Sunday Veggie Dump Pasta
Sometimes Sundays need to be laid back and easy. Ok, actually all Sundays need to laid back and easy 🙂 But laid back to me means no grocery shopping or dealing with large crowds. So when it’s time to decide what’s for dinner for the family, I have to look deep into the fridge and figure out what to make with what I have on hand. This SundayVeggie Dump Pasta was created intuitively using vegetables and herbs that needed to be used up for the week.
Low Down on the Ingredients:
I didn’t have any extra tomatoes or marinara sauce but I used canned tomatoes which was perfect and easy for this casserole recipe. I loved this dish because my toddler enjoyed it too! Getting him to eat outside his “mac and cheese” food zone can be challenging!
I did add some ground beef but if you want to enjoy this as a vegetarian dish, just omit the beef. Italian sausage would be great or ground turkey as well, if you wanted to make this dish with other proteins.
Lastly, I used Trader Joe’s Brown Rice Fusilli Pasta. It’s gluten free and low in sodium. By far it’s one of my favorite gluten free pastas! I’ve been experimenting with other brands but the textures for me aren’t the same as the TJ’s brand of Brown Rice Fusilli.
What else can be used?
Because this is a dump pasta, you can really be creative on how you prepare it. Think about vegetables like spinach, broccoli, zucchini, onions, cauliflower, shredded mozzarella cheese, parmesan, and herbs like oregano, basil and thyme.
No oven is required to make this. You can toss the cheese in and stir together while the pasta is still warm. If you want the cheese melted, you can place it in the oven for about 5-10 minutes.
Let’s make Sunday Veggie Dump Pasta!
Sunday Veggie Dump Pasta
Ingredients
- 1 can diced tomatoes 14.5 oz can
- 1 tablespoon olive oil extra virgin
- 1 package brown rice fusilli trader joes brand
- 1 pound ground beef 90/10, beef optional
- 1 white onion large diced
- 1 zucchini washed, sliced
- handful kale
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- black pepper to taste
- kosher salt to taste
- handful fresh basil washed, chopped
- handful italian parsley washed, chopped
- 1/2-1 cup shredded cheese mozzarella or cheese of your choice
Instructions
- Cook the pasta according to the package and drain. Set aside in a large bowl.
- In a large saute pan, on medium/low heat , add the olive oil. Crumble the ground beef into the pan. Cook the beef for 5 minutes. Add the seasonings and stir.
- Drop the veggies in the pan and continue cooking for another 5-7 minutes. Cover your white shirt and pour the diced tomato in. Add additional seasonings if you wish . Then stir in the fresh basil and italian parsley. Let the sauce simmer for another 10 minutes.
- In a large casserole dish or large serving dish, toss the pasta with the beef/veggie sauce mixture. Top with your favorite shredded cheese.
- Enjoy!
Nutrition
