Garden Pasta & Oven Apple Crisp

GARDEN PASTA

On Monday and Thursday nights Steve heads out to Ft. Jackson for his Master courses. As most of you know, Steve isn't as much of a veggie lover as I am so...on those nights it is my chance to pack in the veggies. I take whatever veggies I have and saute them up and put them in pasta. Yummm...and the best part is Kyle loves the veggies too. Now just so you know...I don't really measure unless I am following a recipe. Funny...I know since I am posting a recipe, but I am a cooker who eyeballs things, it's more fun this way.

Ingredients: White wine (cooking wine works), EVOO (extra virgin olive oil), thin spaghetti, cream, chicken stock or chicken bouillon cubes, Italian cheese

Veggies: Whatever you have! I use green bell pepper, celery, carrots, broccoli, garlic, squash, zucchini, mushrooms, and spinach.

First Steps: Chop up the veggies after washing them, I keep mine in separate piles and add them to the warm oil at different times. Also, put on your water for the noodles with your chicken stock or your chicken bouillon. You don't want to cook the noodles all the way, they will cook a little with the veggies too.

I tend to cook my veggies a little more al dente (not soggy). For example, I put the onion, celery, carrots, garlic, and bell pepper in first-cook for 3 minutes or so. Then add the squash, zucchini, mushrooms, and broccoli-cook 3 more minutes.


Second Steps: Add about 1/4 cup of cooking wine to your veggies once they are close to being done to your taste. I also sprinkle the veggies with a generous amount of pepper. I add the spinach after most of the alcohol has cooked off.


Final Steps: I pull the noodles out of the chicken stock and put them in the same pan with the veggies. I put about a 1/4 cup or so of chicken stock into the pan with the pasta mixture, add 2 tablespoons or so of cream and mix it all together. Then I put 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of Italian cheeses into the pan and stir it in. YUMMY!

OVEN APPLE CRISP

While I was living at Ft. Riley, one of my greatest friends, Dawn taught me how to can various types of foods. One of which was apple pie filling. I am not a pie crust lover, never have been, it is so bland. So I usually make apple crisp with oatmeal. This night I decided to wing it and try something new. I must say it was delightful.

Ingredients: graham cracker crumbs, brown sugar, white sugar, cinnamon, butter, pie filling.

First steps: I took about 3 Tablespoons of butter and melted it on the stove in a skillet (one that can go in the oven). Added 2 Tablespoons of brown sugar and 1 Tablespoon of white sugar and let it bubble. Then I added the graham cracker crumbs until I had enough to fill the skillet and soak up the liquid. I also sprinkled on the cinnamon (which I love!).


Next Step: Press graham cracker mixture into the pan until it goes up the sides.


Last Steps: Pour pie filling into the pan and bake for 30 minutes at 350. I also made a oatmeal topping out of brown sugar, oats, butter and cinnamon to put on top before I baked it.

"DEE-licious!" as Kyle would say.