Easy cashew cream pasta

By Jamie-Lynn Shaw, BHSc, CNP, PTS, NNCP

I love making healthy variations of some of my favourite, yet not-so-healthy dishes! When I am craving some comfort food this is one of my go-to pasta dishes. This dish is dairy free, but still so creamy, and it tastes delightful with a chickpea gluten-free pasta.

Cashew Cream pasta

Ingredients

• 1 and 1/2 cups of raw cashews
• 1 and 1/2 cups water
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 2 tbsp of avocado oil (or coconut)
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
• 2 cups or organic spinach
• Pasta 1 8- oz. box of shells (I used Banza chickpea pasta)

Instructions

1. Soak your cashews in water for 2-3 hours. After they have finished soaking, make sure to rinse them thoroughly and drain the water they were soaking in.
2. Peel and dice 4 cloves of garlic (Tip: add sea salt to garlic cloves to make chopping easier).
3. Place pan on medium heat. Add 2 tablespoons of avocado oil or coconut oil to pan.
4. Add garlic to pan and leave to simmer (roughly 5 minutes).
5. Add cashews, water and a big pinch of salt and pepper (I did about ½ tsp of salt and ¼ tsp of pepper) and garlic to the high-powered blender.
6. Blend until it’s nice and smooth. Once it’s silky smooth, just leave it in the blender while you get your pasta ready.
7. Cook pasta according to directions (for shells it’s usually about 8-10 minutes or until al dente. Drain your noodles).
8. Add your garlic cashew cream sauce directly into the pot that you cooked your pasta in.
9. Keep it on low heat and stir back in your noodles – giving the cashew cream a chance to get warm.
10. Once warm, season to taste with more salt and pepper. Stir in some spinach if desired.

Jamie-Lynn Shaw, BHSc, CNP, PTS, NNC , is a Certified Nutritional Practitioner, based in the Ottawa area. For more recipes visit http://www.jamielynnshaw.com