I said in my previous post that I have an affinity for noodle-y foods.  Unfortunately that means ya girl gotta watch herself of eating too much pasta. Determined not to completely abandon said noodle love in my effort to obtain hot summer bod I have been exploring alternatives.

I have been interested in alternative pastas for a while now as so many have sprung up that use anything from mung bean to black bean, red lentil, brown rice and more. I have found that many are weird and not the best…ahem, mung bean…brown rice however is fab. One of my favorite lunches uses a brown rice and quinoa fusilli I grab at Trader Joes. It’s sooo easy and is a great one to prep to have in the fridge for the week. Because its brown rice its important that you reheat an appropriate amountof time ie. it’s too tough if you eat it cold but don’t overheat it or it will turn to mush, keep it under a minute.

Next week i’ll pop up an easy recipe that uses kamut soba noodles!

Brown Rice Vegetable Pasta

• 8oz brown rice pasta
• one garlic clove, minced
• 1/2 cup of broccoli florets and stalk, diced
• 1/2 cup mixed veg (peas, carrots, green beans, whatever you want)
• 1 tbsp miso paste
• 2 tbsp veg stock
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds
• 1 tbsp butter
• a splash of tamari
• s+p to taste

Steam broccoli and other desired veg (I’m a cheater and I regularly have a bag of mixed diced veg in my freezer that I use regularly to throw into dishes like this), If you are cooking fresh peas, carrots, etc. I would suggest going ahead and cooking them with the stock you will use later to add extra veggie goodness. Boil up your water and once boiling add your brown rice pasta and cook per instructions (8mins?), drain. Add in a bit of stock, tamari, garlic and your miso paste to the saucepan and stir til properly incorporated. Add in the pasta and then the butter, veg, and sesame seeds and stir. Season to taste and top with more sesame seeds for garnish.