Roasted Veggie Pasta with Almond Sauce

Ingredients

1 lb angel hair pasta (reserve 1/2 cup pasta water)

1 red pepper, julienned

2 cups white button mushrooms, larger ones sliced in half

2 cups red kale, stems removed & chopped

3 carrots, julienned

1 Tbs olive oil

1 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp grey salt

1/2 tsp freshly cracked pepper

1/4 cup chives, chopped (garnish)

Almond Sauce (adapted from Giada De Laurentiis)

2 cups slivered almonds

2 1/2 cups filtered water

1 vegetable bouillon cube

4 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 cup olive oil

2 Tbs fresh chives, chopped

1/2 tsp grey salt

1/2 tsp freshly cracked pepper

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 475 degrees

2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, place all veggies on baking sheet, coat with olive oil, and sprinkle with garlic powder, salt, and pepper-mix well to evenly coat veggies

3. Bake in oven for 20-25 minutes, stirring halfway, until veggies are tender

4. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil for the pasta, cook pasta 4 minutes, reserve 1/2 cup of pasta water, and drain remaining water.

5. Meanwhile, boil the 2 1/2 cups of water, add the vegetable bouillon cube to make the vegetable broth for the sauce.

6. In the food processor, add all the ingredients for the almond sauce (besides the chives) and process until smooth (the almonds will still be small and chunky)

7. Pour the almond sauce into a large pan and bring to a boil, continually stirring, for 4 minutes, until the sauce has started to thicken, reduce to simmer, and garnish with chives

8. Mix together the pasta, veggies, almond sauce, 1/2 cup of pasta water, and garnish with more chives

I had watched an episode of Giada making an almond sauce for a pasta dish, so I thought I would take the basic foundation of the sauce and then make my own spin. I was very happy with the results and I know I will be making this again. I knew I wanted to have a ton of veggies to make it healthier, but I wanted to make them stand out more, so I decided to roast them because I knew it would bring out their natural sweetness. It also made the recipe really simple because you just threw them in the oven and forgot about them while you made the rest of the meal. I had never roasted mushrooms at that high of a temperature, so I was a little concerned, but they were so flavorful! The original almond sauce recipe had chicken stock in it and lots of cream, so I made it vegetarian, skipped the cream, and I felt that I didn't miss out on any flavor. I feel this was one of the best recipes I had made in awhile. I highly recommend making it! It's the perfect comfort food, but with a healthy spin.