Easy Pasta and It ain't Mac & Cheese

I glance at the clock and it's 4pm (still on my maternity leave).  Time to cook dinner for my hubby and myself while my sweet prince is napping.  Sure we can order takeout but after having takeout for a couple of days one craves homemade food.

Instead of preparing dinner I go on Facebook.  I love to cook but after my little one was born, i can't cook the way i used to.  I now rely on quick and simple recipes.  Once on Facebook, I see my cousin's wife posted a picture of sun dried tomatoes pasta with garlic and coriander.  This recipe called for you to saute garlic in olive oil, to add coriander, and to toss in some pasta.  What do  you know... this was the quick and simple recipe I was looking for!

I made some modifications to the recipe.  Instead of using spaghetti, I used farfelle (those bow-tie pasta).  I prefer using smaller size pasta to avoid using my big pots.  I substituted the corainder for zucchini, yellow squash, and basil.  My hubby and I needed to eat more veggies to makeup for all the takeout we've been eating.

You can pre-cut the veggies ahead of time and cook the pasta in parallel with the veggies to save time.  Overall, it took me no more than 15 minutes to cook dinner! It was quick, easy, yummy, and most importantly healthy!

Recipe Summary

• 3/4 - 1 lb of farfelle pasta
• Kosher salt
• Olive oil
• 3 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 1 medium size zucchini, chopped
• 1 medium size yellow squash, chopped
• 6 sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained and chopped
• handful of basil, chopped
• salt
• fresh ground pepper
• Parmesan cheese (optional)

Cook the pasta in a medium size pot of boiling salted water with a splash of oil to keep it from sticking together. Boil for 8-10 minutes, or according to the directions on the package.

Meanwhile, heat some olive oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and sun-dried tomatoes until garlic is aromatic, about 2 minutes.  Add the zucchini and yellow squash until tender, about 3 minutes.  Season with the chopped basil, salt, and pepper.  Finally, add the drained pasta into the large pan. Stir occasionally for 5 minutes.

garlic, zucchini, basil, sun dried tomatoes, and yellow squash

Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese (optional) and serve.

Sun dried tomato basil pasta with garlic and veggies

If you have other quick and easy recipes feel free to send us an email, urbanwarriormoms@gmail.com.  Many thanks to my cousin's wife!