Becca's Pantry Clearing Pasta

This was originally posted in the comments section on my blog, and I copied it over here. Let me know, Becca, if there's anything in any way funky about that. I got your back.

OK. Depending on tastes, here's a meatless, non-dairy pasta recipe I did last night. I call it "Pantry Clearing Pasta" since the idea is to toss in veggies and such lying around.

1/2 sweet onion, chopped
1 carrot, peeled and sliced
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 bag frozen sugar snap peas (about 4 oz)
2 tomatos, seeded and diced
6-8 kalamata olives, pitted and roughly chopped
olive oil
canola oil
balsamic vinegar
salt
pepper
oregano
1 box pasta (penne, rotini, farfalle, whatever)

Set pot of water to boil for pasta.

Set saute pan on medium heat and cover bottom of pan with olive oil. Add canola oil so ratio of olive to canola is 2:1. Add about a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar. After oil is hot, add onion and sprinkle with kosher salt and pepper. After onions begin to soften, add carrots. After carrots begin to soften, add garlic. Sweat for 2-3 minutes, add tomato and oregano (to taste).

After stirring and simmering another 1-2 minutes, add sugar snap peas and kalamata olives.

Add pasta when water boils. Let sauce cook on low till pasta is al dente.

Drain pasta--do not rinse. Add pasta back to pot and pour sauce, toss to coat (If your saute pan is large enough, add pasta to pan and toss to coat). Serve as-is or add Parmesan to taste.

That's it. I usually don't prep ahead, but prep an ingredient, add it, and move to the next--the timing works out. And it's flexible--add or substitute mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, capers, green beans--combine whatever is on hand. Also great to add leftover chicken if you have it. Overall, takes 20-25 minutes--however long to bring the water to boil and cook the pasta.