Normally I would just use mushrooms by themselves for an alfredo dish, but I recently discovered a new Canadian online vegan grocer (Vegan Stop) and ordered some products to try, including the Beyond Meat Chicken strips.  If you wanted to include meat alternatives and don’t have any Beyond products, you could use tofu or Gardein products.  But here’s a tasty, (and yeah, it’s kinda healthy) Alfredo sauce. 

Alfredo Sauce:

Alfredo sauce has always been an indulgence to me. I consistently choose to not order pasta while out at restaurants as I believe it to be one of the most over-priced things on the menu – but I would indulge in linguine Alfredo as it was a huge comfort food. But as we know, Alfredo sauce is super dairy-heavy. Since going vegan, it was one thing I missed. I tried different recipes I found online, some were amazing, one I tried was – BARF – (lol), so I tried coming up with my own blend of the ones I liked and whammo, I really like this one!!!!

Ingredients:

• 1 medium sized cauliflower 
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 tsp vegetable oil
• 1 C water
• 1/4 C shelled hemp seeds (these are my favourite!)
• 1 cup water
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• pinch of sea salt
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 Tbsp nutritional yeast
• 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
• vegan Parmesan cheese (optional)

Directions:

1. Cut cauliflower into florets and boil for 5-7 minutes
2. In a frying pan, add oil and garlic and cook over medium heat until browned (only a few minutes).
3. Add cauliflower, garlic, and everything else into a blender and blend til smooth. You may need to stop and scrape down the sides a few times.

Alfredo Pasta with Kale, Mushrooms and Beyond Chicken

Now it’s time to finish the rest of the stuff to create a giant bowl of creamy, noodle-y, deliciousness!

Ingredients:

• 1 pkg Beyond Meat Chicken
• 1 C pasta of choice (I used this kind here)
• 1 tsp oil
• 1/2 large red onion, chopped
• 2 or 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 C mushrooms, cleaned and sliced thin
• 1 C kale, cleaned, de-stemmed and chopped
• fresh herbs, such as parsley & basil (optional)
• simulated bacon bits (optional)

Directions:

1. In the same pan you cooked the garlic for the sauce, heat oil on medium and add onion. Cook until translucent (3-4 minutes).
2. Add garlic and saute a few more minutes.
3. Add mushrooms and ‘chicken’. Give it a good mix through the onions and garlic. Cover and reduce heat to medium-low.
4. As it’s cooking, cook pasta according to directions on packaging.
5. When done, drain pasta and add to pan with mushrooms/chicken. Pour in sauce and mix everything together.
6. Serve with fresh herbs, fresh ground pepper & simulated bacon bits (optional)

Hope you enjoy your delicious, tummy-filling comfort food.  Enjoy ALL THE PLANTS!!!!