Vegan Pasta

Hello my little lovelies! So today I am back with a recipe that is all made in one pot. That's right, one pot! This is a simple recipe with very few ingredients. This is perfect for when you have kids screaming they're hungry or if you have husband is complaining that he's starving and hasn't eaten anything all day. This recipe literally takes no more than 45 minutes to make mostly because of the lentils but it tastes absolutely delicious and you can put in whatever vegetables you want to put in here or you can just leave it as is.

This is also great for those cold winter nights when you want something hearty and warm. And if you want to make it more filling and hearty you can out some garlic bread with it (using vegan butter of course). Or if you are feeling a little loose add in some vodka and almond milk or whatever you use to make a pasta a la vodka.

If you want to make it more like a traditional spaghetti sauce, you could use fake ground beef crumbles. You can use TVP, textured vegetable protein. Gardein actually has fake ground beef crumbles that are actually pretty decent. Or you can take tofu and crumble it up to look like ground beef and find some way to color it brown so it will look like "meat." Or if you want to make it a "chicken" parmesan, you can use tofu, bread it and fry it to imitate chicken. Or if you're trying to stay away from soy, you can use seitan and do the same thing with it.

Here are the things you will need:

• Any type of pasta you like
• 1 15 oz. can of tomato sauce
• 1 6 oz. can of tomato paste
• 1/4 cup of lentils
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/4 of an onion, minced
• Olive oil
• 15 oz. of water
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tbsp. of sugar (white sugar)

1. Take a saucepan and put in about two tablespoons of olive oil. When the oil is hot, throw in the garlic and the onion. Let those cook in the oil until fragrant. Add in the salt and pepper. At this point if you want to add in any vegetables now is the time to do it so that the vegetables get that nice sear and the flavor really develops.

2. Go ahead and put in the tomato sauce and tomato paste. Stir together until completely combined. Add salt and pepper to taste.

3. Add the water. Stir together.

4. When boiling add in the lentils and stir. Let them cook for about twenty minutes or so then add in one cup of pasta of your choice.

5. Let it cook for another ten minutes or until the pasta is cooked. If the sauce gets too thick just add some water to thin it out. If you want to make it a little on the creamy side you can use almond milk or whatever non-dairy milk you have in the fridge.

6. When you get the consistency you want for the sauce, go ahead and add the sugar. This is not meant to make the sauce sweet, it's just to enhance the natural sweetness of the tomato. If you want to be fancy add in a good sprinkle of parsley dried or fresh. If you're putting in "meat" go ahead and put it in now so it doesn't turn to mush. If you want it to have a little kick or if you like spicy add some red pepper flakes. Or use chili peppers when you're sweating the onions and garlic.

7. Serve in a cup or bowl. Enjoy!

From here you can use some "cheese" if you want that. There are plenty of brands out there where they have vegan cheese. If you want to make it more like a lasagna there's some brands that sell vegan ricotta. This pasta is versatile so you can make it your way and it will still taste good as long as you don't do anything too crazy to it.