Braised Cauliflower and Butternut Squash With Whole Wheat Penne

Lately, it's been our goal to eat healthier food, and that has inexplicably translated into eating more vegetarian dishes. Food like this can really convince me to eat vegetarian more often...
I found the recipe for this on Eating Well, whilst I was looking around for recipes that would be both healthy, and designed to feed two, so that I didn't have to scale anything down.
That said, this dish is bursting with flavour. The veggies are tender, but maintain enough of their bite so as not to be mushy. The penne is robust. Rich and I both loved this so much.
I had in fact never eaten cauliflower before this dish, so it was a very pleasant introduction to the vegetable.
I'll write the recipe here, but just keep in mind that Eating Well is the source.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 cups vegetable broth
4 ounces whole-wheat penne (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 cup 1-inch cauliflower florets
1 cup 1-inch pieces peeled butternut squash
Freshly ground pepper to taste
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:
Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat.
Add garlic, thyme and crushed red pepper and cook, stirring, for 1 minute.
Add broth, penne, cauliflower and squash. Bring to a boil over high heat.
Reduce heat to a lively simmer and cook, uncovered, until the pasta is tender and the liquid is thickened and greatly reduced, 10 to 15 minutes.
Remove from heat, stir in pepper and let stand for 5 minutes.
Serve topped with cheese.

Notes:
Notice that I used vegetable broth, whilst the recipe hints at a chicken flavoured vegetarian broth. I made this decision for two reasons: 1. That kind of broth is fairly difficult to find in my grocery, and 2. I did not keep the thickened broth in the dish. I poured all the solids into the bowls, coated them lightly with broth, and tossed the rest. I didn't want my dish to end up too soupy.
Also, I used a different kind of cheese. Partially because I forgot which cheese I needed when I was shopping for this dish. Partially because I like the taste of freshly grated parmesan. Not that bottled stuff. That stuff is horrible. But fresh from the block? Yes please.