Recently, I won a giveaway over on Lisa’s 110pounds.com blog. I thought I had only won a $25 Visa gift card and some coupons for some Barilla pasta, but as it turned out, they sent me two boxes of pasta as well! I was also asked to make a recipe and post about it.

As you know from previous posts, I am all about Italian food, and will not hesitate to make delicious yummy pasta dishes if asked! Especially when the pasta was free!

So, I guess Barilla came out with some new pastas. One of which is a veggie pasta. They boast that each 3.5oz helping has one serving of vegetables in it. Thus far, I have been wary of veggie-type pastas, because of consistency and taste. I am not too big on pasta that claims to be pasta and then tastes like something else, ya know? So I admit, I was a bit apprehensive at first. Barilla’s veggie farfalle is made with carrots and squash, so it was an intriguing idea! Lisa told me that the pasta tasted like pasta, so I decided to give it a go.

I have an affinity for vodka sauce. If I had the time to make it myself, I would have for this recipe. But I think that Shop Rite’s brand of sauce is actually pretty delicious. So this was a cheaper and easy meal to make. And it was tasty!

I was really surprised by the taste of the pasta! It was actually a lot better than I was expecting. Granted, I will be giving up pasta in the new year, I could definitely see myself buying this variety more often if I were given the opportunity. I think the carrot/squash flavor was subtle enough, and didn’t overpower the flavor of the sauce. Given a choice, I might add more vodka next time

**Disclaimer: I was given two free boxes of pasta and asked to write this post. However, the recipe and opinions are my own!

barilla veggie pasta farfalle premio italian sausage vodka