written by Nina Shantel, blog: RealDietHelp.com, published January 2024
This vegan, gluten-free, high fiber, high plant protein, whole food, high-raw cruciferous salad is so delicious, it’s surprisingly healthy.
The pasta is from 100% red lentils, but you wouldn’t know it unless you looked at the ingredient list because it tastes like regular penne pasta.
The cheesy sauce is made from herbs, spices, nutritional yeast (high protein), and healthy fat from avocado, which makes it creamy.
The high fiber (19 grams of fiber!) comes from lentil pasta, nutritional yeast, avocado, green beans, cabbage and kale.
Salad Ingredients
- 1 medium red kale leaf
- 3 oz Trader Joe’s red lentil Sedanini (penne) pasta
- 1 tsp Nutritional yeast (Anthony’s unfortified)
- Handful of long French green beans (Costco)
- Handful sliced raw purple cabbage
Vegan Cheese Ingredients
- 1 mini cup Costco’s Wholy Avocado, Smashed Avocado with Sea Salt (1 puréed avocado)
- 2 tsp Nutritional yeast (Anthony’s unfortified)
- A few twists of ground black pepper
- A few shakes of onion powder
- 2-3 teaspoons dried oregano
- A sprinkle of dried garlic powder or 1 freshly pressed garlic glove
- a pinch of truffle salt or 1 tsp white miso paste
- 1 tsp coconut aminos (to make it saltier & a stronger flavor) – optional
Instructions:
Boil water in a medium size pot on the stove. Remove the center kale ribs, chop and chiffonade, or pulse in a small food processor. If you hate kale, skip this ingredient.
Grab a handful of long raw French green beans, cut off the ends, slice them down the center and place in a colander to hold them for now.
Add pasta to boiling water, a few dashes of salt, and set the timer for 5 minutes, stir pasta with a fork to prevent the pasta from sticking together.
Cut off the ends of a large carrot, peel off the rough skin, shred, and add to the bowl with the chopped kale.
After the pasta has been cooking for 5 minutes, add the green beans, and set timer for another 5 minutes, stir again and adjust the heat down if necessary.
Cut off a corner of red or purple cabbage, removing any limp sections, and thinly slice. The portion ends up being about a handful. Add the sliced cabbage to the chopped kale and shredded carrot in a large wide bowl and gently toss with your fingers to combine.
When the five-minute timer goes off, pour the cooked pasta and green beans into a colander and rinse with cold water. The goal is to bring the temperature of the cooked food down to room temperature, so it doesn’t cook the raw vegetables. Thoroughly drain off any excess water.
Scoop pureed avocado into a soup bowl, add freshly ground black pepper, onion powder, 2-3 teaspoons dried oregano, dried garlic powder, and a pinch of truffle salt, or just use your favorite sodium. Mix the seasonings into the pureed avocado. Add 2 teaspoons of unfortified nutritional yeast, mix again.
Add the cooled pasta and green beans back into the pot, add the seasoned pureed avocado mixture on top of the lentil pasta and French beans, and mix. This will taste like a cheesy sauce.
Add some of the raw vegetables on top and mix again to coat them with the sauce too. Add all the ingredients to the large bowl and toss again to coat every vegetable coated with the delicious seasoning.
To finish off, add 1 teaspoon of nutritional yeast on top, a sprinkle of extra salt & garlic powder.
This is a lot of food, so I’ll eat part of it and save the rest to eat as a midday snack.
If you want the dressing creamer, add more pureed avocado. If you want it cheesier, add more nutritional yeast (aka nooch).
How it tastes: The green beans are sweet with a little bit of a crunch to it, so they’re not mushy or undercooked, and the sauce held onto them, so they have extra flavor to them.
Even though the package on the pasta says to cook it 5-6 minutes, it’s al dente (perfect); the cheesy seasoning is subtle with a hint of garlic. It’s not too salty. I like the crunch and sweetness from the purple cabbage. The combination of textures makes this Italian pasta salad interesting and delicious, so I’ve been making it repeatedly.
Serves 1-2
Watch how to make this recipe:
Nutritional information:
Calories 517
Protein 31 grams
Carbs 74 grams gross carbs / 55 grams net carbs
Fiber 19 grams (LOOK AT ALL THAT GLORIUS FIBER)
Fat 12 grams (10 grams from avocado)
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