Spicy and Creamy Vegan Pasta with Walnut Pesto

Name: CREAMY VEGAN PASTA WITH WALNUT PESTO
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 3-4 servings
Ingredients: PESTO; ½ cup walnuts; 1/3-1/2 cup (handful) basil leaves; 1tbsp tomato paste; 1 garlic clove; 1/3 cup water; 1 tbsp olive oil; 1 tbsp chilli; 3 dried tomatoes; PASTA; 200 g whole grain penne; ½ cup hazelnut milk; 5-10 olives – chopped; artichoke hearts from a glass (optional); 2-3 florets broccoli (2-3 florets chopped); 2-3 cherry tomatoes

Last updated on August 5th, 2018 at 10:08 am

My favorite day of the week is the day when I get to eat this creamy vegan penne pasta.

And last week that day was Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Birthday, Someday, Yesterday, Today. And that’s it…I can’t come up with more _day words right now.

I assume you’re thinking – “Poor girl, she made a whole lot of that pasta and had to eat the leftovers every single day”.

Aeerr! You’re wrong. I am not a girl. Not yet a woman. I am Britney Spears.

And also I didn’t have any leftovers. I just prepared this pasta over and over again every single day, because it was that good. And that quick.

Plus I only had one pot to clean – that’s a BIG BIG BINGO!

And also it made me feel satisfied, but still light – I didn’t need to take a nap, I could walk and talk at the same time and I could even work afterward. How’s that for a change?

It’s a big one.

Normally I can only walk or talk. Imagine if I wanted to chew a gum. That would require some serious focus and quiet sitting time.

I must admit sometimes I did want to take a nap and just crawl inside this creamy vegan pasta – sleep in the smell of garlic and basil while creamy walnut pesto was hugging me tight and telling me that everything will be just fine.

Now I understand why they call it comfort food.

HEALTH AND BEAUTY BENEFITS

This heavenly creamy vegan pasta is good for you, can you believe?

You might be wondering in what universe would pasta ever be good for your skin or anybody’s skin?

Well in this universe.

With this pasta.

And here are a few reasons why:

it’s whole grain pasta – so colon cleaning fiber is again on duty
we’ve got tomatoes in 3 different forms – fresh, dried and paste – with powerful antioxidant Lycopene guarding you from wrinkles and taking care of healthy complexion
walnuts with essential Omega-3 fatty acids reducing inflammation and bringing moisture to your skin
broccoli with detoxifying and anti-cancer glucosinolates
last but so not least – garlic with Allicin just waiting there to kick some evil butt – it fights bacteria, inflammation, high blood pressure, cancer, hair loss, snobby people with sensitive noses, vampires and a lot more.

So yeah. It doesn’t get better than that.

And of course as always – together these ingredients make an even more powerful guardian of your skin potentiating each others health effects.

I know now you’re convinced, BUT DON’T RUB THAT PASTA ON YOUR FACE! You can simply devour it as I did – you’ll still get all the good stuff to your skin.

Brought to you by: your circulation.

Hehe, you know how they say brought to you by? No?

But it’s the same with the nutrients for the skin – they’re brought to the skin by the circulation…

Yeah, I’m the weirdo.

NOTE: I didn’t blend the walnuts when I prepared the recipe when I took the pictures, so the pesto was kinda chunky and funky. But I have a good excuse for that – I was in a huge hurry, since I had only 1 hour of sunshine to shoot. At least it feels like it – I bet it was about 2.

CREAMY VEGAN PASTA WITH WALNUT PESTO

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

Yield: 3-4 servings

An easy vegan dinner - creamy and delicious healthy pasta recipe with homemade red pesto

Ingredients

PESTO

½ cup walnuts
1/3-1/2 cup (handful) basil leaves
1tbsp tomato paste
1 garlic clove
1/3 cup water
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp chilli
3 dried tomatoes

PASTA

200 g whole grain penne
½ cup hazelnut milk
5-10 olives – chopped
artichoke hearts from a glass (optional)
2-3 florets broccoli (2-3 florets chopped)
2-3 cherry tomatoes

