Spaghetti is one of those foods you should always have on hand for the nights you want something easy, healthy and filling. 

You'll never tire of spaghetti if you remember to keep it fresh. Try choosing whole wheat noodles instead of white, adding your favourite vegetables to the sauce or even eating it cold. Here are our favourite grown-up spaghetti recipes:

Spaghetti sauce made with grape juice? Before you discount this original idea – give it a try. It’s totally kid-friendly and any healthy recipe that a kid will eat is worth trying! Besides, this all-purpose sauce can be used for almost any recipe that calls for tomato sauce, so it is a healthy, handy staple, too. 

A flavourful Italian-style sauce, this recipe makes enough for 4 lb/2 kg of spaghetti or other pasta, or enough for two vegetarian lasagnas or other baked pasta dishes, and it freezes well. Since canned tomatoes differ in saltiness, taste your sauce at the end of cooking before you season it. 

This pasta dish is a course on its own. 

Finely chopping the mushrooms in a food processor makes for easy work and allows the sauce to stick well to the pasta. Other long pasta, such as linguine or fettuccine, are also appropriate, and, in a pinch, you can use any short pasta. 

The classic combo of thinly sliced asparagus and eggs shines in this simple home-style pasta. 

In China, where this type of sauce is made from a sweet bean sauce prepared from fermented bread and soy beans, the noodles definitely would be white wheat noodles. For the goodness of whole grain, we use brown rice spaghetti, which keeps a nice tender but firm texture without the heavy taste of whole wheat noodles. You can buy fresh soy beans, known as edamame in Japanese, frozen in the pods or shelled at supermarkets; some brands come already cooked. 

This Northern Chinese sauce is hot with mustard; for the spice-wary, use only half of the mustard mixture in the sauce and serve the rest on the side to be added to the noodles as desired. For a vegan version, replace the eggs with sliced seasoned firm tofu. 

The slight bitterness of rapini is a perfect complement to the sturdy and nutty taste of whole wheat pasta, but feel free to use broccoli if you wish. It’s best not to refrigerate the cooked pasta, but if you want to make it ahead, toss it with a little olive oil to lightly coat before refrigerating, then let stand at room temperature for about 30 minutes before mixing in the other ingredients. 

Whole wheat pasta has a lower glycemic index and more fibre than regular pasta. Sprinkle freshly grated Parmesan or Romano cheese over top, if desired. Serve a mixed citrus salad for dessert to make it easier for your body to absorb the non-heme iron in the spinach. 

High-quality oil-packed tuna from Italy, Spain or Portugal makes this dish taste even better. Look for bran-enriched pasta from Italy because whole wheat pasta is a bit heavy. Any long, thin pasta, such as fettuccine, spaghetti or linguine, is suitable. This recipe is a little high in fat, but it's all comprised of heart-healthy oils. If you choose not to add the anchovies, which are optional, just double the amount of salt in the recipe.