Lemon Garlic and Sundried Tomato Pasta

Lately I've been in love with simple Italian pasta dishes, because they are so convenient to pack in a mason jar for my lunch break at work. I make one of these almost every week. My obsession for these pasta dishes is serious.........

Now that I am vegan, I can no longer add parmesan or feta, but honestly now that I haven't eaten cheese in a long time I don't miss it anymore. If I want to add saltiness to any Italian pasta recipe, I add olives instead of cheese and it never fails to satisfy me!

--- Ingredients ---

1 small handful of sundried tomatoes (or marinated sundried tomatoes in a glass jar)

1 cup of water

1 bunch of Bunapi mushrooms

1 lemon

1 handful of spinach and baby kale

2 tablespoons of pine nuts

2 small black tomatoes

8 oz. rice pasta

1/3 or more of extra virgin olive oil

Step 1 ---

Place the sundried tomatoes in the cup of water to soften them. You don't need to do this if you are using marinated sundried tomatoes that are sitting in a glass jar.

Step 2 ---

Cook your pasta according to the instructions on the box. While it is cooking brown the pine nuts in the evoo for about 5-7 minutes on low heat in a large pan. Once the nuts start to turn brown, turn the heat off. While the pine nuts are cooking chop up the fresh tomatoes into small pieces and slice the root from the Bunapi mushrooms. Keep in mind that these mushrooms are difficult to find so feel free to use any mushrooms you like.

Step 3 ---

Drain the cooked pasta and place it in the pan with the mushrooms, greens and tomato pieces. Remove the sundried tomatoes from the water (or simply remove marinated tomatoes from a jar if you are using them) and add to the pan. Then squeeze the lemon into the pan and mix all of the ingredients together for the final result.