Garden Pesto Pasta

If your garden is overflowing with basil, green beans, and potatoes this is the perfect recipe. Do you have chickweed growing (unintentionally) in your garden? Don’t throw it in the compost! It makes the most delicious, earthy pesto. This pasta whips up in the time it takes to boil the potatoes, so it’s a terrific weeknight meal. Inspired by Food52.

I am all about one pot meals, you guys. Anything to make dinner easier while working a full-time job and parenting at two and half year old. We could all use more recipes that are easy, quick, and tasty. Technically I did use a food processor to make the pesto but the potatoes, green beans, and pasta all boil in the same pot!

The best part of this meal though? Much of it was grown from the garden! Free food!! The basil and chickweed came from my garden, and the green beans from my stepmom’s. I tried to use my own potatoes I grew but I dug a few up and they weren’t quite ready yet. I’m growing Magic Molly potatoes which are purple inside and out! They have a rich and nutty flavor that I just can’t get enough of. My grandpa used to grown them and when I found them at our local nursery I had to get some. Fun fact: As a child I used to sneak away and dig up my grandpa’s “treasures” well before they were ready because I just couldn’t contain my excitement. It appears as if I have not outgrown this. There is just something so exciting about digging up potatoes! Is it just me?

Garden Pesto Pasta

By Katie Henry - Produce On Parade

If your garden is overflowing with basil, green beans, and potatoes this is the perfect recipe. Do you have chickweed growing (unintentionally) in your garden? Don’t throw it in the compost! It makes the most delicious, earthy pesto. This pasta whips up in the time it takes to boil the potatoes, so it’s a terrific weeknight meal.

Ingredients

• 1 large red or Yukon Gold potato, peeled and quartered and cut into ¼ inch thick slices
• ¼ lb fresh green beans, chopped into 1 inch pieces
• 8 oz dry thin spaghetti (if using regular spaghetti increase cooking time)
• 1 cup packed fresh basil leaves
• 1 cup packed fresh chickweed, removing any thick stems and cleaning thoroughly (or basil, spinach, arugula, or other greens)
• 2 whole garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
• Heaping ¼ cup pine nuts (or walnuts)
• 1 tbsp miso paste
• ¾ tsp table salt
• ⅓ cup vegan shredded mozzarella cheese
• ⅓ cup extra-virgin olive oil
• Garnish of vegan parmesan (optional)

Instructions

1. Place the sliced potatoes in a large pot of cold water. Bring to a boil then salt; continue to boil for 5 minutes then add the pasta and green beans. Boil for an additional 5-8 minutes until all the vegetables and pasta are cooked. Drain and return to pot.
2. While the pasta cooks: to a food processor add the basil, greens, garlic, pine nuts, miso, salt, and cheese. Pulse until coarse and grainy. With the processor running drizzle in the olive oil and process until mixed thoroughly.
3. Stir the pesto into the cooked pasta and veggies. Serve hot and topped with vegan parmesan!

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
Total time: 25 minutes
Yield: 3-4 servings

Chickpea Artichoke Rice with Lambsquarter Greens

This is a hearty brown rice dish featuring protein-rich chickpeas, tasty artichoke, savory herbs and spices, wild-foraged lambsquarter greens, and a dash of zingy fresh lemon. Hands-off and great for a weeknight meal, this is a healthy and delicious way to introduce picky eaters to brown rice and foraged greens (or spinach!)

Do you ever forage for wild plants? I really love to incorporate treasures from our backyard in our meals and each year I try to include more. We have an abundance in our woods that offer themselves at various times of the year. Highbush cranberries, red currants, horsetail, many wild edible flowers, bolete mushrooms, spruce tips, fiddlehead ferns, chickweed, wild raspberries, and lambsquarter. These are just a few; Alaska has so much to give!

I remember foraging lambsquarter with my grandmother and eating it. “Tastes like spinach!”, she used to say. And she was right, it does taste like a mild spinach. It’s very recognizable and has a white powdery substance that coats it. Anything you forage should be washed well and of course it’s vital to be absolutely 100% sure you know what you are picking.

If you’re not able to harvest any wild greens where you are, spinach will work just beautifully in this dish or feel free to just omit the greens completely if you prefer.

What kinds of things do you forage?

Chickpea Artichoke Rice with Lambsquarter Greens

By Kathleen Henry - Produce On Parade

This is a hearty brown rice dish featuring protein-rich chickpeas, tasty artichoke, savory herbs and spices, wild-foraged lambsquarter greens, and a dash of zingy fresh lemon. Hands-off and great for a weeknight meal, this is a healthy and delicious way to introduce picky eaters to brown rice and foraged greens (or spinach!)

