I really love avocados. They are creamy and delicious and with some imagination they are more than just guacamole base or a burger topping. One favorite use is to create avocado mayo (mashed avocado + a bit of light mayo+ garlic salt). It’s a great spread for sandwiches, especially if you are making them the night before becuase the avocado doesn’t turn brown.Speaking of which, that’s the tough part about avocados… if you don’t use the whole thing, you have to get creative FAST or risk losing the other 1/2 to the trash.

A few weeks ago I was browsing on pinterest and found a recipe for creamy avocado pasta sauce which intrigued me. Last night I decided to use that as a jumping off point for a new recipe and I was really impressed with the results.

This is another quick and easy weeknight meal and as usual, there is a lot of room to play around according to your taste and what’s in your fridge! For starters, I used soba noodles as the pasta in this dish, but you could easily use whatever pasta you have on hand. To start the dish I did what I always do when it comes to pasta… decide which vegetables are going to bulk it out. It’s so incredible to me how far you can stretch 1 serving of pasta when you add vegetables to it. You end up with a GIANT portion and you feel indulgent because you had pasta, but also amazing because you know how little pasta you actually ate.

Ok, on to the recipe: First you want to prepare the vegetables and bring your pasta water to a boil. I used:

• 1/2 onion, diced
• 8 oz baby bella mushrooms, rough chopped
• 1/2 tsp garlic salt
• 2 andouille chicken sausages, cubed (I used a brand called Brat Hans from whole foods with 130 calories per sausage)
• 1/2 orange bell pepper, cubed

I tried to cut all my pasta fillings into roughly equal shapes so that they all cook in about the same amount of time (and it looks pretty). I also used an olive oil spray to coat the pan with minimal added fat. To start, cook the onion and the mushrooms with garlic salt. Cut the sausage into small cubes so that you can get bites of spice throughout the dish rather than only sporadically. Most chicken sausage is already cooked, so you just need it to heat through and brown. And then with the bell pepper I like the crunch so i added that just at the end. Again, you can definitely adjust the fillings based on what you have in your fridge! I like to have a balance of textures and flavors to make the dish feel more complete.

While the veggies and sausage are cooking, prepare the sauce. Since this was a small quantity, I used my favorite kitchen gadget, the mini chopper attachment to my immersion blender. If you don’t have one yet, seriously, BUY IT!! It will change your life! Here’s what you’ll need for the sauce:

• 2 cloves garlic
• juice from 1/2 lemon
• 1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 avocado
• 1/2 cup vegetable broth
• 6 basil leaves
• 2 Tbsp romano cheese

Sorry! Forgot to take a picture of the full amount of sauce before adding it to the pasta!

Blend garlic, lemon juice, and olive oil until smooth. Add avocado, basil leaves, vegetable broth and cheese and puree until creamy. Season to taste. If you are tasting too much lemon, add more vegetable broth. If you can’t taste the avocado, add a bit more cheese (or salt). The original recipe called for a full avocado, but I only had a half on hand and didn’t feel deprived of the creaminess or flavor of avocado. If you have a full avocado, cut down the amount of vegetable broth.

Finally, cook the pasta. Soba noodles cook in about 4 minutes, so I waited until everything else was ready before cooking them. If you are using pasta that needs more time, start the pasta as soon as the water boils.

The next step is simple– combine!

This bowl is almost overflowing and there is only 1/2 serving of soba noodles in it!

The sauce is a really pretty green color but subtle in flavor. This was a really wonderful healthy indulgence and I was really happy with the results. I hope you try this dish next time you have 1/2 an avocado you don’t know what to do with!

Fresh mozzarella. Tomato. Basil. Such a classic and delicious combination. Usually when I have these ingredients I’ll make a classic caprese salad with a nice balsamic dressing. But we had that for dinner last night, so tonight I needed to be a little creative while the mozzarella was still fresh.

So tonight, I decided to take the classic a step further and turn it into a main course by adding some balsamic chicken to the mix. This is a super easy and quick weeknight meal that only takes about 15 minutes start to finish.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts (I always have these in the freezer)
• 1 Tbsp spicy mustard
• 2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 tsp garlic salt
• 1/2 tsp bouquet garni (or other italian style herbs– rosemary, basil, oregano)
• 1/2 lb fresh mozzarella
• 1 cup quartered cherry tomatoes
• 6 basil leaves, finely chopped

This served 2 people with extra bruschetta topping which I added to a salad. If you needed 4 servings, the only thing you’d need to increase was the number of chicken breasts.

The preparation is super easy. First you want to mix a balsamic marinade for the chicken. The trick to a nice thick marinade is either a lot of olive oil or a lot of mustard. Since I am a life long weight watcher, I opt for the mustard, but still added some olive oil to add some richness. In a jar (or however you mix your salad dressing or marinades) combine mustard, balsamic, olive oil, garlic salt and bouquet garni. Add chicken and marinade in a gallon bag, seal and shake well until chicken is fully coated. This is one of my favorite ways to marinade chicken because the clean up is super easy.  Let this rest for a few minutes while you prepare the bruschetta topping. To prepare the bruschetta cube fresh mozzarella, slice cherry tomatoes into quarters and finely chop the basil. Mix gently to combine. So simple and so beautiful. If you have larger tomatoes, you can thinly slice both the mozzarella and the tomatoes and layer them onto the chicken.  Cook the chicken covered over medium heat until cooked through. My chicken cooked in 9 minutes (4.5 on each side). Now, the balsamic will make your pan look like things are burning and not going well, but that’s just the sugars caramelizing. As long as you cover your chicken and cook it over medium heat it will stay really moist, I promise!

Once the chicken is cooked through, you have 2 options: you could either add the bruschetta as a cold topping and let the heat of the chicken slightly melt the mozzarella cheese. This would be nice on a warm summer day. Since it’s a bit colder, I went with option 2 which is to top the chicken with the bruschetta and stick it under the broiler for for about 90 seconds to let the cheese melt without overcooking the chicken. 

I served this with a salad, but you could also serve it as a sandwich or with some steamed veggies. Either way it’s a beautiful and super versatile meal that’s perfect for a weeknight dinner.