Thursday, April 5, 2012

Back to cooking....

Today is Maundy Thursday, and I will soon be starting the process for Hot Cross Buns.  I will refer you to munchomom.com for my recipe.  She has posted it on her blog, along with some wonderful pictures.  She would love to have you visit.  The recipe is simpler than many I have seen, and what I like about it is that it is made to refrigerate overnight before baking.  That means you are able to have fresh-baked hot cross buns with a minimum of effort the next morning.:-)

For my post, I am including the recipe for Pasta Primavera that I served on Tuesday for our adult day care participants and staff at our church.  This recipe was in a recent issue of Dash, an insert in our newspaper.

You will need these ingredients.
PASTA PRIMAVERA

12 oz. package of bow tie pasta
2 teaspoons chopped garlic
1 (10-oz.) bag of frozen Italian-style vegetables
1 cup chicken broth (I used vegetable).
3 Tablespoons chopped fresh basil
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

- Cook pasta until al dente; drain.
- Meanwhile, in large skillet, saute garlic in 2 Tablespoons (I used less) olive oil for 30 seconds.  Add vegetables and broth.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and cook for 8 minutes or until vegetables are crisp tender.
- Stir in pasta, 2 Tablespoons basil, and 1/4 cup Parmesan.
- Transfer to serving bowl.  Sprinkle with 1 Tablespoon basil, 1/4 cup Parmesan, and salt and pepper to taste.
- I need to comment here that I added a large can of crushed tomatoes, simply because of the appeal of pasta with a marinara-appearing sauce.
- Also, I assembled this the day before, without the last amount of cheese on top.  The dish was then heated in the oven at church after sprinkling with the cheese.  It was well-received by the participants, so that was a good thing.  They like pasta with sauce.:-)

Currently, we are having a real downpour of rain.  Our weather information indicates that we are 3 inches above average for this point in the year.  It certainly does make for very wet conditions in the garden!  The Husband feels fortunate that he planted tomatoes today!  We hope it isn't too early, though we are prepared to cover the plants in the event of frost.

There are new followers, and I truly appreciate each of  you!  Thank you for your comments.  I love reading them.

Next post - Easter!

4 comments:

  1. Yummy and easy pasta salad recipe. I love hot cross buns, but have not found any commercial ones in my area that are decent. I will check out this blog. xo

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  2. Sounds like a good pasta recipe! It was sunny here today but cold and going down into the 20's tonight. Brrrr. I hope you have a good night- xo Diana

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  3. Sounds good! I'm with you on the tomatoes with pasta. I especially like to use stewed or diced tomatoes with garlic and onion, even if those ingredients are included in the recipe. It never seems to be too much of those flavors. I also checked out Munchomom's recipe, and decided that we don't need that kind of temptation around here! :-) Sounds really delicious, though!

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  4. My daughter makes them can you believe I never have? This sauce looks so nice. Have a lovely Easter!

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