Friday, July 15, 2016

Gluten-Free Pasta Primavera (and a Giveaway!)

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Pasta with vegetables, homemade sauce, garlic, and parmesan cheese is a weeknight staple in our house.

It’s ridiculously easy to make, light and tasty, and is guaranteed to be on your dinner table in under 30 minutes!

You can change it up based on whatever veggies happen to be in season. In the summer I love using summer squash — this time I used zucchini, yellow squash, zephyr squash, and an 8 ball yellow squash; along with red peppers and baby spinach. Sometimes I like serving it with just olive oil, balsamic vinegar and parmesan cheese – like a fancy pasta salad, and other times I’ll make a simple red sauce or use a store bought one like Muir Glen Garden Vegetable sauce.

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You can top it with fresh herbs, roasted garlic, or just about anything you like!

It’s super versatile and is guaranteed to please even the pickiest of eaters.

Usually I use whole wheat penne pasta when making this dish. Whole wheat pasta is such an easy, healthier swap for regular pasta: it’s high in fiber so it keeps you fuller longer (and it takes longer to digest so you don’t get that pasta “hangover”) and you can eat a smaller portion and feel just as satisfied as a bigger portion of regular pasta!

But this time, I used TruRoots Organic Ancient Grains Pasta. TruRoots reached out to me to try their newest pasta line, which also happens to be gluten free! As you might know, I’m not usually a fan of gluten-free products because often times they are heavily processed compared to their gluten-full counterparts. But TruRoots‘ pasta is made with just 4 grains: Organic Brown Rice Flour, Organic Quinoa Flour, Organic Amaranth Flour, and Organic Corn Flour. It’s lower in fiber than whole wheat pasta, but more nutritious than regular pasta thanks to the variety of whole grains used!

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And the best part – it tastes just as good as regular pasta or whole wheat pasta. Perfect texture, and slightly nutty from the different grains.

The recipe is below – and did I mention one huge serving of this recipe is under 300 calories? Now that’s a pasta you can feel great about eating!

Before we get to the recipe though, I’m excited to share that TruRoots will be offering their entire line of gluten-free pastas to one lucky winner!

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To Enter: You can enter in one of six ways (each option below counts as a separate entry):

  1. Subscribe to The Picky Eater via RSS or via email
  2. Like The Picky Eater on Facebook
  3. Sign up for my free, monthly newsletter (it has healthy recipes and tips – no annoying ads :) plus you’ll get a free healthy meal plan when you sign up!)
  4. Follow me on Twitter (@pickyeaterblog)
  5. Follow me on Pinterest
  6. Follow me on Instagram

This giveaway will be open until 11:59pm PST on Sunday, July 31st. I’ll be announcing the winner in the comments of this post on Monday, August 1st.

And now, here’s the recipe! Enjoy!!

Gluten-Free Pasta Primavera

Makes 4 servings 1 serving = 1/4 cup pasta (dry) + 1/4 cup sauce + 3 tbsp cheese + 1/4 of the veggie mixture Nutritional Info Per Serving: 270 Calories, 8.3g Fat (3.3g Saturated), 641mg Sodium, 36.8g Carbs, 7.1g Fiber, 6.8g Sugar, 14.9g Protein

Ingredients

  • 1 cup dry whole wheat or gluten free pasta
  • 1 red onion, diced
  • 3 red peppers, diced
  • 3 zucchini, cut into quarters and diced
  • 2-3 summer squash, cut into quarters and diced
  • 4 cups baby spinach leaves, roughly chopped
  • 5-8 cloves of garlic, minced (depending on how garlicky you like it!)
  • 1 tbsp dried Italian seasoning
  • Dried oregano, to taste
  • Salt & pepper to taste
  • 1/8 tsp crushed red pepper
  • 12 tbsp grated parmesan cheese (3 tbsp per serving)
  • 1 cup Muir Glen Garden Vegetable Pasta Sauce (1/4 cup per serving)

Directions

  1. Heat 2 tsp olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add the onions, peppers and garlic, saute 5 minutes.
  2. Add the zucchini, squash, baby spinach, Italian seasoning, Oregano, salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper, saute 10 minutes or until the veggies have cooked through but are still slightly crisp.
  3. While the veggies are cooking, cook the pasta according to package directions.
  4. Serve the pasta with sauce, veggies, and top with parmesan cheese.
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