27 August, 2009

White Bean and Spinach Pasta is What's Cooking!

There are tons of great blogs and websites that have healthy recipes. Miss L loves looking at them and thumbing through recipes I have printed out. Miss L really likes to look at vegandad.blogspot.com, she loves the label cloud on his sidebar. Last week, she wanted Italian and this is what she chose.

White Bean and Greens Pasta

250 grams whole wheat pasta*

2 T. EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)

1 onion, chopped

2 large garlic cloves, minced

1/2 cup marsala or red wine (veggie broth would work great)

1 15 oz. can canelloni beans

1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes (juice and all)

basil (fresh or dried) to taste

salt and pepper to taste

3 cups baby spinach

1. Cook pasta in salted water until just about done (leave it a bit underdone so it can suck up the sauce).

2. While pasta is cooking, heat oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Saute onion for 5-7 mins, until translucent. Add garlic and saute 1 min more.

3. Add wine and beans and mix well. Let bubble and reduce for a few mins. Add tomatoes and mix well. Season to taste with basil and salt and pepper.

4. Drain pasta and return to pot. Return pot to medium heat. Add in sauce and spinach. Bring to bubbling and let cook for 8-10 mins, or until pasta and spinach has fully cooked and sauce has reduced. Enjoy!

* This original recipe made way too much or our family of four. Even for leftovers it was a crazy amount.I halved the amount of pasta for the recipe so it is more manageable. You could make the entire 500g bag and use half for another meal.

I love garlic and onions

- most of my meals start with those two ingredients in the saucepan.

Sauteed until golden brown = yummm!

red wine added and boiling away.
cans of tomatoes added.
I added swiss chard - so beautiful - but my girls said they would prefer spinach. It was a tad bit stringy. Smaller pieces next time. check.
I put the lid on and stirred it a few times. Yes, it really does cook all the way down to this.
My pans were not big enough to mix everything together, so I poured half of the noodles into a large mixing bowl and 2 cans of drained barlotti beans (why do I see a can of white beans daily until I need it?) I LOVED the taste of the beans in with the pasta and greens.
The recipe made a lot of food.
We have always done a little system with our girls. If they love something it is 2 thumbs up. If they think it is ok, 2 thumbs sideways, if they do not want me to make it ever again it is 2 thumbs down. From now on, I will be adding the girls reviews to each recipe.

I find that our little system gets them to at least take one bite if they are unsure of a new food. It works for us, give it a try!
















Än Guetä - Jenna!

1 comment:

jessicalangprice said...

Don't know what EVOO is and I need some pasta but I have everything else. Can't wait to try it! Love the rating system and remind me to talk to you about a cook book project... ;)