This is your weekly reminder to make only some meals a big production. You can get great results by throwing whatever you have in a pan or pot. I have a basic template that I follow, but I like to play around with the ingredients. It’s my favorite recipe for “whatever goes.” You can add meat or make it vegan by changing one element.

Why I love this vegetable pasta

It’s my favorite kind of quick, easy, and satisfying meal. You don’t need to measure anything because it’s so flexible. You can experiment with different vegetables and pasta. It’s easy, tasty, and doesn’t require much mental effort to prepare.

PASTA OPTIONS

This recipe can be made with any pasta and any quantity. You can use any pasta for this recipe, including tiny pasta like orzo or couscous. It’s great because I use only a portion of the box of pasta in one sitting, so there are always small quantities of random pasta that need to be used.

While this tip may make purists clutch at their pearls, breaking long pasta into half before cooking is essential. It is easier to mix in chunky items (like vegetables). This will allow you to combine the pasta and vegetables instead of having the vegetables pushed out to the sides of the pan with a large clump in the middle.

VEGETABLE OPTIONS

You can use any vegetable, just like you would with pasta. This dish is delicious with frozen mixed vegetables. The amount of vegetables is also flexible. You can use more or less. Here are some great alternatives to the grape tomatoes, spinach, mushrooms, and mushrooms I used today:

Kale

Peas

Corn

Avocado (will give the spaghetti a nice creamy texture)

edamame

Carrots

zucchini

Bell pepper

green beans

onion (red, yellow, green)

Ingredients

1/2 lb. Linguine ($0.50)

4 oz. Mushrooms ($0.75)

1 cup grape tomatoes ($1.25)

1 Tbsp of cooking oil ($0.04)

Four oz. fresh spinach ($0.50)

1 Tbsp Butter* ($0.09)

1/8 tsp Garlic Powder ($0.02)

2 Tbsp of nutritional yeast ($0.42)

1/4 tsp salt ($0.02)

1/8 tsp freshly crushed black pepper ($0.02)

Instructions

Bring a large pot full of water to a boil. Add the pasta to the boiling water and continue to cook until the pasta is soft (about 7 minutes). Retain 1/2 cup of pasta water and drain the pasta into a colander.

While you wait for the water to boil, cut the mushrooms in half and the tomatoes into halves.

Over medium heat, heat the cooking oil in a large pan. Add the mushrooms to the pan and sprinkle with salt. Sauté until the moisture has been released and the water no longer pools on the bottom (about 5 minutes).

The tomatoes will continue to cook after the other ingredients have been added. Add the spinach to the pan and cook until it wilts.

Add the pasta, along with the butter, to the skillet. Stir until all the pasta is covered in butter. Turn off the heat.

Toss the pasta in a garlic powder, nutritional yeast, salt, and pepper mixture. Taste the pasta and adjust the seasonings according to your taste. Add a splash of pasta water if it becomes too dry while tossing it with the seasoning. Enjoy immediately.