ROASTED VEGGIE PASTA IN CREAMY FETA SAUCE

Since summer began I've been obsessing over squash and zucchini from the farmer's market.  Normally when I buy yellow squash at the grocery store, it is pale yellow and just okay.  But the bright, bold yellow zucchini from the Saturday market is so much better!  Look how beautiful it is:

So my go-to side dish these days has been roasting these beauties with red onion, olive oil, oregano, salt and pepper.  Then I mix it in a bowl with some crumbled feta and red wine vinegar.  The veggies are still warm enough to give the feta a perfect melty/solid balance.

So today I was about to make the veggies but realized I wanted them to be more substantial, more like a meal.  Enter my best friend: pasta!  That and a splash of pasta water and you've got a delicious, saucy dish.  Measurements are rough, since I made this on a whim, but just use your best judgement and you'll be fine.

Ingredients

1/2ish pound any short pasta
1 large green zucchini
1 large yellow zucchini
1 large red onion
olive oil
dried oregano
salt
freshly ground black pepper
red wine vinegar
1 lbish crumbled feta (buy a block and crumble it yourself!  so much better!)
1/4-1/2 cup pasta water

Preheat your oven to 475 for the veggies.  Bring a pot of salted water to a boil for the pasta.
Medium dice the zucchini and thinly slice the onion.  Drizzle a sheet pan with olive oil then toss the veggies on there.  Generously season with oregano, salt and pepper.  Mix with tongs or your hands to thoroughly combine, then drizzle on some more olive oil.  Roast for 7ish minutes, stir, then roast for about 7 more minutes.  You want your veggies to be colorfully cooked but still have a little bite.  Remove from oven and set aside.
While the veggies are in the oven boil your pasta to al dente, or a little bit shy of al dente.  It'll cook more when you simmer all the ingredients together.  Reserve a cup of pasta water (you won't use it all, but better safe than sorry) before you drain the pasta.  Keep the stove on.  Put the pasta back in the pot and drop the veggies on top.  Splash on some red wine vinegar and add the feta.  Splash in some pasta water and give it a good stir while it simmers on low heat.  If it seems too tight, add a little more pasta water.  Simmer and stir for a couple minutes until it gets thicker, saucy and combined.  Taste and add more salt, pepper and oregano as necessary.  I added a couple extra pinches here to bring out the natural flavor.  Serve immediately!

CHICKPEA FETA SALAD

We just started doing Blue Apron, which means perfect and delicious dinner portions for two!  Unfortunately, it also means no easy tupperware of leftovers for lunch at work the next day.  People pack sandwiches for lunch I guess, but that seems like a boring idea.  A stuffed pita bursting with turkey, cucumber and hummus sounds like a lunch I'd look forward to!  But it needs a side.  A bag of chips?  Some sad baby carrots?  Gogurt?  No.  A SALAD?  YES!  This chickpea salad can be a side, a snack or even a meal.

First, make your dressing.  Use the container you're going to use to store the salad in the fridge so you don't have any dishes to wash.  I combined equal parts extra virgin olive oil and red wine vinegar.  Then some generous dashes of oregano and a big squeeze of lemon.  Whisk it up!  Then, drain and rinse a can of garbanzo beans and add to the bowl.  Dice some cucumber and jarred roasted red peppers and toss them in.  Finally, crumble some feta!!!  It tastes better if you buy it and break it apart yourself instead of buying the already crumbled kind.  I used tomato and basil flavored feta.  You could even use plain and add some more seasonings to the salad, if you'd like.

Ingredients are rough estimates, you can adjust to your preference.

Ingredients

Dressing:
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Salad:
1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
2 snacking sized cucumbers, or 1 small cucumber, diced
4 ounces roasted red peppers, diced
3 ounces tomato basil (or plain) feta, crumbled
Salt to taste

Whisk together dressing ingredients.  Add salad ingredients and mix well.  Chill for at least two hours before consuming, or overnight for maximum flavor.

COOKING LIGHT PASTA WITH ZUCCHINI AND WHITE BEANS

The Cooking Light cookbooks have been making more regular appearances in our kitchen lately.  My sister and I have been obsessed with this recipe for years and both make it all the time.  A serving is definitely enough to fill you up AND that includes two tablespoons of full fat feta cheese.  Yum.

The recipe calls for spaghetti, but this time around I decided to switch it up.  Spaghetti has to be twirled around your fork, then you have to try and scoop up the veggies to make a good bite.  Sounds easy, right?  Not for me.  I prefer to shovel forkfuls of perfectly mixed, bite sized pasta in my mouth.  Don't judge.  So I used rotini instead, and it was much easier to inhale eat politely like a normal human.

This is perfect for summer because the vegetables are in season now.  I used a mix of green zucchini and yellow squash, and chopped a bit more than the recipe called for.  It's versatile, so use what you enjoy!

Since the recipe only needs a tablespoon of tomato paste, try and find a tube at your grocery store.  You won't have to buy a tiny can and then throw the rest away.

You'll cook your zucchini in an olive oil sprayed pan until it's lightly browned.

Add tomatoes with seasonings and juices, drained beans, water, tomato paste, salt and pepper.

Mix and simmer about 5 minutes, until all the flavors are deliciously blended.

Plate it up beautifully, or mix it up!

Oops.  I suggest using a spoon, rather than trying to shake directly from the container.

Ingredients

6 ounces uncooked spaghetti
Olive oil flavored cooking spray
3 cups (1/4 inch) diced zucchini (2 medium)
1/3 cup water
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1/4 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
1 can Great Northern Beans (15 oz) drained and rinsed
1 can diced tomatoes with basil, garlic and oregano (undrained)
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

Cook spaghetti according to package directions.  While pasta cooks, heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  Coat pan with cooking spray.  Add zucchini to pan, cook 5 minutes or until lightly browned, stirring occasionally.  Stir in water and next 5 ingredients, cover and simmer 4 minutes.  Place pasta evenly on 4 plates.  Top pasta evenly with zucchini mixture and cheese.
Note: serving size is 2/3 cup pasta, 1 cup zucchini mixture and 2 tablespoons cheese.  311 calories per serving.