Lemon Garlic Pasta

Tonight for dinner we enjoyed this awesome vegan recipe from The Glad Cow Cookbook by Summer Keightley. This is one of my favorites; I've made it many, many times. I encourage you to buy Summer's book - it has a great title, pretty cover, and lots of super recipes! A few of my own notes follow the original recipe.

Lemon Garlic Pasta

1 lb. pasta cooked with 1/4 cup diced sundried tomatoes
4-6 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup olive oil
2 cups spinach
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup diced black or kalamata olives
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
1/4 cup vegan margarine
juice of 2 lemons

Cook pasta with sundried tomatoes, drain, and set aside. Heat oil and garlic in saucepan. Cook until garlic is soft, but not brown. Add spinach, olives, salt, and pepper. Cook until spinach is wilted. Add nutritional yeast and margarine. Cook and stir until well combined and margarine is melted. Take off heat and add lemon juice and pasta with sundried tomatoes. Stir well and serve.

Notes:

• I use an entire bunch of spinach, not just 2 cups. It cooks down so much, you can really pack a lot in there and it practically disappears.
• Next time I think I'll use 1/2 teaspoon of salt rather than a full teaspoon. The kalamata olives add a pretty salty taste already, so I don't think it needs much.
• I like to use whole wheat pasta (for it's huge nutritional benefits) but Matt is not a fan... I've recently discovered a brand that is 100% whole wheat and organic but tastes lighter and, well - whiter, I guess. It's called Bionature and I get it at my local natural foods store. I like the fusilli with this recipe.
• This is perfect served with a big, hearty salad. Yum!