This is one of the first recipes I ever put on the blog, about two years ago. It was squished at the bottom of some other post– who knows about what. And… this is one of the first dishes I started making when I was teaching myself how to cook. It’s really easy, and unless you over salt it, or over boil the pasta, it’s kind of impossible to screw up. The key is really fresh ingredients, lots of herbs, and organic tomatoes.  Luckily, it is really, really quick too… so it’s extremely manageable for those who want to cook and eat, in less than 30 minutes… aka: for people like me who (currently) have overloaded their schedule. heh.
Ingredients: 
1 package of pasta, quinoa, or your favorite grain (cook as directed, set aside)
1 package of spinach, or your favorite mix greens
1 package of cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
a few cloves of garlic, sliced (to your garlic liking. I usually use about 5 or so)
a bundle of basil and whatever other fresh herbs you may have around, chopped. I highly recommend oregano too, but any will work, such as: parsley or thyme.
olive oil
salt & pepper
optional: red chili flake, thin sliced onion, and/or just about any summer vegetable you prefer.
How to:
In saute pan, heat generous amounts of olive oil
If using, add onions and lightly cook until translucent.
If using, add red chili flake.
Add garlic, and sauté for a minute or so, add cherry tomatoes, and a pinch of salt.
Allow cherry tomatoes to cook, sweating out much of their liquids, stir occasionally.
Once the tomatoes are nice and soft, add spinach greens and chopped herbs.
Allow greens and herbs to cook down for a few minutes.
Stir a bit, season with salt and pepper.
Toss with grain of your choice.
Voila! Easy (and delicious).
This post is titled as a “pasta dish” because I toss this with boiled pasta 97% of the time. The day I finally got around to photographing this recipe, I used quinoa. I was… and still am… doing a candida cleanse. Luckily, this recipe goes great with pasta, quinoa, couscous, rice, or even eaten as is, for a delicious helping of veggies. The quinoa added a nutty taste, and an interesting texture… but in a few weeks, I plan on going back to a generous helping of pasta.
**edit (6/20/13) It’s summer time and this has been my go to dish just about every day this week— but with extra veggies and a handful of quinoa instead of pasta tossed in. So good. Add chickpeas and it’s a super meal!
This is my first time doing a candida cleanse. The first two weeks, I did it wrong, and assumed I could just take the cleanse, without changing my diet. Wrong. That was pretty much money wasted. Now, I’m (mostly) properly cleansing, by adding lots of fibrous veggie juice (think: kale, celery, ginger juice), cutting out all sugar (even fruit sugar— okay, well, not my beloved tomatoes), cutting out alcohol, fermented foods (I miss you pickled radishes), and most grains. I still eat bread from time to time (I can’t quit you, bread), but now I just forgo pasta and rice. I know many people choose a candida cleanse to kick start weight loss, but I am not (I’m eating my fair share of avocados and good oils to try to avoid anymore weight loss), I took antibiotics a few months back, and it really messed up my system. Slowly but surely everything seems to be getting back to normal, with the help of the cleanse and my even more restricted diet… butttt I ate pizza yesterday… so when I say slowly, I mean: really, really slowly. Cest la vie.
Life is really hectic right now. I’d be lying if I didn’t say, I’m in a little bit of a panic mode, but it’s all still moving forward. Marlowe started daycare this week and cried when I left her this morning, my house is in a bit of shambles from trying to pack up, my body is over-worked from work, and life in general, and my brain is fried from over-thinking about each and every task I need (and want) to accomplish this month. Things are hectic, and I’m making them more hectic in some ways by taking on too much, but things are good, and I really can’t complain. Luckily, for the most part, Marlowe seems to be doing alright in daycare, packing up means an opportunity to organize and purge unnecessary things from my life, my body is sweating out toxins, and my arms and back are getting buff, and my brain… well… that will somewhat relax again, someday 😉 I hope everyone has a wonderful (and relaxing) friday and weekend. Have a drink or eat some pasta for me 😉
PS! Before I completely space again here are the winners from last weeks giveaways!
The winner of the Jeff Claassen giveaway is: Broken Ship! & The winner of the Sarah Dyer giveaway is: Nieqo!
Congratualtions, you guys! You will be contacted shortly! Thanks everyone for entering!

11 Comments

  1. Hi Drea, I'm back to my vegan adventure and this is the first dish I made. I love it, it will definitely be seen on my plate a lot xx

  2. How did the cleanse go? I've been wanting to try one for ages, but am overwhelmed by all the options. I know you posted additionally about this (with a picture I think), but I'd love to hear how this particular kit worked for you!

    optimisticmusings@gmail.com

  3. This recipe looks great! I'm always looking for easy and healthy recipes. Thanks so much.

  4. I will be making this soon for my daughter and husband. It looks super easy & healthy. Thank you for sharing it! by the way I LOVE the new blog! the categories are very cute! did you design it?

  5. I will be making this soon for my daughter and husband. It looks super easy & healthy. Thank you for sharing it! by the way I LOVE the new blog! the categories are very cute! did you design it?

  6. This looks Really easy! Will try this soon, and see how it goes down with my three kidlets. Oh, and I must read up about your cleanse! Interesting.

  7. Well how perfect, I was just thinking I would have quinoa for dinner but couldn't decide how to cook it. I'm also doing the candida diet at the moment (although a bit half heartedly this time) so was looking for something that would work with that. Thank you 🙂

  8. WOW. Great job with the cleanse! I refused to stop drinking while on my juice fast (logic: wine is juice *cough*).