Pasta Primavera (well, sort of...)

We've been eating really bad lately, between being busy and being more social and the trip to PA (Pizza, ice cream and the most amazing Pirogies ever) I was afraid that unless I start eating some fresh fruits and vegetables, I'm going to get scurvy for sure, and also, have a heart attack.
So today, I decided to eat some healthy low-fat fresh something, and since I'm feeling more then a bit sick, it had to be a quick cooking easy to make one as well.

This came out so nice I'm sure I'm going to make it again. It's super healthy, contain no bad ingredients at all, and very low fat - And tasty!
Ingredients (for 2 hungry people):

Half a pack of pasta (I used whole wheat angel hair, it cooks fast and good for you)
About 1/2 a cup of baby carrots
About 1/2 a cup of cherry tomato
About 1/2 a cup of chopped broccoli
A lemon
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 of jalapeno pepper or some chili flakes
Capers (just a few, about a tea spoon or so.
olive oil




How to make it:

Put a pot for the pasta on the stove and boil water in it, once the water are boiling, put the pasta in (I personally don't ad oil or salt to the water, honestly, I can't tell the taste in flavor and don't want to ad any extra salt or oil to the food).

While the pasta is cooking, chop the broccoli & carrots (I like them on the chunkier side) and slice the cherry tomatoes in half. Peal the Garlic and slice it to little bits, and do the same with the Jalapeno.

In a fraying pan, toss the garlic in a little olive oil (I use a table spoon, but a little more will make it taste better) until it's starting to brown (and your kitchen smells amazing) then ad the jalapeno, carrots and Broccoli. stir and check on the pasta, if it's cooked by now, strain it and let it sit for a bit, if not, continue cooking it.



After about 5 minutes, add the tomato, and about 1/3 cup of water, then squeeze the lemon into the pan, let it simmer for a minute or two, then ad the capers, stir again, and turn the stove off.


That's it really, easiest pasta sauce (or really, vegetable mixture or whatever) it took me longer to type this recipe then make it. The whole thing took about 10 minutes or so, and was really good!



Variation:
As I was making it, I was thinking of what else will taste good in this and so, feel free to ad any or all of those ingredients:
Olives, walnuts, roasted pine nuts, a dash of heavy cream, white wine, Parmesan cheese, eggplants, artichoke hearts, sundries tomatos

Of course, then it's all becoming a little less healthy and a lot more decacent.

Enjoy!

Black Rice - recipe

First of all I have to say, it makes me really self conscious to blog about food and recipes, I feel like from a crazy sex maniac with a fondness for drinking and life of excitement and adventures, I turned to some housewife who only write about crafts and food. I'm trying to remind myself that I can be both at the same time, also, right now, our eating habits do get a lot of attention, being that Ned had to do an extreme dietary change and we are both pretty committed to that, even though it's really hard!

Saying that, we did both have dessert tonight, Sunday is Cake night, in which Ned's allowed to have any crazy dessert he wants, which always means death by chocolate vegan cake with 2 scoops of Vanilla ice cream in Blackbird parlor.

Before we had that, we had a healthy meal in the studio. I don't like cooking meat or chicken, so I try to include a lot of beans and lentils in the food I make so we get enough proteins.

Ingredients

1 cup black rice (also called forbidden rice sometimes)
1/2 French lentils (they are small and dark green)
1 chilly pepper
1/2 no salt tomato sauce
1 small potato
about 8-15 baby carrots

In a pan, heat the rice and lentils until they are warm to the touch. dice the potato and carrots and add to the heating rice (I used to lightly fry all those with some olive oil, but now I do the same without the oil, it's more healthy, only you got to mind it doesn't burn more) chop the chilly to small bits and add that to.

mix the tomato sauce in 3 cups of water and after the rice and other ingredient are really warm, pour into the pan. when the mixture is simmering, lower the flames and cover the pot. Let cook for about 40 minutes on a lower flame. It's ready when all the water are soaked in the rice (you can also taste to see if it's cooked through).

Turn the flame off pick up the lead and place a clean cloth or towel on top of the pan, then close the lead again, leave for 5-10 minutes to soak the leftover fluids.

I garnished it with home made tomato salsa and some canned artichoke hearts, but any vegetable would look beautiful on this.

Some rice tips: If this is the first time you are making rice, know that rice tend to be tricky, it take a couple of times to get to know how much water to add exactly and how much time to cook. Over all, it's better to put to little water and add some more if all the water in the pan are gone and the rice is still hard then to put to much water and end up with a sticky sort of gruel.

Good luck!