Pasta with Marinara,Garlic Bread, Green Salad, Marinated Beet Salad

This meal came together very quickly, which makes me quite happy!  Lately I have been craving white sauce to go over my pasta, but Hubby is very traditional in that sense - he loves his "red sauce" aka marinara sauce.  It's a good thing too, because whenever I made marinara, I always make a huge batch and freeze the leftovers, putting them in labeled deli containers in my freezer.  Now that I barely have two seconds to squeeze together, this is the best thing I could have done!  It works very well, because all I have to do is place it in a bowl of hot water for a couple minutes to loosen the contents from the container, then place the contents into a medium pot over low heat, put the lid on and stir it occasionally while the pasta and the rest of the ingredients cook.  What could be easier?!  In this case, I had luckily also had some already cooked beets in the fridge, so this meal came together even faster- basically in the time it took for the water to boil and the pasta to cook.  Because in the meantime, I washed the romaine, put the salad together and toasted the garlic bread.  Gotta love simple and quick!

Pasta with Marinara Sauce, Garlic Bread, Green Salad, Marinated Beet Salad:

Serves 2-3

Beet Salad

Pasta with Marinara Sauce:

Marinara Sauce

8 oz. spaghetti, broken in half

Vegan Parmesean Cheese

Garlic Bread

1/2 baguette, sliced thickly

6 tablespoons earth balance

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon sea salt, or to taste

2 pinched black pepper

Green Salad:

Romaine Lettuce

Sliced Roma Tomatoes

Shredded Carrots

1.  Prepare the marinara sauce and the beet salad as indicated in the links.

2.  Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. 

3.  Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling, salted, oiled water until al dente.  Drain.

4.  Prepare the garlic bread: place the earth balance, garlic powder, sea salt and black pepper in a small pot and melt over medium heat, stirring until completely smooth.  Using a pastry brush, generously brush the garlic butter over the slices of baguette.  Place on a baking tray and place in the preheated oven.  Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until the bread is golden and crispy. 

5.  Prepare the green salad:  toss together the chopped romaine lettuce, roma tomato slices and shredded carrots.

To serve, place a serving of pasta on the plate.  Top with marinara sauce and vegan parmesean.  Place a serving of the beet salad and green salad on the plate as well.  Place the toasted garlic bread on the plate.  Serve!

Enjoy!

-Koko