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3 cups water

6 ounces small shell pasta, or about a cup (I use quinoa pasta)

A handful of frozen peas, about ¼ cup

SEASONING MIX:

2 teaspoons onion flakes

1 teaspoon garlic

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon mild chili powder

⅛ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoon broth powder (I used Frontier chicken-style broth)

2 teaspoons arrowroot or cornstarch

Salt

Preheat a large skillet over medium heat. Have a lid at the ready because you’ll need to cover it at some point.

Drizzle the oil in the pan and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Tear the tempeh into bite-size pieces, adding them to the pan. Sauté for about 5 minutes, until the tempeh is lightly browned. Use cooking spray as needed. In the meantime, mix the seasonings together in a mixing bowl.

Add a few tablespoons of water to the tempeh to deglaze the pan. Add the 3 cups of water and the seasoning mixture, giving a good stir to get it all mixed in. Add the pasta and cover. Bring up the heat to a boil. Once the water is boiling, you can lower the heat to a simmer. Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring once. Remove the lid, add the peas, and cook until the sauce is reduced and thickened to your liking, usually about 3 minutes. Taste for salt and serve.

TIP

If you’d like to quadruple this mix to have on hand, keep it refrigerated and just scoop out a heaping ¼ cup full whenever you get the hankering.

BULK IT UP

There is plenty of sauce to go around here, so why not steam a bunch of broccoli to go along with everything?

TIP

For maximum time management, begin the cheezy sauce first, and let it thicken while you prepare everything else. It will still come out in 30 minutes!

Easy Breezy Cheezy Sauce

MAKES 2 CUPS, OR EIGHT ¼-CUP SERVINGS • ACTIVE TIME: 10 MINUTES • TOTALTIME: 20 MINUTES

PER SERVING

(⅛ RECIPE):

Calories: 45

Calories from fat: 5

Total fat: 0.5 g

Saturated fat: 0 g

Trans fat: 0 g

Fiber: 1 g

Protein: 3 g

Cholesterol: 0 mg

Sodium: 100 mg

Vitamin A: 0%

Vitamin C: 0%

Calcium: 0%

Iron: 2%

Nutritional yeast-based “cheese” sauces are a vegan tradition. Recipes like this have been appearing in vegan cookbooks since the dawn of time (or at least the seventies). The upside, they taste like cheese! Or at least like junk food-type cheese, but it isn’t junk food at all. The downside, they are often loaded with fat! I mean loaded. One of the most famous recipes for vegan cheese sauce calls for ½ cup of margarine. This is my waaaay slimmed-down version, which has no added fat at all. It’s still a thick and luscious bright orange cheezy sauce, perfect for pastas and veggies.

¾ cup nutritional yeast

¼ cup all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons granulated garlic

2 teaspoons onion flakes

¼ teaspoon salt, or to taste

⅛ teaspoon ground turmeric

2 tablespoons broth powder (I used Frontier chicken-style

broth)

2 cups water

1 teaspoon prepared yellow mustard

Place the nutritional yeast, flour, garlic, onion flakes, salt, turmeric, and broth powder in a bowl and mix together. Add the water and use a fork to mix and beat out any big lumps. Once relatively smooth, pour into a 2-quart saucepot. Turn up the heat to medium-high and cook, stirring often, for about 5 minutes. Once it comes to a boil, bring down the heat a slow boil. The sauce should start bubbling and thickening. Cook for another 5 minutes, stirring almost constantly, until it has a thick, smooth, melted cheese consistency.

Mix in the mustard and taste for salt. Serve hot or warm.

Spinach Linguine with Edamame Pesto

SERVES 4 • ACTIVE TIME: 15 MINUTES • TOTAL TIME: 30 MINUTES

(CAN BE MADE GLUTEN FREE IF USING GF PASTA)

PER SERVING

(¼ RECIPE):

Calories: 420

Calories from fat: 70

Total fat: 7 g

Saturated fat: 0 g

Trans fat: 0 g

Total carb: 68 g

Fiber: 7 g

Sugars: 8 g

Protein: 21 g

Cholesterol: 0 mg

Sodium: 520 mg

Vitamin A: 10%

Vitamin C: 30%

Calcium: 10%

Iron: 30%

No one should suffer a life without pesto, but a pesto without pine nuts or walnuts seems lifeless.