Spinach Rigatoni with Garden Vegetable Sauce & Gruyère

I made spinach rigatoni from Aldi tonight. I like the spinach rigatoni from Aldi. It's $3.99 for the bag, and the bag feeds the family with some leftovers, especially when I doctor it.

The bag supposedly feeds three. Because of all the cheese, they are high in saturated fat, but they are also high in protein and nutrients. I don't use the seasoning packet so that may reduce the sodium significantly. I don't know.

But one serving of just the pasta has 19 g protein, 5% RDA Vitamin A, 35% RDA calcium, and 15% RDA Iron.

And tonight I made this funky sauce:

• 1/4 cup leftover crôque monsieur sauce
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup shredded gruyère
  
• 2 teaspoons butter
• one teaspoon cornstarch
• 1/4 cup diced tomato from the garden
• 4 basil leaves from the garden
• One handful parsley from the garden
• 1 tablespoon chopped chives (from the garden)

I melted the butter, added the cornstarch and whisked until combined. I added the crôque monsieur sauce, the cheese and the heavy cream. Once combined, I added the herbs and the tomato. I cooked until bubbly.

When the noodles were done, I poured the sauce over the noodles in a big pot. Then I added:

• 3/4 cup finely chopped fresh broccoli, cooked
• 1 cup peas, cooked
• 1 shredded morningstar vegetarian chicken finger

And that was dinner.