As often happens, I often find myself cooking starting from some ingredient that I absolutely must use… in this case, a ripe avocado, and that’s how this pasta with avocado and spinach pesto was born, enriched with roasted pleurotus mushrooms, delicious beyond description, just one word: decadent!
This is already a fairly complete vegan dish on its own, but I would add a side salad with a handful of legumes. I found it very filling on its own, and it’s truly incredible that it costs only 10 Weight Watchers Propoints!
This pasta is quick to make, and the pesto can even be prepared in advance the day before and kept in the fridge. Then, ten minutes before sitting down to eat, prepare the pasta and mushrooms and put everything together! Let’s see how…
Other good and light pasta recipes:
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Inexpensive
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 4
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Healthy
- Seasonality: All Seasons
Ingredients
- 3 1/2 oz baby spinach
- 3 oz avocado (equivalent to one small avocado)
- 1/2 oz almonds (no need to peel them)
- 1 clove garlic
- 1/2 lemon (juice only)
- to taste chili powder (optional)
- to taste salt
- to taste pepper
- 10 1/2 oz pasta (preferably whole grain)
- 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil (equivalent to 2 measuring spoons)
- 14 oz oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus)
- to taste pepper (optional)
- Total points = 40 WW points
- Points per serving = 10 WW points
Tools
- Pan
- Food Processor
- Air Fryer
Steps
For the pesto, you can either arm yourself with a lot of patience with a pestle and mortar, or, like I do since I already use my patience managing my ladies on Facebook :-D, you can use a blender. I recently got a Ninja food processor which is really powerful but a bit noisy; however, since it blends quickly, the noise is tolerable.
In any case, just put the raw, well-washed spinach, peeled and chopped avocado, almonds, peeled and sliced garlic, juice of half a lemon, salt, pepper, and a bit of chili if you like into the blender.
Blend everything for a few seconds so that some almond pieces remain to chew on; I prefer it that way.
For the mushrooms, you can do it two ways. You can simply sauté the cleaned and chopped mushrooms in not-too-small pieces with the oil in a non-stick pan. But if you have an air fryer, you can also cut the mushrooms, coat them with oil, and cook them at 356°F for about 8-10 minutes directly in the basket: make sure to check the cooking occasionally so they don’t roast too much, as each fryer has its own timing.
Once the pasta and mushrooms are cooked, just mix the pasta well with the pesto and then serve it by adding the mushrooms as a garnish. And our pasta with avocado and spinach pesto and mushrooms is ready!
If you have points available, you can add slices of avocado with a bit of salt, pepper, and lemon juice, how delicious!
We at home loved it, and when I say we, I mean it was also approved by the Dutchman, who tends to be very critical, though he’s always grateful I cook. He’s not that bad!
I’m waiting to know if you enjoyed it, let me know by commenting below or on Facebook, you can find the link to my group, the Mangia senza Pancia Club, below…
Enjoy!
by Giovanna Buono
Storage
You can prepare this pesto in advance and keep it in the fridge for 3 days or even freeze it for 3-4 months.
FAQ (Questions and Answers)
What can I add instead of mushrooms?
In summer, when there are no mushrooms, I prepare cherry tomatoes in the air fryer: I cut them in half and place them in the basket with the cut side up on a piece of parchment paper, add a little salt, garlic powder, and oregano, and cook them at 356°F for about 15 minutes. It’s like confit tomatoes but without using oil: they turn out delicious all the same and are delightful added to this pasta dish!
