Roasted Vegetables with Linguini

This is another recipe that I used to make all the time, years ago. I kind of forgot all about it until I was skimming through an online cookbook Id entered a bunch of recipes into. This one used to be my meal to impress. I always made it for company and everyone always loved it.

Speaking of company, I was just reminded of a funny thing that happened one night when I made this recipe. My sister and I were living together in my condo in Mesa and we decided to have our grandparents on our Dad's side over for dinner. So we planned ahead and decided to make them this roasted veggies with pasta. Well the evening comes and Ive got dinner all ready and they never showed up. I tried to keep it hot on the stove for awhile, but everything got really overcooked. Finally when they were 45 minutes late I called them and they were at home and had just ate. They completely forgot about dinner with us. They felt terrible and came right over. They sat down and had another entire dinner with us. I was watching my grandfather when he was talking, and he was pouring salad dressing all over his pasta. I didn't know what to think. Tiffany and I were eyeing him with curiosity. He ate his pasta first and thought it was wonderful. Then started in on the salad and realized there was no dressing on it. We all started laughing as he realized he poured the dressing all over the pasta dish, then ate it all up. It was so funny. I will never forget that. He said the pasta was still really good. hehehe. That was a fun night.

I clipped this out of a little Lipton recipe book that I bought in the aisle of a grocery store one time. I usually add some grilled chicken breast seasoned with poultry rub to this right at the end, to make it a more hearty meal. Also, the original recipe called for the Savory Herb with Garlic soup mix and I can no longer find that in stores. Now they are all some variation of onion flavor. I just use the Onion Mushroom flavor now and it tastes pretty much the same. Sometimes I add a few drops of hot sauce and a pinch of garlic powder to give it a little more spice. Ive also had good luck adding extra cheese and cream, to make it more saucy. I like saucy stuff.

Roasted Veggies with Linguine

2-3 lbs of veggies chopped (I like to use zucchini, squash, bell pepper, onions, mushrooms, asparagus)
1/2 cup olive oil
1 packet of Lipton Recipe Secrets
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1/4-1/2 cup half and half
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a large glass baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. Chop veggies into large pieces and put into a big plastic bag, pour in olive oil and soup mix packet. Shake until the veggies are coated. Pour into the prepared baking dish. Bake for 35 minutes, stirring once halfway through. After veggies are baked, pour cream and cheese into casserole and stir to make a creamy sauce. Toss with 1 lb cooked linguine or your favorite cooked pasta.