Brown Rice Pasta with Sweet Potato Puree

One of my favorite things to do when I am cooking

is to try to come up with something based off what I have in the kitchen

without having to head out to the grocery store.

That’s also just an attribution to general laziness,

but I have found that some of my favorite meals have come together

when I was forced to create something with only whatever is available.

So, I can’t be too upset about it.

It also helps, of course, when you train yourself to only stock

the fridge and cupboards with healthy, fresh, options,

such as a variety of vegetables, protein and natural flavorings.

That doesn’t mean, of course, that there aren’t a few things in my kitchen

that aren’t at the top of the healthy list,

but it’s like I said before:

80% of what you need

20% of what you want.

I’ve been a little slack lately on my posting,

but I was honestly way too busy the past couple of weeks to come up with

or discover any new recipes.

But, I did manage to squeeze in this delicious new recipe that I actually

thought of when I was sitting at my desk at work,

wondering what I was going to make for dinner

because I didn’t feel like going shopping.

I remembered that I had a sweet potato sitting on my shelf

and all of a sudden I had the urge to make pasta.

Yes, pasta doesn’t sound like the best thing to think of,

but when you have an amazing, light and low carb,

brown rice penne pasta sitting in your cabinet,

trust me it is.

It was the weirdest thing, but the idea to make a sauce

just popped in to my head and I couldn’t wait to go home to make it.

It was so delicious and the addition of the pistachios was my favorite part,

with the crunchy, saltiness, adding to the sauce,

but you can leave them out, of course, if that’s not your thing.

Hope you enjoy!

Brown Rice Pasta with Sweet Potato Puree

1 large sweet potato

2/3 cup light coconut milk plus 2 tbsp

1 TSP garlic powder

1/2 TSP salt/pepper

1 TSP sriracha

sun-dried tomatoes

roasted red  peppers

1 TSP garlic puree

1 TBSP of pistachios

1 TBSP coconut oil

Parmesan cheese

Brown Rice penne pasta

1. Skin the sweet potato, poke some fork holes around it and place in the microwave. If your microwave doesn’t have a potato button, heat on high for 5 minutes, or until potato is tender to the touch. Allow potato to cool for a few minutes.
2. While the potato is cooking, heat up a skillet on medium low with a TBSP of coconut oil and the sun-dried tomatoes, peppers and garlic puree and saute.  Also, set a pan of water to boil for the pasta.
3. While the potato cools, put the garlic powder, 2/3 coconut milk, salt/pepper and sriracha in to a large, measuring cup that can fit an immersion blender. If you don’t have an immersion blender, use a regular blender. Cut up the sweet potato in to 4 or 5 pieces and add to the measuring cup.
4. Blend the mixture until smooth. If it is too thick, add more coconut milk by the TBSP until it is creamy enough. Test for salt and add more if needed.
5. Add pistachios to your pan and allow to brown slightly. Once browned, turn off the heat and add in your creamed sweet potato to heat up and incorporate all the ingredients. Drain your cooked pasta and add the sauce. Top off with some parmesan cheese and enjoy!