Tasty Tuesdays: Pasta Primavera

***Tasty Tuesdays is for sharing a meal/dessert/snack recipe that you made this week.  It doesn't have to be gourmet!  It just has to taste good! If you want to link up, let me know and I will link you to my Tuesday posts.  Use this^ button to link back to my page!  

Last night I made a version of pasta primavera.  I usually find recipes that look good and then alter them a bit.  This time it was completely inspired by all of the colorful veggies I had in the fridge.  I gathered my ingredients.

I decided on an onion, left over red pepper, orange pepper, zucchini, and asparagas.  I used thin spaghetti (usually the only kind I buy).  I always feel bad eating regular pasta, but don't like wheat as much, so I buy one box of each and mix them together.  I feel a bit healthier that way.  I also didn't have any garlic (BOO!) so I used garlic powder.  Not the same.  If I make this again, I will definitely make sure I have a clove of garlic.  Actually, I usually do.  Just not today.

I also think that peas, corn, carrots, mushrooms, or broccoli would go good in this meal, too.  

I started the boiling water. I usually add a TON of salt (I might die from that later, but it's soooo good!)  I also added a bit of olive oil.  It's not something I typically do when boiling pasta, but since I knew the sauce tonight was basically just oil anyway, I figured it couldn't hurt.  

I sliced the onion really thin and sauteed that with butter, salt, pepper, and a bit of olive oil for a few minutes.  Then I added very thin sliced peppers for a few minutes and then added the zuchinni and asparagus and garlic powder.  The only reason for this order is that we like soft onion, kind-of-soft cooked peppers with a little bit of crunch, and kind-of-crunchy fresh asparagus and zucchini.  (Who likes squishy zucchini? eww).  But you could definitely add them in whatever order suits you.

ooohhh how colorful and healthy!

At exactly the same time (yeah for great in-the-kitchen timing!), the pasta was ready.  I strained it in my tiny plastic baby strainer and mixed it all up in the big pan with some more olive oil and a bit more butter.  

baby strainer.

I also served it with a new wine we found that is actually very good for a $10 bottle of wine.  Red Rock Pinot Noir:

I added a bit of grated Parmesan and was happy with the flavor combination.  But Josh wanted a bit more, so he put a little Italian dressing on his.  We are so different.

I loved that it was pretty healthy and I loved all of the colorful veggies mixed up in there.  This is a go-to meal when you have lots of vegetables in the refrigerator that you don't want to go bad.  And I always have pasta, olive oil, onions, and Parmesan on hand.  And it was super easy and only took about 20 minutes.

Happy Tuesday!