RECIPE | CREAMY TOMATO ZUCCHINI PENNE

I love pasta. You'll notice a lot of my recipes are pasta driven. For one, it's delicious. Two, it keeps a semi-vegetarian like me satiated and full. I also find that it's easier to build a plant-based diet around Italian cuisine as a lot of it is founded on tomatoes, grains, herbs, eggplant, zucchini and other delicious vegetables.

This recipe is my Creamy Tomato Zucchini Penne with some mushrooms without the use of cheese. It's SO SIMPLE to make. You just need organic creamy mushroom soup, good quality marinara sauce, 1 onion, 1 zucchini, box of pasta, flat leaf parsley (optional), and olive oil! It's a 25-minute pasta recipe and it's great as leftovers.

In this recipe, I'm cooking with my favourite olive oil by Terra Delyssa which you can find at Costco and Walmart. And I'm cooking with my all-time favourite marinara sauce by Victoria Fine Foods, I use it all the time for my pasta's and it never fails me. For the pasta, I use Barilla Pasta and recently I just discovered they introduced a fully organic pasta line which I need to try one day! I like the taste and texture of their pastas along with the fact that they're aiming to reduce their carbon footprint by lowering CO2 emissions, electricity and water usage. Read more about their sustainability mission here. They're also such an accessible brand so why not use them.

I hope you give this recipe a shot and let me know what you think! Please also share it with your family and friends!

Disclaimer: I am not sponsored by any of these companies listed.

SERVES 3-4 | PREP TIME 10 MINS | COOK TIME 15 MINS

• 450 g of Penne pasta
• 2 cups of marinara sauce
• 1.5 cups of canned/boxed cream of mushroom soup
• 1-2 zucchinis sliced
• 1 small onion diced
• handful of flat leaf Italian parsley, chopped
• 1 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil

1. In a large boiling pot of salted water, boil pasta according to package instructions. Save 1/4 cup of the pasta water for later. Strain pasta and set aside. Tip: For Al-Dente texture, boil pasta 1 minute less than the instructed time as you will be mixing the pasta into the hot sauce later.
2. In another large sauce pan set on medium heat, fry onions in olive oil. Fry until fragrant, add in sliced zucchinis and fry for until they are tender brown on each side.
3. Add in the marinara sauce, creamy mushroom soup and reserved pasta water. Throw in the parsley. Mix until well combined and bring sauce to a boil. Shut off the heat. Add in the strained pasta and mix until Penne is coated, only 1 minute. Remove off heat. Serve immediately and enjoy!