Light Spring Pasta

In an effort to be healthy, I bought a bunch of veggies. Once I put them in the vegetable drawer, I completely forgot about them. A few days later I remembered them and knew I had to use them immediately. I've been trying to use up the various pasta and rice I've also bought and forgotten about (yay buying in bulk) that I have, so I figured asparagus pasta would be the perfect option. I started cooking everything and looked in the fridge for cheese...FAIL. Only cheddar! So then I noticed I did have part of a lemon and garlic, and figured out a fantastic pasta.

What I think I love about this the most is how light it is. Leaving out the cheese turned out to be one of my better ideas, and the still-crisp asparagus gives an excellent texture to the pasta. The garlic keeps it flavorful and the lemon keeps it fresh. Try it today!

Light Spring Asparagus-Lemon Pasta
-8 oz of your choice of pasta
-About 10 spears or so of asparagus, washed and cut into small chunks
-1/4 of a lemon
-salt
-lemon pepper (or regular if you don't have it)
-olive oil
-1 clove of garlic

-Put lightly-salted water on to boil
-Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
-Meanwhile, clean the asparagus, put it in an oven-proof dish, drizzle olive oil on top, season with salt and lemon pepper and cook to your desired done-ness (about 10 min for still slightly crunchy)
-Once the water boils, add the pasta and cook to your desired done-ness (mine took about 10 min)
-Peel and finely chop or press the garlic
-Once the asparagus is done, chop it into small pieces (bite-sized) and put in a medium-sized bowl
-Once pasta is done, drain and add to bowl with asparagus, add the garlic, add a drizzle of olive oil, salt, lemon pepper, and squeeze the lemon juice on top. Adjust seasoning as needed.