Really Good Dinner Recipe

My primary reason for trying to eat  more "healthy" meals remains to lower my cholesterol and blood glucose levels. Losing weight is of secondary importance, but I'm not kidding myself about really wanting to drop the fat!  


Last night and tonight we had a wonderfully healthy and tasty dish for dinner.  Craig urged me to share it because he says it was one of the best foods he has had in a long time.  The recipe is not a "diet" meal, but for a pasta based meal it is very healthy.  It came to me as one of the "daily dishes" I get as emails from allrecipes.com  


I'm posting the full original version below. 


The changes I made were to use whole wheat penne pasta, to add two peeled and cubed Japanese eggplant to the vegetable mix, and to use cubed Roma tomatoes instead of cherry tomatoes because they were less expensive. I did not use any butter to saute the onions, but I did use the Romano cheese. I figured 1/2 cup divided by six servings is not a lot of cheese.


12 oz. of penne plus all the vegetables made a huge pot of food.  We will be eating it for a third night tomorrow, so next time I will cut the pasta to 6 oz. but still use all of the vegetables and other ingredients.


One other thought is that since I'm still in a house I had no problem with  using a large tray in the oven for roasting the veggies.  In an RV you might have to do two batches, or roast them on the grill.

No Cream Pasta Primavera

from allrecipes.com

Servings  (Help)

USMetricCalculate

Original Recipe Yield 6 servings

Ingredients

• 1 (12 ounce) package penne pasta
• 1 yellow squash, chopped
• 1 zucchini, chopped
• 1 carrot, julienned
• 1/2 red bell pepper, julienned
• 1/2 pint grape tomatoes
• 1 cup fresh green beans, trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces
• 5 spears asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1/4 cup olive oil, divided
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
• 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/4 large yellow onion, thinly sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 2 teaspoons lemon zest
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 cup grated Romano cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.
2. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add penne pasta and cook for 10 to 12 minutes or until al dente; drain.
3. In a bowl, toss squash, zucchini, carrot, red bell pepper, tomatoes, green beans, and asparagus with 2 tablespoons olive oil, salt, pepper, lemon juice, and Italian seasoning. Arrange vegetables on the baking sheet, and roast 15 minutes in the preheated oven, until tender.
4. Heat remaining olive oil and butter in a large skillet. Stir in the onion and garlic, and cook until tender. Mix in cooked pasta, lemon zest, basil, parsley, and balsamic vinegar. Gently toss and cook until heated through. Remove from heat and transfer to a large bowl. Toss with roasted vegetables and sprinkle with Romano cheese to serve.

Nutritional Information 

Amount Per Serving  Calories: 406 | Total Fat: 15.4g | Cholesterol: 15mg