Comfort Food Reward Post Organizing

I was a bit overwhelmed this weekend with personal responsibilities and didn't get out my Saturday recipe.  I felt I had to share this one because I'm in the mood for (healthy) comfort food myself!  This is from the wonderful folks at Forks over Knives. If you haven't seen the documentary or read the book give yourself the gift of a new perspective.  And while you're waiting  ~

Velvety Macaroni
Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 1 butternut squash
• 2 medium broccoli heads
• 2½ cups dry brown rice pasta
• 4 garlic cloves
• ½ cup almond, coconut or flax seed milk
• 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• sea salt
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• parsley flakes
• pepper

Instructions:

Bake the butternut squash whole and unpeeled in the oven on 350ºF for exactly 30 minutes. Over-baking may cause problems with the preparation later.

Separate the broccoli into small florets and cut the broccoli stems into small pieces.

Boil the pasta as instructed on the package while being careful not to overcook it.

The squash should be ready by now and will peel easily after baking. Cut the squash in half and remove the seeds. Cut the squash into smaller pieces and steam it covered with the 4 garlic cloves for 10 minutes.

In a separate pot add the broccoli stem pieces with a bit of water and steam it covered for five minutes. After five minutes, add the broccoli florets and continue steaming covered for 3-4 minutes. Drain the water from the broccoli.

Drain the water from the butternut squash and remove it from the flame. Add the plant-based milk of choice, nutritional yeast, sea salt and garlic powder* to the pot and blend it well with an immersion blender (or in a regular blender) until it is smooth and creamy. Once smooth, add the parsley flakes and pepper to the creamy butternut and mix it with a spoon.

Bring the creamy sauce to a very gentle low boil and add the pasta and broccoli while mixing very gently with a wooden spoon.

*You may want to use less garlic powder than what is listed since I prefer this dish pungent with garlic.