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Zucchini Kielbasa Pasta is one of those recipes that I started out using years ago and which slowly morphed into something that fits my family a bit better. This happens pretty often and usually results in a family favorite.

And though this is a family favorite, I actually forgot about it for a while. A year or so ago I went through and tried to organize all of my recipes. Most of them are just full-sized sheets of printer paper, and I figured the easiest way to reign them in was to put them in all sheet protectors in a binder.

However, a few seemed to have been lost along the way and this was one of them, and I didn’t realize it until Mike was going through our external hard-drive this week and came across some pictures of it that I’d taken for some reason (I had to double check to see if I’ve already posted it and hadn’t, so I don’t know what the pictures were for). I have no idea what happened to the original print-out with all of my notes, but I’d made it often enough that even after so long I remembered the changes I’d made.

Anyway, this is a great dinner for summer. There is no oven involved, and if you end up with an abundance of zucchini it’s a great way to use them up. You can also easily make it vegetarian by leaving out the kielbasa.

Zucchini Kielbasa Pasta

3 zucchini, halved lengthwise and cut into 1/2-inch slices
1 onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
4 tablespoons olive oil

1 pound turkey kielbasa, halved lengthwise and cut into 1/2-inch slices
1 can (14 oz) whole kernel corn, drained
2 cans (8 ounces each) tomato sauce
1 can (14 oz) petite diced tomatoes
2 tsp dried basil
2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried parsley
salt and pepper to taste
1 lb tube pasta (I used rigatoni, but penne, ziti, etc, works fine)

In a large skillet, saute the zucchini, onion and red bell pepper in the olive oil until zucchini is tender (I usually put a lid on it for a few minutes to let the steam help it cook).

Stir in the remaining ingredients and cook until heated through.

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and return to pot. Pour the zucchini kielbasa mixture on top and serve.

Makes 8 servings.

Long time, no see! The holidays always leave me feeling like I have to play catch-up with everything for weeks afterward, and, unfortunately, finding new meals to make tends to take a back seat!

Anyway, over Christmas break we took the girls to a local Las Vegas restaurant called Anime Ramen, and being the teen and pre-teens that they are, they absolutely loved it. The food was good, too, and we decided that once things calmed down we were going to try playing with some homemade Japanese food ourselves. So last week we ordered soba noodles on Amazon and I got to work.

This recipe for Soba with Sesame Sauce originally came from AllRecipes, but I’ve adapted it a bit below.

The original recipe called for raw broccoli, but not everyone likes it raw, so I blanched it first: put it in a pot of boiling water for just a couple of minutes and then dunk it in ice water to stop the cooking. It gets rid of the rawness without losing all of the crunch. You can also use a bag of frozen broccoli, boiled for just a few minutes. I scooped the broccoli out with a spider so I could use the same boiling water for the noodles.

I also added chicken breast to make it a bit more substantial for dinner. Make sure you cook it all the way through since it’s not going back into the heat (unlike a stir-fry, for example). If you want to make this vegetarian, just leave out the chicken.

We were a little wary about eating it at room temperature (it felt like it should be piping hot!) but it was good, and this will be perfect for summer!

Soba with Sesame Sauce
serves 5

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/3 cup toasted sesame seeds
1 package (9.5 oz) dried soba noodles
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons white sugar
4 tablespoons soy sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons dark sesame oil
8 green onions, chopped
3 cups broccoli florets, blanched

Cut chicken breasts in one-inch strips and saute in 1 tablespoon of olive oil until cooked through. Set aside.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the noodles and cook them for 4 minutes, or until just tender. Drain and rinse with cold water, and drain them again.

In a large mixing bowl, mix together the vinegar, sugar, soy sauce, garlic, sesame oil, green onions, and chicken. Add the noodles, and the toasted sesame seeds. Toss well and stir in the broccoli. Let the dish sit for 30 minutes at room temperature before serving.

I am once again needing to take a pass on this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie.

Here’s how brilliant I am: We have a small dry-erase board on the fridge so that everyone can write down the things that they need, or if something has run out, etc.

I went grocery shopping last week. I always bring a detailed list of what I’ll need for two weeks’ worth of food and meals, but then I walked out the door without even looking at the dry erase board and briefly wondered how it was that my shopping trip was so much shorter than usual. Well, I’d left half of what I needed still scrawled on the fridge door.

Anyway, I haven’t made it back out for Shopping Trip Round 2 yet, so I don’t have the pumpkin or cranberries for the Dorie bread. But I will definitely be doing the next one in two weeks because I just discovered that I get to host it! I’m very excited.

So to make up for my lack of participation, I’m going to share with you a new trick I learned last week.

Bacon weaving.

One of our dinners last week was BLTs. However, instead of just frying up bacon in the pan, I came across the idea to kind of weave it together and bake it in the oven. This way, you get bacon in every bite of sandwich, and you’re not pulling out entire strips of bacon in one bite, either.

I cut the package of bacon in half first.

Lay three of the strips side by side on a baking sheet (preferably a pan with edges so the bacon grease doesn’t run off into the oven). Weave three more strips into the first strips. Put in a cold oven and then heat the oven to 400°.

My one package of bacon gave me five woven squares, which was perfect for the five of us. It took about 20-25 minutes for them to all be perfectly cooked, and I kept a close eye on them and took out the ones that looked like they were finished cooking before the others.

I can understand not wanting to go through trouble of doing this, but honestly, it only took a few extra minutes and the rest of the prep was so easy that I didn’t mind at all. The bacon cooks nice and flat, and you don’t get splatters all over your stove top, either.

The only drawback is having to turn on the oven in the first place and heat up the kitchen, but I think it was worth it!