Tomatoes, being in the Nightshade family, have the potential for creating arthritic conditions in the joints. Tomatoes are also highly acidic, and I find that I’m shying away from them more and more these days, much as I love their gorgeous color and taste.

In my quest to create tasty pasta sauces that don’t include tomato–or cheese, for that matter–I’ve been experimenting with alternative ingredients. Avocadoes, greens, cashews, and seasoning all combine into a lovely sauce, and no cheese is necessary

Originally I published this recipe as one of six smoothie recipes. However, upon further testing, I decided it works much better as a yummy pasta sauce! Need more sauce? Simply increase the amounts of each ingredient accordingly (ie double or triple each one).

For best results, have all ingredients at room temperature. There is no need to heat this sauce if your pasta is good and hot.

Very Veggie Pasta Sauce

1 ripe avocado, halved, peeled and pitted
2 leaves rainbow chard
3 leaves Dino kale
2 stalks celery
1/3 cup toasted cashews
1 cup pure water
juice of 1 lime
juice of 1 lemon
2 Tbsp. grated ginger
¼ - ½ tsp. garlic powder
1/8 – ¼ tsp. salt
1/3 cup plain or vanilla yogurt (optional)
fresh or dried herbs to taste, such as basil, rosemary, thyme, and sage

1) Wash leaves of chard and kale, cut into small pieces, and place in the bottom of the blender.

2) Scrub the celery stalks, remove the ends and cut into pieces. Put the celery on top of the leaves. Add the cashews.

3) Add the water, and process until everything is smooth and pureed. You will need to keep stopping the blender and pushing the leaves and nuts down, until they puree. If you have a food processor, this will be easier.

4) Add avocado, lime and lemon juice, and puree. You can use some of the citrus pulp, too, if desired.

5) Place the grated ginger in a small strainer, hold the strainer over the blender and mash the ginger with a spoon to get out as much juice as you can. Season with salt and garlic powder to taste, blending as you go. Add yogurt if desire to smooth the flavors.

Serve this over your favorite hot, cooked pasta, along with a crusty loaf of garlic bread and a nice green salad. This sauce is also good with a medley of stir-fry veggies.