Simple Pasta
July 27, 2011 by troogle
Filed under Italian Pasta Recipes
To keep things healthy I use Barilla Plus Pasta ( it’s the stuff that comes in a yellow box) as an alternative to regular Pasta. It tastes so good and has a bunch of healthy ingredients like flaxseed, semolina, and legumes and packs a lot more protein than your average Pasta (and it doesn’t have the ‘gritty’ texture like other healthy Pastas have) then I dice up a bunch of veggies and toss them in with olive oil, a little lemon juice, garlic and pepper.
And then a week or two later it all started first with a discomfort in the abdominal area, followed by chills, nausea and weight loss. Three weeks later, the pain had become so intense that she was bed ridden and had to be hospitalized; slew of doctor visits followed but they were still left with unanswered questions. It was like peeling the onion, layer by layer, the more she peeled the deeper the stink and deeper the tears.
Battery of tests followed and the final blow was the MRI scan did suggest a potential unintended growth of mass. And now she would finally know if that growth was malignant tumor.
I remember visiting my grandparents in India when I was a child and trying peas straight from the garden for the first time. They were delicious and I couldn’t stop at just a few. Before I knew it, they were all gone much to my grandma’s dismay.
It’s not always easy to find fresh peas unless you’re close to a farmer’s market, so I got used to eating frozen peas, but the texture and taste don’t compare at all. The other day I found garden fresh peas that were already shelled and decided to give them a shot ‘ they were really good. This recipe features those peas with tuna, bell peppers and other healthy and flavourful ingredients for a summer fresh feel.
At school this week we learned how to make Nicoise salad as well as mayonnaise. I know that if I practice the techniques at home I am going to be able to remember them a lot better at school. The Nicoise salad called for hard boiled eggs, so I decided that whatever I was going to make today had to include those.
We also learned how to cook vegetables in the a l’tuve style. I love this method of cooking vegetables. All you have to do is put your vegetables in a single layer in a saucepan and add enough water to come halfway up the vegetables. You then add a pinch of salt and about 1 Tbsp of butter. Cover the saucepan with a parchment paper lid cut to the size of the pan with a small hole in the center. Cook the vegetables over medium heat until they come up to a boil, and then reduce the heat to medium low. Cook until all of the liquid evaporates and the vegetables are tender. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. If you are not a vegetable fan seriously try this cooking method out; I am sure you will be shocked at how much better they taste.