Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Whole Wheat Penne and Asparagus Recipe

Several people have commented about the Penne pasta, so I am including the recipe, with a reminder that you should definitely check out the Clean Eating magazine, you will LOVE it. Also, I made only HALF of this recipe and had 5 meals from it. It is a massive recipe.

Ingredients
12 oz whole wheat penne pasta
3/4 pound thin asparagus cut into 2" pieces (I used canned instead)
olive oil cooking spray
3/4 pound lean ground turkey
3 cups no-salt-added tomato sauce
1/2 tsp basil
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp sea salt
fresh ground black pepper
4 oz (1 cup grated) part skim mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese
Instructions:
preheat oven to 350. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook penne according to the package instructions. When pasta is one minute from being done, add asparagus and boil for one minute, then drain and return to pot. Meanwhile, coat a large skillet with cooking spray and heat to medium-high; add turkey and cook, stirring often, until lightly browned, about 7 minutes. Add tomato sauce, basil, garlic powder, salt and pepper, and simmer until heated through, 3-4 minutes. Add turkey meat sauce to penne and asparagus and stir to combine. Lightly coat a 2 quart dish with cooking spray; add 1/2 of the penne mixture and sprinkle with 2/3 of the mozzarella. Add remaining penne, then sprinkle the remaining mozzarella and top with parmigiano-reggiano. Bake for 19-20 minutes, or until cheese is melted. Let it rest for 5-10 minutes before serving. Try garnishing with fresh basil or oregano if desired.

2 comments:

Finding Normal said...

That looks really good! Canned aspargus scares me. I tried it one winter, and found it to be squishy and inedible. Blech.

Unknown said...

OOh! I am excited to try this. I rarely buy whole wheat pasta because it never cooks the same for me! But maybe if I am baking it, it would be a different story. Tomorrow is payday so maybe I'll go shopping and try this out! :) Thanks for posting it!!!