Plant-Based Spaghetti Carbonara with Tempeh Bacon and Sweet Potato Spirals

Indulge in this plant-based take on carbonara to your heart's content

This recipe is super quick and easy to make and recreate in your own kitchen for a fast 30-minute weeknight dinner when the last thing you want to do is cook and you wish you were more into meal-prepping. 

The carbonara recipe is the result of playing around with the ingredients in my kitchen and mixing together different recipes. I got the seasoning recipe for the tempeh bacon from my wonderful Christmas present, the Fresh Cookbook. I changed a few things because I did not have all the ingredients in my kitchen so I will add it seasoning mixture to the recipe below as well.

I would 100% recommend including sweet potatoes into your version of this recipe. If you don't have a spiralizer, simply chop the sweet potatoes into little cubes or thin slices. The sweetness is the perfect balance with the savory tempeh bacon. But basically, the sweet potatoes are non-negotiable in my opinion!

So, without further delay, let's make some plant-based pasta! And as a reminder, like all of my recipes, the amounts are for approximately two people or for a single person plus leftovers, so adjust accordingly.

Cashews soaked in hot water, spiraled sweet potatoes, and marinated tempeh bacon

Prep Time: 10 min | Cook Time: 20 min | Total Time: 30 min | Serves: 1-2


Ingredients:

Tempeh Bacon:

• Half a block of tempeh 
• 1 Tbsp paprika (smoked paprika would also work well)
• 1 1/2 Tbsp garlic powder 
• 1/4 maple syrup 
• 1/4 soy sauce (or tamari) 
• 1/4 olive oil

Carbonara Sauce:

• 1/2 cup plain cashews - soaked for at least 30 mintues.  
• 1/2-1 cup water 
• 1/2 cup nut milk of choice
• 1 Egg (optional) 
• 1 garlic clove 
• 1/2 a white onion 
• 4 Tbsp Olive oil or coconut oil for frying

Other:

• Pasta of choice - I used a quinoa rice spaghetti and the amount depends on how many people you are cooking for. 
• 1/2 a sweet potato - peeled and spiraled 
• Parsley for garnish 
• Plant-based parmesan for garnish

Instructions:

Prep and Bacon:

1. Chop a clove of garlic and half an onion. 
2. Spiral half a sweet potato (or chop into small cubes or slices).  
3. Make the bacon seasoning by mixing everything together, cut the tempeh into slices, and pour the seasoning over top of the tempeh slices. Let it marinate for at least 10 minutes. 
• Optional: prepare the marinade the night or morning before and let the tempeh soak longer. 
4. Once steps 1-3 are prepared, boil water and begin to cook the pasta. Then start with the sauce.

Carbonara Sauce:

1. Place the garlic, onion, and olive oil/coconut oil in a large pan at medium heat. 
2. Meanwhile, place the cashews, water, and nut milk of choice in a blender or food processor and blend, to create a thick milk consistency.
3. If you want, add a beaten egg to the cashew sauce, and mix together.  Set the cashew sauce aside. 
4. Fry the marinated tempeh bacon pieces in the frying pan until both sides look brown and cooked through. (The purpose of this is to heat the tempeh up and allow the marinade to stick to the tempeh.)
5. Remove the tempeh strips from the pan onto a plate. Cut the tempeh into small bite-sized pieces. 
6. In the pan, add the sweet potatoes. If necessary, add a bit of water, nut milk, or oil to prevent sticking. 
7. Add the cashew sauce to the sweet potatoes and stir around.
8. Add the tempeh bacon back into the pan and stir. 
9. At this point, the pasta should be done. Drain the pasta and add it to the pan. 
10. Stir all the ingredients together until combined and the sauce is covering everything. 
11. Garnish with some plant-based parmesan and parsley.

Now, all there's left to do is enjoy! Share your meal pictures with me or any alterations you made!

