Food for Thought: Vegetable Rigatoni in a light pesto sauce

Hello lovelies!

I am coming at you with a new recipe! I love cooking and I had a chance to cook a healthy dinner with my dad the other night!

I am always looking for healthy alternatives, and this recipe is so delicious and simple. All I can say is YUM!

Ingredients:
1) Cremini Mushrooms        7) Light, or low-fat Butter or low-fat Becel
2) Green Onions                  8) Crushed Garlic
3) Cherry Tomatoes             9) Fresh Lemon
4) Broccoli                          10) Pesto Sauce (make this by hand or use a store bought sauce)
5) Carrots                           11) Roasted Garlic Olive Oil (could use virgin olive oil, sunflower oil)
6) Asparagus                       12) Mediterranean Salt mix

Steps: 

1) Start by cutting up all your veggies using a cutting board. I cut the carrots in small circles, and cut then cut the mushrooms into slices (not too thin). Then I cut off the stem off the broccoli head, and proceeded to chop the broccoli into bite-sized pieces. Finally, I chopped up 3 green onions (scallions). While you are doing this, you can start to heat up your burner for the pan.

2) Next, make sure your burner is at medium heat. I used a stir-fry pan for this recipe. Then throw the carrots, broccoli, mushrooms, and green onions into the pan. Let them cook until they are still a bit crunchy, and not too mushy. You are also going to want to add a table spoon of butter, a table spoon of garlic, and a splash of lemon. This takes about 7 minutes.

3) While your veggies are cooking away, you can put on your pot of boiling water for your pasta. I chose Rigatoni, but you can choose whatever floats your boat! Once the water comes to a boil, let it cook for about 7 minutes. This will time perfectly with your veggies!

4) Next, while you are boiling the pasta, and cooking your veggies, you can start on your asparagus. First, you are going to pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees Celsius. (You might want to do this before you start any of your cooking, depending on how long it takes for your oven to pre-heat!)

Then you will want to cut the ends off your asparagus. Next you want to find a casserole dish of some sort to put your asparagus in. You give them a little drizzle of olive oil, a nice crack of pepper and I used a Mediterranean salt mix (but normal salt works just as well). Make sure all of the asparagus are covered in your olive oil, and salt mix. Then place them in the oven for 15-20 min. This is the part that probably takes the longest! If you are in a hurry, you could always cut out the asparagus. They should be tender, but still have a bite to them!

5) Next you are going to want to bring your veggies to a simmer, and add your pesto sauce. Lightly toss and stir the veggies so they get covered in your sauce. Once the veggies are coated in the pesto sauce, let them simmer for 1-2 minutes. Then you are ready to add your pasta to the pan!

6) Mix the veggies and the pasta together until there is a good balance. Once you are happy with your pasta and veggies, it is ready to plate.

7) I like to finish off this pasta recipe with a few sliced cherry tomatoes, and asparagus on top! They make for some great flavours, and compliment the dish.

8) Finally, enjoy your Vegetable Rigatoni in a light Pesto Sauce!! Trust me, it tastes delicious and is fairly healthy. Be adventurous! You can always sub in other ingredients, or pastas to make this dish!


I hope you enjoy this recipe!

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