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!

GUY FIERI'S WHITE LASAGNA WITH SPICY TURKEY SAUSAGE AND MUSHROOMS

This is the best lasagna I have ever had.  Seriously, ever.  In my entire life!  I am not patting myself too hard on the back here because all the credit goes to Guy Fieri.  His recipe was perfection.  Click here to find out for yourself!

This is a tomato-less lasagna and that includes the sauce.  Instead of a marinara, it oozes with a creamy white cheese sauce.  Surprisingly it didn't feel heavy, like a typical creamy pasta dish.  The addition of mushrooms, spinach and zucchini help push it away from the "heavy" category as well.

Speaking of spinach, I made a couple tweaks to the recipe.  Spinach was not listed as an ingredient.  Nor did the recipe call for copious amounts of cheese.  I know you are absolutely SHOCKED to hear that I deviated from the plan, and for that, I apologize.  No, you know what?  I don't!  I will never apologize for using extra cheese.  Anyway, here are the changes:  a full cup of parmesan for the sauce, chopped fresh spinach mixed into the ricotta mixture, aaaaaaaand like maybe double the amount of mozzarella.  What?  Cheese is delicious.

P.S. The people I served this to had seconds.  Gave compliments to the chef with their mouths full.  Asked for leftovers to take home.  Two mushroom haters gobbled it down.  It's that good.

HUMMUS CRUSTED CHICKEN

Do you ever bookmark recipes, only to forget about them and then of course, never make them?  Yeah. Me neither.  So when my friend, Nicole, sent me this recipe for Hummus Crusted Chicken I had two thoughts.  1, this chicken looks AMAZING.  And 2, this chicken looks FAMILIAR.  So I searched my saved recipes, and sure enough, there it was!  That's when you know you have to make something.  Nicole has never led me astray when it comes to food, and she absolutely raved about this chicken.  Oh, and did I mention it cooks in one pan and requires minimal prep?

I didn't follow the recipe EXACTLY (shocking, I know) so here are my changes: I used my mandoline to slice the veggies in record time, forgot to use an onion, fileted the chicken breasts so they'd cook faster, and used sumac AND smoked paprika for flavor.  Pat the chicken as dry as you can get it so the hummus sticks on there really well. 

Delicious and healthy dinner in half an hour, what more could you ask for?

P.S.  Apologies for the not great pictures.  Lack of daylight and desire to dig in are to blame.

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.