Vegetari-WHAT?

After reading blogs like this and this, and vowing to use up the ingredients in my kitchen before going to the grocery store. I was inspired to run out and buy the pasta attachment for my kitchen aid. Thankfully (I’m not sure for whom), I convinced myself that it would be ineffective to not grocery shop this week but buy kitchen goodies. Instead I decided to try to recreate both of these vegetarian pastas because I knew I had canned pumpkin and artichokes in my pantry. Don’t worry, I am not mixing the 2. It just gave me options. Plus, I figured the Muffinman and I could use a little vegetarian-ness in our diet (yup, there I go again making up words.)


The outcome was surprisingly good! Feel free to mix around the vegetables (I think spinach and kalamata olives with feta cheese would rock!). Also, you can easily top this wish shrimp or chicken to make it a little more filling. What I am more excited about is that I finally got a new charger for my camera, so I can use it instead of my iphone to document my recipes! Unfortunately, this is not a very pretty dish to photograph!! Enjoy!

Vegetarian Pasta

4 servings, 6 pts

Ingredients

6 oz dry penne pasta (I used whole wheat)
1 red bell pepper, chopped
½ can artichoke hearts, roughly chopped (about 5 artichoke hearts)
1 handful flat leaf parsley
3 oz grated gruyere cheese (you can use parmesan, I just had gruyere on hand)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

1 tsp dried minced onion

3 cloves fresh garlic, minced
2 tsp flour
1 can diced tomatoes
2 tbs heavy cream

Directions
1. In a large food processor, add the bell peppers, artichokes, and parsley. Pulse until well minced and combined
2. Add in ½ of the cheese, ½ tsp salt, ½ tsp pepper, and minced onion. Pulse until combined

3. Remove mixture from the processor and place in bowl.

4. Salt a pot of water and bring to a boil.
5. Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook until al dente. Drain
6. While the pasta cooks, in a large sauce pan, sauté the garlic with a little cooking spray
7. Sprinkle the flour over the garlic and combine with a spatula
8. Add in the canned tomatoes and their sauce and stir to combine

9. Once the sauce has thickened, add in most of the remaining cheese and cream

10. Add the vegetable mixture to the sauce and stir to combine
11. Serve the sauce mixture over the cooked pasta