Pasta and Shrimp Primavera

A few weeks ago, I won a contest at Grace's blog, A Southern Grace! I won! The prize? Well, the folks from Garofalo sent me pasta, three different varieties of delicious pasta! We love pasta in this house, so I was very happy, let me tell ya! Garofalo sent a pound of whole wheat spaghetti that I decided to use for this Pasta and Shrimp Primavera. A few years back, I had made a primavera that was loaded with veggies and had a tomato base instead of a cream base. But, I have lost the recipe, so I decided to wing it again and came up with my own version, which is extremely good! I will make this again and again as my husband and I really enjoyed it. It's a fairly quick meal, suitable for weeknight dinners, but yet nice enough to serve to company!

First of all, you need to prepare all the veggies, then saute some shrimp in olive oil. I bought frozen shrimp that was already shelled and deveined. That saved a lot of time, plus, I can't buy fresh shrimp here. I removed the shrimp from the skillet and added some asparagus, onion and zucchini and sauteed until tender crisp. Don't overcook!

I added a little more oil, some minced garlic and sauteed til fragrant. I wanted to use fresh, diced tomatoes, but mine aren't ripe yet, so I used a can of Fire Roasted Tomatoes, which worked really well. Add the cooked shrimp and stir this mixture til tomatoes are heated through. Add 16 ounces of hot, cooked pasta.

Toss ingredients together and serve! Be sure to add cheese! It is a delicious, very flavorful and healthy dish that isn't too time consuming to prepare. It was wonderful with Garofalo's whole wheat spaghetti, but you could use any pasta you desire. Enjoy it with a salad and some crusty bread.

PASTA and SHRIMP PRIMAVERA

16 ounces of cooked pasta

1 bag of frozen, shrimp- shelled and deveined (I used a 14 ounce bag)

2-4 T. olive oil

5 or 6 garlic cloves, minced

1 zucchini squash, or yellow squash, diced in bite size pieces

1 pound of asparagus, ends trimmed off and cut into 1 inch pieces

1 medium onion, diced- I used a red onion

1 can of Fire Roasted Tomatoes (about 15 ounces), or 2 cups of fresh, diced tomatoes

fresh basil- I used about 3T. of chopped fresh basil

salt and pepper to taste

Fresh Parmesan cheese or Feta cheese

Cook pasta and drain. While pasta is cooking, prepare all the vegetables. Break tough ends off of asparagus and cut stalks into 1 inch pieces. Cut zucchini in half lengthwise, then in half lengthwise again, and slice. Dice onions. Now, in a medium hot skillet, add 1 T. of olive oil and add in shrimp. Cook about 2minutes until shrimp are pink and opaque looking. Remove the shrimp from skillet. Add another T. of olive oil and add squash,onion and asparagus to the skillet-saute until crisp tender, about 4-5 minutes. Move veggies to side of pan and if needed, add more olive oil to saute the garlic. Only cook the garlic until very fragrant but not brown. Pour in the tomatoes and basil and stir to heat through. Stir shrimp back in and add the cooked pasta and toss well. Place primavera on plates or in a pasta bowl to serve. Serve with plenty of Parmesan cheese or Feta cheese. Enjoy!

So, are you a fan of whole wheat or whole grain pastas, or do you prefer the regular white pastas? NOTE: If you'd like an extra kick of flavor, try adding a good pinch of dried red pepper flakes with the garlic, and cook as directed.