Spinach Parmesan Pasta

If you are a food lover searching Google and Pinterest for pasta recipes, you’ll see that we live in a world full of zoodles. The nutritional benefits that come from replacing pasta with zucchini are quite clear: lower calories, lower carbs, and more vitamins and minerals. They are light, they are refreshing and they can replace pasta in most every instance. I’m a huge fan and I make them at least once a week!

But I’ll be darned if I don’t still love a big bowl of real pasta every now and then.

If there is something better than a big bowl of pasta, it’s a big bowl of pasta that can be thrown together in about fifteen minutes flat. I found this recipe on Two Peas & Their Pod and fell in love with its simplicity, its lightness and yet its ability to leave me feeling perfectly full without being overstuffed.

Truth: I ate this for dinner one night. Then I made it for lunch the next day. Then I ate it again for dinner that same night.

Spinach Parmesan Pasta
(Adapted from Two Peas & Their Pod's recipe for 5-Ingredient Spinach Parmesan Pasta).Serves 4.

Ingredients:

– 8 ounces thin spaghetti, uncooked
– 5 cups baby spinach, roughly chopped
– 3 cloves garlic, minced
– 1 tablespoon butter
– 1 tablespoon olive oil
– 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated, separated into two 1/4 cup parts
– Salt & pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Bring water to a boil in a large saucepan. Add thin spaghetti and cook until al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup of pasta water; drain pasta and set aside.

2. In the same saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat. Add olive oil. Add garlic and cook for two to three minutes or until soft and slightly golden brown. Turn off heat and return pasta to pan. Toss with garlic. Add spinach and toss well until spinach is wilted; slowly add pasta water, if needed, if pasta starts to dry out or spinach is slow to wilt. Toss with one part parmesan cheese. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

3. Serve with additional part of parmesan cheese for garnish.

Editor's note: We are reposting this review and photos - with small modifications - and thanks to Allison. Please visit her blog at the address below.