Sun-dried Tomato & Mushroom Pasta

Craving a hearty pasta dish, but want to skip the heavy feeling of a bolognese or carbonara? Try this quick and easy veggie-rich pasta dish perfect for either lunch or dinner. 

It's completely vegetarian and can easily be made vegan by using a vegan mozzarella or no cheese at all, and topping with nutritional yeast instead of parmesan. It can also be made gluten-free by using a red lentil, buckwheat, or other gluten-free pasta option. 

Give it a try and leave a comment below to let me know how it turned out! 

*All measurements are approximate (I rarely cook using exact measurements)

INGREDIENTS: (SERVES 2-3)

Your choice of pasta (for GF I like to use buckwheat)

1 cup mushrooms 

Splash of white wine

1 cup cherry tomatoes

2-3 cups baby spinach

1-2 cups organic tomato sauce

1/3 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (DF/Veg option to leave out or use vegan mozzarella)  

1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes

Handful of fresh basil leaves roughly chopped

Crushed red pepper

Garlic salt 

HOW TO:

• Cook pasta according to package instructions

• Heat up a few Tbs. of olive oil in a pan and add mushrooms. Let sit without moving for 1 min. on high heat. Then reduce to medium heat and add a splash of white wine. Stir occasionally until mushrooms are soft and wine has absorbed/evaporated out of the pan. (5-7 min)

• Add cherry tomatoes and a sprinkle of garlic salt.

• Once the tomatoes start to blister add spinach and allow to wilt.

• Stir in tomato sauce, mozzarella, and crushed red pepper (just a bit if you don't like it too spicy) Allow for the tomato sauce to heat up and the cheese to get melty.

• Add in sun-dried tomatoes

• Pour the whole sauce mixture over the pasta and top with fresh basil & a sprinkle of parmesan or nutritional yeast.