Pasta Pronto!

My husband and I are trying a new eating style, one in which we only eat meat on weekends.  You might call us ‘Armchair Vegetarians’ or ‘Fair Weather Vegetarians’.  We’ve started this new program to lose weight and to control cholesterol.  Over the last few weeks as I’ve planned our meals, I’ve rediscovered many of my favorite quick and easy pasta recipes.  

Quick Garlic-Shrimp Pasta

Pasta meals can be made in minutes (as long as it takes the pasta to cook) and can be made with a sauce or just tossed with a good quality olive oil.  I like to  prepare a pasta entry with whatever fresh vegetables I have on hand.  Almost all vegetables mix together beautifully.  Over the last few weeks, I’ve combined cauliflower and carrots, asparagus and tomatoes, broccoli and snow peas; really, whatever I have in the refrigerator.  

There are several good gluten-free pastas on the market.  Tinkyada is the most available, Orgran and imported Italian gf pastas are my favorite.

With your favorite gluten-free pasta you can quickly prepare a great tasting meal in just a few minutes and never run out of variations.  Here’s how:

Fettuccine w/Cherry Tomatoes

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil for the pasta.  Add your vegetables to a second saucepan and cover the vegetables with water.  Add a little salt and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to simmer and cook vegetables until fork tender.

Add pasta to boiling water and cook until al dente.

Drain pasta and rinse with hot water.

Drain vegetables.  At this point you can either add the vegetables to the pasta with enough olive oil to moisten the pasta and toss; season to taste with salt and pepper and serve, or you can add the vegetables to a skillet with a little olive oil and cook until slightly browned then add to the pasta.  I like to add a few shakes of hot pepper flakes to give the dish a little zing and some grated Parmesan cheese.  

Pasta w/Gorgonzola Sauce

Here are a few other great Pasta Pronto recipes:

Quick Garlic-Shrimp Pasta
Fried Egg Pasta
Pasta w/Herb Cheese
Pasta w/Gorgonzola Sauce
Fresh Tomato & Basil Pasta
Fettuccine w/Cherry Tomatoes

- Chef Yvonne

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