Fat Free Fettucine No-Fredo

I wanted to bring some kind of pasta for lunch today but I didn't really want to do spaghetti again, so I decided to do something with Fettucine noodles. First I went to the grocery store to attempt to find some good, vegan, whole-wheat pasta. The last time I bought pasta that I thought was going to be healthier for me, I ended up accidentally buying something that was not even vegan. This time, however, I discovered Hodgson Mill Organic Whole Wheat Fettuccine with Milled Flax Seed. I am convinced that I did good this time, and I am happy to report that the pasta itself is delicious. I will most certainly be purchasing this brand from now on.

With the pasta in hand, all I needed was to decide what to put on top of it. I briefly considered making some type of vegan pesto when I happened to remember seeing a recipe that caught my eye over at SusanV's blog, Fatfree Vegan Kitchen. It's a cauliflower based sauce that serves as a replacement for Alfredo sauce, which, of course, is definitely NOT VEGAN. Susan's Fettucine No-Fredo with Broccoli & Mushrooms was very simple to make and I only made a few changes when I made it. First of all, I took the lazy route and didn't buy fresh mushrooms and saute them, I just opened a small can of canned mushrooms and dumped them in. I also added some Morningstar Farms Meal Starters Chik'n Strips just because I used to like chicken in my Alfredo back when I used to eat the very unhealthy, and very cruel version of this dish.

The end result was very good. It's a recipe in progress, according to Susan, and I'm sure everybody who tries it will find their own particular little tweaks that they like to make to it. I also ended up sprinkling mine with some Vegan Parmesan Sprinkles, just to make it a little cheesier. The sauce itself, even though it has nutritional yeast in it, is really not that cheesy, but it is a creamy sauce. Tasting a creamy kind of sauce made from cauliflower that is fat-free really does get your mind racing about all the possibilities of a sauce like that. I will definitely make this recipe again and continue to experiment with it.

I also have some garlic toast there that I made from a sliced-up, homemade 100% whole-wheat bun that I made yesterday. I just use the exact same recipe that I use for pizza crust, remembering to use 1 1/4 cups of water and 1 Tbsp of sugar instead of what the recipe says, plus I use whole-wheat pastry flour instead of white, olive oil instead of canola oil, plus I added 3 1/2 Tbsp of Vital Wheat Gluten just to give the bread a little more "guts". I divided the dough up into 2 oz. portions for buns, put them out on a tray and let them rise and then baked them. They are yummy. For garlic toast I just sliced one of the buns, sprayed with a little olive oil, sprinkled with garlic salt and oregano and toasted it in the toaster oven. I had to cut it up a little bit more to get it to fit into the lunchbox, but it's all good.

Then I added some steamed yellow squash, onions and red pepper. I also threw in (I know they are a little hard to see in the picture) a container full of yummy raw blueberries. These were actually hand-picked by a good friend not far from where I live. Seems like I remember reading somewhere that blueberries are one of the best things that you can eat, and I love 'em, so there they are.

I'm really looking forward to eating my lunch today, I think it will be really enjoyable. We don't have to work tomorrow since it is Good Friday, so I won't be packing the lunchbox. I will, however, probably be going out somewhere to eat and will end up posting pics and all the info about that as another "Out to Lunch" segment. Thanks for checking in and I'll see everybody tomorrow. Have a GREAT day!