Spaghetti Night!

So one of my favorite things in the whole world, besides chocolate and my kiddo, is pasta. I've always known that pasta is one of the worst things you can eat -- the sauces are usually packed full of bad ingredients and fat, pasta is usually made of white flour and just clings to your intestinal walls and meat/cheese/bread usually accompany the meal, along with several glasses of wine. Or maybe that last part is just me :) So when I decided to embrace my new healthy lifestyle, I was sad to see pasta go and hoped that I'd find a good alternative in the future, hopefully sooner than later.

So at Whole Foods the other day, I decided to try to find some ingredients to make one of my long standing favorites -- good old fashion spaghetti with meat sauce. Here's what I found:

Quinoa based Spaghetti noodles. Also had several different
varieties depending on what kind of 'noodle' you prefer.
The package warns that the water may turn 'yellow' as you
cook it and to not be alarmed :) Cooks very quickly in around
7 to 8 minutes, be careful not to overcook it though!

This is the first meat 'alternative' that I've tried, so I don't
know if it's the best so far. Comes in several different 'styles'
if you will, I picked up another package that was made for
tacos. This was a little odd to cook to be honest. It came
in one big giant clump and I had to break it up and heat it
at the same time. 

When I added the sauce to the 'meat' above,  it seemed to change
texture almost. Hard to explain, but it was still good in my opinion.
The beau was a little wierded out by it, but I'm sure if I hadn't told
him about it ahead of time, he would've eaten it and probably not
noticed a huge difference. The sauce itself was good, but quite
pricey, around $5+ for the jar. I can't wait till tomatoes are in season
again so I can make my own spicy sauce!!

Finished product with a little 'non vegan' Parmesan cheese on top.

Not bad for a first try at cooking an old favorite a new way. Definitely want to continue to find alternatives and experiment with different brands and new products! What are some of your favorites?