Pasta with Broccoli, Green Beans and Spinach

sara tady ©

We've all been there.  We went a little crazy at the farmer's market or the produce aisle.  Now we have vegetables that are withering away faster than we can eat them.  Here's my solution:  saute them together with a few special touches, and you've got a heart-healthy pasta dish that can be made a million different ways.

Ingredients:
Fresh green beans
Broccoli
Spinach
Rotini or Cavatappi pasta (a thicker noodle works best vs. a spaghetti type noodle)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Parmasean or Ramano Cheese (that kind you keep in your refrigerator :) )
1 garlic clove

Directions:
step 1: bring water to a boil, add a liberal amount of salt, drop in pasta noodles
step 2: chop ends off of green beans
step 3: chop broccoli into bit sized pieces, eliminating stems
step 4: roughly run your knife through the spinach leaves
step 5: in a saute pan, drizzle some extra virgin olive oil around the pan- just enough to coat the bottom, low-medium heat
step 6: grate in about half a clove of garlic (don't own a grater? you can simply chop it)
step 7: drop spinach leaves into saute pan, let leaves wilt.  Salt and pepper. Keep heat low-medium as to not burn garlic
step 8: When pasta has about 5 minutes to go, drop broccoli and green beans in the same pot of boiling water for the remainder
step 9: strain pasta, broccoli and green beans
step 10: drop pasta, broccoli and green beans into the pan with the spinach, oil, and garlic. Mix.
step 11: mix in some parmasean/ramano cheese and serve!