Creamy Vegan Chili Pasta

Ingredients

• Whole wheat pasta

  Dry

  8 oz or 227g

• Organic Vegetable Stock

  Low Sodium - Trader Joe's

  ¾ cup or 180g

• Onions

  Raw

  1 cup, chopped or 160g

• Zucchini

  Summer squash, includes skin, raw

  2 small or 236g

• Coconut milk

  Nuts, canned (liquid expressed from grated meat and water)

  ¾ cup or 170g

• Tomato sauce

  No salt added

  ¾ cup or 184g

• Oregano

  Spices, dried

  1 tsp, leaves or 1g

• Chili powder

  Spices

  ½ tbsp or 4g

• Spinach

  Raw

  4 cup or 120g

• Salt

  Table

  1 ¼ tsp or 8g

• Pepper

  Spices, black

  ½ tsp or 1g

Directions

1. Make sure the vegetables are chopped at the beginning, as the sauce comes together pretty quickly.
2. Bring a large pot of water to boil for your pasta. Add some salt to the water as well (enough to make it taste a little salty).
3. Add the onion and broth to a large sauce pan over medium heat. Once it begins to simmer, cook 5 mins and then add the zucchini and just 1/4 teaspoon of salt at this time. Stir well and add cover. Turn the heat down to medium-low. It's important to cover the zucchini so it cooks through well. Let it all cook about 8 minutes until the zucchini is nice and tender (no longer crunchy), but not mushy. Check it a couple of times to stir it and make sure there is enough broth, if necessary to keep the zucchini cooking, add a little bit more.
4. Once the zucchini is tender, remove temporarily from the heat and add the coconut milk, tomato sauce, Italian spices, chili powder (start out with 1/2 T), remaining 1 teaspoon salt, pepper and liquid smoke (if using). Stir well and add the spinach. Return back to the heat over medium heat. The spinach will look like a ton but will decrease significantly. Stand over the stove stirring the spinach around until it wilts down and is cooked and the sauce thickens just a bit. You don't want to overcook the sauce, you want it fairly soupy to enjoy with all the pasta.
5. Taste the sauce and add more salt or chili powder if desired for more spicy. Remove from heat.
6. Drain pasta and add into the sauce. Toss to combine. Enjoy!