Homemade Whole Wheat Pasta with Fresh Green Peas & Asparagus

Tags

Asparagus, Black pepper, Cook, Home, Olive oil, Parmigiano-Reggiano, Pasta, Pea

Thank God for the Ravenous Grandma. Without her super kitchen gadgets that I refuse to buy (and clutter my already too-small-and-badly-lit-for-a-food-blog-kitchen with) then we would not do a lot of the fun cooking in this house. Not to mention her flamin’ sous chef skills.

The Ravenous Munchkins LOVE to play with new gadgets. So we decided to make pasta. (YES,the RM’s are still in their pajama’s and YES, one is wearing blue eyeshadow – gimme a break, at least it was the girl)

This can also be made with store-bought pasta for a super quick meal. The basil compliments the sharp lemon very nicely – make sure you cook your peas completely!

Ingredients:

 

• 1 Pound fresh green peas; shelled
• 1 Pound of fettuccine (or any whole wheat pasty you like)
• 1 tsp EVOO
• Juice from 1/2 a lemon
• 1 tsp salt
• 12 tsp fresh ground black pepper
• 1 bunch asparagus
• 1/2 container of cherry or grape tomatoes; halved
• 1/4 cup basil; chiffonaded
• shaved Parmigano-Reggiano (for the non-WFPB eaters)

Directions for Meal:

1. Add prepared pasta to boiling, salted water. Add peas the last 5-6 minutes of cooking. (I added the last 2 min and they were nowhere near cooked)
2. When finished cooking reserve 1/2 cup of liquid and set to the side while you strain in a colander.
3.  Add EVOO to a pan and saute asparagus until desired doneness. 
4. Add pasta, pasta, liquid with peas, lemon juice; salt and pepper to taste. Toss well.
5. Remove form heat and toss with tomatoes and basil.
6. Serve. 🙂
7. Add some Parm-Reg if you eat cheese

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Pizza Pizza!

Tags

basil, Dough, Flour, italian, kids, Olive oil, Pasta, Pizza, Whole grain

Always looking for a way to keep the kids from driving me nuts have fun with the kids I try to involve them in cooking. But trying to get a meal on the table with 3 insane, screaming, crying toddlers it’s it’s usually “let mommy do it… You can watch!!”

They are starting to finally like pizza. So I thought, hey it’s not to messy, they can make their own with whatever toppings they want, easy for all!! I sadly do not own a food processor…So grandma made the dough – whole wheat and some white. (we froze several balls of dough too!)

Makes 4 (7inch pizzas) Pizza Dough Recipe:

1 package dry yeast
1 1/4 cups lukewarm water
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 teaspoon salt

Optional – Add herbs
Directions
Proof yeast in a measuring cup with lukewarm water.

In a food processor add whole wheat and all purpose flours, proofed yeast, oil mixed with honey and salt. Pulse processor to combine all ingredients. Then process until the dough forms a ball on the blade. Remove dough to a large oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and let rise in a warm place for 45 minutes or until dough has doubled in bulk.

Punch down dough and transfer to a floured board and knead briefly. Divide dough into 4 equal portions and roll each piece into a ball. Place the balls of dough, covered, in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or overnight. Bring the dough to room temperature before proceeding.

On a floured board roll and stretch each piece of dough into a 7 to 8-inch circle. Place each circle on a wooden pizza peel or pizza pan and top as desired.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. and bake 7 to 8 minutes per pizza.

NOTE; I toally skip the refrigerate part — I just treated it the same way as the basic dough.

Now…what to top it with?? I grabbed a jar of bertollis merlot pasta sauce and some yoders Italian blend cheese.
We literally got all of our toppings from what was already in the fridge.

• Leftover broccoli
• Roma tomatos
• Mushrooms
• Leftover chicken
• Red onions
• Goat cheese
• Basil
• leftover whole grain mac&cheese (per Ravenous Munchkin #2)

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.

2. Kneed the dough until the air is pressed out.

3. Hand stretch and roll with one-handed rolling pin on a sil-pat or a pizza stone. Roll to desired thickens (the kids had a thicker crust, i prefer a thin crispy one)

4. Top with a thin layer (or thick if thats how you roll) of pasta sauce.

5. Now it’s time to get it crackin’ on the toppings! The kids loved this! Make sure that you put a layer of cheese down first. And if you have a lot of toppings (like I did) sprinkle a bit over the top after your toppings are on, to kinda hold it down

We’ve paired kids karaoke with pizza night is a total hit in our house and I’m telling you, these babies were delicious!! We’ve made them twice in the past 2 weeks and plan on doing it again on Monday!

** sorry about the pics – taken with my phone – didn’t know I was starting this blog!***