Popeye Pasta

I am so glad that Spring is finally here! The blossoming trees and the bright colored daffodils and bulbs bring such a great treat to your eyes. Spring and fall are my favorite seasons.

We all have seen popeye, dunking all that spinach and becoming strong! don't you want your munchkins to get the goodness of fibre, iron and vitamins from spinach?
 No worries, you are at the right place! I made pasta with some left over spinach and some red kidney beans and it was absolutely delicious. My 2 year old gobbled a lot and i was pretty pleases as she got a good serving of her greens! You can throw in any beans you want, I had some red kidney beans and I made use of it. Replace elbow macaroni to any of your favorite pastas like fusili, penne or etc...

Get Ready: (serves 2)

• 2 cup thinly chopped baby spinach
• 3 cloves garlic chopped
• 2 hand full Cherry tomatoes hlaved
• 1/2 onion thinly chopped
• 1/2 cup red kidney beans ( i used canned, thoroughly rinsed)
• 1 cup elbow pasta uncooked
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• salt to taste
• red chilli flakes to taste.

Go:

• Cook pasta,drain & reserve about 1/3 cup pasta water.
• Add 1 tbsp Olive oil ina pan. add the onion and garlic and saute till translucent.
• add the chopped spinach and cook for a few mins till it has  wilted
• throw in the cherry tomato halves.
• add the kidney beans and salt to taste.
• saute for few mins
• Add the cooked pasta and couple of tbspoons of pasta water. add more pasta water if needed
• add 1 tbsp of olive oil and toss everything well. turn the heat off.
• Serve with some chilli flakes for an extra kick.

I did not have chilli flakes, so i dry roasted one red chilli, powdered it and added on top of my pasta.Oh.. spicy!!!
 I am not a big cheese person, but if you wish add some grated parmesan/ romano cheese!

Packed this for school lunch and my son brought the container empty!

Also wanted to share these beautiful blooms from my back yard!