The easiest dinner in the world, in my humble opinion, is pasta. There’s a reason it’s one of the first things we learn to make as young adults and college students. In our home, we mix in vegetables with our pasta, basically using whatever we have on hand to add variety to a weekly staple. And pasta never disappoints. Hubby and I are both suckers for carbs and love the warm, cozy feeling of a warm dish of pasta, and mixing up the veggie add-in helps make sure that we never get bored.

This time we added eggplant, and fancied it up with some fresh parsley and lemon juice. It was divine! Sometimes the simplest things in life are the most rewarding. For our gluten-free friends, there are so many great gluten-free options out there these days so please feel free to substitute your favorite GF pasta in this recipe.

Ingredients
½ box pasta
½ jar tomato sauce
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 small yellow onion, chopped
½ large eggplant (or 1 small eggplant), chopped into bite-sized pieces
2 Tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley, reserve ¼ for garnish
Dash each crushed red pepper & Italian seasoning, optional
Juice of ½ lemon

Instructions

Bring 6 cups water to a boil in a large saucepan. Add pasta and cook according to instructions, usually around 10 minutes or until al dente. Strain in a colander. Meanwhile, drizzle olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat and add yellow onion and eggplant. Cook until veggies are tender and browned, stirring frequently to avoid sticking to the bottom of the pan. Add tomato sauce, parsley, and lemon juice and reduce heat to low. Allow to simmer until the pasta is finished cooking. Serve eggplant sauce mixture over pasta, garnished with more chopped fresh parsley.

Serves 2