Summer Pasta

I made this in August on a rather hot afternoon. Hot dishes are okay in the summer as long as they have light and bright flavors (and the nice yellow and green colors in this recipe are nice too). I had this with a pretty mild white wine, but Bekim thought a summer ale goes nice too. This pasta is vegetarian (take the cheese out and it will be 100% vegan), but it is also nice (and more filling) with grilled chicken strips mixed in.

Summer Pasta

1lb fettucine pasta
1 yellow pepper
1 zucchini
1 yellow squash
1/2 onion
4 cloves garlic
8oz (small container) grape tomatoes
small ball fresh mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup white (preferrably) or red wine
olive oil


slice up all your vegetables nice and thin.
after you put the water on, start sauteeing the garlic, onions, zucchini and squash in olive oil. after they start getting soft in the center, add the yellow pepper. you want the other vegetables to be soft but the peppers should have a bit of a snap to them. add the red or white wine (i made it with red, but only because i was out of white, either is fine) and a bit of water. leave it uncovered, the liquids will reduce and will form a thin sauce. when the vegetables are almost done, throw in the grape tomatoes and cover. you want these to cook only slightly.

cook and drain the pasta and return to pot. add a little olive oil and throw in all the vegetables. tear up the fresh mozzarella in to bite sized pieces and throw them in. stir the pasta for about a minute until the mozarella melts and becomes a little stringy. add salt and pepper to taste, and serve with grated Romano cheese.

Huge Avocado and Bacon Sandwich

Avocado sandwiches are my favorite lunch food. I've been working on variations of this one the past couple days, this version is my favorite. All the flavors seem to meld together so well!

1 avocado, sliced
2 slices fried bacon (i used turkey bacon)
2 Campari tomatoes, sliced (Campari tomatoes are sweet and juicy, and are between grape and regular size)
2 slices Provolone cheese
2 slices artisan-style whole wheat bread, toasted
Goddess dressing (made with tahini, soy and chives! i like the Annie's brand)
black pepper to taste

i like to layer this sandwich as follows:

(bread)
goddess dressing
pepper
avocados
t.bacon
tomatoes
cheese
(bread)

Make sure you use big slices of bread, since this sandwitch can be rather slippery. It may be even easier to make this in a wrap-style. This is really good with kettle-cooked blue potato chips!

nom nom nom

I love to cook and eat! This is my new recipe blog, I hope you enjoy it!