"Ratatouille" a la Moi

I was grocery shopping for dinner the other night - wanting to make a healthy, easy and inexpensive pasta dish - and the end result was something I think will now be a weekly or bi-weekly staple. I went first to produce and bought what looked the best (variations are certainly possible though for this recipe - I think whatever veggies are the most fresh would work well!), along with a few other simple ingredients:

1 large sweet onion
1 green pepper
1 container of mini portobello mushrooms
1 bag baby spinach
1 green zucchini
1 yellow squash/zucchini
1 box whole wheat pasta
28-oz can San Marzano crushed tomatoes
Dorot garlic and basil (2 cubes of each - or 2 garlic cloves and fresh or dried basil to taste)
salt & pepper
grated parmesean (to taste, for serving)
olive oil

Wash and chop up all the vegetables (leaving the pieces a little larger than if diced, and slicing the zucchini and squash thin). In a saucepan over med-high heat, add a tablespoon or two of olive oil, the garlic and the basil. After about 1 minute, add the onions and pepper. Stirring frequently, cook for about 3 minutes and then add the remaining fresh vegetables minus the spinach. After cooking for another 5 minutes or so, add the spinach and continue to move the mixture around and add a little more olive oil if needed. Once the spinach has wilted, add the can of crushed tomatoes, a dash of salt and a few grinds of fresh pepper. Bring the sauce to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer - and let it simmer for at least 20 minutes. Meanwhile, cook the whole wheat pasta al dente in a seperate pot, drain completely and then either add it directly to the sauce or keep the two seperate and serve the pasta with sauce poured over it in individual dishes, topped with the parmesean. Healthy, filling, inexpensive and easy - and the leftovers taste just as good as the night before!