The Pasta Push

As Erin enters the home stretch of baby-making, we feel the need to ramp up her vitamin intake with lots of fresh veggies. Sure, she'd rather eat the Bon Bons at Sweet Rose Creamery in Brentwood, but the looming possibility of a sugar crash hitting right in the middle of labor has pretty much nailed her sweet tooth to the wall.

We took inspiration from Spaghetti with Swiss Chard and Garlic Chips over at Epicurious and created a vegan pasta jam-packed with goodness...

Whole Wheat Spagetti with Fresh Veggies and Garlic Chips

Adapted from Epicurious

• 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 Tbsp. Earth Balance Vegan Butter (or sub real butter)
• 1 head garlic, cloves peeled and thinly sliced lengthwise
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1 pound green Swiss chard, stems and center ribs finely chopped and leaves coarsely chopped separately
• 8 large Brussel Sprouts, trimmed and quartered lengthwise
• 1 cup coarsely chopped kabocha squash
• 1/4 cup roasted pine nuts
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 pound whole wheat spaghetti
• Sea Salt

Steam Brussel Sprouts until fork tender, but not too soft. Set aside.

Lightly roast pine nuts in a sauté pan over low heat. Put in a bowl. Set aside.

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• Heat oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium heat until it shimmers, then cook garlic, stirring, until golden, about 3 minutes. Transfer garlic with a slotted spoon to paper towels to drain.
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Meanwhile, cook spaghetti in a pasta pot of boiling salted water (2 tablespoons salt for 5 quarts water) until al dente. Reserve 1 cup pasta-cooking water and drain spaghetti.

Cook onion in oil remaining in skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir chard stems into onion mixture with water (they don't specify how much, so we did about an 1/8 cup) and 3/4 tsp. each of salt and pepper. Cook, covered, over medium-high heat until almost tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in chard leaves and Kabocha Squash.

Cook, covered, until stems, leaves and squash are tender, about 5 minutes.

At the same time, melt vegan butter in the pan you used for the pine nuts. After a minute, add Brussel Sprouts, let sizzle for a bit and toss to coat. Set aside.

Toss spaghetti with chard, squash, sprouts and 1/4 cup cooking water, adding more cooking water if necessary. Season with salt and pepper. Serve sprinkled with pine nuts and garlic chips.

Enjoy! We did. Right up until we started dreaming about Bon Bons...