$5 dinners' Garden Fresh Pasta Dinner

More great stuff from $5 dinners. I have to say, even my hubby will love this one! Of course, prices vary according to your location, and fresh tomatoes aren't free to everyone, but it's still quite frugal and tasty at the same time!

Aunt D's Garden Fresh Pasta Dinner
Ingredients
1 box Bowtie Pasta ($1.25)
3-4 Fresh tomatoes from the garden, diced (Free!)
3-4 FreshBasil Leaves, finely chopped (Free!)
1-2 cup mozzerella cheese ($1.67)
4 T EVOO ($.25)
2-3 garlic cloves, chopped ($.10)
1 zucchini ($.79)
1 T EVOO or Butter ($.10)
Directions
1. Marinate diced tomatoes and basil in EVOO and garlic.
Add a splash of vinegar to the marinade if you like!
2. Cook pasta as directed.
Drain.
Pour marinating tomatoes over pasta.
Srinkle cheese throughout.
Let cheese melt.
Serve warm.
3. Saute zucchini in EVOO or butter.
Serve with pasta!
Cost $4.16

My Variations:
I guess you could call me the queen of using what's on hand.
I'd made up a balsamic vinegar/EVOO dressing for my MIL the other day and couldn't for the life of me imagine what I'd use the rest for. Enter Marinade!
The only cheese we had on hand was parmesan, so I shredded up a bit of that and it was fantastic!
My hubby's a meat & potatoes kind of guy and although I've been able to convert him to a meat & most anything else kind of guy, I haven't had any luck with leaving out the meat, so I grabbed some leftover steak tips, cut them up in teeny tiny pieces, and added them to the pasta mix. He loved it, and went back for more!
I'm sure it ended up being a quite different taste than the original recipe, but it was still quite good.

No Noodle Crockpot Lasagna

I'm going to have to try this for tomorrow's edition of Crock Pot Fridays.

From Stephanie's "A year of crock potting" blog, I found Vegetarian No Noodle Crockpot Lasagna.

I finaly made the No Noodle Crockpot Lasagna, but I haven't had any yet. I made it overnight for lunches throughout the week, but it was literally bubbling, so I stuck it in the fridge to cool off for lunches later in the week. Or maybe we'll have it for dinner tonight! {sorry menu plan!}

Here's what I did:
--1 26 oz jar of your favorite pasta sauce {I used Elizabeth's Roasted Tomato Sauce until the last layer when I ran out. Then I used my meat sauce. I don't have a recipe up for that one yet.}
--1 small container of ricotta cheese
--8 slices of mozzarella cheese
--2 cups shredded Italian cheese mix
--1 large eggplant {I used only half of a HUGE zucchini, so skipped the eggplant}
--3 summer squash
--1 pound of slices mushrooms {I skipped the mushrooms, personal choice}
--bag of baby spinach {I skipped the spinach, my hubby's choice. It's enough that he's eatting zucchini!}
--2 T warm water
The Directions.
I used a 4.5 quart Crockpot. Wash all of the vegetables. Slice the unpeeled squash and the eggplant in long, slices, about 1/4 inch thick. {I sliced my HUGE zucchini width-wise to create large circles and cut up a few to fill in the spaces} These are going to be your noodles! In the bottom of your crockpot, pour about 1/4 cup of pasta sauce. Layer in a few pieces of squash and eggplant. Smear some ricotta cheese on top. Add a handful of baby spinach and mushrooms, and a few slices of mozzarella cheese. Pour in some more pasta sauce. Continue layering the ingredients until your crockpot is full, and you have run out of ingredients. Top with the end of the pasta sauce and the shredded cheese. Put 2 tablespoons of warm water into the empty pasta sauce jar, cover, and shake. Pour the remaining sauce on top of everything. {I was tired and it was getting late, so I misread this and put a layer of sauce on top of everything, then sprinkled the water on top!}

The Results:
I woke up this morning again to a wonderful fragrance! I'll update later with how it tastes! (and if it passes the hubby test!)

Jana's Crusty Parmesan Zucchini

Recipe "Author:"
Jana, from Jana's Journeys. I can't tell you how fun it is to hear about other people's lives, so similar to your own. The best way to describe her is how she did so herself: "I'm 4'11" of crazily fun cuteness!"

I found this recipe at another blog she contributes to: the Friendship of the Fabulous Foodies. (so fun!!)


Original Recipe: Crusty Parmesan Zucchini (Jana adapted it from a recipe she found in "The Vegetable Dishes I can't Live Without."
Ingredients:
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 tsps minced or cruched garlic (or powder, to taste)
4 small/slender zucchini and/or summer squash, halved lengthwise (or one huge zucchini, cut into strips)
Salt, to taste
Freshly ground pepper, to taste
1-2 tbsp fine bread crumbs (optional)
2-3 tbsps grated parmesan cheese
Directions:
Preheat Broiler.
Line cookie sheet with tinfoil, coat with olive oil.
Place zucchini in the pan.

Mix the remaining oil in with the garlic in a cup, then brush the mixture onto the top and sides of the zucchini.
Shred the parmesan cheese (add breadcrumbs here if you're using them) and sprinkle it onto the zucchini.

Broil for about 7 minutes.
My Modifications:
I did mine pretty much how Jana did her's.
~I try to shy away from breadcrumbs, so I omitted them just like she did.
~I didn't measure the parm that I used, but I know for a fact that I used closer to 1/2 cup! (Maybe more!)
The Result:


Perfectly "al dente!"
Even my hubby said they were something he'd eat again. He doesn't often say that about veggies in general!
The Verdict: (Will I make it again?)
Absolutely!

Gad Zukes!!!!

First up: Zucchini

I already blogged about this recipe earlier today over at my main blog, but in the spirit of newly founded organization, here's Jana's Crusty Parmesan Zucchini
and Suzie's Zucchini Latkes (pancakes)
and of course, Jenn's Zucchini Soup