Zucchini Pasta Primavera with Creamy Basil Pesto

Yesterday it was 80 degrees in Colorado.

Tomorrow it'll be in the low 30's and snowing.  Again.

See if I care! I'm making summer meals- fresh and light- snow or not. 

Take that.

One of my favorite things to do in the summertime is make zucchini pasta.  In fact, I posted a Zucchini Spaghetti recipe last year that's pretty darn close to this one.  

But this one is tossed in a creamy basil pesto.  

Yum!

This is a 15 minute quick and easy recipe, no fuss required.

This just so happens to be a vegetarian, dairy free, gluten free, paleo recipe. 

It's so good, and so good for you.  You get some protein from the pine nuts in the pesto. I used what veggies I had on hand, though you could add pretty much anything.  I would've liked to add some spinach or kale, but it was quite filling as is.

If you want a more traditional primavera (aside from using actual pasta, lol) add parmigiana to the pesto- about 1/4 cup) and top the primavera with added parmigiana.  

I'll be honest, I didn't miss the cheese, and I thought I was going to.  

The basil pesto gives it tons of flavor.  I had extra pesto leftover- froze it in ice cube trays, and then removed to a ziploc bag in the freezer.  Now I can add basil pesto to pasta dishes in the future, or top some grilled fish or chicken with it. 

You will need a julienne peeler to make the zucchini spaghetti.  If you don't have one, they can be found at any kitchen store, or even Walmart and Target.  They're great to have, I peel carrots and other vegetables with them for a pretty look.

Zucchini Pasta Primavera with Creamy Basil Pesto

Serves 2

4 Zucchini

5 ounces grape tomatoes (about 1/2 of a 10 ounce container)

1 red pepper, seeded and chopped

1 yellow pepper, seeded and chopped
1/2 white onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup coconut milk

For the pesto:

3 cups packed fresh basil

1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted and cooled

2 cloves garlic, minced

2/3 cup good quality extra virgin olive oil
Salt and Pepper to taste

1. Prepare the veggies.  Peel and julienne the zucchini. Place in a colander, sprinkle with a tsp of salt, and toss.  Let sit in sink (this draws the moisture out so zucchini spaghetti stays crisp and doesn't get all soggy). 

2. Heat a few swirls of olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion. Saute until the onion is beginning to soften, turn translucent. Add the peppers. Saute until peppers are almost done and soft (about 10 minutes).  Add the grape tomatoes. Cook for a minute or so, and add the zucchini. Toss to incorporate, and cook until zucchini is just barely softening, about 5 minutes. 

2. While cooking the onion and peppers, prepare the pesto. Simply add the basil, pine nuts, garlic, and about half of the oil to a food processor. Pulse to combine.  With the food processor running, drizzle in the remaining oil until the desired consistency is achieved. Add a bit of salt and pepper to taste. 

3. Add a cup of the pesto to the cooking zucchini and vegetables.  Toss to combine.  Cook about 2 minutes to get the zucchini to soak up the pesto, and add the coconut milk.  Stir, and cook another 2 or 3 minutes.  

Plate and enjoy!

A couple more posts to enjoy:
Sweet Summer Squash Pudding
Molasses Crusted Pork Tenderloin with Grilled Pineapple-Papaya Salsa
Gorgonzola Sage Popovers

Quick Kielbasa Sautee

Here's a quick weeknight dinner for you.

I prepared this on a night when my fridge and cupboards were almost bare, and there was nothing to eat in the house.  Except for kielbasa, zucchini, frozen corn, and rice.

So there you have it.  How this dinner was created.

I really liked the corn/red onion/ zucchini combination, but you could easily substitute whatever you have on hand.  Peppers and/or peas would work. You could add tomatoes if you like.  I've even added pineapple in similar dishes. 

You could also substitute whatever sausage you have on hand, though I do love the kielbasa flavor for a change. 

This is one of my favorite quick weeknight dinners. Limited ingredients, limited time. 

But pretty delicious!

Quick Kielbasa Sautee

13 oz beef polish kielbasa, sliced into 1/2 inch slices
2 cups frozen corn
3 zucchini, cut in half lengthwise and chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup beef stock (preferably homemade of course, or low-sodium)
Jasmine rice

Heat a few drizzles of extra virgin olive oil in a skillet over med-high heat. Once hot, add the kielbasa and cook undisturbed for about 5-8 minutes or until kielbasa starts to blacken slightly.  Give a stir, and let cook another few minutes undisturbed.  Continue cooking until kielbasa has a nice blackened exterior- this gives it a really nice sweet, slightly crispy flavor.

