Jamie Oliver’s Pea, Broccoli & Penne Pasta Salad + A Healthy Chocolate Cake

Lately I’ve found myself with a desire to be a bit of a homebody at least one night a weekend, so I’ve been making good use of that time by trying out some new recipes from a couple of great sources. At a hair appointment last week I was reading People, when I came across the most delicious-looking, healthy pasta salad by none other than Food Revolution’s Jamie Oliver. I knew I had to make this dish, so I snapped a picture of the page (isn’t technology great?!) and let me tell you, it did not disappoint!

 

Since the photo has now mysteriously disappeared from my phone, and I can’t seem to locate the official recipe on Jamie’s site, I’m gonna make an exception and break the best practice rule I learned at HLS about reposting recipes. Sorry, Jamie—hope you don’t mind!

Jamie Oliver’s Pea, Broccoli & Penne Pasta Salad

Ingredients

• 1/2 lb. whole wheat penne
• 1 head of broccoli, cut into small florets
• 4 tsp. red wine vinegar
• 1 tsp. Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp. honey <--- I recommend raw honey, if you can swing it
• 3 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
• 1/3 c. frozen peas, thawed
• 1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
• 1/4 c. chopped fresh mint
• 1/4 c. chopped flat-leaf parsley <---I couldn’t find fresh, flat-leaf parsley for the life of me, so I subbed for basil. Probably totally changed the flavor, but it tasted great, so I suggest trying it either way!
• 1 c. crumbled feta cheese
• sea salt and black pepper

**Tip: I should mention that I personally found the amount of dressing the recipe calls for to be a little insufficient for giving the dish the amount of flavor I desired, so I added extra RW vinegar, mustard, and particularly honey directly to the dish, until I reached my desired flavor. For me, I felt it needed a bit more sweetness to perfectly off-set the feta and mint, so you may have to play around with this just a tad to find the flavor that suits you.**

Directions

1.  Cook penne in a pot of boiling salted (sea or kosher salt is best!) water according to package directions. Add the broccoli florets for the last three minutes of cooking.  Drain and set aside.

2.  Meanwhile, combine the vinegar, Dijon mustard, honey and olive oil in a small, lidded container with a pinch of salt and pepper.  Shake well with the lid on.

3.  Toss the pasta and broccoli with half of the dressing in a large bowl.  Stir in the peas and red pepper flakes and leave to cool.

4.  Once the pasta is cool, add the chopped herbs and feta.  Toss with the remaining dressing, add salt and pepper to taste, and serve.

 

For dessert, Jahari, who blogs over at J Lives Fit and Fab was sweet enough to send me a pre-packaged mix for the One Bowl Healthy Chocolate Cake she developed, so I could give it a try.

 

  

This cake is only 126 calories per serving (serving = 1/12) and some of the fats and refined, processed ingredients found in most cakes, have been replaced with healthier options.

**Couple of tips: The recipe simply calls for milk, but I actually used vanilla unsweetened almond milk, and used J’s suggested lemon method to create buttermilk. Also, don’t feel that you need to roast an entire pot of coffee for 1/2 cup. I used Taster’s Choice’s instant, single-serve coffee packets and it worked like a charm!**

I definitely recommend making this if you are a chocoholic like me, who likes to feel as little guilt as possible when giving in to the craving. As you can see, it didn’t even make it out of the pan before I started devouring it. That poor cake never stood a chance!

Have you discovered and tried any new healthy recipes lately? Feel free to share links below!