Butternut Squash Pastas

My mom really loves butternut squash so I discovered it at a fairly young age when she tried to convince my brother and I that it was different from other squash and tasted like candy. Nice try mom! However, I do like it quite a bit more now. The other day I decided to make dinner with some friends and they put me on shopping duty. I wanted something different--not tomato sauce or Alfredo sauce based so I found some recipe for roasted butternut squash+Parmesan. I decided to toss in some peas as well, and my friend decided she just had to have chorizo, so we rolled with it.

Pasta Numero Uno:
Butternut Squash, Peas, Chorizo, Plus Cheese Pasta:
*feeds at least 5
-1 large package whole wheat pasta
-1/2 a small butternut squash, peeled and chopped
-1/2 a package frozen peas
-3 or 4 links of chorizo, chopped
-shaved Parmesan (I think we actually used a Parmesan/pecorino blend)
-onion and garlic to taste (I think we used maybe 1/2 an onion and a few cloves of garlic)

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add the squash (I had never seen it cooked this way, so thanks to Lindsey for teaching), cook until tender
2. Heat some olive oil in a pan, add the onions and chorizo, then the garlic, and cook until chorizo is cooked through
3. Boil more water for pasta and cook until al dente or however you prefer pasta
4. Once the chorizo is cooked through, add the peas and cook until warmed through
5. Once pasta and squash are cooked and drained, mix everything together in a large pot (reserving a little of the cooking liquids as needed), and top with shaved Parmesan or pecorino or whatever cheese you like and let the heat melt the cheese. Enjoy!

Pasta Numero Dos:
As you might have noticed from the first post, you only use half of the butternut squash, so I had to figure out what to do with it. I also had the rest of the frozen peas, some baby spinach,

-1/2 a butternut squash, grated (I also recently discovered my grating blade on my food processor and was super excited to use it)
-1/2 a bag of frozen peas
-3/4 of a bag of baby spinach, chopped
-half an onion, diced
-a few cloves of garlic, diced
-a few links of chorizo if you have them on hand (which I did)
-a bag of your favorite kind of pasta
-grated cheese of whatever kind you like

-Heat olive oil in a large, deep pan, add onions and chorizo if using
-Add garlic and squash
-Once they soften, add peas
-Once peas are cooked through add spinach
-Season with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes or whatever seasoning you feel like
-As soon as the pasta is done, add everything else and cheese on top!

*Note: This is not only a really nice, light pasta (I know there's chorizo, but not much. It's really like 3 or 4 lengths between 5 or 6 servings which isn't so bad), but it's unusual and super cheap. For the first pasta I bought 1 butternut squash, 1 bag of frozen peas, 1 bag of pasta, 1 package of cheese, 1 bag of spinach, and 2 bottles of wine for about $17. I already had the onions, garlic, spices, and oil, plus one bag of pasta, so if you factor those prices in, it would maybe be $25 for two hearty, healthy dinners for 5 or so people. Not bad!

Light Spring Pasta

In an effort to be healthy, I bought a bunch of veggies. Once I put them in the vegetable drawer, I completely forgot about them. A few days later I remembered them and knew I had to use them immediately. I've been trying to use up the various pasta and rice I've also bought and forgotten about (yay buying in bulk) that I have, so I figured asparagus pasta would be the perfect option. I started cooking everything and looked in the fridge for cheese...FAIL. Only cheddar! So then I noticed I did have part of a lemon and garlic, and figured out a fantastic pasta.

What I think I love about this the most is how light it is. Leaving out the cheese turned out to be one of my better ideas, and the still-crisp asparagus gives an excellent texture to the pasta. The garlic keeps it flavorful and the lemon keeps it fresh. Try it today!

Light Spring Asparagus-Lemon Pasta
-8 oz of your choice of pasta
-About 10 spears or so of asparagus, washed and cut into small chunks
-1/4 of a lemon
-salt
-lemon pepper (or regular if you don't have it)
-olive oil
-1 clove of garlic

-Put lightly-salted water on to boil
-Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
-Meanwhile, clean the asparagus, put it in an oven-proof dish, drizzle olive oil on top, season with salt and lemon pepper and cook to your desired done-ness (about 10 min for still slightly crunchy)
-Once the water boils, add the pasta and cook to your desired done-ness (mine took about 10 min)
-Peel and finely chop or press the garlic
-Once the asparagus is done, chop it into small pieces (bite-sized) and put in a medium-sized bowl
-Once pasta is done, drain and add to bowl with asparagus, add the garlic, add a drizzle of olive oil, salt, lemon pepper, and squeeze the lemon juice on top. Adjust seasoning as needed.

Quick and Easy Pasta Dinner

I really like dishes that are quick and easy to make when I'm really hungry but don't want something frozen. This is one of them. It's nothing too special, but it's good, filling, and done in about 15 min from start to finish.

Asparagus Pasta:
a large handful asparagus, washed and snapped into pieces
a slice of lemon
salt n pepper
a few tsps olive oil
as much pasta as you will eat (and ideally, cheese tortellini, although any kind would work)
grated cheese

Preheat the oven to 375/400 degrees
Put the asparagus in an oven proof dish, drizzle on the olive oil and some salt n pepper and toss everything together.
Throw that in the oven for about 10min (if you like crunchier asparagus, as I do)
Put on a pot of water and bring to a boil
Add the pasta and cook for 6-8 minutes or until done
Squeeze the lemon over the asparagus
Drain the pasta
Put everything in a bowl, sprinkle the cheese on top and enjoy (with a tart white wine).