Creamy Avocado Pasta, Cilantro Lime Edition

For dinner tonight, we tried a twist on a recipe I made for the first time last week. This Creamy Avocado Pasta Sauce comes together in less time than it takes to cook the pasta, making it a perfect week-night dinner option.  Last time, I followed the original recipe. The result was amazingly delicious.

This time, I made two switches. One was to try a different method for making the sauce. The original recipe calls for the use of a food processor, which not everyone has access to, and sometimes you just don't feel like cleaning it (for the third time that day). I thought if I put the garlic through my garlic press (you could also mince it), chopped the herbs, mashed the avocado with a fork, and stirred everything together, I'd still get a similar consistency. Although I'd call the result satisfactory, this more rustic version lacked the superb creaminess of the original. But, if you don't have a food processor, you can certainly still make this sauce. For me, in the future, I'll bust out the food processor.

The second change I made was to the flavor profile. Instead of lemon, I went with lime. Instead of basil, I decided to try cilantro. Why? Because that's what I had in the fridge, silly. Our basil plant sadly died over the holiday break, so we only have whatever herbs we buy at the store until the new seedlings mature. I'd say this second change was more successful than the first. I used the juice of a whole lime (instead of half of a lemon) because the lime was fairly small.

We ate this over quinoa rainbow veggie pasta curls. The flavor twist was a total success, and I see us eating this recipe again and again.