Instructions

Cook pasta according to label instructions.
In the meantime prepare pesto – first blend the walnuts in your (or someone else’s) food processor, then add the other pesto ingredients and blend until smooth.
Chop broccoli, olives, halve cherry tomatoes and if you want artichokes – if you don’t have any, just leave them out.
Remove the water from the pasta and in the pot add hazelnut milk and pesto. Mix well until pasta is well covered in that heavenly sauce, stir the whole time. Add olives, broccoli, fresh tomatoes, artichokes and turn off heat. Stir well, serve and enjoy.

https://www.beautybites.org/beauty-food-recipes-spicy-creamy-vegan-pasta-walnut-pesto/

I really hope you enjoy this delicious vegan pasta! If you did, make sure to share the recipe with a friend and subscribe below for more healthy recipes + health and fitness stuff!

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My workout routine has changed a little bit over the summer. Along my favorite Barre and Pilates workouts I started doing more of my own workouts, around 2-3 times a week. Everything at home or outside, because me and the gym = no amigos, but rivales.

I think once you get familiar with working out, different exercises & their proper form it’s important to start trying to create exercise routines for yourself. This way you can do exactly the workouts that challenge you, without dull moments, that are also suitable for your own level.

That’s what I’ve been doing for 6-7 years now and I find the workouts that I do for myself the most effective ones for me. On the other hand I really love yoga, barre and pilates so I want to keep doing those as well on most days. Exercise should bring results, but mostly it should be fun.

The other thing I started doing this summer is that I started incorporating some weights into my workouts every now and then. You know, the ones I found from my dad? Nothing huge, just 8 pounds in each hand. I do arm workouts, leg and butt workouts, upper body workouts – and they get very challenging when I add that much weight. I’ve only used 2 pounds in the past and I used to hate weights. For now I actually like them and I haven’t become Arnold Schwarzenegger yet, so…And how can I, he’s older than me.

So this workout is a leg workout, that will also tone your booty and has a cardio component to it to burn some fat as well. I made sure to include some inner thigh work, as this is kind of a problem area for me – my inner thighs have their own life and they like to move wherever they want.

I did this workout in 15 minutes last week, after I woke up at 6am and then headed to my morning walk. Which is ironic…next day I almost couldn’t walk because everything hurt. So make sure to stretch after the workout, if you’ll need to get from point A to point B by foot the next day.

You can do this workout at home, outside or at the gym – it’s short, but very effective! Don’t forget to play your favorite music while you’re doing it and have fun!

Also, and I have to say it every time, please consult with your doctor when you start a new workout regimen.

15-Minute Workout To Tone Your Legs and Burn Fat

This short leg workout is made out of 5 different movements that target your lower body muscles.

2 rounds with almost no rest between each movement was what worked for me and it took me 15 minutes to complete the entire thing.

If you need breaks: make them. For every exercise, it’s really important to keep your core tight and keep the proper form as shown in the videos below. Also make sure to have your water there and to use weights that are suitable for your fitness level or no weights at all. I used 8 pounds, but even without weights I would feel this workout.

20x Skaters

video demo via Howcast, this is the more cardio part of the workout

20x Reverse Lunge with Front Kick

video demo via FITNESS Magazine, this move was challenging for me, especially my knees so I did no weights.

20x Side Lunges

video demo via LIVESTRONG.COM, love this move – it’s simple, but tones many muscle groups (inner thighs, glutes) – I used weights here.

20x Inner Thigh Leg Lifts

video demo via Howcast, lovely to take a break on the mat while toning those inner thighs!

20 Side Lunge To Curtsey Lunge

video demo via Health Magazine, loooved this move! I felt my low back muscles tighten as well, it’s really important to keep core very strong here. As mentioned in the video, this move works your coordination and balance as well – awesome move!

Now that you’ve been through all the exercises once, do it again.

Don’t forget to stretch

My favorite part after the workout. While stretching, I feel so strong, relaxed, just awesome. It’s like the hard work is over, time to relax and enjoy. Here’s a 13-minute routine to stretch your lower body – pretty similar to what I always do.

I hope you enjoy this 15-minute leg workout for women, let me know how it was for you.

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