My sweet little girl has a frequent meal request: mac and cheese! It is her favorite dish, and I make it for her on every appropriate special occasion. I would love to make it more often, however – she is the only one in our family of four who really enjoys it, and homemade baked mac and cheese is a labor of love. I decided to try a new comforting creamy plant based pasta dish that the entire family can enjoy.

Instead of using a pumpkin purree, I decided to use a whole fresh pumpkin and roast it, for a rich, rustic flavor. Roasted pumpkin with garlic and herbs will make your house smell like heaven while it’s in the oven. Topped with fresh sage, adds a touch of green, with an additional bittersweet complexity. Fresh sage has a light pine taste like with citrus notes. Fresh pumpkin yields amazing health benefits as it’s very high in beta-carotene, a carotenoid that your body turns into vitamin A.

For the pasta in this dish, we used an organic chickpea pasta which is made up of only two ingredients! Chickpeas and lentils. Not only is the sauce is already loaded with amazing health benefits, but the pasta is a great source of iron and B vitamins. All in all, this dish is high in fiber, vitamins, and full of flavor.