Easy Sweet Pepper Pasta Dish

   Oh how I love delicious pasta dinners that come together quickly. The thing about time, with cooking, is that you usually lose flavor when meals are quick. Time tends to bring all sorts of amazing tastes to the surface. However, this recipe doesn't skimp on flavor and you'll want it often. I'll have a step by step video on my Instagram (@Rosemaryandgrace). I'm not one to write my life story before a recipe, so just hop down to it (I love reading those stories btw #foodies but there's a time and place).  

Ingredients:

• 1 box of spaghetti noodles (prepared separately by box directions)
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil with 2 T of it removed and set aside for drizzling after. 
• 1 pint of grape tomatoes sliced in half
• 8-10 quartered sweet peppers of varying color
• 1 sweet onion sliced
• 3 cloves of very thinly sliced garlic. 
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp pink salt plus extra salt for your pasta water (I use about a T of sea salt in my pasta water
• 3/4 cup reserved pasta water 
• A very good sprinkle of Parmesan or and Italian cheese mix
• Chopped fresh herbs for garnish (Here I used basil, oregano, rosemary, and thyme)
• A few cracks of fresh ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Prep your veggies while the water for the pasta heats up. By that I mean slice the onion and garlic, halve the tomatoes, quarter the peppers, and finely chop the herbs. 
2. Follow the directions on the box for the pasta but after you add in the pasta to the boiling water keep 3/4 cup of pasta water before draining it. 
3. In a non-stick frying pan/skillet heat up pan alone for 2 minutes about on a medium heat.
4. Add in most of the olive oil to the pan, wait approx 1 minute for the oil to heat up.
5. Add in the onions and red pepper flakes to the pan, and cook for a few minutes, until they begin to soften and golden up in color. 
6. Add in the sweet peppers and slivered garlic. 
7. Stir the ingredients in the pan a couple of times making sure not to burn the garlic. 
8. Right when the pasta is about done add in the tomatoes to the skillet with the peppers and onions. Also, sprinkle everything with the salt and garlic powder. 
9. Stir all the pan contents together. 
10. Drain the pasta minus the 3/4 cup of pasta water (carefully!!!).
11. Slowly add in the pasta to the pan with the tomatoes, peppers, and onions. 
12. Turn off the heat to the skillet.
13. Once all the pasta is in the pan, toss with the 3/4 cup of pasta water. 
14. Sprinkle the fresh herbs into the mix and stir together. 
15. Top off the finished pasta dish with the reserved 2 T of olive oil, some ground black pepper, and then a good sprinkle of Italian cheese.

Hope you and yours love it like we do! We had ours with some grilled chicken and steak. Let me know if you have any questions or feedback!