Zucchini & Squash Pasta (aka I have WAY too many veggies right now from the garden…so what can I come up with? haha)

CLEARLY! You can see that I have an excessive amount of vegetables that I need to use. Apart from my making zucchini bread every other day I wanted to come up with something to use all these goodies. Let’s put our thinking caps on here…..

Ingredients:

1 Zucchini

1 yellow squash (seeded)

3 small tomatoes (any kind you like – I used plum)

1/2 of a green bell pepper

1 tablespoon fresh garlic

1 tablespoon butter

3-4 fresh basil leaves

1/2 teaspoon dried mint

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 tablespoon red pepper flake

salt to taste

pepper to taste

8-10 oz Penne pasta

handful of shredded Parmesan for garnish

Started with 3 tomatoes and diced them (by the way the knife that I am using is the BEST tomato knife you will ever find. super awesome). Let water boil while you are cutting up the vegetables. I always, always, ALWAYS, put salt and olive oil in my water for cooking noodles.

Put tomatoes in small bowl and season with salt, pepper, a portion of the red pepper flake, and basil.

Next I just roughly chopped the zucchini and the squash. I personally do not like the seeds in squash so I took them out, just using a spoon. (side note: also put the noodles in the boiling water)

I placed butter in sauté pan with butter, garlic, and a pinch of the red pepper flake. Start to let garlic turn brown, but do not let it over cook.

Place diced tomatoes in sauté pan once garlic has started to brown. Cook for 3-4 minutes until skin starts to separate from seeds/meat.

In a bowl to the side, place the roughly chopped zucchini, squash, and green pepper. Season with salt, pepper, mint, thyme, and remaining pepper flake.

Put the zucchini and squash in sauté pan and let cook for a few minutes until they start to become tender. Put in green pepper and let simmer for 4-5 minutes.

Drain noodles and place into a small dish and put cooked vegetables on top while hot. Sprinkle shredded Parmesan on top and garnish with a basil leaf.

It was really refreshing and actually quite hearty! The best part was that it was a good healthy meal that was made with things that I just had in the kitchen and garden.

Enjoy!