Chili Penne with Butternut Squash

This was my first attempt at a recipe from one of my cookbooks and I think it was pretty successful so I thought I'd share! This one comes from The Great Weeknight Cookbook and really was quite simple and required surprisingly few ingredients. "Spice up buttnernut squash with cumin and chili, then toss in crumbled goat cheese to create a creamy, flavourful sauce for pasta that takes moments to prepare," said the writers of the book. It was enough to make me want to try it!
 

Makes a lovely lunch or dinner! This recipe contains...
- penne pasta (once again I've used Catelli Bistro tri-colour vegetable pasta, healthy AND pretty!)
- butternut squash
- olive oil
- crushed chili flakes
- coriander (The recipe actually called for cumin but I didn't have any)
- goat cheese
- grated parmesan cheese
- pepper

How to make it:
1. If you didn't buy pre-peeled and cut butternut squash (like I did- great find!), peel and cut your squash into cubes.
2. Cook pasta and squash in a pot of boiling water until squash is soft and pasta is desired consistency.
3. Reserve 100 mL of cooking water before draining pasta and squash.
4. Over low heat, pour some olive oil into the pot, add crushed chili flakes and cumin/coriander (I used coriander since I had no cumin) and cook for 1 minute before removing from heat.
5. Return the pasta and squash to the pot, mix in the cooking the liquid, goat cheese, and season to taste (I added some pepper but it was not in the recipe).
6. Put in a bowl and top with parmesan cheese.

Creamy, Cheesy and Very Veggie Pan-Pasta

I haven't been too good with making anything overly creative, healthy or interesting over the past week or so but I really wanted to make sure I used my veggies before they went bad! While it may not be the healthiest meal in the world, this pasta is a great way of using up whatever you have in your fridge and jazzing up plain old pasta, which has become my main go-to meal. The ingredients can be easily changed depending on your preference but the basic instructions will remain the same. And it tastes just as good the next day!

My version contains...
- pasta
- extra-virgin olive oil
- green pepper
- orange pepper
- yellow pepper
- yellow onion
- alfredo sauce
- Philadelphia cooking cream
- shredded parmesan with romano and asiago cheese
- (and of course) goat cheese

How to make this:
1. Fill up a pot with water and bring to a boil.
2. Put desired amount of pasta in the boiling water and let cook for 11 minutes. I like Catelli Bistro tri-colour vegetable pasta- it's low in sodium, a good source of fibre, iron, vitamin A and potassium with the goodness of vegetables, plus it looks pretty! Today I used rotini noodles.
3. While pasta is cooking, chop up the peppers and onions (or whatever add-ins you like).
4. Put some extra-virgin olive oil in a frying pan and saute the vegetables to your liking (not only does the oil help saute the veggies, but it will keep your pasta from getting dried out too!)
5. Strain pasta and add to pan.
6. Add your sauce. Today I have combined alfredo sauce and Philadelphia cooking cream (I LOVE cream cheese!) for an extra-creamy sauce.
7. Mix everything up in the pan and distribute sauce evenly.
8. Top with shredded parmesan, romano and asiago mixture and a little goat cheese. Mmmm!

Suggestion to make this even healthier: For some protein try adding some chicken, tofu, or even some egg! Also try using some homemade sauce.