Pasta is one of our family’s favourite meals and we usually have some sort of pasts dish at least once a week. You know what pasta is? It’s a fast & delicious dish to make when there is not a lot of time to cook, and it lends itself to so many wonderful variations, like this Easy Spaghettini with Garlic, Red Pepper & Extra Virgin Olive Oil. With pasta that cooks in mere minutes, along with the fresh flavours of garlic and red pepper, and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and cheese, family dinner is on the table lickety split. Having a collection of easy dinner ideas makes cooking more enjoyable for families to enjoy meals together with important time for connecting and bonding.
Barilla Canada has launched Share The Table™ in Canada, an initiative dedicated to helping make mealtime meaningful again. A new study hosted on the Angus Reid Forum for Barilla Canada reveals that although nearly all {96 per cent}Canadian parents surveyed feel sharing meals in important to connecting their children, less than half {46 per cent} have family meals every day. Barilla.ca wants to show Canadians tips, tricks and recipes to help make bringing the family to the dinner table even easier. Celebrity Chef David Rocco has partnered with Barilla to help spearhead the movement.
“Dinner is an occasion when everyone can come together, cook and share the day’s events in a relaxed atmosphere,” says David Rocco, host of Food Network’s Dolce Vita and author of multiple cookbooks. ” As a father myself, I keep dinnertime with my family free of outside distractions, and I’m encouraging families to get everyone involved in preparing and enjoying dinnertime to make a positive difference in their lives.”
For many families, work is getting in the way of connecting the family at mealtime. But as a mom of two very busy teens, I have to say that with a 14 year old and a 19 year old, family mealtime is made hard by different schedules…mainly part-time jobs and sports schedules. It was actually much easier to plan family mealtime when my kids were younger and in elementary school. As children get older, they get part-time jobs and driver’s licenses, so it becomes more of a challenge to have schedules coordinated for family meals to happen! So having easy meals that are just mere minutes to prepare for those spontaneous times when every one is home and able to eat together become even more important!
- 1 box Barilla Plus Spaghettini
- To taste salt
- 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic, chopped to taste
- chili flakes
- 1 tbsp. parsley, chopped
- 1. Bring water to a boil and season with salt. Cook the pasta 1 minute less than required cooking time.
- 2. Meanwhile, saute garlic and some chili flakes in olive oil until slightly yellow in colour. Add 1 cup of cooking liquid and bring to a boil. Drain pasta and toss with sauce and parsley. Serve.
- Put your own spin on this and add chicken, seafood or other fresh ingedients!
With this easy recipe, dinner can be on the table in under 10 minutes, and you can be enjoying quality family time!
For more information on tips, recipes and advice on how to Share the Table™, visit Barilla.ca.
Stay tuned for an exciting giveaway from Barilla Canada and Echoes of Laughter coming up in the next few days!
Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Barilla Canada. As always, I only partner with brand that I use and love in my own home. All opinions are 100% my own opinions.
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