Pasta with Prosciutto, Asparagus, and Carrots

I love pasta dishes where half the plate is veggies. This dish screamed "Spring" to me with asparagus, snap peas, and carrots. I loved the flavor of the quick sauce made from chicken stock, heavy cream, and Dijon mustard. As a bonus, it was super fast to make for a weeknight dinner.

LESSON LEARNED: To make this dish in even less time, prep the veggies the night before. That's what I did!

Recipe for Pasta with Prosciutto, Asparagus, and Carrots

Cheesy Veggie Dip

Oh my gosh! This is a FABULOUS snack. Imagine a homemade white cheddar cheese creamy dip with chopped spinach, scallions, and asparagus. It is topped with crumbled goat cheese and baked until bubbly and golden. YUM! We served it with tortilla chips, but it would be equally good with bread or fresh veggies.

LESSON LEARNED: Use any veggie you have on hand to make this dip.

Recipe for Cheesy Veggie Dip

Sauteed Broccolini

Did you know that broccolini is a cross between broccoli and Chinese kale (called gailon)? Nope, neither did I until I read the label on a couple of bunches of broccolini that I bought at the store last week. This post is part of my quest to try a new vegetable every week.

To prepare this veggie side dish, I heated some olive oil in a saute pan with a smashed garlic clove. Once the oil was hot, I discarded the garlic clove, add the broccolini, salt, and red pepper flakes. After cooking them for a few minutes while tossing them in the hot olive oil, I transferred them to a plate and sprinkled with Parmesan cheese. Really, this entire dish took about 5 minutes! It was super easy and pretty healthy too!

LESSON LEARNED: Cook this vegetable quickly so it stays crisp and bright green.

Recipe for Sauteed Broccolini

Honey Roasted Golden Beets

Every week I try to make a point to buy and eat a new ingredient. I think this is a good way to become familiar with different types of food and I love creating new recipes. This week I picked up a bunch of golden beets. I don't think that I've had the red varietal of beets, so this almost counted as a double new ingredient. :)

I first tasted the beets raw and they tasted tangy and had a similar taste to other root vegetables such as carrots. I thought if I thinly sliced them, toss the beets with yummy flavor boosters (olive oil, honey, cinnamon, salt), and roast until cooked through, I might get my husband to taste them. I was right! As they were baking, the house started to smell like cinnamon and he came to the kitchen to investigate. Ha! My plan worked!

LESSON LEARNED: Adding familiar flavors to unfamiliar ingredients encourages other people to taste them.

Recipe for Honey Roasted Golden Beets