Christiana’s Everything That Will Spoil If I Don’t Use It Today Pasta

In anticipation of a trip out of town, I decided to make use of the as-yet-unused veggies hanging around our place. We had many, but not exactly enough of any to follow a set recipe. I also had one last box of my new favorite Quinoa pasta, so I decided to make a hodgepodge of deliciousness.

First I perused my bowl of fresh veggies. Then I checked the refrigerator.

Oh my.

We happened to have all the things listed in the ingredients list above.

Refusing to waste so much innocent produce, I quickly got to work. I chopped. Then I chopped. I also chopped.

After thoroughly exhausting myself with chopping, I warmed about 2 Tbsp. coconut oil (my new favorite to cook with – especially garlic), and tossed in the chopped garlic (the smell of garlic cooking in coconut oil is divine).

A couple minutes later, I added the chopped Portabella mushrooms, then the chopped onion, and finally the chopped zucchini. A few dashes of sea salt were also thrown in the mix.

After cooking the veggies through pretty well, I added the chopped red bell pepper and chopped tomatoes and slowly began adding the spinach. Because if you don’t happen to know this off the top of your head, 20 oz. of spinach equals 4 bags. That’s a lot of spinach. It cooks down eventually, but I had to add only one bag at a time, and watched as the juices from the veggies, the brown richness of the Portabella mushrooms, and the coconut oil created a flavorful sauce base.

So far so good.

I added my previously cooked pasta.

Finally, I tossed in a bit of freshly grated Parmesan. For good measure. I have to say something here, if you’ll let me? It is worth the extra couple dollars to get really good, freshly grated Parmesan. As opposed to say the pulverized powdery business. When I opened the lid of the freshly grated Parmesan, I immediately smelled the rich, salty Parmesan scent – and very nearly dumped the contents of the bowl into my open mouth instead of into the pasta.

(I refrained.)

I stirred everything together, and gave myself a lovely little serving (with an extra dash of that Parmesan), and it was mind-bogglingly delicious.

For those of you keeping track, this pasta dish consisted of Quinoa pasta, 2 Tbsp. coconut oil, a few modest dashes of sea salt and Parmesan, and 7 types of veggies.

That’s it, folks.

You should try it! Take stock of what produce needs to be used asap in your fridge and on your counters, and make your own Everything pasta.

You craftiness will be rewarded with bursts of freshness and flavor – and everyone will think you planned this intricate meal weeks in advance.

(I won’t tell.)