I’ve had the color green on the brain I think, check out all this green!
There has been a carbohydrate discussion going on over at Chocolate-Covered Katie’s Blog, all that pasta and grains made me hungry! So I whipped up a vat of spinach spaghetti! For the sauce, I happened to stumble upon this great find over at Vegan Yum Yum called ‘Hurry Up Alfredo’, and yum yum it is! 
I added the suggested jarred roasted bell pepper and the steamed broccoli.
I wanted a bit of red, but didn’t have a fresh tomato on hand, so I opened a can of diced tomatoes and simmered them a while to reduce the sauce (*Tip: cooking canned tomatoes just a bit longer than ‘just heating them’ will reduce, if not remove, the tin taste that you sometimes get from canned tomatoes.*)
and then added that to the spaghetti party. I also topped off the spaghetti with pinenuts. The sauce was not white, so don’t be alarmed by the brownish look, also don’t judge the sauce by it’s color, it is good. If you like nutritional yeast then you will know the flavor that this sauce imparts, it was a combo taste of nutritional yeast and dijon mustard, the roasted red pepper added a good element to the flavor. Let me preface that this is very good, but it tastes a bit closer to an Alfredo with perhaps some cheddar thrown in. I think perhaps Katie’s 3-ingredient Alfredo is more like the ‘white sauce’ Alfredo, if you want my opinion. Both are good!!!! Please don’t misunderstand, I like them both, in fact they will both be used in my arsenal of pasta sauces. 
My latest ‘green smoothie’, Tropical Energy Smoothie (chard/pineapple/mango/banana) (Green Smoothie Revolution, p. 105), gets a rating of YUM! I used chard this time, and a smaller amount because, let’s be honest, chard is a stronger flavor than romaine, right?! I also used apple juice instead of water, I have found that I like these better if I use a fruit juice rather than water, it adds not only sweetness but also a depth of flavor. I omitted the sunflower seed sprouts. Also I used frozen pineapple.
Mmm, your jazzed up alfredo looks much more presentable than my saucy blob!
All your green smoothies look deelish! I’m curious though, do any of the green smoothie books you’ve read mention anything about iron binding oxalates in raw spinach and chard? I don’t know much about it, but I try to steer clear of them (uncooked!), just in case it IS detrimental to iron absorption. It’s hard to know, though – I’ve heard anything from that it’s a myth to that it will negate the iron in the food you eat at the same meal, etc. What are your thoughts? 
-Eve
Eve – According to the author of ‘Green Smoothie Revolution’…
The last statement about rotating your greens is a reminder the author states often. Because of the alkaloids in greens that can build up in our bodies if we only eat one green for an extended period of time.
I really enjoyed the back story and research covered at the beginning of ‘Green Smoothie Revolution’, I am currently reading one of her other books called ‘Green for Life’. Both books cover a lot of research and explain more than I knew to ask about.
Hope this helps.
I didn’t think your Alfredo looked like a saucy blob! I think it looked mouth watering!
Wow, thanks for answering so completely. I’d never even heard of the calcium leaching properties of some foods. The advice to rotate greens sounds like a good bet – as with all foods, I guess!
Eve – Yeah, me either. I knew coffee was a diuretic, but I didn’t realize it leached calcium too. Grains and beans took me completely by surprise. So I guess we need to just try to keep up with the latest data and do our best, right?
Oh, and I totally didn’t know about the effects of eating the same greens for extended periods of time, neither did the author until she started feeling weird symptoms… the books are great. She experienced things then did research to find out why and how to change those odd symptoms. I’m very impressed with the research and also feel like she knows what she’s talking about because she made mistakes and then learned from them.
Yay carbs! Nic, you have a SERIOUS cooking talent. And now you have me craving pasta… at 8AM!
Katie – Thanks, *grin*
Hey! You started the pasta cravings with that post of all those carbs!
Mmmm. I’d love that pasta for dinner!
Mihl – It didn’t take very long at all to prepare, the longest thing was getting the water to boil for the pasta, Go make it NOW!
Great broccoli shot!!!!!!!!
GREEEEEN!!!!
Yep, those photos have indeed started the cravings. Just wonder how I can get my kids interested in these items.
Fair Trade Coffee – The spaghetti itself isn’t as green once it is cooked, so I could see you easily substituting it in for regular spaghetti. Or maybe you could make it something fun and ‘gross’ for Halloween, kids get a kick out of grossing our their parents.