Simple Pasta Primavera
Fresh simple dish with grape tomatoes, broccoli, creamy low fat sauce and whole wheat pasta. Cooks in under 20 minutes!
Orzo with Tomatoes, Basil and Feta
This is a great vegetarian dinner recipe that is easy to make. It’s very light and could eve be served as a side dish along fish or chicken. I got it from All Recipes a while ago and swapped out the recommended Gorgonzola cheese for Feta cheese because I like it better. I suggest if you like Gorgonzola or Bleu cheese to give it a whirl.
Shell Noodles in Pesto Cream Sauce
A delicious pasta dish with shells, pesto and cream sauce. Make it from scratch in under 15 minutes!
Tomato and Mozzarella Caprese Skewers
My favorite salad at an Italian restaurant is caprese, hands down. There is nothing like fresh Mozzarella, sweet tomatoes, basil and the tang of balsamic vinegar drizzled on the top. I’ve taken this classic and created an easily edible form by putting it on skewers. It’s also easy to store the ingredients because they come in their own little packages.
Fire-Roasted Tomato Pasta
This is definitely one of my faster recipes that you can impress with! This dish is really easy to make and it has a ton of flavor, which is what you need with pasta. By using whole wheat pasta you can increase the healthiness of the meal. The spinach and tomatoes also add iron to the dish. It’s a nice break from the traditional sauce and pasta. Mangia, mangia! :)
Spaghetti Carbonara with Garlicky Broccoli
Like most recipes, the origins of the dish are obscure, and there are many legends about it. As the name is derived from carbone (the Italian word for coal), some believe that the dish was first made as a hearty meal for Italian charcoal workers. This theory gave rise to the term “coal miner’s spaghetti”, which is used to refer to spaghetti alla carbonara in parts of the United States. Regardless of how it came about, it’s a delicious combination of pasta, cheese and bacon (yay bacon!).
Garlic Bread
Garlic bread is super easy to make and is a delicious addition to the side of any Italian dish. I also sometimes make it to accompany a salad for lunch (since greens can sometimes be lacking pizazz). While it’s super easy to go and buy at the store or from the freezer, there is nothing like using a freshly baked bread and thin-sliced fresh peeled garlic.
White Pesto Pizza with Tomatoes, Feta, Black Olives and Artichoke Hearts
Wanting to spend less than 30 minutes making dinner on a Friday night? This is a great pizza recipe that is easy to make and a bit out of the box. By purchasing a pre-baked pizza crust like Boboli you can save a significant amount of time.
