Penne with spicy puttanesca and vegan parmesan (gluten free, vegan)

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Kirsten
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I'm such a nerd that I stopped eating, transferred the remainder of my lunch to a clean plate and took a picture (or 16) so that I could show you just how good this was. YUMMMY.

Penne with spicy puttanesca sauce
Ingredients:
a few handfuls of brown rice penne (gluten free)
1 TB grapeseed oil
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
1/4 tsp garlic powder
pepper to taste
1 tsp chili flakes [EDIT- 1/4 tsp- not 1 tsp unless you really love the heat]
1-2 tsp capers
1/2-3/4c of bottled organic pasta sauce (I know- I totally CHEATED!!) :)
a few handfuls of organic baby spinach

Directions:
Cook penne till al-dente and rinse in cold water. Add grapeseed oil, mushrooms, garlic powder and pepper to a frying pan and saute mushrooms for 3-4 minutes on med heat. Once you see the slightest hint of browning, add the chili flakes, capers and pasta sauce. Stir and heat through thoroughly. Add in the pasta, the spinach, turn off the heat and stir until the spinach is heated and the noodles are warm.

Optional: top with raw vegan mock Parmesan cheese

Mr. Pick-it-up is NOT a big fan of pasta and red sauce so I make what I want on afternoons where I'm JUST cooking for me (wee one is upstairs...NOT sleeping...I'm totally going to pay for that when I have to clean up the mess she's making in her room).

Sweet mother of pearl...tell me you don't want to eat that????

I ended up using this primavera sauce from PC Organics. It is a bit sweet for my liking (though it contains no added sugar like so many others) but the capers balanced that nicely.

This is Parma-Veg. It is raw, vegan, and made in Quebec, Canada from nuts, nutritional yeast, kale, salt...and it tastes delicious on top of dishes like this one. YUMMERS.

This probably took about 15 minutes to assemble. What do you put in YOUR quick pasta dishes?

Penne with spicy puttanesca and vegan parmesan (gluten free, vegan)