Taste Life Blog

This month I want to highlight Jessianna Saville, MS, RDN, CSR, LD, CLT the owner of KidneyRD. She empowers people with kidney disease with practical savory nutrition solutions to live their best lives ever!

Today I’m sharing Jessianna’s Best Pasta Ever…without Tomato Sauce. She loves this recipe as it is a perfect balance of sweet from the cranberries and salty from the olives and cheese.  It is uniquely delicious with roasted garlic and feta on top. This quick dish makes Jessianna feel “fancy.”

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Best Pasta Ever...Without Tomato Sauce

Votes: 4
Rating: 5
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Course

Main Dish

Keyword

Tomato-free Pasta

Prep Time

15

Cook Time

15

Servings

MetricUS Imperial

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 6 cloves garlic thinly sliced
• 1/2 Red Onion small, minced
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries
• 4 cups Kale fresh (torn or thinly sliced)
• 1/4 cup water
• 4 oz Dry Spaghetti Noodles (Choose white or wheat noodles. Potassium and phosphorus content differs in these two products. Can use gluten free noodles too.)
• 1/4 cup Kalamata Olives sliced and pitted
• 2 Tbsp feta cheese crumbled

Course Main Dish Keyword Tomato-free Pasta Prep Time 15 Cook Time 15 Servings MetricUS Imperial Ingredients 2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil 6 cloves garlic thinly sliced 1/2 Red Onion small, minced 1/4 cup dried cranberries 4 cups Kale fresh (torn or thinly sliced) 1/4 cup water 4 oz Dry Spaghetti Noodles (Choose white or wheat noodles. Potassium and phosphorus content differs in these two products. Can use gluten free noodles too.) 1/4 cup Kalamata Olives sliced and pitted 2 Tbsp feta cheese crumbled

Votes: 4 Rating: 5 You: Rate this recipe!

Instructions

1. Heat olive oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet. Add garlic slices then cook, stirring near constantly, until slices are pale golden brown. Remove to a plate and set aside.
2. Turn heat down to medium then add red onion. Season with salt and pepper then cook until golden-brown and tender, about 3 minutes. Add cranberries and kale, season with more salt and pepper, then add water, place a lid on top of the skillet and cook for 4-5 minutes, or until kale is tender.
3. Add spaghetti to a large pot of salted, boiling water then cook until al dente.
4. Add Kalamata olives to cooked kale and cranberry mixture. Transfer cooked spaghetti to skillet then toss to combine all ingredients. Add up to 1/4 cup pasta cooking water if needed. Divide between two plates then top with 1 Tablespoon feta cheese and half the cooked garlic slices each.

Recipe Notes

Jessianna Saville, MS, RDN, CSR, LD, CLT discovered the original recipe at Iowa Girl Eats.

Who is Jessianna?

Jessianna has been a registered dietitian of 13 years.  She has spent the last 10 years working specifically with people with kidney disease both in dialysis and pre-dialysis. She currently works privately with clients to help them slow the progression of chronic kidney disease through nutritional modification. She blogs about livable and lovable kidney-friendly food and renal-nutrition research at KidneyRD.com.  Her days consist of 3 beautiful young children, lots of games of “hide and scare,” running up and down stairs in our very tall and skinny townhouse, cooking delicious and sometimes sub par meals, loads of plant-based recipes, thinking excessively about renal nutrition, and as much sunshine as possible.

How do you savor and enjoy your life?

Praying, focusing on joyful moments, embracing sorrow when it come, and always having a project.

What is your empowering belief that gets you back in motion again?

It will always work out and I can attract whatever I need to be successful.

What did you have to let go of or accomplish to get you to where you are today?

A steady income. Being an entrepreneur for me means I eventually weighed the pros and cons and then took the dive to be my own income source.

What is your typical day like?

There are no typical days with a 5-year-old, a 2-year-old, and a 4-month-old baby.  Sometimes I never make it out my sweat pants and some days I’m up early to squeeze in some reading and writing before the chaos descends on me.

Why did you become a registered dietitian?

Love of food and health. I think deep down I feel like food is one of the great secrets of health and I wanted to unlock that door for myself and others.

What is your theme for the year and why?

Business-wise 2019 is the year of the blog and automation. I’m focusing on my online presence, minimizing client time with a new baby, and automating as many processes as possible to free my time.  Otherwise my mantra this year is “Embrace the chaos and attract experience.”

What is your advice for someone who wants to get into this field?

There is lots of need for renal dietitians. Most renal dietitians either love it or hate it.  If you want to dive into renal, get 1 year of clinical experience (Required by CMS), work in dialysis for a bit and grasp the culture, and then help stem the tide of CKD by offering high-quality, evidence based services for people.

What is on your bucket list?

For the near future: A Spanish water dog as a running buddy, an amazing herbal greenhouse, an enormous garden and bright spacious kitchen, my own bees, mail-order subscription clothes so I don’t have to ever shop, an Iron Man with my older brother, and a regular sleep schedule.

Jessianna is a great resource for renal patients and renal dietitians alike.

Jessianna and I would love to hear about your fancy, quick recipe for every day cookin’.