I have one child who dreams of pasta, he loves it in every shape, with every sauce or vegetable. He prefers it to dessert, and would have it for every meal. His brother will eat pasta as a base for other foods, but certainly does not have dreams of rigatoni with olive oil, basil, and salt. His dreams are filled with fruit. Today, I splurged on two containers of organic strawberries, and raspberries. They were a fortune, and he had eaten them all, before I could point out that they were for sharing….

So tonight, for dinner I split the difference. We had pasta in a cashew, avocado, pesto cream sauce and Vegan key lime pie in a graham cracker crust. They both tried and liked the other’s favorite thing, and each boy felt like they got a treat. The rest of us got to enjoy their favorites and everyone was completely stuffed by the end of dinner.

For the pasta, I used fresh gluten free pasta, it can be hard to find but most specialty markets carry it. I went fettuccine, one of these days, I will learn how to make it myself. The sauce was:

2 cups of soaked cashews
2 small avocados
2-3 cloves crushed garlic
½ cup fresh parsley
½ cup fresh basil
1 Tbsp fresh oregano
salt and pepper to taste
1 Tbsp olive or grapeseed oil

Throw it all in the blender, if it is too thick you can add a little water. Add it to the pasta after you have drained it, and let it all sit for a minute in the same pot. I garnished with red pepper flakes and fresh basil…

 

Key Lime Pie

Prep this about 3 hours before you plan to serve it, after you have prepared it you put it in the freezer to set.

The crust:

1 box GF graham cracker crumbs
6 Tbsp melted Earth Balance coconut for baking (vegan butter would be fine)
¼ cup brown sugar
¼ cup agave
Press into a greased pan and freeze for an hour

For the filling:

2 12.3 ounce boxes of tofu drained
1.5 whole limes chopped, with rind (use one if the are big)
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup agave
¼ cup Tucuma Powder
¼ tbsp salt
1 Tbsp cornstarch

Blend in a high speed blender and pour into your pie crust after it has set, put the pie i the freezer for about two hours. I garnish with strawberries and pomegranates because I like the mix of sweet and tart.

½ cup fresh parsley
½ cup fresh basil
1 Tbsp fresh oregano
salt and pepper to taste
1 Tbsp olive or grapeseed oil

Throw it all in the blender, if it is too thick you can add a little water. Add it to the pasta after you have drained it, and let it all sit for a minute in the same pot. I garnished with red pepper flakes and fresh basil…