My kids love pasta and I am always on the lookout for new recipes. This recipe is from Giada of FoodNetwork and of course I made my tweaks to make it healthy. I do not believe in adding loads of cheese to make a dish taste good. Instead I use minimum fat and concentrate on other healthy ingredients to make up for the minimum fat. Pasta can be jazzed up in different ways using different vegetables and it is something which we start liking instantly. My mom who had no idea about pasta liked it the first time we made it when she visited us. This recipe calls for roasting the vegetables and then adding it to pasta. So that is an extra step but I feel it is well worth it as I could not stop eating !!!. So are you ready for the yummy low fat pasta?
Ingredients
6 servings penne pasta
1 green bell pepper
1/2 medium onion
6-8 mushrooms
few cauliflower florets
2 zucchinis
4 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp italian seasoning (optional)
1/2 cup frozen green peas
1.5 cups marinara sauce
1/2 cup cheese
Salt
Pepper
Method
Prepare the vegetables first. Cut the bell pepper and onion into 1 inch strips. We want the mushrooms to be big since they shrink a lot in the oven. So just quarter them. Cut the zucchini lengthwise and then dice it. Cut cauliflower into small pieces. Try to keep the sizes even so they cook evenly.
Next add olive oil, salt, pepper and italian seasoning and mix with hands so that the vegetables are coated with oil. You can use whatever spice you prefer instead of Italian Seasoning.
Place in a 450F preheated oven for 15 minutes. Note the vegetables are done but they are still firm.
Meanwhile bring a pot of water to a boil. Add salt and the penne pasta. Cook till al dente since it is going to be cooked further in the oven. I generally wash the cooked pasta with cold water to keep it separate.
To the cooked pasta add the marinara sauce. I used store bought prego sauce. Next add the roasted vegetables. Then add the frozen peas, salt, pepper. Finally I added around 1/4 cup of cheese.
Mix everything well. Look how moist and colorful it looks .. I am getting ready to eat
Transfer to an oven safe dish. I used the cute LocknLock dish which I received sometime back. The dish looked small but it held a whole lot of pasta. I have to mention that this pot also comes with an orange lid with holes for straining and a colander.
Turn the oven down to 350F since everything is already cooked. Keep it covered in foil for the first 15 minutes. Then remove foil and allow cheese to melt and it took around 10 minutes.
Finally to add some color place under broiler. This is totally optional and would give a nice brown crust if more cheese is used. Are you’ll drooling yet ?? The roasting brought out a whole lot of flavor in the veggies and I have to say that I did not miss the extra cheese.
That was the healthy pasta with less cheese for K and me. I decided to go a bit easy on cheese for the kids and assembled the remaining pasta in another pretty LocknLock pan. The extra cheese does wonders to the taste buds but not to the waistline I guess !!
Another look at the cheesy pasta ..
Anyway kids loved their version and we loved ours.
Enjoy!
Interested in the pans? Here are the links ..
Lock & Lock Glass Pan, Orange, 4.8-Cup, 39-Fluid Ounces
Lock & Lock Glass Pot, Orange, 7-Inch, 45.6-Fluid Ounces
Tips
1. Use any vegetables on hand.
2. Go easy or less on cheese. I added less cheese and let the vegetables and sauce dictate the taste.
3. Play with spices. I have even added a bit of sambar powder sometimes.
4. A little good quality cheese goes a long way. I just need a bit of flavor not loads of it.
I guess almost all of us love pasta, and having it with veggies with lesser cheese is the perfect way. Surely going to try this one.
Wholesome n delicious ~ great pics too
US Masala
I love baked pasta and yours look absolutely tempting.
Yummy and healthy pasta dear… Looks so tempting…
nice yummy pasta
This looks really good….And I have some awards waiting for you,in my blog..Please check that and collect that dear…
http://yummytummy-aarthi.blogspot.com/2011/05/my-first-awards.html
Awesome dish…pasta is my favourite.
Thanks for visiting my space and following.
Will come again to see all your yummy recipes.
this is awesome…. love it..
vardini,
so yummy…my kids would love ..
I would like to pass on few awards to you so do drop by my blog to collect them..
Very nice adaptation you've made, simply superb!
Excellent recipe….loved your space too….
looking very tempting and tasty!!!!
Baked penne looks delicious with all roasted veggies.
lovely, I am trying this today !
Nice addition of all those veggies and less cheese making it healthy and yummy.
wow..lovely recipe…feel like having some!
wow dats awesoe…..i had made a chiocken and penne bake and loved it.Love ur version with veg…..let me try it
Excellent one dear..sure to make this..loved it..nice clicks..good explanations..nice to see many baking recipes here
Awesome recipe vardhini… I also love lesser cheese on my pasta and love it with loooottts of veggies.. like the idea of roasting the veggies in the oven.. yummy..
http://krithiskitchen.blogspot.com
I absolutely love this dear. I am surely going to give it a try soon
Love this!! Will surely try it out.
This is going to be a hit for dinner! Everyone in my house loves penne!
Yummy penne and really very healthy recipe… Can I come over for that pls…
I love Giadas recipes..this looks so perfect n yumm!!
mouthwatering pasta…roasting the veggies gives a nice flavor n taste…all your pictures are amazing n tempting me lot…slurp…..
Droolworthy pasta!!! Thx a ton for dropping by my space Vardhini & guiding me to ur lovely space!!! Happy to be following u..Off now to explore more of ur mouthwatering recipe collection
Slurp..drooling here…Thanks for sharing this yummy dish..
lovelyyyy!!!!! Wish I could reach out and get a serving of this
i love pasta…really never heard of this style….its looking awesome…..
U made me mouthwatering dear…such a lovely dish…attractive pics…
Delicious and inviting..yummy recipe.
omg,i have to try this yummy recipe…very tempted by seeing the clicks,very interesting.
Love the cheesy and colors…Thanks for sharing this lovely dish with us…
so cheesy and colorful.
Vardhini, this is a weekly meal in our home and for some reason of all the pastas, penne seems to be a hot fav with my kids! Even when we go out,baked penne is the ONLY thing they order95% of the time
All that apart, the penne you've presented looks succulent, saucy and incredibly appetizing
A really yummy meal… roasting the veges, baking and giving a brown crust to the cheese layer adds so mush flavour:) I ca see from the pics how wonderful it must have tasted:)…. loving every bit of it..
Reva
Can have this baked penne even everyday, with all those veggies, its truly inviting..
Really nice recipe…I like the idea of roasting the veggies first..brings out the flavours.
Looks so delicious..
Yum Yum….drooling over your cheesy pasta!