Roasted Garlic Broccoli Rotini

This week, as a family, we've agreed to go meatless.  Not only is it good for our bodies, it's also good for the wallet.  Meat alternatives are everywhere, but taste, texture and appearance can be a huge problem when you have a family to please.  So, I'm challenging myself to make simple recipes out of food we enjoy, yet somehow skip the meat.  Hopefully we can adopt this effort as a regular part of our menu.  We'll see how it goes ...


Roasted Garlic Broccoli Rotini

4 cups broccoli florets
8 oz bag of Rotini
2 heads roasted garlic
1/2 cup black olives, drained
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3/4 cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese

Begin by roasting your garlic.  Seriously it's SO EASY.  Check out my friend Andrea's blog for an excellent how-to on roasting garlic.  I need roasted garlic for tomorrow night's dinner too, so I made a little extra.  It's so yummy!!

Bring 2 1/2 quarts of water to a boil in a dutch oven or stock pot.  Chop broccoli florets into bite-sized pieces.  Boil pasta and broccoli together until both are tender (8-10 min).  Drain and empty into serving dish.

Remove the roasted garlic from it's peel and squish with a fork.  Add to the pasta along with the black olives.  Drizzle olive oil over pasta, sprinkle in the cheese and stir.

Toss until cheese melts.

I reserved a tablespoon of the roasted garlic so Morgan could do her part for dinner - Garlic Bread!  She mixed it into a little margarine, and spread it on mini ciabatta bun halves.  We broiled them for a couple minutes and they turned out SO TASTY!

It was delicious success!!  We just enough left for lunch tomorrow afternoon.  One meatless meal down!  6 more to go ... :)