Pasta wasn’t often on my menu before last year’s trip to Italy where I learned two things – how to make a sauce not from a jar and how to eat pasta without a crazy carb load. I’ve tried many alternative pastas (shirataki noodles, zoodles, spaghetti squash, etc) but most left me disappointed (texture, flavor, etc) and hungry…and in the case of shirataki noodles, very gassy. On the other hand lentil pasta has great texture, flavor, and is far more satiating than normal pasta.

Lentil pasta is simply pasta made from lentil flour – gaining the high protein and high fiber benefits of lentils in delicious pasta form. For example a 3.5oz serving of Ancient Harvest POW Green Lentil Penne has 12 grams of fiber and 25 grams of protein – so it can keep even a hungry omnivore like myself full.

My favorite lentil pasta is Pasta Lensi from Italy but there are very good lentil pastas from Ancient Harvest, Tolerant Foods, Explore Cuisine, and more. An 8oz box will cost about $3, so expensive for pasta, but cheaper than meat for the protein!

As for being green, lentils are one of the lowest carbon footprint foods. So all in all – cheap for the nutrition and good for the earth…plus we get to eat delicious pasta.

As for the sauce, I like to make a tomato-pesto sauce with jarred olives and artichokes. I call this Costco pasta because everything but the pasta comes from Costco. While I have seen lentil pasta there too, finding it is hit or miss. In Seattle, PCC is a good spot to find lentil pasta, or if you’re going online check Thrive and Jet.

To expedite cooking I don’t prep everything to start, only start the tomatoes and garlic first, then pasta, then move on to olives and artichoke hearts while the pasta and tomatoes are cooking. Doing this, you can easily get this meal on the table in 25 minutes.

One last note is I don’t follow my own recipe, I eyeball it every time and each time its delicious.