Greek Pasta

This pasta recipe is pretty interesting. Instead of using the typical tomato to make a sauce, we use jarred roasted red peppers; instead of Parmesan, we use feta. It's an especially perfect recipe for Meatless Mondays because it's so quick! First of all, you don't miss the meat. Second: Mondays are hard! Nobody wants to spend hours in the kitchen after coming home from work and you can work on cooking the pasta while the sauce is being made. You also proooobably have most of the ingredients in your pantry right now. That being said, if you do want to add some meat, chicken, tuna or shrimp would be a great addition.


Ingredients

-2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
-1 small onion, chopped
-2 large garlic cloves, roughly chopped
-1 16oz jar of roasted bell peppers. I like to use organic. Drain and rinse the bell peppers.
-1/2 cup of low-sodium chicken broth, homemade is obviously better. You can use vegetable broth or even water.
-6 oz of crumbled feta cheese, or a cup if that's easier to measure. I like to buy a block and crumble it myself.

-4 tomatoes, chopped. Again, I prefer organic.
-1 16oz (1 lb) box of whole wheat pasta. I used fettuccine.
-Salt and pepper to taste
-2 tablespoons of parsley, just to garnish

Directions
-Start boiling water in a big pot, add a handful of salt. Then when it comes to a boil, cook your pasta according to the instructions on the package. Before draining it, reserve 1/2 cup of the starchy pasta water. Then drain your pasta and set aside.
-Meanwhile, heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add your chopped onion and minced garlic. Season with a little bit of salt and pepper. Cook for about 5 minutes, until they soften.

-While that's going, chop up your peppers, then add to the skillet. You just want to warm them up a bit, so cook for about 2 minutes. Add a tiny bit more salt and pepper.

-Transfer the onion/garlic/pepper mixture to a food processor, add the broth or water and all the feta (leaving 2 tablespoons of it out for garnish if you want). Process until smooth. You can also do this in a blender. Taste your sauce and adjust seasoning.

-Add this mixture back into the skillet, add your chopped tomatoes. Add your reserved pasta and mix everything together.

-Add your starchy pasta water little by little just so the sauce comes together and mixes well with the pasta. Again, taste your food.

-Add your parsley and then divide among 6 bowls.

Serving Size: 6 servings. 1 1/4 cup each.
Nutritional info: 445 calories, 11g total fat, 5g monounsaturated fat, 1g polyunsaturated fat, 4.5g saturated fat, 17g protein, 70g carbs, 10g fiber, 22mg cholesterol, 810mg sodium