What's For Dinner Wednesday: Farm Stand Veggie Pasta

In my last post I told you all about our weekend Up North in Michigan, but (for once) I didn't mention anything about food.  Mackinac Island fudge aside, that is.  Since we were out and about for a lot of the trip we did a lot of restaurant dining and one morning we did a big breakfast at the house complete with huckleberry pancakes.  If you've never had a huckleberry, they are smaller and a little more tart than a blueberry.  My mom picked them up at one of the dozens of little farm stands that are all over Northern Michigan.  I was dying to stop at a few that we passed on our drive, but am glad we didn't-- since my family was flying out the day after we left, they sent us home with a big bag of fresh farm stand veggies that they weren't going to use in time.  Score!

After a few days of unhealthy vacation eating, we were both feeling ready for a little diet detox when we got home on Sunday.  Since we also didn't feel like hitting the grocery store that night, we worked with what we had and made a simple, healthy, and delicious pasta dinner working with the vegetables and a few things that I always have in my pantry-- whole wheat pasta, fresh parmesan (from the fridge, technically), and a few other cooking staples.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil
• 1 small yellow onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 cups zucchini, diced into large pieces
• 2 roma tomatoes, diced into large pieces
• 1 tsp. Herbes de Provence
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Whole wheat linguine
• Grated parmesan, for serving

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil and cook linguine according to package directions.  Reserve 1/4 cup of cooking water and then drain pasta well.

Heat olive oil over medium high heat in a large sautee pan.  Add onions and sautee until they begin to soften, for about 3-4 minutes.  Add garlic and cook for another 2 minutes.  Add zucchnini, tomatoes, and Herbes to the pan.  Stirring frequently, sautee until tomatoes begin to break apart and the zucchini softens.  Be careful to keep an eye on the zucchini and make sure it is soft, but not translucent-- that's when it becomes mushy.  Add a little of the reserved cooking water (one spoonful at a time) to the mixture and combine until the tomatoes thicken and become more "saucy."  Season with salt and pepper to taste, toss with pasta, and serve with grated parmesan.