vegetarian

Three vegetables in red, amber and green make this kid friendly traffic light spaghetti supper.

It always amuses me how a whimsical name can turn a dish into child friendly feast.

I have called this traffic light pasta purely because it features a red, amber and green vegetable but the entertainment factor for Ted saying it was pasta with traffic lights was too much to resist.

You could use jarred sundried tomato paste although here I have liquidised the ones in oil together with some basil.

Toss into some cooked spaghetti.

Steam your spinach – preferably kid friendly little dinky leaves.

And roast some tomatoes and peppers. I used these colourful mini ones in a bag from Tesco.

Mix it all together and ta-dah, traffic light pasta.

Traffic light spaghetti

Serves 4

Ingredients
200g spaghetti
2 tbsp. Sundried tomato in oil
1 tbsp. Chopped basil (I used frozen)
12 plum tomatoes cut in half
80g spinach
250g (half bag) of mini peppers or 1 each yellow and orange peppers sliced roughly

Directions
1. Boil the spaghetti in a large saucepan according to pack instructions. Preheat the oven to 200c / gas 6.
2. Arrange the tomato halves and pepper slices on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Drizzle with olive oil and roast lightly for 15 minutes.
3. Using a stick blender, briefly blitz the sundried tomatoes in oil with the basil and set aside.
4. Steam the spinach – I microwave mine in a plastic microwave saucepan.
5. When the pasta is cooked, stir in the sundries tomato and basil mix. Add in the roasted peppers and tomatoes and the cooked spinach. Toss the vegetables through and serve.

To add protein to this dish you could grate over some cheese or add some chunks of cooked ham.

I am entering this tomato ingrediented pasta dish into this month’s tomato themed Pasta Please organised by Jac Tinned Tomatoes and this month hosted by Michelle at Utterly Scrummy – and also her event Extra Veg hosted alongside Helen at Fuss Free Flavours.

It’s also definitely a Speedy Supper for my new event alongside Katie (hosting this month) for main meals ready in under 30 minutes.

Don’t forget also if you have a pud ready in similarly speedy time you can enter it into Dead Easy Desserts.

Drumming up dinner one night it occurred to me there was a gap in the blog event calendar for food fixed up in flash.

So after a quick chat with my blog buddy Katie at Feeding Boys we dreamt up Speedy Suppers, a new blog event for meals made in under 30 minutes.

How to enter Speedy Suppers

When:

Speedy Suppers runs from 1st month to 29th with full round ups of all entrants who have mentioned the challenge in their newly published post.

Where:

Speedy Suppers will kick off being hosted in alternate months by myself at Dinner With Crayons and Katie at Feeding Boys.

How:

Blog any speedy supper or family meal. We don’t mind so much what time of day you eat it, more so that your dish only takes 30 minutes or less to prepare. Please display the Speedy Suppers badge in the post with a link to that month’s announcement and both hosts, myself and Katie.

Short cuts and cook ahead elements are actively encouraged i.e. using sauces, frozen food, left over bits and pieces as a component. So long as assembling/the bit where you actually cook it takes under 30 minutes that’s fine. Add the URL of your post to the linky below. This a blog hop so feel free to add the code to your own post so your readers can admire the entries received so far.

Nitty gritty:

Please be mindful of copyright, we don’t mind if you’ve adapted something from elsewhere or you made it from scratch. But if you submit something found online or in a book, just tell us where you found it.

One picture from each post submitted will be use in the round up, these pictures may also be shared on social media to spread the word about this event i.e. Pinterest, Google Plus etc etc. If you object to pictures submitted being shared elsewhere then please drop me an email.

We don’t mind you submitting your entry elsewhere to other challenges but please be mindful of other events’ rules.

We will try to retweet any posts using #speedysuppers that @ mention @maisoncupcake or @cookingkt

So my first speedy supper is…

Rocket and Walnut Farfalle with Creamy Aubergine and Garlic Sauce
Serves 3-4

Ingredients
200g dried farfalle pasta
1/2 jar antipasti aubergine pieces in oil (mine were from Morrison’s own brand range)
100g low fat soft white cheese with garlic and herbs
generous handful of rocket leaves
generous handful of walnut pieces
a few sliced tomatoes for colour

Directions:

Boil the pasta in a large saucepan until al dente.

Meanwhile use a hand blender or similar to blitz the aubergines and low fat soft cheese until smooth.

Drain the pasta and mix with the creamy cheese and aubergine.

Serve immediately in bowls whilst scattering and folding rocket leaves and walnut pieces. Add tomatoes if you wish.

Easily served inside 20 minutes.

Add your speedy supper dish to the linky below! Don’t forget this is a blog hop so feel free to add the code to your own site and encourage your own readers to take part.

[inlinkz_linkup id=367337]

Don’t forget if you have something swift and sweet or pudding like you can enter it into Dead Easy Desserts over at Maison Cupcake which has been extended until Feb 29th after a late start in mid January!

Traffic Light Spaghetti

Speedy Suppers: The New Blog Event for 30 Minute Meals