When I was pregnant with my oldest kiddo, 6 years ago, I came upon this recipe in my doctor’s office. I found it in some pregnancy magazine, committed it to memory and have been making it since. Over the years we’ve added things, like pine nuts and bacon (and I think I’m going to throw in goat cheese next time).
This makes for a ridiculously fast, healthy, and yummy dinner complete with leftovers for the next day. You can add veggies in, or meat – its delicious with grilled chicken. So a very flexible recipe, indeed.
As always, we’d love to hear how you alter it for your family! Be sure to leave us a comment and let us know!
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 pound 100% whole wheat spaghetti or linguine noodles
- 2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 bag of washed baby spinach or 1 bunch of spinach leaves
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 2 strips of bacon, cooked and chopped
- 3-4 tablespoons of olive oil (can add more after everything has been tossed with the noodles, if needed)
- Few shakes of red pepper flakes (to your liking)
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon of finely diced red onion
- 1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
- Freshly shredded mozzarella to toss in at the end, optional
METHOD:
- Cook your pasta according to package directions. With only one minute left of cooking time, add the spinach to the boiling water. Strain noodles and spinach.
- While you wait for the water to boil – in a large bowl, add your olive oil, garlic, red pepper flakes, some salt and pepper, and stir to combine.
- Add the tomatoes, cooked bacon and pine nuts to the bowl and make sure they get coated with the olive oil mixture.
- Pour the strained noodles and spinach into the large bowl and toss everything together. If your noodles are too dry add a couple more tablespoons of olive oil until it’s just right. Add salt (probably about 1/2 teaspoon) and pepper and top with mozzarella. Enjoy!
