Dinner can be a challenge when you are trying to manage schoolwork, an extracurricular, and a crazy life in general; deciding what to make and when to make it is hard, especially if you are trying to find something healthy to eat. This week I am laying out the guidelines to a super easy and super healthy dinner or even lunch: pasta with vegetables.

For this recipe, there are only three main ingredients: your favorite pasta (preferably whole wheat), vegetables of your choice, and a pasta sauce. For my pasta dish, I just used what I had in my kitchen, which happened to be fusilli pasta, a frozen mix of garden vegetables, and pesto (in case you were wondering…the pesto from Trader Joe’s is amazing). The vegetable mix that I had contained zucchini, tomatoes, onions, and peppers, and I just followed the ingredients on the package to cook them; in this case I had to microwave the vegetables. Although one might think that frozen vegetables lack the nutritional benefits of fresh vegetables, the frozen are picked at their peak of freshness, which happens to be when they have the most nutrients, and are frozen so the nutrients remain in the vegetables. With fresh vegetables, even though they may be picked at their peak of freshness, they have to travel to and from the stores and in doing so, they lose a lot of their nutrients.

As for the pasta, fusilli was what I had in my pantry, but you can use whichever type you like; I would recommend penne, shells, or ravioli. If you can use whole-wheat pasta, that would be more nutritious, but whatever you have works. Whole-wheat is higher in fiber than regular pasta and is high in many nutrients including vitamin B and magnesium. This week, it’s not necessary for me to leave a recipe, however I will explain the general directions for the dish. Enjoy!

Yield: serves 4 people

Directions:

1. Cook ½ pound of your pasta; follow the directions on the box.
2. While your pasta is cooking, either follow the directions from your package of frozen vegetables, or if you are using fresh vegetables, add a little bit of olive oil to a pan and on medium heat, sauté the vegetables until they begin to wilt. Once you see them wilt, remove them from the heat.
3. Once your pasta is finished cooking, add it to a large bowl and combine it with the vegetables and the sauce of your choice,