+ ten minute vegan pasta heaven +

Holy sh*t, guys!! I think this one going to be very hard to get over. Smoked cheese used to be my favorite thing back when I was into bovine secretions, also known as dairy. Actually, cheese was the last dairy product I gave up before becoming vegan. I swear to you, the combination of toppings in this recipe resulted in a taste and mouth-feel eerily similar to the aforementioned product. So similar, that I kinda felt like I had eaten cheese, which made me feel a little uncomfortable. Maybe it's just me... I'll let you decide for yourselves. Even if you don't feel the similarity, this is one yummy dish without all the fat and other nasty things in cheese. 

It is addictive, I tell ya. The third or fourth time around, it tasted like mayo, and I was like WHAAAAT? Maybe it was because I used a different brand of the eggplant thing.  Sorry, I'm in a very weird mood right now. I'll try to calm down. The richness of the tahini, the buttery flavor of the eggplant, the cheesiness of the nutritional yeast and the chewiness of the spinach combined made me want more. Every day. For a week. Did I mention it is also boyfriend approved?

Before I scare you away with my weirdness forever, let's talk a little about the main reasons why you'd want to eat this instead of dairy products.

• Why would you drink the milk of another species that was specifically designed for them? 
• Do you feel comfortable consuming animal hormones on a daily basis? YUCK!
• Contrary to popular belief, dairy products do not make your bones stronger. They actually leach calcium from your bones by acidifying your body. 
• Milk contains pus cells.
• Dairy cattle are raped and impregnated by humans to ensure continuous milk production.  
• The calves on dairy farms are taken away from their mother immediately after being born - either to be killed for veal or to be raised as dairy cows. 
• The consumption of animal products is directly associated with a higher risk of developing western ailments like type 2 diabetes, auto-immune diseases and cancer.  

To find out more about the negative effects of dairy consumption, I encourage you to watch the documentary Forks over Knives, and research online. Michael Greger, M.D. has a lot of insightful and scientifically backed-up videos on the matter at www.nutritionfacts.org or his Youtube channel. 

So, the eggplant I use in the recipe is store-bought. It only contains eggplant, vinegar and salt, however, it has a distinct smokey flavor to it. If you cannot find anything similar, you can make your own baked in the oven, then mixed with a little salt, vinegar and liquid smoke, possibly smoked paprika, but it will slightly alter the taste. The secret to this pasta was that I used ready-made ingredients, which made it super quick. You could of course make everything from scratch, but it will take a lot longer :)

Ingredients:

Serves 2

450 g frozen spinach

1 tsp soy sauce or tamari

1 clove garlic (grated) or 1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 lemon, juiced

1 tbsp tahini

1 tbsp nutritional yeast
6 tbsp roasted eggplant

2 servings of your favorite pasta, cooked

Instructions: 

Start cooking your favorite pasta. I used corn fusilli and worked out really well. Spaghetti is great too. While the paste is cooking, steam the spinach with the soy sauce and garlic. They will be done about the same time (10 mins). Strain the pasta, add to the spinach and mix, adding the lemon juice as well. Serve and top with the eggplant, tahini and nutritional yeast. Sprinkle on some chili flakes, cause...why not?  

Have a lovely Monday tomorrow!!