1 lb of Pasta Looks Much Smaller in the Box. . .

109. That's how many recipes I have bookmarked. How many have I actually made? Probably 5, maybe 6 but that's giving myself the benefit of the doubt. This means I have 103 recipes in my overly-organzied recipe bookmark section that I have yet to try. Despite this massive number, I still spend about 3 hours a day looking through food blogs (FoodGawker and Finding Vegan are in my top 5 most visited sites). With the kitchen to my self tonight and no plans until much later, I decided it was time to actually make dinner from a recipe rather than just making my normal bowl dinner. Although I succeeded in trying out a new recipe, I failed in trying one of my bookmarked recipes. Instead, I got a recipe from my College Vegetarian Cooking cookbook. I asked for this cookbook at Christmas. Any guesses of how many recipes I'd made from it before tonight? 

I don't know what it is that I have against recipes. I obviously like collecting them, but for some reason my mind correlates the idea of following a recipe with the ideas of lack of creativity and time consuming. Tonight proved that neither of these are true. In fact, having a recipe can actually save time: you have a set list of things to buy instead of wandering around the grocery store (which I still do, but that's only because it's one of my favorite places), there's less room for mistakes, which means less time trying to figure out how to fix it, and you don't have to come up with an idea from scratch. This leads into the lack of creativity misconception. Especially in cooking, a recipe is more of a guideline. Yes there is some science that goes into it, but in general, you can add or take out any ingredients that you want, making the dish truly your own. 

My first recipe from College Vegetarian Cooking was a success! The vegetables were perfectly tender without being mushy, the pasta was slightly chewy but not hard or too soft, and the cheese and milk gave the dish a very light creamy texture without being heavy. The cheese even gave the dish that memory-evoking swish sound that only cheese mixed with pasta can make (if you've ever made mac n' cheese you know EXACTLY what I'm talking about). Although the dish was wonderfully light and filling at the same time, I added an herb seasoning to the left overs just to give the dish a little flavor kick.

Pasta Primavera 
Adapted from College Vegetarian Cooking

The book says it makes 4-6 servings. I had a TON of leftovers so I'd say it definitely makes closer to 6

Ingredients:

• 1 carrot
• 1 cup frozen broccoli florets
• 1 very large zucchini
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 tomato
• 3/4 cup frozen peas
• 1 pound uncooked pasta
• 1/2 cup almond milk (any type of milk will work) 
• 3/4 cup shredded mozzarella and Parmesan cheese mix (Sub in vegan cheese to make the whole dish vegan friendly!)
• Salt and pepper 

Directions:

1. Place about 1 in of water in a large saucepan over high heat and bring to a boil. Peel carrot and cut into slices. Add carrot slices and broccoli to the pan, cover, and cook for about 4 minutes. Drain the water and put carrots and broccoli in a bowl off to the side. 
2. Cut zucchini into strips. Peel and chop the garlic. Cut tomato, scoop out and throw away the seeds. 
3. Fill the same large saucepan 2/3-full with salted water. Bring to a boil then add in the pasta. Cook pasta until al dente, mine took a little less than 10min. Drain water and mix the peas into the pasta. Put back on stove but turn off the heat. 
4. WHILE THE PASTA IS COOKING spray a saucepan with cooking spray and place zucchini in pan along with a bit of water. Cook for 10 minutes until it starts to become translucent. Add in the garlic and sautee for 2 minutes. Next, throw in the tomatoes and let them cook until they get warm, about 3 minutes. Turn down the heat and add in the milk and cheese. Give the mixture a good stir. Add in the pasta and peas. Stir again. Sprinkle on salt, pepper, and a little more cheese. 

As the title implies, I had no idea how much 1 pound of pasta really makes. I now have pasta leftovers for the rest of the week. . .I guess this is helping me succeed with cooking on a budget?

Of course I had to finish off the meal with local apples topped with my absolute favorite peanut butter (365 from Whole Foods)

Have a great weekend!

-Kelli