Mung bean pasta, roasted chickpea and cauliflower bowl with tahini ginger sauce.
If that title isn’t a mouth full, I dunno what is. 
With the onset of my gym’s new strength program, I am noticing a bit more muscle soreness than I am used to. After four months of doing more reps with lighter weights, I am back to the heavy barbell work and it is amazing and challenging and although my muscles are clearly more defined these days I can definitely see that I have lost strength when my focus shifted away from Olympic Lifts. My heaviest lifts are lighter than they once were, and the day after I go for it, my body definitely feels it.
When I feel sore more often, I get proactive because I know there is no need to be in pain all the time. I jump up on my turmeric and ginger. I make sure to eat within an hour of finishing my workouts. I pay attention to my protein- which conveniently brings me to my new friend: bean pasta. 
Before I delve further, I have the following words to say: I am in no way affiliated with Explore Asian, the company that makes theses pastas. I am not paid to write this post. I did not get the product for free.
And now:
Holy shit this stuff is great.
One serving of your average pasta off the shelf contains 6.7 grams of protein. That’s not terrible (the same as an egg, roughly), but it’s certainly not great. One serving of this edamame and mung bean pasta contains 24 grams of protein.
TWENTY FOUR.
The same amount as a scoop of my favorite protein powder.
And it tastes great.
That’s awesome.
The first thing I thought of making when I decided to up my protein a bit was a green + grain + bean bowl using this pasta as a grain. (yes, I know beans aren’t grains, but use your imagination. Pasta is certainly grain like) I used fresh produce from my farmers market, my special pasta, roasted chickpeas, and a quick and simple tahini sauce and pulled together the best damn lunch I’ve had in quite some time.
Here’s the recipe:
| Mung bean pasta, roasted chickpea, and cauliflower bowl with tahini ginger sauce. |
Print
|
- Spray oil (I used coconut)
- 1 medium head cauliflower, chopped into small florets
- 2 cups chickpeas
- 2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- Sea salt and pepper to taste
- 1 bag Explore Asian Mung bean and Edamame fettucini
- 2 large carrots (I used an heirloom variety)
- 1 head curly kale, chopped small
- ½ cup tahini
- 1 cup water
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 inch fresh ginger
- 1 tablespoon miso
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees
- Spread your chopped cauliflower on one half of the baking sheet, and your chickpeas on the other. Pour two tablespoons of balsamic vinegar over the chickpeas and liberally coat the whole pan in spray oil. Add a dash of sea salt and fresh ground pepper.
- Bake for 25 minutes
- While your beans and cauliflower are baking, set a pot of water to boil on the stove. Cook pasta according to instructions.
- Using a peeler, shave your carrots into long strips
- De-stem your kale, and lightly steam on your stovetop for 3-5 minutes
- To make your sauce: mix tahini, water, apple cider vinegar, ginger and miso in a blender. Puree until smooth.
- Split all ingredients except sauce between four large bowls.
- Drizzle sauce on top of your mix and enjoy! This keeps well in the fridge and is great as a leftover lunch!
Bon appetit!
Yum! I love your Instagram & blog. ;)