Spicy Tomato, Mushroom and Basil Quinoa Pasta

As we near the end of winter, I find myself cooking as much comfort food as possible before the hot weather begins. To me, comfort food screams PASTA! Probably why I've blogged two pasta recipes in the same week. 

When I originally found out I was celiac.... I think I literally mourned the loss of normal pasta. That's not even joke. I was genuinely upset! That's quite amusing now that I look back on the time, because I found Quinoa pasta and I reckon without doubt it is soooo much more yummy! It has a sweeter flavour to it and I find it has a nice bite if its cooked properly. 

It has been so long since I've enjoyed a bolognese, and that was another thing I was really sad about when I stopped eating meat. Bolognese sauce. My god. That stuff goes good with everything. When I was younger and just moved out of home, I used to batch cook bolognese like it was going out of fashion. Sometimes I would cook that much of it that I'd run out of pasta. So I would use the sauce as a dip. Seems weird... but it will actually rock your world without word of a lie! Cucumber in particular is amazing! Especially if you cut a cucumber in half length ways and scoop out the seeds. It's like a little bolognese boat! Really good! Anyway! I'm getting off topic!

When the meat vanished from my life, I started to really search into how I can make delicious pasta sauces and to my amazement, there are SO many combinations you can do and so many amazing vibrant ways that you can flavour olive oil that makes pasta delicious! 

Once again, if you aren't good with Quinoa, then Sub for a different type of spaghetti like Zoodles. ORRRRR there is this brand of 'spaghetti' in the health food aisle at woollies ( I think the brand is slendier ) and the pasta is made out of Konjac which is a root vegetable. Keto lovers rejoice because its only 10 calories per serve which means it is SUPER low carb!

So on with it today (this is the second time I've written this recipe blog because the first time I accidentally deleted it) I really do hope you enjoy this recipe. It is one of my families faves!

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RECIPE

What you will need:

1/2 Pack Organic Quinoa Pasta (or Pasta of choice... NO GLUTEN...naughty naughty)

Good Quality Olive Oil on hand

4 Organic Tomatoes Quartered

1 Field Mushroom cut Chunky.

6-7 Fresh Basil Leaves chopped (dried just simply won't do)

Chilli Flakes

1 Small Onion diced

2 Cloves Organic AUSTRALIAN Garlic (2 cloves to me is like a bulb)

1/2 tablespoon Ghee

What to do:

Heat your pan and melt your half tablespoon of ghee

Saute your onion until translucent. I know you normally add Garlic here, but adding it at the end means it isn't as heat treated which keeps some of the benefits intact. 

While the Onion is cooking, put your water for your pasta in the pot and bring to a boil. Don't forget to season the water!

Once the onion is translucent, add your diced tomatoes and mushrooms. Sauté until the tomatoes are starting to break up. Add a little bit of water to deglaze the bottom of the pan if the food starts to catch. 

Once your water is boiling, add the pasta. 

To your sauce, add your chili flakes. Let cook for a few minutes to wake up the chilli. 

Add Garlic. Let cook for a couple of minutes and then turn off the heat. 

Once the heat is turned off, mix through the basil and add your olive oil. Enough to make it a sauce.

Once pasta is cooked, using tongs lift the pasta from the water and place in the pan of sauce. Don't worry about getting all the water off the pasta as the starch will combine with the oil and make the sauce a bit thicker and glossy.

eason with Salt & Pepper

Toss and Serve!

Thyme for Pumpkin and Balsamic Quinoa Spaghetti (GF, VE)

Sometimes I think our microorganisms tell us what we need to eat by sending us signals like cravings.

In fact, it's pretty well known in the land of Nutritional Medicine that our cravings actually stem from our good and bad gut flora sending signals to our brain that tell us what we should eat.

'Bad' microbes feed on sugars and naughty fats mostly, whereas 'Good' microbes feed on pre biotics and fibrous foods such as root vegetables, leafy greens, and sugars from carbohydrates. So it goes without saying, that if you are craving junk 'food' ( I use the word food in inverted commas because when you crave junk, you are actually consuming man made things made up of chemicals and by products of other food stuffs) you may actually have an imbalance of good and bad microbes... and the 'bad' microbes are Winning!

So maybe today, I'm the one winning because when I woke up this morning all I could think about was Pumpkin.... and Pasta. I swear I'm not pregnant...I've just given birth to twins, and if I am, well then so help me god!

Weird combination I know, but hey - I used to eat peanut butter on salted potato crisps dipped in puréed apple sauce when I was pregnant... So how bad could Pasta and Pumpkin actually be?

Turns out, it's actually amazing! 

