Clean-up Night... Part I (Pasta)

Usually clean-up night means a buffet of leftovers that may or may not go together and possibly something newly made to round out the meal. This time however, it meant clean-up of produce and every thing was newly made.

What I had on hand that I wanted to use up:

romaine
carrots
green beans
cucumbers
red potatoes
peaches
nectarines
blueberries
pumpernickel dough

Rather than make just a salad, I decided to steam the carrots and green beans.

Which I then added to whole wheat elbow pasta with olive oil, salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning. I steamed the carrots and green beans in a large pot that has a pull-out steamer, then cooked the pasta in the water underneath afterwards. This pasta dish turned out really good.

For the cucumbers, I made baked cucumbers from a recipe I found online… we didn’t like them, they tasted like hot dill pickles, and not even that good. :/

For the potatoes, which I would normally roast like making french fries, I decided to try a recipe for 'parchment potatoes', they turned out really good.

For the romaine, I tore it up into bite-sized pieces, topped with cashews, and drizzled with balsamic vinaigrette. Very tasty.

I made up a loaf of pumpernickel bread with the last of my dough bucket, awesome as usual.

I also made 'three-ingredient alfredo sauce' from Chocolate-Covered Katie. As usual, her recipe was devine! We really liked this one! We poured it over the pasta.

Green Bean & Carrot Pasta – the auspicious squirrel. Rating: Very Good.
Three-Ingredient Alfredo Sauce – Chocolate Covered Katie. Rating: Awesome.
Parchment Potatoes – The Veggie Patch. Rating: Very Good.
Romaine with Cashews and Balsamic Vinaigrette – the auspicious squirrel. Rating: Tasty, Very Good.
Pumpernickel Bread – adapted from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. Rating: Awesome.

For the peaches, nectarines, and blueberries, I intended to make a cobbler… maybe tomorrow. I’d been cooking for some time and was ready to just sit down and eat! Stay tuned… clean-up night part II will be what I did with those peaches, nectarines, and blueberries.

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