Tomato Based Pasta with Cheese - Kids Choice

Delicious tomato base pasta with cheese topping is ready
With the abundant yield of tomatoes from our organic garden last summer, I made Tomato Rasam. This year, I tried another recipe to take full advantage of the home grown tomatoes - Tomato based pasta. Oh! kids savored it... I have to say that home grown tomatoes have a unique taste. I used freshly prepared tomato base for this recipe. For the pasta sauce, refer to  "Homemade Pasta/Pizza Sauce" recipe. Once the sauce is ready, then it is a matter of 15 - 20 minutes to make the Pasta with Cheese Layering. As I said, its kids choice... I had the experience of making a second round of pasta when my neighbor's kids came by. They loved it so much. Here goes the recipe.....

Preparation time: 10 min
Cooking time: 15 min
Serving size: 4
Difficulty: Medium

Ingredients
  • Penne Pasta - 2 cups
    Main ingredients(grated cheese and sauce not shown)
  • Pasta sauce (prefer homemade) - 2 cups
  • Vegetables(Your choice)  - 2 cups
  • Olives - 5 - 6 nos (optional)
  • Cheese(grated) - 1 cup
  • Olive oil - 2 tsp 
  • Garlic - 5 cloves
  • Salt to taste
Note:
  • I use whole grain penne pasta, but its your choice.
  • I add broccoli, red bell pepper and/or green bell pepper, zucchini for the vegetables as my choice. Again the choice is yours.
  • I used homemade Pasta sauce.
Preparation
  1. Cook the pasta with a little bit of salt, as per the instructions on the pasta packet ( 2 cups of pasta requires at least 6 - 8 cups of water or more ).
  2. Chop the garlic and olives ( optional ) and set aside.
  3. Chop all the vegetables into smaller pieces and set aside.  
Cooking
  1. In a skillet big enough to hold 2 cups of cooked pasta and 2 cups of vegetables, warm 2 tsp of oil on medium heat.
    Make sure the vegetables are not overcooked but stays crunchy
  2. Add the chopped garlic, olives ( optional ) and saute for 30 seconds.
  3. To the sauteed garlic, add the chopped red and/or green bell pepper and saute for a minute.
  4. Once the bell peppers are sauteed, add the remaining vegetables and give it a saute for another minute. We don't want the vegetables to become too soft. Pasta tastes good along with crunchier vegetables.
  5. Add 1/4 tsp of salt, as the cheese will have salt in it ( If not using cheese then add salt as required ).
  6. Meanwhile check if the pasta is cooked. You don't want to overcook the pasta. Follow the directions in the pasta packet for the timing and amount of water ( Typically it takes 10 minutes to cook pasta ).
  7. Once the pasta is cooked, drain the excess water and set it aside. 
    8. Layer the sauce, pasta and cheese and bake until the cheese is melted
  8. Now add the Pasta sauce to the sauteed vegetables and give it a mix. The base sauce is now ready.
  9. Preheat conventional or toaster oven to 350 F.
  10. In a baking tray/pan, add the base sauce, pasta, and cheese in layers. Bake for 5 minutes or until the cheese melts.
  11. Hot and tasty tomato base pasta topped with cheese is ready to be served.
Serve hot pasta out of oven and relish the rich taste

  • Note: If you don't want the cheese, just add the cooked pasta to the sauce and mix, and tasty tomato base pasta is ready.

Health benefits of the ingredients used in tomato base pasta

 For the health benefits of the ingredients used in homemade pasta sauce used refer "Homemade Pasta/Pizza sauce." The fiber in whole grain penne pasta is good for our digestive system. The rich anti-oxidants in the bell peppers, broccoli and zucchini helps prevents cell damage by preventing the oxidation of cells especially in the artery, thus keeping you heart healthy. The bell peppers and broccoli also help in detoxifying our body. Cheese is rich in calcium required for the healthy bones of growing kids and adults. The vitamin A in cheese helps improve the eye sight and helps improves skin health.

I make this pasta either for school lunch or dinner. When preparing for school lunch I don't add cheese as it is boxed and becomes cold. But when made for dinner I am generous with cheese when it come to kids. They savor it hot out of oven with rich tomato taste topped with cheese. Try it, and you will not regret the try....

You may also be interested in the following recipes

 Naveena Nangai - Healthy Eating Blog: Tomato Based Pasta ...

 Naveena Nangai - Healthy Eating Blog: Minestrone soup

Guacamole


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