Avocado & Olive Pasta
Tonight we’ve got a Meatless Monday magical 😉 meal for you! This is truly comfort food at its’ finest—creamy pasta. By now you know how we feel as registered dietitians and personal trainers about deprivation and weight loss–THEY DON’T GO TOGETHER, woohoo! 🙂 You can’t achieve sustainable weight loss success if you always feel deprived! That’s why we are constantly creating waist-line friendly comfort foods so you can indulge and your waistline doesn’t have to pay the price! Remember our Black Bean Burger with Mac & Cheese, our Lime Shrimp on Coconut Rice, our Spicy Tomato & Creamy Spinach Pasta and our Pasta with Shrimp, Tomato & Herbs, just to name a few ;). Well now we’ve got this lil’ yumster! 😉 It’s savory and sweet and just one of those meals you’ll wanna have all of the time. And one of the secret ingredients is one you’ll never imagine. It’s an overripe banana. We know what you’re thinking, but just trust us on this one. The little sweet goes a long way. You’ll flip for this, but you won’t feel guilty with this lightened up comfort food. And this is just as yummy cold, as it is hot!
Avocado & Olive Pasta
Serves 4
Ingredients
1 avocado
1-1/2 tablespoon fresh squeezed lemon (or lime)
1/4 cup (about 8) Kalamata olives, sliced
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tomatoes from the vine, chopped
Fresh cracked black pepper, to taste
1/8 teaspoon sea salt (or to taste)
1, 15-ounce can kidney beans
1 overripe banana, slightly mashed, but with some chunks
3 ounces whole wheat rigatoni
Directions
1. Start water boiling for pasta. Meanwhile add avocado, lemon juice, olives, olive oil, tomatoes in a large bowl. Stir together and get a bit of a chunky paste from the avocado and liquids. Add pepper and salt.
2. Stir in the kidney beans.
3. Add the banana and stir. You will have a creamy sauce.
4. Prepare pasta. If you prefer to eat this this warm, drain hot pasta when ready and stir it into the bowl and serve! If you’re like Lyssie’s boyfriend, you’ll love this even more served cold—so as the pasta is cooking, place the bowl in the fridge (or freezer) then simply rinse pasta under cold water and stir in the bowl when ready!
Serve with a salad as a starter! Enjoy!
Nutrition Facts Per Serving: 307 Calories, 45 g carbohydrate, 12 g fat, 12 g protein, 10 g fiber, 483 mg sodium
If you want to get a little more protein simply add more beans, a little low fat cheese or reduced fat grated parmesan.
- 1 avocado
- 1-1/2 tablespoon fresh squeezed lemon (or lime)
- ¼ cup (about 8) Kalamata olives, sliced
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tomatoes from the vine, chopped
- Fresh cracked black pepper, to taste
- ⅛ teaspoon sea salt (or to taste)
- 1, 15-ounce can kidney beans
- 1 overripe banana, slightly mashed, but with some chunks
- 3 ounces whole wheat rigatoni
- Start water boiling for pasta. Meanwhile add avocado, lemon juice, olives, olive oil, tomatoes in a large bowl. Stir together and get a bit of a chunky paste from the avocado and liquids. Add pepper and salt.
- Stir in the kidney beans.
- Add the banana and stir. You will have a creamy sauce.
- Prepare pasta. If you prefer to eat this this warm, drain hot pasta when ready and stir it into the bowl and serve! If you’re like Lyssie’s boyfriend, you’ll love this even more served cold—so as the pasta is cooking, place the bowl in the fridge (or freezer) then simply rinse pasta under cold water and stir in the bowl when ready!
- Enjoy!