Tuna Rigatoni with Sun-Dried Tomatoes

This dinner idea with pasta for tuna rigatoni with sun-dried tomatoes is a great way to make a healthy meal the whole family will love. This easy, delicious pasta recipe has all sorts of healthy ingredients from chunk light tuna, whole grain rigatoni, sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil and crushed red pepper flakes for a delicious main dish recipe any night of the week. This healthy and easy pasta meal idea makes four servings. The shredded parmesan and fresh parsley add flavor and color to this wholesome recipe idea.

Using sun-dried tomatoes in this easy, delicious pasta recipe is a good way to pack a nutritional punch in this easy to make idea. One cup of sun-dried tomatoes has just 139 calories (sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil will be higher in calories), eight grams of protein and eight grams of fiber. A one-cup serving of healthy sun-dried tomatoes has 39 percent of the recommended daily intake of potassium, which is an essential nutrient for muscle contraction and the transmission of nerve impulses. In the same serving size, there are good amounts f iron and riboflavin, along with of niacin. The B vitamins found in sun-dried tomatoes are essential for converting food to energy, helping to maintain the nervous system and to keep skin healthy. You'll also receive 19 percent of the daily intake of vitamin K from a serving of sun-dried tomatoes, which is necessary for blood clotting and regulates bone mineralization. As if all this wasn't enough sun-dried tomatoes are also full of antioxidants which help to protect the body from free radicals which are the natural byproducts of chemical processes in your body. Free radicals, unfortunately, damage cells and help to contribute to diseases, such as arthritis, cancer, and cardiovascular disease. Antioxidants help to protect your health and body by neutralizing the free radicals and lowering inflammation. Just one cup of sun-dried tomatoes can provide about 16 percent of vitamin A, and 23 percent of the recommended daily intake of vitamin C. Vitamin C helps to support the body's immune system and neutralizes the free radicals throughout the body. Vitamin A is essential for your vision and may strengthen the immune system. In sun-dried tomatoes, you will also find lycopene, lutein, and zeaxanthin which also work as antioxidants. One cup of sun-dried tomatoes has approximately one milligram of lutein and zeaxanthin and 25 milligrams of lycopene. With all the healthy benefits of sun-dried tomatoes, you'll want to try to include them in more recipes. Italians originally dried their tomatoes on their ceramic roof-tops in the hot summer sun.

The addition of crushed red pepper to this easy pasta meals brings out the flavors in this wholesome main dish idea. Crushed red pepper also known as red pepper flakes are a spicy condiment that consists of dried and crushed red chili peppers. This spicy condiment is typically made from cayenne-type peppers. Crushed red pepper shakers can be found just like salt and pepper on tables at Pizza restaurants and Italian restaurants across the United States and Canada. You will often find that there is a high ratio of pepper seeds in the crushed red pepper mix, which some people mistakingly believe intensifies the heat of this condiment. Crushed red pepper can be used in dinner ideas with pasta, pickling, spaghetti sauce, chowders, soup recipes, and sausage recipes to name a few.

This dinner idea with pasta can be found on the Wholesome Recipes site. On this recipe site, you will find everything from breakfast recipes, clean eating, crockpot ideas, gluten-free, easy pasta meals, vegan recipes, vegetarian ideas and so much more. **