Pasta and Vegetables With Cream Sauce

Totally uninspiring picture, but really good pasta!!!

I don't often post recipes or ideas from other sources, mainly 'cause I'm lazy and rarely get around to trying them. But this recipe caught my eye. It comes from fellow blogger, Matt over at "My Veggie Kitchen".

Check out his blog, mostly all vegan and DELICIOUS!!

I was in the mood for a creamy psta sort of thing anyway, and have my own cashew-based Cream Sauce that, admittedly, I'm pretty fond of, (mainly because I know it by heart). But after seeing his drool-worthy pictures (which mine are not) I decided I needed try Matt's Pasta Primavera recipe.

And let me tell you , it was definitely a hit in our house. I did change up the vegetables a bit according to those I had. And I left out the miso, since one of my kids dislikes it a great deal, regardless of how I think I'm disguising it. But I'd recommend trying it with the miso if you have it.

Oh My Gosh, Where Did The Summer Go?

Whew! Life has turned insanely busy with the whole kids-back-to-school and me-back-to-work Season...

The Unnamed School District I work for, in their infinite wisdom, moved me to a brand-new Special Ed. classroom this year. Which they neglected to tell me was (under)staffed with unqualified, crazy people who had no business or experience working with Special Needs students - which I guess worked out OK, they all quit or were scared off after a couple days.

I kid you not - 3 weeks into the school year we have gone through, let me count... 3 Lead teachers, 4 assistants and 6 Classroom Support Teachers have come and gone (Yes, even the die-hard Support Teachers like me! Except I haven't quit!).

Oh, and did I mention the Administration's belated "apology" for placing the children with the highest needs (serious behavioural issues!!) here in my classroom when they "realized some staff might not be the best fit..."(Absolutely true story. But that's the short version. Ah... really, it's a story better left for another time.)

I'm not here to vent. I swear. It will get better. It WILL.

I'm here to share the little "Field Trip" the kids, dog and I took to my Mom's garden. She somehow lives out of the cool zone that we're in, and her little green acre is still producing enough for a small country.

We hung out for the day playing in the garden, visiting Grandma and picking veggies. The dog couldn't believe all the wide open space. He was happy, happy, happy. Only, when we pitched rotten tomatoes to the sidelines, he somehow thought they were tennis balls that he needed to chase, poor thing.

My daughter found her very own 8-lb baby zucchini that for reasons unbeknownst to me, she HAD to name Marge. It'll be great for zucchini bread anyway. Sorry Marge.

I thought the praying Mantis I found among the beets was far more interesting, but my bug-phobic offspring weren't so thrilled...

Then there's this great shot of my Mom and her ten-foot tall sunflowers! She's so proud of them! The pic doesn't do them justice however. They (flowers AND my Mommy) are WAY more gorgeous up close, of course!

We came home with boxes of produce; tomatoes, giagantous beets, peppers, turnips, corn, squash, parsnips, cabbage, greens and potatoes... (again, crappy picture - my BUG pictures are better than the veggies lately - what's up with that!?!) that I happily froze, canned, and cooked up into all sorts of garden yumminess. I feel like I'm ready to hibernate and face the winter with my pantry (and freezer) well stocked.

Happy Monday.

Confetti Couscous

Did a major cupboard clean-out last week and discovered a package of couscous I had meant to use at Thanksgiving. Well, tofurky day is long past, but I got inspired anyway and made my favorite couscous salad. It's actually more of a summer-time thing. Maybe?

I don't always use all the veggies, sometimes more of one than another, it depends on my mood and what I have in the fridge.

At any rate, I could eat this stuff 3 meals a day, the girls like it for the most part and it's pretty and colorful, ...yeah, I should be inspired more often!

Confetti Couscous

1 cup uncooked couscous

2 cups (or one can) cooked black beans, well drained and rinsed

1 stalk celery, chopped

1 small red pepper, chopped

1 cup cooked corn (or mini-corn is cool too!)

2 medium tomatoes, diced (sometimes I use little yellow pear tomatoes)

1/2 cup chopped green or Kalamata olives

1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

2 green onions, finely sliced or 1/4 cup minced purple onion

3 Tb. olivie oil

1 Tbsp lemon juice

salt and pepper to taste

Pour couscous in medium heat-proof bowl. Bring 2 cups water to a boil and pour over couscous. Cover and let stand 15 minutes, then fluff with a fork and allow to cool to room temperature.Transfer coucous to large boil. Add remaining ingredients and toss to mix. Serve at room temperature, or chilled.