Garlic Basil Spaghetti with Tomatoes and Spinach

Simple Fresh Spaghetti Dish with Garlic Toast and Gardein Tuscan Breast with Daiya Cheese

I'm cleaning and organizing my kitchen cupboards.  It sounds so simple.  It's not!  Right now my counters are covered with containers that need to be washed and food that needs to be put back in the cupboards.  And of course, it is hot, hot, hot!  And I don't have air conditioning.  I've decided this is a two day job!  And I needed to fix a quick but satisfying meal before everyone got home for dinner.  This meal requires very little prep:  chopping some garlic, dicing some tomatoes, and boiling some pasta and it comes together quickly. With a few additions like fresh artichokes, Garlic Toast and Gardein's Tuscan Breasts and we had a great meal without too much work.

Garlic Basil Pasta with Tomatoes and Spinach

Ingredients:

1 box Whole Wheat Spaghetti or Angel Hair Pasta

3 TB Olive Oil

2 TB Vegan Margarine

5-6 cloves of garlic, minced

½ cup Basil, cut in chiffanade strips

6 Roma tomatoes, cored & seeded and diced

2 cups fresh spinach, roughly chopped

½ cup white wine

Directions:

1.     Prepare spaghetti.

2.    Sauté garlic in olive oil and margarine on medium low heat until garlic is fragrant but not burnt. Add tomato, and basil.  Sauté for 3-4 minutes until tomato is heated.  Add spaghetti and wine.  Sauté until everything is heated and flavors have developed.

3.  Sprinkle with freshly ground pepper and Vegan Parmesan.  (I used a homemade topping of nutritional yeast, ground almonds, garlic and onion powder, salt, and lemon juice.)

And just because it is so hot and the weather report says it's going to continue to be hot, which made me think about (and dream about) of one of my very favorite, cool green places: the Hoh Rainforest in Washington.  We got a chance to visit there this summer and it was wonderful!  So here are a few of my favorite pictures.  I almost feel cool just looking at them.