The rich sauce for this flavorful treat comes together even before you finish cooking the pasta. I make this dish when I need to have dinner on the table in a hurry, and, if I planned my week right, I already have cooked pasta in the refrigerator, so I can have a meal ready in less than 15 minutes.

I used to make a smoothie called Chunky Monkey with bananas, peanut butter, and cocoa. It is one of my favorite flavor combinations, so I use it here in this recipe—and even without the cocoa, these cookies make me grin from ear to ear.

I love the sweet, savory, and pungent flavors in this dish. They all balance each other nicely. Serve over cooked brown rice, quinoa, or your favorite grain.

I am one of those people who will eat plain brown rice with salt and pepper, but this dish makes me feel like I won a prize that I didn’t have to do much to earn. If you make a big pot of brown rice at the beginning of the week, you can use leftovers to make this recipe for breakfast—or dessert.

I love falafel but I don’t want all the added fat that would normally be in a deep-fried dish. So, I bake it instead and the results taste as good as the fried original.

Two-Minute Date Puree is a great alternative to processed sugars, and this version doesn’t require you to soak the dates. Medjool dates work best for this puree. They are sweeter, and if you can find fresh dates, they are creamier, but use what you can find. Even pitted dates sometimes have pits, so check them before you put them in the blender.