Procedure 1 Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
Simultaneously boil water in a large stock pot to cook the spaghetti.

2 Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally for about 5 minutes, until softened.

3 Stir the tomato sauce into the skillet with the cooked beans and seasoning of your choice. I used 1
teaspoon of dried Italian seasoning.

4 While the sauce is cooking, cook the pasta as per package directions. Once the pasta is cooked,
drain it, reserving 1/2 to 1 cup of the water. Add the reserved water to the sauce if required.

5 Increase the heat and bring the sauce to a boil, stirring. Add baking soda, if using and lower the heat, partially cover, and simmer for about 10 minutes, or until th sauce has slightly reduced.

6 Add salt/pepper to the sauce as per taste, transfer to a serving bowl. Serve the sauce over pasta and enjoy a hearty meal.

My Notes 1 For the pasta I used Barilla whole grain thin spaghetti. It tastes
so good and is healthy too. My tall stockpot is burried somewhere in the closet and I didn’t have the patience to take it out. So I broke the spaghetti into half and cooked it in a big sauce pan.

1 I read in a magazine that adding baking soda to tomato sauce or any other tomato dish would reduce
the acidity of the tomatoes. Since we are slightly sensitive to excessive tomatoes I added it.

Procedure 1 Cook pasta as per package directions. Drain pasta, reserving 1/2-3/4 cup cooking water.

2 Steam broccoli until tender, about 6-7 minutes.

3 Puree the tofu in a food processor or blender, until smooth.

4 In a medium saucepan combine tofu, pasta sauce and enough reserved pasta water to create a creamy sauce. Cook sauce over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until heated through. Do not boil.

5 Season to taste with salt and pepper.

6 Transfer pasta to serving bowl; add broccoli, and toss to mix.

7 Top with sauce, and serve.

My Notes 1 I did not measure the servings exactly, but I’m sure it is enough to feed at least 3 adults.

2 The original recipe had 1/2 cup chopped black olives. If you want to use it, you should add it to the sauce while it’s heating.

3 If you are able to find reduced-fat firm silken tofu use it, because that was mentioned in the original recipe. I didn’t get it, so I have used Mori Nu’s regular silken tofu.

4 My son loves broccoli, so there was almost nothing left for the pasta when we sat down to eat. I had a pack of frozen Italian vegetables (broccoli, carrots and cauliflower). So I steamed it and tossed it with the pasta. That was good too.

Procedure 1 Cook pasta according to the package directions. I didn’t have a tall saucepan to cook the spaghetti, so I broke it into half. I cooked it for 8 minutes and it had the perfect texture.

2 Saute peppers, onions and garlic in oil in large skillet for 2 to 3 minutes.

3 Add water; cook covered, over medium-high heat until soft, 2 to 3 minutes.

4 Stir in sugar; cook, uncovered, over medium-low heat until mixture is very soft and browned, about 20 minutes.

5 Season to taste with salt and pepper.

6 Toss with spaghetti; sprinkle with cheese if desired.

My Notes 1 I have cooked whole wheat penne pasta (Asparagus and Lemon Pepper Pasta) earlier and it clearly tasted different than it’s white counterpart. It took quite sometime to develop a liking for the whole wheat taste. So I was expecting the same with the spaghetti also, because I have not tasted whole grain spaghetti before. But I was totally surprised because it didn’t taste like anything I expected. It was really good. This pasta is made with 51% whole wheat and other whole grain flours, so you can enjoy the benefits of whole grains without compromising the taste. It’s an excellent source of fiber and protein.

2 Don’t be tempted to omit the sugar in this pasta recipe because it makes the vegetables and the onions to caramelize and that in turn gives a nice flavor to the dish. If you think that the dish is sweet, you can spice it up at the end by adding black pepper powder.

3 If you have some left over peppers, try these chili fries. Unlike other fritters which use all purpose flour or chick pea flour for the dipping batter, this recipe uses whole wheat flour. I also added some rice flour to make it crispier.

Step-by-Step Procedure For Curry Sauce

1. Add 2 teaspoons olive oil to a medium saucepan; saute onion and garlic for 2 to 3 minutes.

2. Stir in flour, curry powder and chilli powder. Cook 1 minute, stirring.

3. Add broth and heat to boiling.

4. In a small vessel combine the cornstarch and water, until the cornstarch dissolves without forming any lumps. Add this mixture to the boiling broth and bring it to a boil, stirring, until thickened, about 1 minute. (Actually it took more than a minute for the mixture to thicken.)

5. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Assembling the Pasta

1. Steam the vegetables for 8-10 minutes if using frozen vegetables. If using fresh ones 6-8 minutes should be fine. Sprinkle some salt and toss the vegetables once, while steaming.

2. Cook pasta as per the instructions in the package. Drain it, reserving around 1/4 to 1/2 of the pasta cooked water.

3. Combine together the steamed veggies, pasta and the curry sauce. Check for seasoning and sprinkle cilantro.

Step-by-Step Procedure 1. Cook and drain pasta as directed on package.

2. Meanwhile in a skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat.

3. Add bell pepper, asparagus, lemon pepper, salt; cook, stirring occasionally until vegetables are crisp-tender.

4. Stir in lemon juice and beans. Cook until beans are hot.

5. Add pasta; toss with vegetable mixture.

My Notes 1. If you have doubts about using whole wheat pasta, you can start with 1 cup of regular pasta and 1 cup of whole wheat pasta. Then slowly try increasing the ratio and in no time you would prefer only whole wheat pasta.

2. Grated lemon zest was used in the original recipe. Since I had the lemon pepper seasoning, I used it instead. So you can simply use a combination of salt, pepper and lemon juice to suit your taste.

3. I would also suggest using any other hard beans instead of navy beans. Navy beans are very soft and it becomes mushy when you toss the pasta a couple of times. I think either Kidney beans or Chickpeas would be perfect.