Bongo Pasta

This morning while I emptied the dishwasher, I had a beat in my head and a groove to my plate stacking. There were drums, cymbals, and plenty of bass. As I nodded my head along to the rhythm of putting away coffee mugs, it dawned on me that I was rocking out to Julia's Fisher Price bongos. A gift from grandma last weekend, the bongos are Julia's new obsession. She hasn't gotten remotely tired of them yet; her parents, however, have. She slaps the drums and they light up and provide a bass line. It's the gift that keeps on giving.

But Julia's bongo playing has also led to something good: the time to create a new pasta dish. It's kind of like linguine and clams, but without the clams, if that makes sense. Mmm...clams...

A Pesto of Errors

Sometimes I fail. This was one of those times.

I tried to do a Giada recipe, but change enough of it to be Julia friendly. It was safe and all, but really not great. Even worse, I tried to make this pesto in a blender, which I learned doesn't work. My food processor is a mini one, and I thought it'd be too small to handle all the ingredients (it wasn't). The blender whirred and the blades spun, but they couldn't get any traction to process the spinach and basil leaves. I shoved a spatula in to try and pack everything down, but it got stuck on the blades. I tried to pull it out, but the handle popped off. So I reached in to dislodge the spatula head, but the blades cut my fingers. As I pulled my hand out of the blender, lemon juice got on my cut. This was the precise moment Julia woke up screaming bloody murder.

Doesn't it look like it should taste good?

Recipe: Pumpkin Pasta

This is our hands down favorite everything-free dinner. My husband did the shopping last week, and when he recognized the ingredients for Pumpkin Pasta, he bought two of everything so I could make it twice. That's love.

Yum

 This is another great dairy- and tomato-free pasta sauce. The pumpkin is very creamy and flavorful; I actually like it with a lot of salt and pepper.

Recipe: Pasta with turkey, spinach and beans

When my husband walked in the door tonight, the first thing he said was, "Oh, that smells so good - give food now please!" I love when he gets excited about dinner! 

This one was a big hit. And even better, it came together in the time it took to boil the pasta. Definitely keeping it in the repertoire!

Sorry about the fork - I was so hungry that I almost forgot to take a photo!