Creamy Avocado Pasta

Hey everyone! My dish is a super delicious creamy avocado pasta. I love this recipe because it's something my mom has always made since I was a little kid and it's a much healthier option than creamy pastas that use butter, cream, and flour. It honestly tastes like a pasta made from the creamy buttery stuff, but it's made from a fruit (or veggie, however you view an avocado) which makes it way more nutritious. Another plus is it makes the best leftovers ever. It's super easy to make and takes me about 15 minutes tops and very minimal cleanup. The recipe and nutrition of the pasta are the following:

Ingredients:

• 9 ounces (255 g) uncooked pasta 
• 1 to 2 cloves garlic, to taste
• 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves
• 1-2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, to taste
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 ripe medium avocado, pitted
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon (1 to 2 mL) fine-grain sea salt, to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the package. For a lighter option, serve the avocado sauce with zucchini noodles.
2. While the pasta cooks, make the sauce: In a food processor, combine the garlic and basil and pulse to mince.
3. Add the lemon juice, oil, avocado flesh, and 1 tablespoon water and process until smooth. If the sauce is too thick, add a bit more oil. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
4. Drain the pasta and place it back in the pot. Add the avocado sauce and stir until combined. 
5. Top with parmesan cheese, if desired.

Nutrition (without cheese)

Calories: 448.7
Total Fat: 28.1 g
-Saturated fat: 4.0 g
-Monounsaturated Fat: 18.6 g
-Polyunsaturated Fat: 3.9 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 12.2 mg
Potassium: 556.1 mg
Total Carbohydrate: 47.3 g
-Dietary fiber: 15.5 g
-Sugars: 0.6 g
Protein: 9.6 g

Vitamin A: 62.3%
Vitamin B-6: 21.2%
Vitamin C: 39.5%
Vitamin E: 6.2%

Some substitutions/additions I did in order to make this pasta even healthier is I made sure I used whole grain pasta instead of regular spaghetti noodles. I also added in some spinach to bring in an extra vegetable. This dish is very nutrient rich because of the avocado, whole grain pasta, and spinach. Avocados provide heart healthy fats, fiber, and potassium, and monounsaturated fats. Monounsaturated fats are good for you because they help reduce the bad cholesterol in your body.  Whole grain pasta is a great source of fiber which helps with the digestive system. Spinach is known as a "super food" so it's health benefits are pretty self explanatory, one of the most important benefits are it's abundance of vitamin A and C. The dish overall is low in sodium and cholesterol, can be gluten free (substitute the noodles), vegan (without cheese) and can be paired with any kind of protein and almost any vegetable can be added in. The only thing that could make this dish unhealthy is the amount of parmesan cheese that is put on top. Even then, parmesean cheese still has it's benefits. In 1/4 of a cup, it provides 10 grams of protein, but it does make the cholesterol and sodium rise a bit. I made sure to only put about 1/4 of a cup of cheese on the entire dish. I hope you guys enjoy!

Peterson, A.