This dish is the perfect combination of healthy and tasty. Which is great because I so rarely think of pasta as being “good for you”. But this dish is full of nutritious goodies. And I finally feel like I understand why Italians love making their own marinara sauce. The taste is so much better! I followed a recipe I found on Healthy Happy Life with a few minor adjustments:
- I used sliced portobello and button mushrooms instead of of shitake.
- I doubled the amount of kale (for some extra green goodness)
- I used about half the amount of olive oil recommended just because 1/4 cup seemed like a little two much
- I realized at the last minute I didn’t have any onion which was too bad, but I’ll make sure to have some on hand for next time!
- For the sauce I did a small ziploc bag of plain tomato sauce that I happened to have in the fridge and then cut up one roma tomato and one normal tomato. I also chopped up a red pepper and added it along with the garlic and spices.
- I ground raw cashews into a powder as topping instead of getting a Parmesan cheese substitute.
Next time around I think I’d like to use whole wheat pasta or maybe soba noodles. This was my first time using tempeh which was cool. It was very interesting. I’m excited to try grilling it to see how that works. Definitely a day of firsts!


this looks incredible… i seriously didn’t eat enough for dinner. my tummy is growling.
Oh no! I hate when that happens! This recipe actually made such a large batch that I wound up freezing individually portioned servings in tupperware containers for later — it’s healthy, homemade frozen food! Good thing to have around the next time your tummy growls