One Pot Pasta

Recently, my cooking focus has been on using less salt and fat and more fiber. Besides being healthier than pre-made pasta sauces, this way of cooking pasta has been more economical with most ingredients readily available. I have been cooking pasta several times a week this summer BUT without pre-cooking or boiling the pasta. Not only does this save an extra pot washing and wasted water but energy (both the gas to heat the water and ac to cool the extra warmed air in the kitchen) as well as being easier, not having to worry about watching the clock to cook the pasta just right.
These pasta dishes are similar to soups that have enough pasta added to absorb the broth. I happened upon this idea when accidentally adding dry noodles to my chicken soup and having all of the delicious broth absorbed turning a soup truly into a chunky meal. Pasta prepped for the microwave works on the same principal but just uses less water.
Taste-wise, the pasta absorbs the flavors instead of being covered in it. It seems like the higher fiber pastas prefer this method, tasting better absorbing the flavors instead of trying to cover them with sauces. All I have to do is shift some of the ingredients to have a completely different dish from Italian to Indian to Asian to Southwestern and everything inbetween.
Try any of your favorite pasta dishes this way or create your own. Prep takes about 20 minutes then another 20 minutes to cook. It can just be left to finish on its own, stirring occasionally while preparing whatever else you want for the rest of the meal like meat or salad, etc. We usually serve Foreman grilled chicken or pork chops if I am cooking or fried pork or chicken cutlets if DH is cooking.

Basically, I saute chopped garlic in Canola oil with whatever else I have in the house (chopped bell peppers, onions, etc.) and whatever seasoning is the focus for that meal. I have a large deep frying pan that works great for this.
Once the veggies are soft, I then add liquids usually in the form of a can of diced tomatoes and/or other canned veggies like spinach or black beans or a can of broth if no canned veggies. Also add an extra can or so of water to give the pasta more liquid to absorb. If a full 16 oz of pasta, I add up to two cans of water (more water tips at the bottom).
Bring the concoction to a low boil, add pasta, cover, lower flame, and stir it every 10 minutes till the liquid is absorbed and pasta is tender. Can add more liquid if needed or cook longer to absorb more liquid.

Last evening, I did Asian:
(1)chopped and sauteed garlic, red bell pepper, and onions
(2)seasoned the veggies with an Asian seasoning of garlic, ginger and white pepper and some ground celery and cooked till tender.
(3)added soy sauce, a whole can of pineapple tidbits including its juice (I did cut the tidbits in half), a can of low salt/low fat broth, a can of water.
(4)when almost boiling, added a higher fiber pasta (thin spaghetti which I broke into 3 parts), covered and lowered the flame to low.
I could have added canned spinach or any other vegetable like frozen broccoli with the liquids but with the higher fiber pasta didn't think it necessary.
Today we are frying the leftovers cuz we love leftover pasta fried.
The leftovers can also be eaten as a cold pasta salad.

Just change the seasonings and canned ingredients to whatever your family prefers.
If I have extra green bell peppers to chop and saute, we love an Italian pasta with a meatless tomato sauce and peppers dish done this way. Lately, I have been adding split red lentils to the veggie saute especially when aiming for Indian flavoring.

Tips:
It's fun trying various pasta shapes like Orzo or tiny shells.
Aldis has a great canned spinach which works better than frozen.
You can also add water to dehydrated stuff like minced onions or garlic as a shortcut to chopping fresh veggies.
A splash of Balsamic vinegar works great with canned diced tomatoes.
A large can (28oz) of crushed tomatoes works well with one can of water.
(Basically need two smaller 14 oz cans of water or one large can)
Rice can be used instead of pasta (we just prefer pasta)

ETA: I will be adding tips to the above as I think of them. LOL