banza pasta with eggplant tomato sauce

For when zoodles just won't do the trick! 

Don't get me wrong, I willingly eat zoodles often. It's not to save from carbs or calories, I genuinely enjoy the flavor and texture, as well as the versatility of this fibrous veggie.  

After a busy weekend celebrating my dear friends, Tracey and Alex, wedding, I was craving something heavier and heartier. It also felt good knowing that I didn't have to put on a Maid of Honor dress (at least for another 7 months now!).   After this weekend, my body was really thinking about the nice texture and flavor of Banza pastas. I love how dense their pastas are, and they really taste fantastic. 

I have a collection of their chickpea pastas that I received through work (we are doing a partnership with my company, Maya Kaimal Fine Indian Foods), and they sent me a bunch of their offerings to test out.  I grabbed a box of their cavatappi and got cooking.  

This is so simple to prepare, I would hardly call it a recipe, but here goes! 

Here's what's in this dish: 

• 1 box Banza Cavatappi (I measured out a portion for one, but choose according to who you are serving. Or go crazy for yourself!) 
• 1 jar of Rao's Homemade sauce (I love their Roasted Eggplant) 
• 1 tablespoon olive oil 
• 1 cup raw spinach 
• 1 cup chopped mushrooms 
• Fresh Mozzarella and Romano cheese (optional, but why wouldn't you?) 

Directions:
Boil water and prepare pasta as indicated on box.  While pasta is cooking, slice up desired amount of fresh, raw mushrooms.  Once pasta is cooked (roughly 6-7 minutes), strain or drain and keep some pasta water as reserve.  Add pasta to a nice serving bowl, mix in spinach and mushrooms and 1 tablespoon olive oil and a little bit of the reserved pasta water. Stir together so the spinach wilts.  Add in a serving of the pasta sauce — the heat of the pasta should warm it up, however you can heat it up prior to adding to pasta.  Add in mozzarella and Romano cheese as desired. I tend to continue to add Romano as I eat... no noodle left behind!