Four Takeaway's form the KonMarie Netflix Series

The new Netflix series Tidying up with Marie Kondo enables all people to begin their tidying up journey, and here are the most important takeaways

Other than the fact that Marie Kondo is the cutest ever in person, the new show on Netflix provides insight into the Konmari method of tidying and organizing that you would otherwise need to read her book to understand. I love her books and highly recommend them but I can understand that not everyone loves decluttering as much as I do and maybe you just want someone to tell you what to do so you can do it and be done. I get that.

The KonMari Method Summarized 

In case you have never heard of this method before or this series, here's a quick summary. The idea of Konmari is that you tidy by category, not by room. In this ordered process, you touch every item you own and determine whether or not it sparks joy, starting with the “easiest” category of identifying joy, clothes, to the hardest, keepsakes.

The general categories - if you want to try it out for yourself without needing to watch the show or read the book -  are as follows:

1. Clothes
• Under this category is the Konmari method of folding clothing
2. Books
3. Paper
4. Komono (miscellaneous)
• A few examples of Komono are electronics, kitchen, office supplies and keepsakes.

The idea is to start with the first category and collect everything in your entire house that falls under that category into one space in one room. For example, starting in the first category, place all of your clothes on your bed. Within each category there are many other things to consider; for example, when tidying your clothes start with tops and dresses etc. and end with shoes. However, for now, I just want to provide you with a general concept of the method in case you have literally never heard of it before!

In the show, Marie Kondo visits individuals or families who need help and guidance tidying and the viewer follows them on their decluttering journey.

Four Main Takeaways from this show and decluttering in general 

So the real reason I wanted to write this post was to just outline the most important takeaways from this show and her method because I think it is able to highlight some very important aspects of decluttering.

1. Categories.
   
   Tidying by category helps you understand what sparks joy so that you are conscious of what you want to keep and why and it saves you from keeping things “just in case”. It also forces you to take a good look at everything you own and realize just how much stuff (the shit and the important stuff) you own. Seeing everything laid out in one place puts things in perspective and perhaps you will start to be more picky about what you choose to keep and bring into your life and home in the future.
   
   
2. The folding.
   
   The folding method allows you to see everything, know what you have, love what you have, use what you have. I shared my feelings on my post on 'colour pallets based wardrobes', where my ultimate goal is to be able to reach into my closet and love (and actually want to wear) whatever piece I pull out.
   
3. Treat your belongings with love and respect
   
   I really love this one, and I had never really considered it until I read her book. In the Konmari method, you thank each piece of clothing that you are giving away. As consumers, we place inherent meaning on our material belongings. This is also one of the reasons why we have become such great consumers! The marketing and consumer world knows this, so they advertise to us by tying meaning and material items together. For this reason, it can also be difficult to let go of our belongings.
   
   Marie Kondo, therefore, suggests thanking your belongings for whatever purpose they have served you. Maybe you thank a pair of worn out shoes for keeping your feet warm and protected. Maybe you thank a top with its tag still attached for helping you identify what isn't your style. This practice will help you part with your material belongings more easily and treat the ones you do have with respect.
   
4. Tidying is a therapeutic journey.
   
   This is the most important one to me and why I have such a deep passion for decluttering and tidying. Decluttering ends up being a way in which you can really serve a deeper meaning for a person through helping them declutter. Through decluttering,  we have to come face to face with things that we have been holding onto. There are always reasons for why we hold onto material items, and through this process, we have to acknowledge what those reasons are. Sometimes they can be deep, painful and emotional, which in turn allows decluttering to act as a form of therapy to let go of the emotional weight or move on from a situation. Decluttering does not just need to mean the tidying out of clothes but I also use it to refer to the cleaning out of emotions.
   
   A while back I wrote about how decluttering is directly linked to your emotional state and mental wellness which can be influenced by things you hold onto that might not be serving you anymore. Read the post here, which discusses this more in-depth for letting go of this weight as a year comes to an end, but it can be applied to any day of the year!
   
   

Decluttering is so much more than the physical stuff you get rid of and I love the way in which the show is able to highlight that. It provides evidence for the way I discuss decluttering on D3, as you can truly see how individuals work through their emotions and seem to have a physical and emotional weight lifted off their shoulders by the end of their tidying journey.

