Day 36.

It felt weird to cook a new dish when I have all that food in the freezer. But this sounded really good and I TRY to stick to my meal plan most of the time. I did make liberal changes to the recipe to use up some leftover chopped veggies and to make it vegan, because it was so achingly close to vegan already with the fake bacon.

Vegan BLT Pasta
Adapted from original recipe at It’s a Keeper.
Ingredients
1 C “Bacon” bits
2 C veggie broth
1-14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
1 medium onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp. steak seasoning (optional)
12 oz uncooked pasta (I used spaghetti, original uses linguine)
1 C loosely packed fresh parsley, chopped
4 oz grated cauliflower
1/4 C green onions, chopped (optional)
Wedged fresh tomatoes

Directions
I did not follow the one pot directions. I don’t have that kind of time to cook normally. I have 2 kids under 2. So, I put he pasta on to boil until just barely al dente. Meanwhile, place a skillet on medium heat and add onion, cauliflower, green onion, steak seasoning and red pepper flakes. Saute for 2-3 minutes or until tender. Add garlic and cook for 10-20 seconds. Add broth and diced tomatoes, pasta and half of the “bacon”. Simmer until pasta is al dente.

Remove skillet from heat and add wedged tomatoes and parsley, reserving 1 Tbsp. of parsley for garnish. Cover and let stand for 5 minutes or until pasta is tender and sauce is thickened. Serve with remaining bacon and reserved parsley.

The Results
Yum. Very tasty. I think if I’d not been lazy/worn out, I would’ve mashed the cauliflower to make it more of an appropriate substitute for the cream cheese. But this is smoky and fabulous. I recommend it and it’s so quick and easy. I’m sure it can also be done well in one pot, also, but my husband does the dishes, so hey, I’ll use 2 pots!

This post shared at It’s a Keeper.