Mini Pasta Primavera, my way

Miniature things are fun and just too cute-- Sliders, chocolate bars... and baby vegetables. When I spotted a display of baby squash I grabbed them-- lickety split! I had no idea what I wanted to do with them, but they were fresh, inexpensive and organically grown.

After two nights of being too tired to cook (and too tired to go out for dinner), I had been resorting to "fast food-- something I rarely do. I wanted to make something fast, fresh and flavorful--and I was also feeling vegetable deprived. Still tired, I mustered enough mental energy to remember the baby vegetables I was storing in the fridge. I decided to make a quick pasta dish.

I loved that I didn't need to chop anything, since the vegetables were so small and cute.. here's my Chef's knife to show you the size scale:

There really isn't a recipe to post-- Fresh vegetables, olive oil, garlic, red pepper flakes and whatever cheese I could find. In this instance, I had some fresh mozzarella in the fridge.

I sauteed the vegetables in olive oil and garlic, then added some heirloom tomatoes from Trader Joe's (they were also small, colorful and cute)-- then popped the whole skillet into an oven, preheated at 400F for just a few minutes. I love these bright summer colors!

I found some fettuccine noodles (from my vast collection of pasta...I hoard pasta) that I cooked and drained.


Right before draining the pasta, I added the fresh mozarella so that it would start to melt.

Oh yeah, gooey cheese! Now, for a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil... some fresh basil, from my garden... Yummy!

My son, who used to pick out vegetables in disgust, as a kid, gobbled this up. He loved it, as did the rest of us.

I returned to my local produce place "The Farm", but there weren't any more of these lovely baby squash available. Sarah said it was a rare thing for her to have them. I was disappointed, because I had some grandiose ideas on how to prepare these.

Ah, well, I'll keep my eyes peeled for the next time they are available.

Pasta is always my favorite fast food to make at home. I just love the color of fresh vegetables in any dish. This was fast and very delicious.

I have more recipes I've made, that I've been too busy to post-- pizzas, grilled dinners and sorbets. Locally grown peaches are on sale, now! Whoo-hoo!