A Delicious Dish: Exploring a Family-Friendly Pasta Recipe on the Mediterranean Diet (Part 2)

We often think to ourselves that we are not eating healthy enough, and as parents it’s exceptionally tough because we want to ensure that our family is eating healthy but we are tight on time, so end up making quick, but less healthy choices.

Join us as we explore some family-friendly Mediterranean Diet recipes from our favourite bloggers and offer insights on affordability, availability of ingredients, ease of preparation, and of course – TASTE!

Be sure to check out our earlier blogs in this series:

• Cooking with Heart: Unlocking Family Wellness and the Power of the Mediterranean Diet

• Delicious and Nutritious: A Mediterranean Diet Recipe the Whole Family will Love

Let’s Get Started!

Choosing the Recipe

Pasta is probably the most family-friendly dish, so it was no surprise when our kids gravitated towards selecting a pasta recipe to review.

We’ve made this before, but they chose a Roasted Red Pepper Pasta from The Mediterranean Dish.  They chose this recipe because “we like pasta and red peppers, and it always looks and tastes so yummy.  It’s a nice change from eating spaghetti.” 

While still having a vibrant red colour like spaghetti sauce, we enjoy trying totally different flavour profiles.

Availability of Ingredients

Most ingredients used for this dish are quite common, so we had no problem finding everything at our local grocery store.  Nothing was overly expensive to buy.  In fact, buying fresh red peppers to roast would be the most expensive part.  

You can definitely roast the red peppers yourself – and we have done this before, but we thought that we would experiment to see if we could save time and achieve the same results by using roasted red peppers in a jar instead (an alternative suggested in the recipe).

We chose not to buy Spanish Paprika, which is more sweet, and we just used regular smoked paprika which we had on hand. 

In order to increase our fibre intake, we opted to use chickpea pasta - which is a healthier option but comes with a more expensive price tag than regular pasta.

Additionally, we chose to sauté and add in a bag of frozen scallops to boost the protein in the dish.  

Ease of Preparation

Again, this was a very easy recipe for the kids to help prepare.  That said, because the recipe requires the use of a food processor, it’s a good idea to have parents watching more closely – especially with younger children.  The recipe method was very easy to follow with only five simple steps. 

As mentioned, we decided to try the recipe this time with the roasted peppers in a jar.  This saved a lot of time because the most time-consuming preparation for this recipe is to roast the red peppers. 

We added about a tablespoon of the smoked paprika instead of a half teaspoon because we love the vibrant colour and bold flavour it adds.  Additionally, we doubled the amount of oregano to a teaspoon.

We’ve used the food processor to blend the ingredients into a smooth sauce before, but this time we were lazy and decided to try the immersion blender – which worked well too (and Bonus: had less clean-up).

The Verdict

This recipe is a favourite in our house!  It’s vibrant red colour and deep rich flavours make this pasta dish a showstopper. 

It feels and looks like a complex and expensive restaurant meal, but it’s actually got simple ingredients, comes together quickly and is easy on the pocketbook.

We will roast our own red peppers when there’s time, but in a pinch and on busy weeknights, the roasted peppers from a jar work really well.  

Let us know in the comments if you’ve tried this recipe and what you think!  We’d also love to hear who your favourite recipe bloggers are!