When I cook, I always have a recipe to follow. I am not very good at winging it, or just looking at what I have in the fridge and pantry to be able to put something together. I need to have a place to start and then I can improvise and take a little inspiration from one recipe and combine it with another.  That is how this Springy Green Pasta happened.

I had just received the April 2014 edition of Cooking Light in the mail which had a delicious looking pasta recipe on the cover. I didn’t have all the ingredients the recipe called for so I decided to use it as my guide to create my “Springy Green Pasta.”

I followed the Cooking Light recipe almost exactly, except for a few changes.  I substituted Ricotta cheese for the mascarpone cheese and cream cheese that the original recipe called for since I always have ricotta in the fridge and used a Quinoa and Brown Rice Fusilli pasta from Trader Joes…my dad cringes when I don’t make regular pasta but I like to mix it up and try different things, and I happen to really like the quinoa pasta. Definitely give it a try!  You want to know what else is great about this recipe? It’s super easy and it will be on your dinner table in no time!

Springy Green Pasta 

Ingredients

1 large garlic clove, thinly sliced

1 tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1/3 cup cooking water (from pasta)

1 cup Ricotta Cheese
1 lb Quinoa Pasta (or what you like)
1 1/2 cups (1-inch) asparagus pieces
1/2 cup frozen green peas
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preparation

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook according to package directions. Drain and reserve 1/3 cup of cooking water. Set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet. When hot, add the sliced asparagus. Saute for about 4 minutes, until bright green but still slightly crisp. Add minced garlic, peas and saute for another 30 seconds until fragrant. Add hot cooked pasta, ricotta, salt and pepper. Add a splash of the cooking water and stir well. If pasta looks dry you can add another splash but do this slowly…you could always add more! Enjoy!

nom nom nom!

With love and sugar, Kristen xo.