Creamy artichoke pasta recipe.
So good I had to share. Includes: Benefits of Menu planning; Setting up a pantry; and our need for adequate protein - many people & older adults may not get enough protein for maintaining health.
Many people may be familiar with the rich and creamy artichoke dip served at Red Lobster and other restaurants. A canned vegetable product is available to make that dish with - prechopped artichoke hearts.
I like spaghetti but having to avoid tomato sauce makes it kind of boring to have only with olive oil and herbs as the sauce.
Creamy chopped artichoke sauce with chickpea spaghetti.
Makes about four servings.
Cook a box of chickpea pasta, any shape is okay. The chickpea pasta I like is a brand that doesn't add any other tapioca starch or xanthum gum which can cause gut upset. Barilla one-ingredient chickpea pasta leaves a chickpea rich broth after boiling.
Save the broth to add to other soup later and to use some to make the sauce after the pasta is cooked.
In a 1 quart sauce pan mix one heaping spoon of flour or gluten free flour with a can of chopped artichoke hearts and a third cup of coconut milk.
Stir well to remove flour lumps while the mixture is cold.
Then add 2/3 cup of the hot chickpea pasta broth/cooking water; add 1 to 2 tablespoons of coconut oil depending on how rich and creamy you want your sauce to be, and one teaspoon of sunflower phosphatidylcholine as an emulsifier.
Add one minced green onion for color and additional flavor. Some garlic would probably be good too
Heat gently while stirring frequently. This is like making a white sauce or Alfredo sauce. Once thickened and hot mix it with the cooked and drained pasta. Serve hot preferably.
Protein needs in a balanced diet
Chickpea or red lentil pasta made with no other ingredients is an easy way to get more protein in a meal even if you aren't vegan or vegetarian. Once chilled as a leftover to reheat or eat as a cold salad, it is providing resistant starch similar to grain based pasta.
Unless a family eats meats, eggs and dairy frequently, on average, many people and older adults, do not get enough high quality protein. I found it quite difficult to get enough protein on a vegan diet, especially once I developed oxalate sensitivity. Nuts tend to be a source of that but are lower carbs. Beans and soy all the time is higher in carbs and lower in fats than nut for the equivalent in grams of protein.
We need protein to make the enzymes we need to make anything else, and we need to build or repair cells and muscle tissue.
Protein adequacy likely helps protect us from Alzheimer’s risk or other neurocognitive conditions, (Substack).
Excessive protein intake may be harmful for kidney health over time. Make Every Day Kidney Appreciation Day is a post that includes a baseline recommendation for protein needs and has a focus on getting enough water for health. (Substack).
Post on beans & liver health or cancer prevention, (Substack).
Tofu - good or bad for you? (Substack).
The value of menu planning
Writing out even a simple weekly meal plan can save time thinking about what to cook - you already planned that! And it can save money on groceries by buying fewer random things that go to waste, as well as saving time spent shopping. You have a list of what to buy, or a better idea of how much fresh stuff you need for the week. The rest is already in your cupboards ready to use, when you have a well stocked pantry.
Benefits of meal planning, (organizemyhouse.com).
The emotional benefits of planning ahead can save stress that is harmful to personal health and may be adding to relationship stress. Needing to think about or negotiate what is for dinner when you and your partner or kids are already hungry and cranky is a good way to set up an unpleasant evening - no one is likely to be happy with the decision because, they are not happy - they are hungry RIGHT NOW!
Benefits of meal planning - this post adds the emotional health benefit of having a plan ready to go: (everydayhealth.com).
Pantry items mean the foods that last for months or a year or more - canned goods, dried beans, rice, flour, oil, nuts, seeds, dried fruits, and what you keep in your freezer. Things like fresh milk can be backed up with some powdered milk or canned milk or equivalent canned coconut milk or powdered coconut milk.
Example of what might be stocked if cooking a standard US style diet, University of Nebraska Extension Services (food.unl.edu).
Example of pantry foods to stock for a largely vegetarian diet, (eatingwell.com). *They include ‘light’ coconut milk - I prefer using whole foods and simply considering the fat content as part of a recipe.
I quite like this guide - it gives a lot of food ideas to consider working into your own routine, and describes how a well-stocked pantry can make your life easier. How to Build Your Better Nutrition Pantry, (Dropbox).
More handouts by the Better Nutrition company are linked in this post: Akkermansia spores for colon health & butyrate; Pantry & Menu planning handouts; GLP-1 Agonist medications - more info; and Microbiome information plus some free handouts *I purchased access for sharing. (deNutrients.Substack).
The chickpea pasta dish in this post only used a green onion as a fresh ingredient and I could have used dehydrated onion to add onion flavor instead - making it a meal that could be prepared from your pantry at times when you hadn’t made it to the grocery store for more fresh produce. I used canned coconut milk for part of the liquid and an extra spoon of coconut oil and the phosphatidylcholine emulsifier to add extra creaminess - to make it more like the scrumptious cheesy artichoke dipped that you can order at some restaurants.
Freshness counts - use older products first and try not to buy more than you will use within a few months or year.
Stock what you want to eat regularly in your pantry and rotate the back stock as you buy more. Food safety acronym is FIFO: “First In, First Out”. As you are adding your new groceries to your pantry shelf, shift the oldest packages to the front of the shelf and put the new things behind them. Using a permanent marker to mark a package with the expiration date in large print may also help use items before they expire.
Fresh is better quality - waiting until a canned food is a year or two old does mean it will have more breakdown of the nutrients. Packaged juice accumulates more formaldehyde over time as an example - using food promptly will mean it has better quality. The expired can or box product may not cause an infection or contain bacterial toxins, but it may have lost color and gotten mushier in texture and may taste more like a metal can. Canned foods may also accumulate more histamine content over time.
Overstocking is a risk if changes in your health leave you unable to eat former food standards, or if you bought far more than the family actually ate. Stock only foods that you realistically do use rather than thinking you need to have ‘emergency’ food that you never eat on a normal basis. If you never eat it, then would it be the first thing you eat in an emergency either? Or would it have spoiled long before the emergency event occurs?
The organized approach to having an emergency food supply is to have a couple weeks worth of non-perishable foods that you or your family will eat in a designated spot in case of a power outage type of emergency or snowstorm leaving you unable to go to the store. Canned beans are ready to eat, like a can of tuna. Pasta, rice, dry beans, would need to be cooked - how could you do that during a power outage? Having a plan means asking yourself these questions before you are too hungry and tired to think well . . . and now the power is out or there is two feet of snow on the roads.
Post with a variety of pdf resources about emergency preparedness: (Substack).
Donate unwanted pantry items to food donation centers before the expiration date. The food pantry is not allowed to distribute expired food as it can be a food safety risk. Cans that are dented and seem to have a bulging end may have been damaged in a way that allowed bacterial growth and production of botulism toxin - rare risk but deadly. If a can looks damaged, bulging, or rusty - throw it out.
Disclaimer: This information is being provided for educational purposes within the guidelines of Fair Use and is not intended to provide individual health guidance.
Healthy food is the best medicine. Occasionally fasting with bread and water helps to get the immune system back to action. Lots of fruits and vegetables, fresh and organic, when possible, too. Vitamin C is hidden in different foods, also pine needles.
JD - that's a yummy recipe.