Pasta. It seems simple enough, no? Would you believe me if I told you a childhood friend lit her stove on fire boiling water for pasta?

So last night was veggie pasta. It helps clear out the fridge at the end of the week, it saves some money with the meatlessness, and is just tasty.

We cook most things in our biggest cast iron skillet. This was no exception.

Carrots from Johnson’s Backyard Farm, zucchini and yellow squash from the store. I did discs and half moons for the chops. While wearing a nursing baby, no less. A little bacon grease and there they go. Salt and pepper. More salt, more pepper.

I texted for back-up…and was already out of order. “Sweat some garlic and onions first.” Too late for that…another pan it is!

I added a splash of grapeseed oil to this pan but my intended splash ended up as a downpour. Oh, well. Nothing a slotted spoon won’t solve.

My second hiccup was in remembering the sauce recipe. Considering in the past month I’ve slept more than two hours at any given time twice, I’m surprised I remembered as much as I did, but anyway…

Did you know that tomato paste wasn’t in the plan? No? Of course you didn’t! But I did…before it came time to cook.

Tomato puree, crushed canned tomatoes, and bonus ingredient: tomato paste.

Some fresh basil chopped small (I won’t pretend it was anywhere near a chiffonade) mixed in, add the sweaty garlic and onions and simmer simmer simmer.

I did not take a picture of boiling water.

The pasta this time was garlic spinach linguine from Texas Pasta Co.

Toddler approved. DH approved. I was not such a fan. The paste made it too sweet and the onions were crunchy.