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- Makes 6 cups
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This 25-minute meal can be made entirely in the microwave. Perfect for cooking in a hotel room or dorm room, this easy pasta primavera recipe only requires a handful of ingredients, a microwave, and less than 30 minutes. Tender carrots, broccoli, bell pepper, and tomato bring bursts of juicy flavor to the hearty pasta, which is sprinkled with savory Italian seasoning. A crunchy garnish of slivered almonds or pine nuts brings the perfect finishing touch to this quick and satisfying meal you can make on-the-go.
Ingredients
- 1 cup dry whole wheat penne pasta
- 1 cup chopped carrots
- 2 cups ½-inch broccoli florets
- 1 cup chopped yellow bell pepper
- 1 15-oz. can diced tomatoes, undrained
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning, crushed
- Sea salt, to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 tablespoons slivered almonds or pine nuts
Instructions
- In a microwave-safe bowl or microwave rice cooker combine pasta and 5 cups water. Microwave 5 minutes. Add carrots; microwave 3 minutes. Add broccoli and bell pepper; microwave 3 minutes more. Drain any excess water from bowl; keep warm.
- In a separate microwave-safe bowl combine tomatoes, garlic powder, and Italian seasoning. Cover and microwave 5 minutes. Pour over pasta mixture. Season with salt and black pepper. Toss to combine. Garnish with nuts.
Comments (3)
(5 from 4 votes)This is one of the rare times when I had everything to make a recipe exactly as it was written! I am impressed, it was fast, super easy and delicious! I love that you didn't try to make some bogus "cheese sauce", it absolutely doesn't need it. The almonds on top were all the enhancement it needed. It is just good food.
As a flight attendant, I love recipes that you can just do up in a hotel room. You would need a hotel room that has a kitchenette where dishes and utensils are provided. Nonetheless, I tried this at home. I thought I’d tweak it with chick pea pasta rather than whole wheat and it came out too mushy. Next time I’ll try it as the recipe says, with whole wheat pasta.
I'm even "short-cuttier" --- merged step two into step one, in one bowl halfway through, and still came out great. Also, subbed in fresh quartered cherry tomatoesfor the canned, tri-colored pepper slivers for the yellow, and added some chopped green onion cuttings just because I had them those on hand ready to be used. Will definitely revisit this one, even though I'm rarely much of a recipe user!