Check out this healthy pasta recipe with bay scallops and creamy cauliflower sauce which can be served in under 40 minutes!
Guess what?
I bowled a 607 series last night. That's an average of 202+ per game. And I bowl on a Sunday night league. I've been bowling since I could walk and I went to the state championship for high school bowling. This is the kind of skill that evolves when your parents own a bowling alley.
Also, I'm on day 5 of a 7 day raw diet. I started it two days after Clark left and made my parents commit to the journey with me – how silly of them!
Coming out of left field with some weird knowledge today, I know...
In other random and equally awesome news, this pasta is one of the tastiest dishes I've ever posted and you guys are going to devour it. It was obv. not on the raw plan – I made it 2 weeks ago and I'm just now getting around to sharing it. While we're on this subject... do you have any experience with raw dieting? Any favorite recipes? Any recommendations?
So far, I'm loving the fact that I can eat as much [raw food] as I want all day long and I don't find myself constantly getting hungry. I'm also finding that it's really hard to get bored with this kind of diet because the possible combinations of flavors and textures are endless. Keep an eye out for some of my favorite raw recipes on the blog soon – I know you'll love them as much as I do!
But I digress. Back to the point of this post... which is pasta, and not the raw kind.
Prior to making this dish, I had never tried black bean noodles. But my mom had a Costco-sized box of the stuff in the pantry and Clark and I were having a date night in, which usually results in some of the strangest and best recipes. For example, grape poppers and bok choy with honey and eggs. So these noodles found their way into our dinner.
Sometimes we pick up a special ingredient and have a plan, but more often than not, our dinner-making process looks a lot like Chopped.
We open the refrigerator and see what we can make out of the hodge podge of ingredients that we have on hand. What kind of veggies? Do we need to make a sauce? Rice, quinoa, pasta, or none of the above? We start talking and laughing and coming up with ideas and eventually, we sit down to a one-of-a-kind meal and we date each other.
Our "special ingredient" on this particular Tuesday night was scallops. With that as our starting point, we used our imaginations to fill in the details. I'll admit, it's kind of hard to go wrong with fresh bay scallops. The chopped artichoke hearts, pasta, and white wine sauce, though? They sealed the deal.
This dish tastes super decadent – like it involved lots of butter and cream – but it's secretly super light and healthy. Paired with a glass of crisp white wine, it tastes like a trip to the beach. Good carbs, healthy fats, and clean, lean protein in the form of itty-bitty bay scallops. It's what I like to imagine I would cook every night if I lived near the coast.
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Healthy Pasta with Bay Scallops and Creamy Cauliflower Sauce
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
Description
This light pasta dish involves fresh bay scallops, artichoke hearts, and a creamy, decadent-tasting white wine sauce. It's ready to serve in under 40 minutes!
Ingredients
Cauliflower Sauce
- ½ head of cauliflower [3 cups after boiled]
- 8 cups water
- 1 ½ teaspoons sea salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 4 cloves of garlic, minced
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- ¼ cup regular coconut milk from carton, not canned [we use So Delicious brand]
- 1 Tablespoon white wine vinegar
Pasta
- 1 pound bay scallops
- 8 oz. black bean pasta
- 8 cups water
- 1 - 15 oz. can artichoke hearts, drained and roughly chopped
Instructions
Cauliflower Sauce
- In a large pot, bring water to boil.
- While water is reaching temperature, wash and chop cauliflower into large florets. Once boiling, add cauliflower to the water along with ½ teaspoon of salt.
- In a large skillet, heat olive oil to medium, add minced garlic and thyme. Sauté until cauliflower is done cooking – 8 to 10 minutes. Set skillet aside for cooking scallops later.
- When cauliflower is tender, drain it and save back ½ cup of the water from boiling.
- Add cauliflower, sautéed garlic, water, 1 teaspoon each of sea salt and black pepper, coconut milk, white wine vinegar, and blend until smooth.
Pasta
- In a large pot, bring 8 cups of water to a boil and add a pinch of salt. Add pasta and stir occasionally.
- In the skillet we used earlier, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil, bring to medium heat, and toss artichokes into the pan. Stir them around until heated, about 4-5 minutes.
- Carefully toss scallops into the hot skillet and stir frequently until cooked through – about 3 to 4 minutes.
- Add cauliflower sauce and continue stirring.
- Drain pasta and then toss into the skillet to coat with sauce.
- Serve immediately and enjoy!
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Category: Main
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1
- Calories: 350
- Sugar: 6 g
- Sodium: 1150 mg
- Fat: 9 g
- Carbohydrates: 28 g
- Fiber: 15 g
- Protein: 42
- Cholesterol: 26 mg
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