I came home in complete starvation mode the other day. You know the feeling when you're so hungry you can't even bare the wait time at a restaurant? This was me.
I was looking for a comforting Italian dish. But unlike most Italian dishes, I wanted it to be healthy, low calorie, and yet also satisfying and filling. Kind of an impossible dish, but I like impossible. Of course, for it to be FastBeets Approved it would also have to be super simple and fast. So enter this dish: My Zero Effort Italian.
What I love about this dish is that I use zero oil in cooking the eggplant. The eggplant cooks softly in the tomato sauce. We only add the oil after it's cooked. By doing it this way you won't damage the fragile Omega 6 in the olive oil.
FastTip: if serving cold, feel free to swap the olive oil for flax seed oil. You'll get a good serving of healthy, Omega3!
Its so simple and easy and literally takes no effort. Because when you're in starvation mode, every second counts.
Ingredients:
- One Italian Eggplant, cut into pieces
- Mushrooms of choice, washed and chopped (or ripped up with fingers)
- One (organic, bpa-free) can of tomato sauce
- Organic garlic granules (can sub garlic powder)
- Organic dried basil
- Organic dried oregano
- Himalayan Salt
- Good quality Olive oil
- Bean pasta of choice (I used Tolerant brand)
- 1/2 cup of filtered water
- (Optional - Nutritional yeast)
Method:
1. In a small pot, boil your pasta. The amount is entirely up to you. Make as much as you're hungry for. The less you use the faster it boils. Cook for as long as directed for the specific pasta you're using.
2. While the pasta is boiling, cut the eggplant and the mushrooms into pieces.
FastTip: I find that ripping the mushrooms with my hands is a great deal faster than using a knife and making exact cuts, but that's just me! You do you.
3. In a large pan, heat the tomato sauce on medium high heat. When the veggies are chopped thrown them into the pan and add in the garlic, oregano, and basil. I tend to go very heavy handed with the garlic. Feel free to use as much as you'd like. You really can't use too much or too little seasonings.
“Save your leftovers: This tastes even better the day after on top of toast. ”
4. Add the 1/2 cup of filtered water to the pan and let cook until the veggies are tender and fully cooked. Should take 10 minutes.
5. Remove from heat, mix with pasta and top with olive oil and himalayan salt. If using nutritional yeast, feel free to sprinkle some on top.