m a big fan of using small amounts of salt to bring out the flavor of things.

In the mean time, pour your pasta sauce in a pot and add the tofurky (soaking it in pasta sauce makes it tolerable to eat! I really don’t like fake meat…)

And after everything’s cooked…chow down! 

This is a delicious vegan meal that you can throw together pretty quickly. Feel free to substitute the proteins (beans and tofurky) for other types (black beans instead of chick peas, or another type of fake meat for the tofurky sausage). The whole point of this recipe is that it’s just something you can throw together!

With my dinner, I had some wine (because I’m 21). It was absolutely delicious. I studied abroad in France last year so I love a good wine; I highly recommend this one if you like whites! (AND IF YOU’RE 21 AHEM). 

Vinum Africa - Chenin Blanc

Also, if you haven’t heard next week is COMPOSTING WEEK! I compost in my apartment so I composted my onion peels. For more info on composting, look around for signs in Towers Lobby or your residence hall!

Author: Holly Giovengo

We're still looking for new writers, so if you're interested please send an email to recipes.pitt@gmail.com.