I have a confession.

When I was younger and traveling a lot for gymnastics, I was obsessed with The Olive Garden.  I would order unlimited soup, salad and breadsticks and I ALWAYS went for seconds.  As I got older, my taste in restaurants changed . . . But my craving for that Pasta e Fagioli never went away!

So I searched long and hard to figure out a way I could make this soup . . . In a way that fits my new lifestyle of course (no gluten, meat, or dairy).  So check it out.  You will LOVE it!

Pasta e Fagioli {Vegan}, makes 8

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup diced onion
• 1 cup julienned carrot
• 3 stalks chopped celery
• 2 minced garlic cloves
• 2, 14.5-oz cans of diced tomatoes
• 1, 15-oz can red kidney beans (with liquid)
• 1, 15-oz can great northern beans (with liquid)
• 1, 12-oz can v8 juice
• 1 tablespoon…

For this recipe, it’s ideal to soak the cashews first because it makes the sauce smoother. If you just blend raw or roasted cashews, you end up with a very grainy sauce.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup cashews, soaked for at least six hours
1 tsp lemon juice
3/4-1 cup boiling pasta water
1 cup unsweetened almond milk (you can also use soy milk or coconut milk)
1 heaping spoonful of fresh minced garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 heaping tablespoon marmite (more if you want to increase the flavor)
salt to taste
1 package spaghetti, prepared according to the package instructions. It’s actually better to use linguine or a shell pasta, but I didn’t have that available. The shape affects the texture, surprisingly, at least for me.

Instructions:

1. Start by boiling the water for the pasta. Don’t throw away any pasta water since you’ll be using it in…

I know. I’m being a bit repetitive with nut butters, but I just discovered roasted almond butter!

I also discovered that I love to roast nuts.

The smell coming out from the oven while roasting almonds is fantastic!

I wish my house could smell like that all the time! But is it possible? I guess that even though I spent all my days roasting nuts, it wouldn’t work.

Sadly, no matter how wonderful an aroma is, our noses get bored and stop smelling. I don’t expect to give a scientific explanation of this phenomenon to stay out of trouble, but I’m sure you know what I mean.

Both almond butters are amazingly different. The roasted one has a darker color and its flavor is much stronger and intense.

Our favorite? My family chose the roasted almond butter as their favorite but I still prefer the tender flavor of raw almond…