Mexican Black Bean Spaghetti {Gluten-free, Grain-free, Vegetarian}

Guys, this post is going to to make you rethink your current relationship with pasta! Feast your eyes on this:

Mexican Black Bean Spaghetti
(Gluten-free, grain-free, vegetarian-friendly)

There are no words to describe how amazing this was. I bought a bag of organic black bean spaghetti at Mother Earth’s some months ago and foolishly let it sit on my shelf, unopened, all of this time. What was I thinking?!

Two simple ingredients: Organic black beans and water.

I think the rest of the nutritional facts suffer from translation issues, it’s hard to believe that it has 20g protein per serving. That would be awesome if it did! Unlikely, though.

But then again, I just did the math:

4.5 * 9 = 40.5 (calories from fat)

16 * 4 = 64 (calories from carbs)

20.5 * 4 = 82 (calories from protein)

= 186.5 calories
!!! Just like it claims. So maybe it is accurate providing it really has that few carbs. Love it!

I know the rest of the nutritional facts have to be correct if it only contains beans and water, though. We’ll trust that that part is accurate.

Last night seemed like the perfect time to try it out being Dustin woke up much later than me and had breakfast about 20 minutes before I was about to make this for dinner, lol. More for me, though!!

Instead of going the traditional tomato sauce/Italian-style, I thought I would try my luck with a Mexican-style spaghetti dish.

Total. Winner.

Not only delicious, but everything for this dish came together in about 15 minutes. How much better does it get???

Ingredients:

• 50g (dry) black bean spaghetti (get it here!)
• Water for cooking pasta
• .5 oz cheddar cheese, shredded
• .5 cup canned corn (no salt added, recommended)
• .5 fresh avocado
• 1 plum tomato, diced
• 3 jalapeno pepper rings, chopped
• .5 Tablespoon butter
• .5 fresh lime sliced into wedges
• Garlic salt to taste, optional
• Sea salt to taste, optional
• Dollop of Greek yogurt or sour cream
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro
• 1 TBSP green onions, chopped
• Hot sauce or cayenne pepper, optional

Method:

1. Cook pasta as directed on package. Suggested: Bring about 4 cups water to boil with pinch of sea salt; add in pasta and reduce heat to low. Let simmer for about 8 minutes or until desired tenderness.
2. Warm (no salt added) corn in microwave with butter, squeeze of lime juice (approx. 1 wedge), chopped cilantro to taste, and garlic salt to taste (optional)
3. While pasta cooks: shred cheddar cheese, dice tomato + jalapeno and roughly toss together; slice avocado, and reserve green onions and fresh cilantro for garnish
4. Drain pasta, immediately top with cheddar cheese. Add avocado slices and warmed cilantro lime butter corn on top of cheese, then tomatoes + jalapeno pepper. Squeeze lime juice over top of pasta, then top with plain Greek yogurt or sour cream, fresh cilantro, and green onions. Hot sauce or cayenne pepper, optional.

Makes 1 dinner serving or 2 lighter portions

Oh… my… GAWD! It is DELICIOUS! All this time I expected the black bean spaghetti to be flakey and gritty, but it was actually smooth and chewy—not in a bad way! It had the perfect  texture. I was half expecting it to fall apart and crumble, like a dry bean burger, but it was nothing like that. It held up very well with virtually no breakage. Like any other pasta, it doesn’t taste like much on its own, but with this assortment of toppings? Yeah, it has made me rethink my pasta. SO GOOD! Only downside is that it’s much more expensive than regular pasta and not a common item in most grocery stores—yet. You would think it would be as cheap as beans or regular pasta, but of course the novelty, as it is now, makes it much more expensive. Not sure how much I paid, the price tag is missing. I probably peeled it off so Dustin wouldn’t notice that I paid $6 bucks for 4oz of dry pasta, LOL. I think all would be forgiven if he tasted it, though! Yum, yum.

Soooo… TGIF for you? Meh, Fridays aren’t particularly special to me. If it was guaranteed that I had off tomorrow or the next day, probably. But knowing that I will probably be working tomorrow and the day after that sort of takes all the romance out of it. Maybe we can play hooky and take off tonight. Never know! I guess I’ll find out when Dustin wakes up… if he wakes up when it’s still Friday.

I received an email update from Dustin’s presents today: They shipped it via USPS and it’s not expected to be delivered for 5-7 days! Ugh, why would they use the most inefficient delivery system in the whole country?! Looks like it’s going to be awhile before I find out what’s in the boxes, huh! Dustin wants me to open them, but I want to wait for his.

Have you ever had black bean pasta? Thoughts? Recipes? Can’t find it in stores? No problem! You can buy it here!

Enjoy!

Tagged as: black bean pasta, cilantro, corn, gluten free recipes, gluten-free, gluten-free pasta, grain-free, lime, Mexican food, pasta, recipes, tomatoes, vegetarian