Colorful Pepper Pasta (Frugal Food Thursday)

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I love red, yellow, and orange peppers, but most of the year they are way, way, way too expensive for my food budget.

But not this week! At a local grocery store, I found these colorful peppers for 69¢ per pound. There weren't any yellow peppers when I got there, but I loaded up on red and orange peppers.

So when I made dinner today, I decided to deviate from my menu plan and use the peppers for a yummy side dish.

I sauteed the peppers, along with scallions and mushrooms, in my new Bialetti Aeternum saute pan.  The scallions also came from this week's trip; the mushrooms were from ALDI, and the extra-virgin olive oil used to saute was from the Publix Italian Days sale.  I then mixed in some cooked macaroni from this Target trip and some spices and Parmesan cheese from ALDI.

It made for a delicious side dish that I served with roasted garlic tilapia that I purchased on sale with coupons last week from Publix. 

COLORFUL PEPPER PASTA

8 oz elbow macaroni
4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
4 scallions, sliced thinly
1 red pepper, chopped
1 orange pepper, chopped
1 4-oz can mushrooms, drained
1 tsp basil
1 tsp parsley
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Cook macaroni according to package directions; drain.

In a saute pan, heat 2 tbsp olive oil over medium heat.  Add the scallions and saute for 1 minute.  Add the peppers and saute the mixture for 3 minutes.  Add the mushrooms and saute for 1 more minute.

Add cooked macaroni to the saute pan.  Add spices and 2 tbsp olive oil.  Mix until the macaroni and vegetables are coated with the oil and spices.  Remove from heat and add the Parmesan cheese.

Serves 4 as a side dish.

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