Clean Out the Veggie Drawer Pasta

All I could think about last night was pasta.  I wanted it so badly, but knew I wanted to bulk in up with a lot of veggies.  There were quite a few in our veggie drawer, so I grabbed what I could find, and played around.

First of all, how do you say the word drawer?  Do you saw it like draw-er or do you say draw?  I have always just said draw, it’s pretty much impossible for me to say it the other way.  I just can’t do it, and people make fun of me all of the time for it.  When I try to say it like draw-er, I just sound silly. 

OK, so back to the pasta.  I grabbed some onions (2) and a 3-pack of bell peppers and diced away. 

 
I cooked these up with some olive oil and minced garlic (like I do for everything), until they were nice and soft.  Then I added in a whole package of sliced mushrooms and let those soften.  I also decided to add a ton of canned banana peppers.  Just because.  Did you know that I basically worship banana peppers?  I’m the obnoxious girl at the sub shop (not that I have been to one in FOREVER) and the salad place asking for as many banana peppers as they can conceivably put on.  I also added a TON of frozen spinach, because it’s awesome, and makes my life easy. 

Come to think of it, this isn’t really a whole lot of vegetables, but it’s plenty.  Lot of variety, right?

Anyway, once these were soft, I added 2 cans of different tomatoes.  One can of crushed, and one can of diced.  I have this compulsive need to buy every kind of canned tomato known to man in bulk form at Costco.  We have diced, crushed, stewed and paste on hand.  The only thing I’m missing is tomato sauce.  I love tomatoes.  Almost as much as I love banana peppers.

This all came to a boil, along with a few tbsp. (2 maybe) of Italian seasoning (mostly out of laziness, rather than grabbing a ton of spices), some onion powder, garlic powder and a ton of crushed red pepper.  You all know how much we like spice!

Oh, don’t you just love my little clip on the side of my pot?  It holds my utensils in place over the pot.  I don’t like to leave wooden spoons in my cooking, it’s just not good for the spoons.  Also, I’m starting to realize how rambling and incoherent this post is.  Pregnancy brain.

So while this was all simmering away (I added more red pepper after a few tastes), I cooked up some whole wheat pasta.  Do you want to know the easiest way to cook pasta ever?  Bring your water up to a boil, add the pasta, turn off the stove and cover the pot.  Set the timer for however long your pasta would cook (mine cooks 8 minutes), and your pasta will come out perfectly!

 
Finally, we ate!  First I had to top my pasta with another amazing Costco find…huge ball of fresh mozzarella for like $4!

I know this post is all full of foods I just loving on, but I absolutely adore fresh mozzarella.  I think it might be one of my favorite cheeses.  Especially in the summer in a fresh caprese salad.  Man, now I want a caprese salad.  YUMMMMMMMMMMM.

Not exactly photogenic.  Appearances can be so deceiving.  I loved the spice and the heat in this.  The banana peppers also added a whole different level to this, I think I’ll be adding them to every pasta dish from here on out!

OK, enough with the nonstop rambling that this post is.  Sorry I’m incoherent, it’s just part of my adorable charm, right?

Are there some words you just can’t pronounce right now matter what?  What are some things you love to buy in bulk, and always need to have on hand?  What is your favorite kind of cheese?

Aside from drawer, my Jersey accent pops out a lot some a lot of words sound funny, even though I think I’m saying them right!  My brother cannot say the word Szechuan for the life of him.  He says it so funny!