Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Garden to table

In the last month and a half of nursing Cyprian, I've gone through 20 or more magazines, effectively clearing out my backlog. I've enjoyed reading about children, parenting, money, faith, and food (I receive quite an assortment of periodicals, including Cooking Light thanks to David's sister Jenny). The July Cooking Light contained an appealing recipe for which I already had most of the ingredients, so I tore it out to try.

Baked Ziti and Summer Veggies calls for fresh yellow squash, zucchini, tomatoes, basil, and oregano, all of which I had ready from my very own garden!


Someday I might also grow the onion and garlic the recipe calls for (this lovely head of garlic came from my friend Hunter's garden). And years from now I hope to get eggs from our very own backyard chickens (I will wait to pursue this when I have a child old enough and interested in tending them herself).

I followed the recipe except for two alterations: I used fun, colorful Wacky Mac pasta and omitted the ricotta (just subbed in a bit more mozzarella). The resulting casserole was delicious!


The real test was whether Teresa and David would eat it, too. I served Teresa a small portion. At first she pushed it around with her spoon and declared, "This yucky. No can try it." But she did try it and ate a few bites herself. When I helped her eat some more, she received it gladly and even said, "This very good!" She finished her portion!

David ate all of his serving, too, although he did feel it had too many veggies and not enough seasoning. I think I'll be making this again!

4 comments:

Sarah H. Wood said...

it looks beautiful!

Jenny L said...

Looks yummy to me! I have to tell you I really struggle with the summer squashes. Raw or cooked, they're kind of tasteless, compared to winter ones. Today we added a bunch of yellow squash to our pasta sauce, to stretch it, and that worked out pretty well. Sean Patrick liked it. But I'll have to see if I can find this recipe. Thanks for the tip.

Ashley said...

Any tips on reading magazines while nursing? I've got a two-month-old and am struggling to find a way to hold them open and turn the pages!

Frances said...

Ashley: I keep the magazines beside the places I usually nurse...one is on the couch beside my spot there and another is on the table beside my glider. I keep them open to the page I'm on, either folded or completely open (depending on the thickness of the magazine). Yes, this requires more space, but it works for me right now!