Springtime Pasta with Peas - a recipe

Springtime Pasta with Peas



     Yesterday was so pleasant that I left the sunroom door open so that my dogs would be able to come and go while I worked on my computer. I heard a rustling noise and turned to see that my dogs were all in here with me. What was that sound then? I headed to the sunroom to find a little baby bird frantically trying to find his way back out. We have big picture windows facing the backyard and lots of birds mistakenly fly into it. I opened the sliding glass door opposite the other door to increase his chances of escape, and went back to the computer room.


I guess that means spring is here at last. And I am going to celebrate it with a very simple recipe that I made for my two girls when they were young.


Here are the ingredients:

Fettuccine or other pasta, Italian Parsley, one stick of butter, Parmesan cheese and of course, peas

First of all, put a pot of water on to boil. Add pasta and stir occasionally, adding salt if you like. Cook for the prescribed time for "al dente".
 

While the pasta is cooking away, grate the cheese and chop the parsley. Now this is not a fancy recipe and you can adjust the ingredients to your taste. I like a lot of cheese in my pasta so I will use the whole wedge.

And parsley, ohhh, i love it for the fresh taste that it imparts to everything. I put a ton of parsley in this recipe.


Oh, and don't forget the peas! I am using frozen because I think they are very good. But if you can get fresh ones, go for it.

 After your pasta has finished cooking, remove some of the cooking water and put aside. You may need to moisten your pasta if it is too dry. Now is the time to put in the peas to heat them slightly, don't need to cook them...the hot water will do the trick.

Next drain the water from the pasta and put back into the pan, add the stick of butter and stir until the butter is under the hot pasta and peas. Add the cheese and generous amount of chopped parsley.

All you need to complete the meal is a green salad and a fresh baguette. Enjoy!

Chicken Pot Pie

This is day 4 of our being snowed in. Some brave souls are venturing out, but it is still hazardous because of the ice.
After reading this morning, another Catherine Cookson novel, I spent time edited a couple of photos for the Skinny Mini Ecourse offered by Kim Klassen. I conferred with my good buddy, Betty, AKA, Hootnonny, since she is also taking the class. We were on speaker phone when my husband came back from Costco with a rotisserie chicken. She heard him and asked me what i was going to do with it. I was thinking maybe I would make a chicken pot pie. She gave me a quick recipe that her mother used to make. And this is how I think I will do it:

♥ The 3 key ingredients that she gave me:
          1 cup of milk
          1 cup of melted butter( how can you go wrong)
          1 cup of self-rising flour

♥Mix all of these together and pour over:

          (in a pie pan) chopped, cooked carrots, celery, onion, peas and potato. I am just going to estimate how much of each vegetable. This mixture is supposed to add its own crust. I can't wait to try it! Here I go. See ya' later! Have a blessed day!

**** Flash update! I forgot to get the oven temp and time and since my friend is not feeling well, I just decided to set the oven to 375 degrees and leave the pie in there for 45 minutes. I will update and let you know how it turned out tomorrow.

Bean Days Recipe

This is the third day that we have been gleefully housebound. We have enough food stocked in our pantry...we just have to use a little imagination. After Katie saw that I had made a lentil soup, she decided to try a recipe that we found in the AJC newspaper for

Chickpea Burgers. I am paraphrasing C.W. Cameron's recipe in the "What's For Dinner" section.

Now I have to tell you, my daughter is an athlete. She is a runner, sometimes running up to 15 miles a day. So she is very careful of what she eats. Rarely eating red meat, she mostly concentrates on chicken and fresh vegetables and fruit. This recipe spoke to her.

Here are the ingredients:

3 slices of whole wheat bread, divided

1 15 oz. can  chickpeas, drained and rinsed

4 green onions, trimmed

1 ( 1 inch) piece of fresh ginger, peeled
1 large egg or 1/2 cup of Egg Beaters





15 oz can of chickpeas



  

Drain and Rinse






Make 3 pieces of toast

 ♥ Toast 1 slice of bread and place in a food processor bowl. Pulse until you have bread crumbs. Put in a wide bowl or plate and set aside.

Process one slice of toast until you get coarse bread crumbs






Our bread crumbs (sorry it is out of focus)


 

Our green onions

  


Since it is sometimes hard to get fresh ginger, I keep mine in the freezer. It is easy to grate when frozen.




The healthy alternative to whole eggs





♥ Return bowl to food processor and add the peas, green onions, the two other pieces of toast, grated ginger, salt and pepper to taste. Process until roughly chopped... you don't want a paste, like you would with hoummous. Remove half of the mixture to medium sized bowl.



♥ Add egg or Egg Beaters to the remaining mix in the processor and process until smooth. Add to the reserved mixture and mix well.



♥ Form the mix into four or five 3/4 inch thick patties and cover lightly with reserved bread crumbs.

Coating with bread crumbs

We are almost done, two more to go!

♥ In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over high heat, adding the patties. Reduce the heat to medium and cook until lightly browned. Turn and brown the other side. About 5 minutes on the heat altogether. Serve hot.



Cooking away!





Voila! a chickpea burger!

 

 

Serve on toasted sour dough
bread

Ingredients: chopped tomatoes,
fresh chopped parsley and basil,
olive oil, salt and pepper

Prepared topping

Last night I made a wonderful bruschetta from the fresh tomatoes and basil in my garden. Here are the ingredients and final product.