vegetable pasta – #ThisGirlEats

Serves: 4
How much does it cost? This lean ‘n’ green pasta recipe cost me less than 25p per person.
What are the benefits? This dish is suuuper high in antioxidants, very low in fat and somewhere between two to three of your five a day.

When you’re trying to eat healthier, it’s very easy to get swept up in the diet culture of calorie counting and restrictive eating, and I’ve had to really train myself out of those habits (I still fall off the wagon, believe me).

Nowadays, when I want to eat a little healthier, I just try to think of obvious changes, like making sure you eat your five a day, cutting down on processed food and, of course, eating your greens.

Recently I made a very conscious effort to inject some more “green” into our diets. It’s not my favourite colour to serve up on the plate, but many green veggies are super good for you, full of health benefits and definitely worth making space for. For me, it’s about combining these sorts of ingredients with things I love and eat regularly, like pasta.

That’s how I came up with this lean ‘n’ green pasta recipe, which can be pretty much made up with any leftover greens you’ve got at home, a spoonful of pesto and whatever pasta shape you can find. I’ve used broccoli, peas and kale, but these are totally interchangeable!

INGREDIENTS
300g Dried Pasta
1 Large Onion, Chopped
8 Small Broccoli Florets
50g Curly Kale
300g Garden Peas
2 tbsp Green Pesto
1 Vegetable Stock Cube

SEASONING
I know not everyone is the biggest fan of green veggies and their often unique flavour, so a great way to disguise this is using plenty of garlic (dried or fresh), salt and pepper, as well as the pesto, to season this dish.

HOW TO MAKE LEAN ‘N’ GREEN PASTA

1. Put on a large pan of salted water, bring to the boil, reduce the heat to simmering and cook the pasta according to packet instructions (mine takes around 15 minutes!).

2. In a decent-sized frying pan, throw in the onion and garlic, cook for a couple of minutes until soft and then reduce the heat.

3. Add the broccoli, crumble in the vegetable stock cube and scatter in some salt and pepper. Pour in 200ml (or around one quarter of a standard mug) of water and simmer for around 5 minutes.

4. Throw in the peas and kale and finish cooking for another 5 minutes, or until the liquid dries up.

5. Drain the pasta, combine with the veggies and stir in a couple of spoonfuls of pesto, and that’s that!

Serves: 4
How much does it cost? This cost me less than 75p per person.
What are the benefits? This recipe includes at least two of your five a day, is an excellent source of fibre and is totally vegetarian friendly.

Okay, so if you’re seriously watching what you eat, a big dish of pasta loaded with cheese might not be your first choice. I get that. But with #ThisGirlEats, it’s all about making conscious decisions to choose healthier options without completely boycotting the things I love – like oodles of pasta and cheese!

There are plenty of reasons that you shouldn’t write this dish off right away. It’s made with a fresh, light tomato sauce instead of a heavy cream, and replaces meat with loads of vegetables instead. Top that off by wholewheat pasta and low fat cheese and this recipe is already a more nutritious choice.

It’s a hearty, filling recipe, but cheap to make. It’s versatile, too, made up of mostly store cupboard ingredients and all the vegetables I’ve used can be swapped for something else if you prefer.

INGREDIENTS
140g Wholewheat Pasta
1 Carton of Passata
2 Medium Onions, Diced
1 Bell Pepper, Diced
5 Mushrooms, Diced
5 Cherry Tomatoes, Halved
3 Tbsp of Sweetcorn (Fresh or Frozen)
1/2 Cup of Grated Low Fat Cheddar Cheese
1/2 Cup of Grated Low Fat Mozzarella Cheese

SEASONING
We want this to be as packed with flavour as possible, so make sure everything about this dish is seasoned well. Salt the water for the pasta, for a start. Follow that by adding some dried garlic whilst frying off the vegetables and, once the passata is in the pan, throw in some salt, pepper, garlic flakes, dried basil, dried oregano and a pinch of chilli flakes if you fancy a kick. And, finally, before you pop your pasta bake into the oven, sprinkle a generous touch of dried oregano on top.

So, this is how I did it…

1. Stick the pasta in a pot of boiling water and cook according to packet instructions – let’s say 10-15 minutes, ish.

2. Fry the onion and peppers for a minute or two on a pretty high heat before adding the mushroom, cherry tomatoes and sweetcorn, along with some garlic and tomato purée, for a total of 5 minutes or so. You want the vegetables to soften, but still have some texture. No-one wants a bowl of mush!

3. Pour the passata into the pan, throw in your seasoning and cook through for another 5 minutes or so on a medium heat.

4. Drain the pasta and stir into the sauce. Layer the combo in an ovenproof dish and top each layer with cheese – one layer of pasta, top with cheese, one layer of pasta, top with cheese, etc. Finish with hefty sprinkle of oregano.

5. Cook in oven on around 200°C for another 5 minutes.

6. Remove from the oven, and sprinkle over the dried oregano (and a tiny dash of parmesan if you wish, but note that this probably isn’t suitable for vegetarians) on top to finish it off.

Tag: vegetable pasta

RECIPE: Lean ‘n’ Green Pasta | #ThisGirlEats

RECIPE: Cheesy Vegetable Pasta Bake | #ThisGirlEats