Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Whole Grain Spinach Pasta

So it's Day 2 of a Whole Food eating diet and so far so good. 

This morning was a fruit/spinach/oatmeal smoothie.  Lunch was a salad. Snack was my healthified granola with Almond Milk.  Then for dinner I made some whole grain spinach pasta.  

I did an extensive search for a vegan recipe and couldn't find one I liked so this one is vegetarian because of the eggs.  

I learned this recipe from a Little Italy class at Shar's last week.  
Her's wasn't whole grain and she made it into ravioli, but since ravioli is always cheezy, I decided to make mine simple pasta.  
The kids really liked it, even my youngest said it was yummy and asked when we could have it again.  

Anytime baby.  Anytime.

So let's get started.

Whole Grain Spinach Pasta

Grind:
2 cups soft white wheat
1/3 cup buckwheat
1/3 cup quinoa
(if you just want wheat, replace the buckwheat and quinoa with more soft white wheat or trade them out for some other grains.  I just like mixing up the grains.)

In a large skillet put about 1/4 cup water and 4 oz or 3 large handfuls of washed and chopped spinach.
I didn't chop mine this time, but I should have.
Cover and let steam just until the spinach starts to wilt.
Drain most of the liquid off.


In a mixer with wire whips or a mixing bowl and your hands combine the following:
Wilted spinach
2 eggs
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp olive oil or grapeseed oil
Whole grain flour 1 cup at a time until dough comes together to form ball.
(About 2 1/2 cups whole grain flour)
Knead slightly.
Turn out onto floured surface.


Dust with flour and wrap tightly in plastic wrap for about 30 minutes.


At this point I used my pasta maker with my little guy helping crank the handle, but you could just as easily roll out the dough on a floured surface and cut with a pizza cutter.
You can see more detail of using the pasta maker here.


Toss the cut noodles with flour.
Prepare a stock pot with water, a little salt, and about 1/2 tsp of olive oil.


When the water is boiling drop 2 handfuls of pasta into the water.
Don't do too much at a time.
Because it's fresh pasta it will only take a couple of minutes to cook, depending on how thick your pasta is.
The pasta is done when it all floats on the top.


Scoop out the pasta with a slotted spoon and let cool slightly while you cook the rest of the pasta.


I tossed mine with some Olive Oil, some minced Garlic, and Salt/Pepper to taste.


Fresh. 
Super Healthy.
Super Yummy.
Enjoy!



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