Just add Veggies

We love pasta in this house. I cook a lot of pasta. Lately, I've been cooking 2 or 3 pounds at a time, just to have some leftovers for summer lunches. But even though I try to use mostly whole grain pasta, I often feel I have to bump up the nutrition a bit by adding some vegetables to the dish. I know the kids and husband feel I've adulterated the pasta when I do this randomly, but I am a kitchen bully. If I'm doing the cooking, I get a say in what goes into the dish.

Another issue with pasta is that my over-40 body can't take all the carbs anymore. I gain five pounds overnight if I eat too much pasta for dinner. So by adding vegetables to the dish, I'm accomplishing several things at once:

• Everyone gets extra nutrition and fiber in the meal.


• I've tricked myself to get fuller on less carbs.


• It stretches the pasta dish so I get even more leftovers for the next day or two.
  

Tonight I'm adding some sauteed summer squash to our pasta. Sometimes I'll add zucchini, diced or shredded, directly to the sauce before cooking. I like adding shiitake mushrooms (potent cancer fighters as well as immune-system boosters) but my husband doesn't like the taste. Eggplant and even carrots are good, too.

This works with all kinds of sauces, like marinara or even a meat sauce (a much heartier meal).