Day 33: Tuesday Nov 20 ~ Brussels Sprouts and Mushrooms over Whole Wheat Pasta with a White Sauce ~

~ Brussels Sprouts and Mushrooms over Whole Wheat Pasta with a White Sauce ~

WOW - today is HALF-WAY through our little challenge! The first time around, it seemed like it would never end...got to day 19 and that was it. Now, all of a sudden - we're half-way done? Really?!

Recently the realization that this is a lifestyle change sort of sunk in - or sunk in a little more anyway. We really are trying to create a new habit, not just 'get through' 66 days of something. It's starting to seem more consistently manageable. It doesn't seem so terrible anymore, being a responsible adult and coming home to cook dinner for myself.

 We still struggle a little on the weekends, especially lately with my school stuff going on - so we have made a few poor choices for lunch occassionally, but these have been more rare and we always circle back for dinner - stopping the poor choice binge at one meal. I do want to commit for the rest of the challenge to TOTALLY avoid fast food - no matter when/time of day, frequency, occassion - doesn't matter, if I don't make it, I don't eat it. I had declared this during our reboot - but we weren't ready. I think we are now. I'll keep you posted. :)

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Jesse got a a giant bunch of brussels sprouts still on the stalk - we had never seen them this way! It's like having a tree in our fridge. :)
Anyway - we usually roast them in the oven and they are scrumptious! But I thought for at least one dish we should try something new. So - we found two great recipes at the Fat Free Vegan blog and morphed them into one dish.

We started our pasta first, then moved on to this recipe: 

http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2011/02/brussels-sprouts-and-mushrooms.html
and at the end threw in the chickpeas from the next recipe.

Then get started on the white sauce:
# 3 - http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2012/03/pasta-and-vegetables-with-white-sauce.html
While the pasta and the vegetables are cooking, make the sauce: combine in a medium saucepan the soy milk. garlic, herbs, and pepper. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, reduce heat to low, and cook, stirring frequently, for about 3 minutes or until pasta is done. Add 1/2 cup of the pasta cooking water and the nutritional yeast. Stir the cornstarch into 1/4 cup of cool water and add it to the sauce, stirring well. Increase heat and cook until the sauce boils and thickens slightly. Check seasonings and add salt to taste.