Mom's Pasta & Broccoli

It's still kind of warm for oven meals, and this is two in a row for me but they are just so darn tasty! I blame this meal for at least 10 pounds on my body. I can't eat enough of it. It's also a really delicious, filling, cheap meal. It costs about $4 to make.

Pasta and Broccoli

Ingredients:

• 1 pound broccoli (fresh or frozen), chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, chopped 
• 1 box of pasta
• 1/2 to 1 cup of Parmesan cheese   

Directions:

If you're like me and just buy bags of frozen broccoli for convenience,  thaw it in the microwave then sauté it in a little bit of olive oil and the garlic. If you use fresh broccoli or it's currently in season, chop it into bite size pieces and then just like it's frozen cousin, sauté with the garlic in some oil. And when I say "sauté", I mean brown fragrant garlic and almost burnt broccoli.

This is what we're looking for. The smell is heavenly. 

While that's going, boil some water and cook your pasta. Any shape that's bite size will do. I prefer shells, but currently am using Rotini because it's what we have. I've used Peene, Farfalle, even Campanelle. It doesn't lend well to Spaghetti or Linguine.

When your pasta is done, and your broccoli smells and looks AMAZING, dump the pasta in a baking dish and dump the broccoli, complete with oil and garlic on top and top with the cheese. You may need to ad some more oil for mixing. Just drizzle it on top before you mix it all together and it'll be fine.

And next, you guessed it, you mix it all together.

Bake at 350° for 25 - 35 minutes or until pasta becomes crispy on the edges of the pan. Spoon into bowl or plate and sprinkle with a little sea salt. You will thank me.

Mangia!