One Pot Pasta

Oops....I failed to take a picture on Thursday (another miss!). BUT....I am sharing a second recipe this week (with a picture that's already been posted), so maybe that will make up for it!

Dr.Blueberry and I get bored with food a lot---we eat the same comfortable things over and over, and most of the time I'm (we're?) okay with that! But, occasionally, we just throw some stuff in a pot and make it because a) we're hungry, b) we have no other ideas for cookery, and/or c) we have a bunch of veggies that need to get cooked up. Here's how it works...

Gather up some pasta style veggies. I like to use the following:

in order (of what's on the cutting board): parsley, black olives, baby bella mushrooms, broccoli florets, green & red bell pepper.
I also use garlic (about as much as I can scoop on the tip of the knife--oh, btw, I switched to the jar garlic last year when my fresh garlic kept going unused. This method seems to create less waste for me!) and EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
What you can't see is garlic salt (rather than regular salt--it's just my preference) and black ground pepper.

What to do:

• cook pasta (I like penne) according to the package.
• drain the pasta and leave it in the colander while you cook the veggies (in the same pasta pot)
• warm a couple of tablespoons of EVOO to the pan, add the garlic and veggies in order of those that take longer to cook (from my picture: garlic, bell peppers, broccoli, black olives, mushrooms). When well cooked (or cooked to your liking), add the drained pasta, a bit more olive oil and the parsley. Mix well, put the lid on the pan, and turn off heat .
• Let sit for about 5 minutes with lid on (to help the pasta reheat), mix again, and eat up!

When you're done:
Clean the cutting board, knife, pasta pan, pasta spoon, and your dining dishes...seriously, easy clean-up!

<3

Learning tip:
When I first started making this simple dish, I always tossed the parsley in to cook down with the other veggies, but doing this lessens the flavorfulness of the parsley. So, as tempting as it may be to throw in, hold out! Trust me on this....trust me! :)