Welcome Back!!!

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Welcome back fellow Stags! I am sure most of you have spent the last four months enjoying every meal your mother made you, knowing that when you get back to school it was back to the Ramen Noodle and Easy Mac diet. However, now that you have moved up a year you have moved up the latter in housing, which means a better environment for exploring your culinary curiosity. So now is the time to break out of the college-food rut, and start off the year with good food and good times.

Since I am now living THE LIFE at the beach (Guys Dupe woop woop!), I’m taking a different approach to things, not limiting my posts to microwave friendly recipes. With that said, freshmen, sophomores and juniors living in claver (I feel your pain) there is no need to fret because all recipes will be simple, simple, simple!

For the first recipe of the year I decided it would be best to go easy, but also nutritiously. Pasta is a staple everyone should have in his or her kitchen along with most ingredients used in the recipe. Just because you are back at college does not mean you need to gain the freshmen 15, the sophomore 20, the junior 25 or the senior 50 (from food anyways). Just make sure your eating some veggies by keeping them on hand in your refrigerator or freezer, and making the healthier choices such as whole grain instead of white starches.

Roasted Vegetable Pasta

serves 5

Ingredients:

1 box Whole Wheat Rigatoni

2 tbsp. salt

1 medium eggplant, cubed to 1 in. pieces

2 plum tomatoes, cut in chunks

1 zucchini, sliced width wise

1 squash, sliced width wise

Olive oil*

1 jar of store bought pesto

1 jar of store bought marinara sauce (I used a roasted garlic-flavored sauce)

Grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

*Cooking spray, such as PAM can be used as a substitution

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 400˚F. Bring a large pot of water to boil. When boiling, add salt and pasta and return to a boil. Follow cook time on pasta box.
2. While water is boiling, add all vegetables to jelly roll pan or hefty baking sheet. Drizzle or spray with oil, mix so evenly coated. Add as much pesto to vegetables as your taste buds desire and turn to coat all vegetables evenly. Cook for 15 minutes, flipping vegetables to ensure even cooking, return to oven for another 10-15 minutes until golden and cooked through.
3. While vegetables are cooking simmer entire jar of sauce over low heat to warm through.
4. Once pasta is cooked, drain and return to the pot. Add vegetables and sauce to pasta, mix to coat all noodles and vegetables evenly.
5. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over individual plates.
6. ENJOY!