Many times I walk in the door fairly late and hungry for dinner. If I don’t have something already prepared that I can heat up, I look for a quick and simple option. This dish was perfect for that situation.

I took out two pots, one medium and one small. The larger one got filled with water, and put on high heat to boil. I put a can of diced tomatoes in the smaller pot, along with half a cup of pumpkin. (The rest of that can of pumpkin got saved for pumpkin oats, of course!) I added a dash of garlic powder, salt, and pepper to the sauce, and set it on medium-low heat to simmer. When the water boiled, I tossed in some whole wheat pasta and cooked it for 8 minutes. By the time I drained the pasta, the sauce was heated through, and I topped the pasta with the sauce and some grated Parmesan. Within about 20 minutes, a healthy dinner was served!

So that’s my third goal of 2010 – to come up with meals that are healthy, simple, and quick. Maybe next time I’ll set a timer and see just how long it did take me to throw this meal together!

• Main Dishes