I used some of the peppers from last week when I made pasta
primavera. They played such a small roll I normally wouldn't post about it, but I had to share with you a yummy healthy trick I just tried! Matt and I are watching "the biggest looser" this season and in one episode they mentioned you could replace half of your pasta with zucchini. I'd been dying to try it since. It was SO good! If you wanted to "hide" the zucchini, you could probably peel it first, but we like zucchini so I just sliced it into small strips and tossed it in with the pasta for the last minute it was boiling. (I mean, if you boil your pasta for 10 minutes, you toss in the zucchini after 9 minutes and drain it all together at 10.) Seriously, it was awesome. We are so doing this again. (My pasta
primavera also had mushrooms, asparagus, and peas. From (gasp!)
Winco and we tossed in some left-over cooked chicken at the end.)
Pasta Primavera (to the best I can recall!)
olive oil
1 # asparagus, ends snapped off, cut into 1" pieces
2 zucchinis, sliced like strands of pasta
4 crimini mushrooms, sliced
1 handful frozen peas
2 cloves garlic, minced
sweet red pepper, minced
salt & pepper, red pepper flakes
1 can diced tomatoes
1/2 C milk
1/2 # pasta
1/4 C fresh basil, minced
juice from one lemon
chopped cooked chicken (about a cup)
grated Parmesan
- boil salted water for pasta
- spray a saute pan with olive oil spray and heat over medium-high. Saute asparagus, mushrooms, red pepper, garlic, and spices until crisp tender. (If you're not used to cooking veggies this way, you may want to saute them one type at a time so nothing gets over-cooked. Or if your pan is too small for them all!)
-transfer veggies to a bowl
-add can of tomatoes & juice to empty pan until they thicken up a bit. Probably about 5 minutes. Stir in milk and simmer until thickened up a bit again. Probably about 5 minutes again. Stir in fresh basil. (if using dried, add it when cooking the veggies instead).
-when the water is boiling, add pasta and cook 8 minutes. Add the zucchini to the pot, boil one more minute, and drain all together. Make sure to save about 1/2 C cooking water.
-stir the pasta, sauce, veggies, and chicken all together. If it seems dry, add a little of the pasta water until it seems right. If you don't care about the calories, stir in some butter. Mmmmm. Season further with salt and pepper if needed, and top with Parmesan.
Stuffed Eggplant! I scooped out the flesh and cooked it with white wine, fresh basil, onion, garlic, mushrooms, shrimp, red pepper, and home-make whole-wheat bread crumbs. Sprinkled with Parmesan and baked it. If I wound up with another eggplant, I'd make it again. I'm just not a fan of eggplant, I guess.
Week 17 of 18! Beets, sugar pie pumpkin, 2 acorn squash, pears, onion, sweet potatoes, peppers, and dried beans. We made a batch of curry rice & kidney beans this week with the dried beans, but everything else is still untouched! I guess it is only Wednesday. And I'm about to go roast the peppers right now. (Hurry, before Rowen wakes up!)
and what do I do? Drag my toddler out in it of course!! Sweat pants, leather boots, and no mittens.... but it's the best we could do on short notice :o) He LOVED it! We were out for less than 10 minutes when I decided we should go in to let his hands thaw. He had a genuine tantrum! (hot cocoa solves everything, though) :o) Enjoy the snow, and stay safe everyone!!!
I roasted my peppers, finally! Look at all of them... wow.... shiney, oil-slicked peppers....
The instructions I found on the net said to put them on your highest oven rack. I thought the bell pepper was going to catch on fire. The oil did actually ignite a couple of times. Not for the faint at heart! After they were all roasty-toasty, I put them in a covered bowl to sweat for a while, and the the skin all but fell off. I sliced 'em up and popped 'em in the freezer for another day! Nice that I have a whole quart-size zipper bag FULL of roasted peppers to throw into soups, sauces, and anything bland this coming winter.
Then I got to try cake. Well, everyone wanted me to try cake. I refused. Plop.
My buddy Ems her monkey hat:
my buddy JJ in his monkey hat:
I used some of the peppers from last week when I made pasta primavera. They played such a small roll I normally wouldn't post about it, but I had to share with you a yummy healthy trick I just tried! Matt and I are watching "the biggest looser" this season and in one episode they mentioned you could replace half of your pasta with zucchini. I'd been dying to try it since. It was SO good! If you wanted to "hide" the zucchini, you could probably peel it first, but we like zucchini so I just sliced it into small strips and tossed it in with the pasta for the last minute it was boiling. (I mean, if you boil your pasta for 10 minutes, you toss in the zucchini after 9 minutes and drain it all together at 10.) Seriously, it was awesome. We are so doing this again. (My pasta primavera also had mushrooms, asparagus, and peas. From (gasp!) Winco and we tossed in some left-over cooked chicken at the end.)
Stuffed Eggplant! I scooped out the flesh and cooked it with white wine, fresh basil, onion, garlic, mushrooms, shrimp, red pepper, and home-make whole-wheat bread crumbs. Sprinkled with Parmesan and baked it. If I wound up with another eggplant, I'd make it again. I'm just not a fan of eggplant, I guess. 
Week 17 of 18! Beets, sugar pie pumpkin, 2 acorn squash, pears, onion, sweet potatoes, peppers, and dried beans. We made a batch of curry rice & kidney beans this week with the dried beans, but everything else is still untouched! I guess it is only Wednesday. And I'm about to go roast the peppers right now. (Hurry, before Rowen wakes up!)
The garbanzo beans are yummy but I'm not sure they're worth the effort on round two! This time I steamed them and made another batch of hummus, which was pretty yummy. Particularly on a ham and Swiss sandwich, replacing the mayo. Yum! I had a few tomatoes from our garden, so I canned them along with these, since Matt's not a big fan of fresh tomatoes and I just can't eat that many! They are so sweet and juicy though- it was kind of a shame to cook them all! But it will be so nice to pop open that jar when the fresh summer tomatoes are a thing of the past...
I'm holding on to the pumpkin for pumpkin pie season! It's in the garage where it'll stay nice and cool and hopefully keep for a month. I pickled the little cucumbers (batch two!) and roasted the beats- which are not only one of Rowen's favorite things to eat, but to paint with as well!
I baked the potatoes this week, which was rather blah... I think I'll stick with russets for baking since they get so nice and fluffy. The honey-dew again went to Rowen (who enjoyed it very much) and I put half a hot pepper in our black beans the other night. It seemed pretty spicy raw, but after cooking I couldn't hardly taste it. Guess I shouldn't be so timid!
In our email from the farm this week: 
