Spinach & Mushroom Pasta

Holy cannoli! I cooked up this fabulous (and extremely healthy & delicious) pasta dish last night and much to my surprise, it received rave reviews from Mr. Berry! (a big deal for me!) So, since it is uber healthy and uber easy to make, I decided that I'd share it with my friends here. Forgive me for the lack of pictures...I didn't think to start taking any until I was halfway through cooking!

One thing y'all have to understand, before I start listing ingredients, is when it comes to cooking I'm what one could call a "winger". I'm fortunate to be blessed with a natural ability to cook - often making "something out of nothing". So I'm not necessarily one who pays attention to portion sizes when it comes to ingredients. That being said, please take the following list with a grain of salt and please be sure to adjust as you see fit for your tastes and preferences!!

Spinach & Mushroom Pasta (Serving for 2 - with leftovers!)

Ingredients:

1 box of bow tie pasta (for best health results use gluten free, whole wheat, or organic)
2 1/2 Tbsp organic coconut oil
1 1/4 Tbsp organic, unsalted butter
1 small container blue cheese crumbles (found in the fancy cheeses of the deli department, I think they're about 16oz??)
1/2 bunch of fresh spinach (I suppose you could use canned, but you'd be sacrificing the vitamin content, so I don't recommend it)
1/2 container shiitake or baby portabella mushrooms (again, you could use canned, but I don't recommend it)
pepper to taste

Directions:

Cook the pasta: Add necessary water (follow the box's directions, if needed) and 1 Tbsp coconut oil to large pot and boil. Add pasta and cook until it's al dente! Drain. Add 1/2 Tbsp coconut oil to noodles and stir to prevent sticking and add flavor.

While water is boiling & pasta is cooking, add last Tbsp coconut oil to a pan and saute mushrooms.

Chop the spinach and add it to the pan, for just a few moments. (This is completely optional. You may choose to add raw spinach, which is fine, we just prefer ours slightly warmed.) Remove the spinach mixture and add to pasta.

Melt the butter in small saucepan. Once melted, slowly stir in blue cheese crumbles until they are melted. Season with pepper as you wish. Pour the sauce over the pasta and mix well.

Serve warm with pita or homemade bread!

The Health Benefits:

Spinach is rich in vitamins, including A, E, K. and C. It is also overflowing in many of your healthy minerals and protien as well. It is filling and nutritious.

Mushrooms are a great source of vitamin D, and a good source of protien, iron, zinc and manganese. It is also low in saturated fat and cholesterol- just like the spinach!

The blue cheese itself is a good source of protein, calcium and phosphorus.

Both the spinach and blue cheese are high in sodium, so no salt is necessary for this dish.

The coconut oil: I'm sure it sounds like a lot, and you're welcome to cut back as much as you want, but I used the oil to keep the pasta mix "fluid" and non-sticky - a personal preference. Plus, as you may have previously read, coconut oil has tons of benefits - many more than can be listed here!



That's it! Would love to hear if any of you tried this and what you thought about it, especially if you made your own variances!