Wonky Pasta

Oh, its that time of year again, Back to School. Even though the beginning of the school year brings back early mornings, busy schedules, homework, it also means the return of MY Thursday nights. The Kid spends the evening at dance class and I hide away in the corner of a local restaurant, typing away or planning my next meal. I've missed this over the summer. Since school let out, this blog has suffered. Nothing got done. Summer meals in my house have always come about very last minute and usually consist of throwing summer veggies  on the table and meat on the grill. Its my idea of a perfect summer dinner but not very conducive to my project.  I don't have my act together to plan things out during the hot months of summer and while that's nice for awhile, I'm very frustrated by the time August comes along. So, for my birthday a few weeks ago, all I wanted was a day to watch a Meals in Minutes episode with my family, and then do the shopping and cooking together. I even let the Kid pick out the meal, she picked Wonky Summer Pasta. 

Here's the menu….

Wonky Summer Pasta

Herby Salad

Pear Drop Tartlets

The Wonky Summer Pasta reminded me of Spring Break during my semester abroad in London. My roomies and I headed to Rome for spring break and we ate a ton of Carbonara, mainly because it was the only thing on the menu we could pronounce without sounding like complete idiots. Wonky Pasta is a nice, light summery version of carbonara.  I tried to not let the thought of raw eggs make me nervous and followed Jamie's directions very carefully. This really is the perfect summer pasta, light, refreshingly lemony and (most importantly) very easy to make on a lazy summer night. 

Along with the pasta, our menu includes Herby Salad. Now the herby salad has tarragon in it and while I love, love, love fresh herbs, tarragon is probably my least favorite herb. I was very tempted to leave it out but since I always tell my kids (and husband), you never know when those taste buds are going to change I put the tarragon in. I am sorry to report that I still don't like it but my kids saw me try and eat something that I'm not crazy about, showing that even if something isn't your favorite, eating it once isn't going to kill you. Practicing what I preach felt really good.  

Pear Drop Tartlets. Once again, those individual pie shells have me stumped. I'm dying to find them. So, after dragging the entire family to three grocery stores with no luck, I decided to make do with Jamie's suggestion for an alternative, a regular size pie shell. I was really excited to try making meringue and really love the fact that no part of the egg goes to waste in this meal! The yokes go in a bowl for the pasta and the whites are used to make the meringue. Brilliant! The pie was beautiful! I was so proud of myself. It tasted great too and even though it was a little soupy in the middle, there were no leftovers.

So, while the kids are heading back to school to learn about planets and Julius Caesar, I'm hitting the books as well. Its time for my Food Revolution class to get back in session. And even though my teacher is an ocean away, my self inflicted deadline is looming and I'm a bit behind. Visions of my last go-around where I got caught up over the holidays are beginning to scare me back on track. So, here's to a new school year and a fresh re-start on my Food Revolution. I hope during these last few hot nights of summer you'll give Wonky Pasta a try.

For this recipe, I'm including the link from the website, epicurious. If you haven't discovered it already, take a minute to poke around. I think you might like the "shopping list" feature as much as I do.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Wonky-Summer-Pasta-Herby-Salad-Pear-Drop-Tartlets-368809

Meals cooked: 11

Meals left: 39

Weeks left: 30