Spaghetti con Cojones

That got your attention, eh?  Another one I made up as I went along.  I'm learning to quickly jot down what I'm doing because I always think 'oh, that makes sense, I'll remember that' but give it a few days and of course I don't remember if I added two teaspoons or three tablespoons... was that 1 cup or 1 cup and 3/4 tablespoons mixed with baking powder or baking soda?  Did I add salt in the end?  Sigh... So yes, I am getting better at checking in on paper every couple of steps.  Now I have notes all over the place and I'm trying to remember what they went to!  Was that the cornbread, the corn cakes or the corn muffins?  The ongoing dilemma of an ADD cook...

So, here's this awesomeness.  It started with the idea of needing to use up half-chopped produce from the phenomenal Elektra Nachos.  It ended with adding gardein and creating a nifty white sauce that turned brown when the cumin was added.  So yummy!  Keeping it in the tex-mex theme, aw yeah.

SPAGHETTI CON COJONES
2 svgs

CONTENTS
4oz whole wheat spaghetti, cooked according to package directions
2 cups spinach
1/2 cup black beans
3/4 cup chopped red onion
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup sour cream
2-3 TBS milk
1 TBS ground cumin
1 TBS chili powder
2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp dried cilantro
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped tomato

FASCIST DIRECTIONS:
1. Chop the onions, tomato and garlic.  Also, start cooking the pasta... begin with boiling the water... you got the rest under control.

2. Saute the onion and garlic with a little oil over medium heat, about 5 minutes until softened and fragrant.

3. Add the gardein beefless cubes and continue to cook, about 7-10 minutes until cooked through.  Depends on how frozen they are.

Here's a quasi-close-up shot... yum... 

4. When they are cooked through, use a spatula (or other utensil) to cut the cubes in half so you have twice as many, smaller cubes! Genius, I know...

5. Then add the black beans.

Mix and cook them through, about 5 more minutes.  In the meantime...

6. Mix the milk and sour cream.

7. Add the spices and herbs, and salt and mix it through well (this is into the milk/sour cream mixture).

8. Check back to the beefless/bean mix.  Not sure if that was grammatically correct.  Add the spinach and mix it well.

9. Mix the cream sauce into the beefless-bean-spinach mixture.  Stir to coat really well.

10. When your pasta is ready...

...drain it and dish it out.

Top with equal amounts of the cojones mix!

Optional is to top with some tomatoes. Which I did and turned out great.  Since you've already gone and chopped them up, go ahead and sprinkle 'em on!

I must say, this was a real winner.  Total yumminess.  Here's another similar photo... enjoy!