10-Minute Veggie Protein Pasta

When you need a quick weeknight dinner, try this super easy 10-minute veggie protein pasta dish.

If I didn’t have a chance to go food shopping, this is easy to whip up, as most of the ingredients can be kept on hand including:

Bean or Lentil Pasta: I used Ancient Harvest Pow! Pasta Red Lentil Rotini, but any legume pasta will work. These are naturally gluten-free, and higher in both fiber and protein compared to traditional pasta. The red lentil rotini has 12g protein per 2 oz serving!

Frozen Veggies: Contrary to popular opinion, frozen veggies are typically just as nutritious- if not more so! – than fresh. That’s because, unless you live in Cali, where much of our produce is grown, most of our produce is shipped in from all over the country, and world. That means the produce was typically picked weeks – or even months! – before it ends up on grocery shelves. That also means it’s not at peak ripeness or nutrition. On the other hand, frozen produce is picked at peak ripeness and nutrition and than flash frozen right away, which locks in most of the nutrition.

Pasta Sauce: Choose glass jars instead of cans of tomato sauce, as tomato sauce is acidic, and can leach more chemicals from the can into the sauce, such as BPA, which is a known endocrine disruptor.

Try This Recipe

If you try this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment, rate it (by clicking the stars in the upper right of the recipe card, below), and don’t forget to tag a photo @mariamarlowe or #mariamarlowe on Instagram or Facebook. I’d love to see what you come up with!

Veggie Pasta

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4 from 2 votes

Prep Time 2 minutes minutes

Cook Time 8 minutes minutes

Total Time 10 minutes minutes

Servings2

US ImperialMetric

Ingredients

• ½ box POW! Pasta red lentil rotini about 4 oz.
• 2 cups frozen veggie mix
• 1½ cups tomato sauce marinara
• 4 cups baby spinach
• ¼ cup fresh basil leaves chopped, optional
• 2 Tbsp. hemp seeds
• unrefined salt (real, pink, or Celtic salt) to taste
• red pepper flakes to taste

Instructions

• Bring pot of water to a boil, add POW! Pasta Red Lentil Rotini and cook for 8 minutes.
• Add the frozen veggies to the pasta water a minute or two later, to cook at same time (they typically need 5-7 minutes, see package). Test for pasta and veggie doneness before draining.
• Meanwhile, heat a skillet over low heat, add marinara sauce and spinach.
• When pasta and veggies are done, add them to the sauce, mix well. Top with basil if desired, hemp seeds, a pinch of pink salt and red pepper flakes to taste.

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