Happy New Year and welcome back to the Planet Forward blog once again. As we greet 2012 many are making resolutions to lead healthier, greener and sustainable lifestyles – an admirable goal. At Planet Forward, we are trying to help you keep your resolutions with a series of healthy Meatless Monday recipes that we share with our readers every Monday. What is Meatless Monday? It’s when people pledge to give up meat one day a week, which is not only good for you physically, but it also provides environmental benefits by reducing meat consumption in favour of plant based foods.

Tonight for dinner we are making a quick, easy, delicious Italian dish: whole wheat penne with mushroom ragu, otherwise known as penne con la salsa di funghi. This recipe comes by way of Mary Ann Esposito, star of PBS’s Ciao Italia with Mary Ann Esposito. Watch the youtube video below. Let’s get cooking.

Ingredients:
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/4 cup minced parsley
• 1 tablespoon thyme leaves
• 1 pound fresh mushrooms, stemmed and sliced
• 4 plum tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
• 1/3 cup vegetable broth
• Salt to taste
• Grinding black pepper
• 16 oz. package penne

Directions:

1. Heat butter and oil in a casserole over medium high heat.
2. Mince the garlic, parsley and thyme together and add to the butter mixture. Cook for a couple of minutes. Add mushrooms and cook until they exude their liquid and the pan looks dry.
3. Stir in the tomatoes and add the broth. Cover and cook over simmering heat for about 20 minutes.
4. Uncover the pan and season with salt and pepper to taste.
5. Serve over cooked penne.

This recipe for whole wheat penne with mushroom ragu will dress one pound of penne, so it will serve four people. This dish is incredibly quick to make so dinner will be ready in minutes. We changed the chicken broth in the original recipe for vegetable broth; you can even purchase veterinarian chick broth. Know that you can use canned plum tomatoes; simply store the leftover tomatoes in an airtight container in the fridge. When trying to make your meals a little bit healthier, simple swap outs have the biggest impact; in this recipe use low-sodium vegetable broth. It’s best when you control the amount of salt in your cooking, which is also a heart healthy move, so try to use unsalted butter as this recipe suggest whenever you can. Using a whole wheat pasta also makes the dish healthier as it adds fiber, you can use whole grain or spelt or any other fibrous pasta. Complete this offering with a green salad dressed with either oil and balsamic vinegar or a light Italian dressing.

The best part of this meal is that you know every ingredient in it. Enjoy!

If you want to learn more about the sustainable Meatless Monday movement, please visit meatlessmonday.com.

Please enter the url to a YouTube video.

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