Have you decluttered or watched this series on Netflix? Do you feel an emotional aspect to the process? Share your insights and journey with me!

Make your New Years Resolutions and Routines work for you

Don't overwhelm yourself with too many resolutions - Follow this simple method to ensure you stick with your goal this year

So often we write out too many new years resolutions and goals that we end up quitting a few weeks in. Trust me, I've been there many times myself. In my opinion there are two main problems with the resolutions we make: 1. We set far too many goals and 2. the goals are too ambitious because we do not provide ourselves with the steps that need to be taken or the quantitative means by which we plan to achieve them.

Two Step Method to Creating your Resolutions 

Step 1: Write out all your goals but then choose ONE that you consider top priority.

We cannot focus on everything at once, and often when we create too many new years resolutions or goals we expect ourselves to achieve that year we are unable to stick to them and that leaves us feeling defeated. Priority was a singular word until the beginning 21st century when it became the plural or "priorities." A priority can only be ONE thing because it is a priority! That means "most important." If you pick just one, the absolute most important goal, you will be able to focus all your energy on that single overarching priority and slowly everything I'll start to fall into place.


Step 2: Plan. Figure out what you need to be doing to start working towards that single goal and how you intend to measure it.

What is your chosen goal? What does your life look like as you work towards that goal? What does your life look like with the success of that goal? Write it all out!

Now, what are the sub-goals you can reach in working towards that big main goal? How much time and how often do you need to put focus and energy towards this goal? Make your goal measurable! Give yourself weekly to-dos, daily to-dos, or milestone marks so that you have a plan for how you will work towards the goal.

Now, the way you set this up is different for each goal and depends on the size and weight of the goal. If you want to spend more time with your kids and part of that is being home with them after school for dinner 3 times a week, then plan those days and schedule them in your calendar. Same with wanting to lose 5kg. Or even if you just want to exercise more. Plan what days, what time, what workouts, and then mark it in your calendar. Other bigger goals, like starting a business, will need more goal planning and goal measuring. A clear calendar plan, as well as milestone marks, may work best for you.

The "Everything will fall into place" mentality

I mentioned this at the end of step 1. This is important. When you can focus all of your energy toward your top priority goal then your other goals will follow. If you have a goal to lose 5kg, but also to spend more time with your kids, but also to make an hour for self-care on Sundays, but also to launch your new business, you will at least feel extremely stressed trying to achieve them all and do them all perfectly. Don't get me wrong, it is fantastic to write out your goals because it outlines how you want your life to be. But it will be difficult to give each goal all your energy when you have multiple to focus on.

Here's my example. Last year, I wanted to put more energy towards my blog. I did not realize that Instagram would be the way in for me. As I worked on my blog and shared posts on Instagram, I started connecting with people and my "brand" of my Instagram page shifted from personal to blog focused. It was fantastic to see and that is not something that was part of my goals. Additionally, people on Instagram started to reach out and we connected, creating a community and finding ways to elaborate. Everything started influencing the next thing and it began to snowball. Even if you have all goals on there of wanting to spend more time with family and also launching your business, maybe you end up realizing that launching your business from home does allow you more time with your family! On the other hand, if you are trying to launch your business and simultaneously incorporate a workout routine, it may be difficult to do either.

Work hard towards your one goal and allow the other things to find their place once you begin to master the main priority.

You can only show up for yourself when you give yourself a clear meaning of what "showing up" means

The most important thing to remember when creating resolutions is making them achievable. Yes, you want to challenge yourself and push yourself, but there are some things you cannot control. It is also important to understand the difference between goals and dreams. You should dream BIG! See yourself opening your own store, or running your business, or moving across the world. Imagine your best possible life and then dream even bigger!

Goals on the other hand, as the smaller to-do's that you can do daily that help you work towards your dreams. If you are confusing your dream with your goal, then you will always feel like you are falling short. Most dreams are a journey that happens over years of hard work. To stay motivated, you need to find the smaller wins in your day to day life or monthly achievements.

I'd love to hear what your goals are and how you are planning (literally) to reach them!  Share with me in the comments below or reach out to me on Instagram!