When I was doing my student teaching, my cooperating teacher was Elizabeth. I really lucked out with her; she is smart, she has a great sense of humor, and as green as I was back then, she was very patient and understanding with me. I was so nervous! I was practically afraid of the teenagers. I so desperately wanted to do well that I stressed and fretted the entire semester.
At the time, Elizabeth was pregnant. I couldn’t figure out why a pregnant woman would choose the additional stress of having a student teacher, but about halfway through the semester when she asked if I would be her long-term sub while she was on maternity leave, I was ecstatic! She made me feel like I must have done okay.
Anyway, in addition to being so wonderful in many ways, Elizabeth is also a vegetarian. Every so often she would bring in this pasta dish for lunch; it was so pretty, and it smelled divine! I would ogle it every time she brought it. Finally, I asked her for the recipe, and she was kind enough to share it with me.
I’ve made the dish several times since then, and once I began my clean-eating journey, I made one small change to it: I replaced what originally was bow-tie noodles with whole wheat rotini noodles (if I could find whole wheat bow-ties, I would use those, but as of yet, no such luck). It is still clean, still wonderful, still fresh and vibrant, just like Elizabeth.
This Pepper Asparagus Pasta makes a great lunch or dinner and reheats beautifully.
Ingredients:
1 bunch of asparagus, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 red and/or orange bell peppers, chopped
1 lemon, zested, juice reserved
1 can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1 tsp. black pepper
½ tsp. salt
2 cups whole grain pasta such as rotini or mostaccioli (if you can find bowties or farfalle, go for it!)
¼ cup olive oil
Parmesan cheese,shredded
Directions:
- Cook pasta. Drain.
- Saute lemon zest, peppers, asparagus, salt, and pepper in olive oil over medium heat until vegetables are crisp-tender.
- Add beans and juice from lemon. Cook until warm.
- Stir in pasta and additional salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve either warm or room temperature with shredded parmesan cheese.
Let me know what you think if you try it! In the meantime...
BE FIERCE!
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