It's not every day that things in the kitchen go the right way, but today it was Corinne 1 - Bin 0

Now if you suffer digestive issues or suffer from an auto immune disease or condition, it's super important that you continue to look after your digestive health. So unless you know that your gut can handle Quinoa, you may want to opt for delicious Zoodles (Zucchini Noodles.....duh!) or Spoodles (Sweet Potato Noodles... please don't cook up a Spoodle... that's animal cruelty) 

I experience Celiacs disease ( I don't like to say the words I 'Have' because 'having' so many things wrong with my body seems like a lot to deal with... 'experiencing' makes it seem more like it comes and goes which seems less to deal with... crazy mind? Maybe...but hey! It works ) so although I know I have impaired digestion because of the celiacs, I also experience an Auto Immune disease ( or 3, well 1 now because 2 are in remission), so I'm always VERY careful before I put anything into my mouth. 

Since I've been batting around the bush for a while now (3 years to be exact) I have done tests on my Hashimoto's antibodies, Lupus Antibodies and IC antibodies, as well as my inflammation markers after re introducing Quinoa, and lucky for me it doesn't seem to contribute to any dis.ease within my body. If it's different for you and you don't deal well with Quinoa, please PLEASE change to a pasta that suits your body like the vegetable noodles I mentioned above. But NO GLUTEN! If you're trying to cut down inflammation, gluten Is your worst enemy and if you have any auto immune disease, you really need to stay away from it, hell, even treat yourself as Celiac. It IS going to contribute to your immune attack because EVERYONE with auto immune disease, has leaky gut and this is what causes gluten to get into the blood stream.

ANYWAY! Bon Appe Enjoy! (Pasta's Italian and pumpkin isn't so I thought I'd meet you half way on the Bon Appetite)

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Recipe

Time - Well that depends on if you have children and babies that need attention - but shouldn't take longer than 1/2 hour if you're un interrupted and don't cut yourself when you chop your veggies.

Serves - 4

You will need:

1/4 Butternut pumpkin steamed and pureed ( or if you are time plenty, roast that bad boy for more flavour ) 

3/4 can of Coconut cream

1 Diced Tomato

1/2 Red Onion

3 Cloves of Garlic ( or if you're like me, 3 cloves of garlic is actually a bulb...) 

1 teaspoon of Thyme

1 teaspoon Rosemary 

 2 teaspoons Ghee (no dairy for gut impaired people! Ghee is pure animal fat with no dairy proteins, source from your local health food shop or Indian grocer)

Pinch Nutmeg (don't go crazy with it, you don't want it to taste like a pumpkin pie... it's spaghetti after all!) 

 1/2 pack Quinoa Pasta

 Balsamic Vinegar 

 Salt and Pepper to taste

What do you do? 

Steam your pumpkin (or Roast it) until it is soft enough to be puréed. 

Once steamed enough (before falling apart) pull the pumpkin out of the water with tongs and place in a bowl.  You don't want to drain the pumpkin completely as the retained water will help puree it.

Cook your pasta in the pumpkin water according to the instructions on the pack.

Mash or Purée your pumpkin (with a hand masher, or food processor either way is fine) 

In a deep fry pan (preferrably with a lid... but it's not essential) sauté your onion and garlic in the ghee until fragrant and the onion is translucent.

Once you can smell the onions and garlic from where you are standing, place your herbs in your hand and rub your hands together over the pan to wake them up.

Cook for about 30 second until the herbs are fragrant and back to life and then add the puréed pumpkin and diced tomato.

Using a wooden spoon, mix together until blended thoroughly and then add the coconut cream and nutmeg. 

Stir occasionally to keep the mixture combined as the liquid and solids may separate. 

Cook for 10 minutes. This is where the lid comes in handy. If your mixture is looking more gluggy than saucey, place the lid on your pan, this will keep the moisture in and stop more moisture from evaporating. If you dont have a lid and your mixture is a little gluggy, ad water 1/4 cup at a time until it is smooth and creamy. Preferably use the pumpkin and pasta water as the starch will help combine the sauce and the pumpkin flavour will act like vegetable broth.

Once your pasta is al dente (FOR THE LOVE OF PETE DON'T DRAIN THE PASTA) using tongs pick the pasta up from the water, quickly drain and place the pasta in the pan. It's actually a good thing to not drain the pasta to buggery because the starch will help the sauce go glossy and stick to the spaghetti. 

Place on your plate and season with salt and pepper to your liking and then drizzle with Balsamic Vinegar.

I hope you enjoy this tummy loving recipe, please let me know what you think. I'm keen to hear your feedback! 

Veggies, Love and Peace,