Vegan Gluten Free Broccoli Pasta

Hey everyone! Today I have a cooking/recipe post for you guys! Technically I shouldn't be calling it a recipe.  I have 2 different ways that I like to cook. The first is to follow a recipe, and the second is just throwing things together that I have in my kitchen and hoping they work out.  There are many foods that I love making, and that I have made many times, like mashed potatoes, that I just cook by feel.  I dump in ingredients, take a taste, and then dump in more.  In the end I have a really tasty dish, unfortunately I have NO idea how much of what actually went into it.  As a food blogger, that at times will want to share with you the foods I cook, I probably should turn my creations into actual recipes, but in the end that's juts not my style.  I will continue to show you all my vegetarian food creations and the process that I go through to get them.  Hopefully it will inspire you to try to do the same! :)

As I have told you guys, my friend Michelle is gluten free, and has opened my eyes to a whole new diet and eating restriction.  While I am by no means gluten free myself, as a person with certain dietary restrictions, I can respect others'.  Pasta with broccoli in garlic and spice oil is one of my cooking staples as it is really easy to make, but I wanted to really push myself to cooking other kinds of foods, and decided to make this one vegan AND gluten free! This is my very first time making gluten free pasta so I was nervous at first, but with some advice from Michelle, I knew what I was up against.

Here's what I used:


Vegan brown rice pasta
Frozen broccoli
Olive oil
Garlic
Basil
Salt and pepper

Here's what I did:
Michelle warned me that gluten free pasta can be a a lot harder than regular pasta, so I made sure to start the pasta boiling early.  I cooked it as I would normal pasta, just for a little longer, frequently testing the consistency.
Once the pasta was in the water and boiling, I defrosted the broccoli.


While the broccoli was defrosting, it was time to start the sauce.  I set the burner on medium and poured in some olive oil, garlic, basil, salt and pepper, and then stirred.  Once it started boiling and the garlic turned brown, I reduced heat.



Then it was time to add the broccoli, stir, and let it simmer until the pasta was ready.  I can't tell you how incredibly amazing this made my kitchen smell! Mmmm!



Finally it was time to drain the pasta, and pour the broccoli and garlic and spice sauce on top. Mix and serve hot!





The pasta definitely had a different taste than normal pasta, but once it mixed with the flavors of the broccoli and the sauce you couldn't really tell.  Each bite was filled with so much garlic flavor, it was amazing!  I felt really good about making good food choices and trying new things.  It also shows that even with different dietary restrictions, you can create amazing food.  I took some in to Michelle and she said that it tasted great! I'm glad I got her gluten free seal of approval!

On a side note, she warned me that gluten free pasta is awful when its cold.  I love me some cold pasta and I took a bit of it right out of the fridge the next day at lunch, BAD idea. I listened to her and threw it right in the microwave. Never doubt the experts!

Do you like trying different foods?  Will you be making this vegan gluten free broccoli pasta?

Bye from the Veggie Side!