Remove kielbasa and set aside.  In same skillet over med high heat, add red onion. Sautee for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until onions start to look soft and golden.  Add the zucchini, corn, and garlic.  Sautee another 5 minutes.  Zucchini will start to soften.  Add the beef stock and kielbasa and cook another couple minutes until most of stock is absorbed and zucchini is softened. 

Spoon over jasmine rice.  

Zucchini Muffins with Apricot Cream Cheese

My overabundance of zucchini led me to another zucchini recipe:

Zucchini Muffins with Apricot Cream Cheese

2 zucchinis, grated
2 cups flour
1/4 cup yogurt
1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
2 egg
6 tbsp butter, melted
juice from 1/2 lemon
1/4 cup golden raisins
1/4 cup dried apricots, chopped

Preheat oven to 375.

Grease muffin pans.  (I made 6 regular sized muffins and 24 mini muffins)

Squeeze out all water from zucchini.  I used paper towels, squeezing excess water from handfuls of zucchini.  Lightly salt, and set in colander to drain further.

Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking power, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs, yogurt, butter, lemon juice, and sugar until incorporated.

Fold the wet yogurt mixture into the flour mixture until just barely combined.  Add the zucchini, apricots and raisins.  Fold gently until ingredients are incorporated, but do not overmix.

Pour batter into prepared pans until 3/4 full.

Bake 8 minutes, checking on mini muffins. Bake until golden brown and toothpick comes out clean. Cool on wire racks.

        Apricot Cream Cheese

8 oz cream cheese, room temp
1/3 cup apricot jam
1tsp Cointreau liquor (or any orange liquor)
2 tbsp confectioners sugar


Mix all ingredients.  Set aside to let flavors mingle.  After zucchini muffins are cooled completely, spread cream cheese on top, and decorate if desired.

A few other fave summertime recipes:

Zucchini Spaghetti with Spring Vegetables

Grilled Shrimp and Smashed Avocado

Zucchini Spaghetti with Spring Vegetables

    This dish... is awesome.  So fresh, so simple, so healthy.  You will need to buy a julienne peeler if you don't already have one (under $10, can find at Target, Bed Bath and Beyond, etc with vegetable peelers). 

    I used fresh produce I had lying around in the fridge.  You can easily add or substitute whatever you may have lying around.  My vegetable measurements here are approximate- add as little or as much as you prefer!  I served this with grilled chicken and leftover slider buns that I made into mini garlic breads (obviously if you are gluten free you will skip that part)!

Zucchini Spaghetti with Spring Vegetables

Serves 3-4

 You will need:

2 zucchini

10 mini sweet peppers, seeds removed and cut in fours

1/2 red pepper, cut into large dice

2 roma tomatoes, diced

About 12 grape tomatos, cut in half

2 large handfuls of fresh spinach, chopped

1/2 white onion, thinly sliced

4 anchovy fillets (used as a seasoning, you won't even know it's in there!)

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

7 garlic cloves, minced

salt and pepper

Use the julienne peeler to make the spaghetti.

Place the zucchini spaghetti in a colander.  When you are finished making the spaghetti, put the colander in the sink and toss a couple pinches of salt on the zucchini.  Leave it sit while you prepare the rest of the meal.  (This step draws out some of the liquid so you don't have mushy spaghetti).  

Next heat water to steam the sweet and red peppers until still a bit crisp.  If you don't have a steamer, you can simply boil them for about 5 minutes.  The key here is to soften them a little bit, but to leave them with a little snap.

While the peppers are steaming/boiling, heat about 4 tbsp of olive oil in a large skillet over med-med high heat (heads up-this needs to be large, the zucchini and ALL veggies will wind up in here). Add the garlic, onion, and anchovies to the pan and saute, breaking up the anchovies until they melt away with your spoon (this should only take about 2 minutes... watch the heat of the stove- you don't want to burn the garlic!)

Once the anchovies have been incorporated with the garlic and oil, add the zucchini, gently tossing to combine.  Season with a little salt and pepper. Add the peppers and roma tomatoes, stir to incorporate.  Cook the zucchini  spaghetti about 3 more minutes.  Finally add the spinach and grape tomatoes.  Stir to combine well, and serve!

Slider Bun Garlic Bread

To make garlic bread out of slider buns, I simply minced a clove garlic and rubbed 1/2  on both sides of 2 slider buns ( a total of 4 pieces).  Then I melted 2 tbsp of butter in microwave until soft but NOT RUNNY.  I added the other 1/2 of the garlic clove, a pinch of salt, stirred until it was a thick buttery garlic paste, and buttered the buns.  Put into toaster oven until slightly golden, and voila!