Ingredients

• 1 cup uncooked long-grain brown rice
• 1 15 oz can diced tomatoes
• 2 cups + 2 tbsp (thereabouts) vegetable broth
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 small brown onion, diced small
• 2 large garlic cloves, minced
• ½ tbsp paprika
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• ½ tsp dried oregano
• ½ tsp seasoning or table salt
• dash of white pepper
• 1 15 oz can chickpeas, drained
• 1 15 oz can quartered artichoke hearts, drained
• 1 cup unpacked foraged lambsquarters leaves or spinach
• 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
• ½ lemon, zested and juiced

Instructions

1. Add the dry rice to a rice cooker. Drain the diced tomatoes, reserving the juice in a liquid measuring cup; add in enough vegetable broth to equal 2 ¼ cups of total liquid (for me this was about 2 cups and 2 tbsp of broth). Add to dry rice, and cook according to your rice cooker. Brown rice takes about 1 hour to cook.
2. While the rice cooks, heat the oil over medium-low heat in a large rimmed frying pan. Add the onion and garlic, sauteing for about 5-8 minutes until the onions are translucent. Stir in the spices, herbs, salt and pepper; cook for an additional 2 minutes.
3. Stir in the chickpeas and artichokes; simmer over low heat for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and cover; allow to rest until rice is cooked.
4. Wash the greens well. When the rice is done cooking add the greens to the pan and stir until wilted. Add in the rice, parsley, and lemon juice and zest; stir well to combine.
5. Serve hot and topped with additional parsley and lemon zest if you like.

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour 5 minutes
Total time: 1 hour 10 minutes
Yield: 4

Vegan Dracula's Revenge

Delicious roasted garlic and browned vegan sausage mingle in a creamy, cheesy sauce mixed with penne pasta and baked to golden perfect. If you like garlic, cheese, and sausage this dish is going to become a staple!

Every september for years and years my family would make Dracula’s Revenge. It was my little brothers absolute favorite dish and he would always request it for his birthday. How he even found out about this oddly named pasta bake is beyond me. It seems like a weird request from a seven year old but what do I know.

For some reason, the other day, I was really craving it. Of course Dracula’s Revenge is decidedly NOT vegan but it certainly wasn’t hard to veganize this nostalgic dish. It did not disappoint! Have you ever had or heard of it before?

Vegan Dracula’s Revenge

By Kathleen Henry from Produce On Parade

Delicious roasted garlic and browned vegan sausage mingle in a creamy, cheesy sauce mixed with penne pasta and baked to golden perfect. If you like garlic, cheese, and sausage this dish is going to become a staple!

Ingredients

• 1 large garlic head
• ½ tbsp olive oil
• ½ tube (7 oz) Gimme Lean Lightlife Sausage
• 8 oz dry penne pasta
• 3 tbsp vegan butter
• 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 2 cups plain, unsweetened soymilk
• 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
• ½ tsp salt, to taste
• ⅛ tsp dried rosemary
• ⅛ tsp dry rubbed sage
• Dash of white pepper
• A few drops of liquid smoke (optional)
• ¼ cup shredded vegan mozzarella cheese

Instructions

1. Bring a large pot of water to boil for the pasta and preheat oven to 350° F.
2. Remove the excess papery skin from the garlic head but leave the head intact; wrap the entire thing in parchment paper then aluminum foil. Bake for 1 hour then remove from the oven and allow to cool to the touch. Turn up oven to 400° F.
3. Once cool, separate the cloves and squeeze to extract garlic the pulp. Smash the garlic in a small bowl with the back of a wooden spoon to make a paste; set aside.
4. In a large cast iron skillet heat the oil over medium-high heat. Break up the sausage into bite size pieces by hand and saute for about 5 minutes until browned. Remove from heat and set aside.
5. When the water is boiling, cook the pasta according to package then drain and set aside.
6. In a large pot melt the butter over medium heat. Whisk in the flour and cook for about three minutes until lightly browned. Slowly whisk in the milk, ensuring no lumps, and cook for about 8 minutes until the mixture has thickened. Stir in the remaining ingredients until well combined; then stir in the pasta and sausage.
7. Spray a small casserole dish with a nonstick cooking spray then transfer the pasta into the dish. Bake for 15-20 minutes until thoroughly heated. Serve hot and topped with additional cheese if you like.

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Total time: 1 hour 20 minutes
Yield: 4-6