Healthy "Italian Pasta & Veges" summer dish!

This weekend I worked really hard looking for recipes that I can pre-prepare & eat through out the week. The point of these dishes are to make me NOT feel like a huge fatty after eating them. Your body & bowls can only get so far eating frozen pizzas & canned pasta.

Today my first recipe experiment ended with nothing but delicious success. I call this my


Italian Pasta & Veges
What you'll need...
1 box of penne or rigatoni pasta
1 jar of fat free zesty Italian dressing
1 pint of cherry tomatoes
2 small green peppers
1 large red pepper
1 medium cucumber
1 can of black beans

Optional: a few tablespoons of grated parmesan cheese

1. First, you'll want to cook your pasta by boiling the noodles for 5-10 minutes & drain without rinsing. Set the noodles to the side. (add a dash of salt & a few teaspoons of fat free olive oil to keep the noodles from sticking to each other. fat free butter can also work.)
2. Next, you'll need to dice up the peppers & the cucumbers. Wash the cherry tomatoes. Open the can of black beans & drain the liquid from the can.
3. Now you'll need to heat your skillet. Add all of the vegetables to the skillet & let it cook for a few mintues. Next, add the entire jar of fat free Italian dressing. Let it simmer for 2 minutes. Last, add the noodles. Saute & mix the noodles & veges until the noodles are tender & the tomatoes are all slightly burnt.
4. Top w/ grated parmesan cheese, & enjoy!

This recipe can make enough servings for you to enjoy for either lunch or dinner for about a week. The pasta will give you the right amount of carbs to keep you moving (NO carbs ARE NOT BAD as long as you are using them for ENERGY! come on people, get educated. Don't listen to these one sided dietitians!) & the black beans will give you the protein you need to get through the day. The mixture of the veges give you enough flavor that you literally do not need to add any more kinds of ingredients or spices that could compensate the low-calories & low-fat dish!

One more awesome thing about this dish? Don't cook it at all! After chopping up your veges, add all of it together without the skillet, add the dressing, & you have a tasty pasta salad for a hot summers day!

Easy & delicious!

What are some of your favorite low-fat recipes?