I may not be a true Italian but I’m definitely one at heart! I love a healthy serving of pasta once in a while and today I’m excited to share my creamy Vegan Mushroom Fettuccine Alfredo recipe to help you carb-up this wintertime and keep warm.

I happen to love carbs so I could never do one of those carb-free diets or any “diet” really since the word diet usually refers to restricting food intake, and that’s not really my thing. Instead, I’m all about healthy substitutions. This pasta dish for example – we’ve got brown rice noodles instead of regular white flour pasta, and cashew cream instead of dairy cream. When you start to get comfortable cooking in the kitchen, you’ll soon realize that you can achieve so many traditional flavours using healthier substitutes and get the same amazing results.

Whoever discovered cashew cream is a genius because it makes the best dairy free sauces and it takes on whatever flavour you’re adding to it. That’s why you can make anything from a sweet pumpkin cheesecake to a savoury mushroom-alfredo sauce.

If you haven’t tried brown rice noodles, you’re in for a treat. I’ve converted my whole family to them and I swear they enjoy them more than the white flour stuff. The trick is, you have to follow the exact cooking directions on the bag and then after draining, you MUST rinse the pasta with cold water to avoid the noodles from sticking together. I also tend to boil my brown rice pasta for 1-2 min less than the directions say to, as they hold their shape better when they’re al dente. Especially if you’re going to be heating them up in a sauce later, then you’ll want them slightly undercooked because they’ll soften with the sauce as it warms.

This Vegan Mushroom Fettucine Alfredo is the perfect dish for a romantic night in with a glass of wine, or even just as a quick weekday dinner since it only takes about 20 minutes to make. I’m not vegan but I do eat a mainly plant based diet and one of my favourite things about veggies, is how fast you can whip up a quick, healthy and delicious meal.

If you’re like me and you don’t constantly have cashews soaking in the fridge ready to be blended up into cream on a moment’s notice, then here’s a quick hack. Cover your raw cashews with boiling hot water and let sit for 15 minutes; they’re good to go, just as if they’ve been soaking all night. I love this trick when I’m in a pinch and want to make any of my recipes that use a creamy cashew cream. One of my favourite recipes using cashew cream is my delicious Cashew Caesar dressing which you can find HERE in my ebook.

I hope you try this recipe out and discover the amazing talent that cashews have to offer in the kitchen. And if you recreate this recipe, use the #HEALTHNUTEATS and tagged me @urhealthnut so I can find and double tap your food pics on social media!