Summer Salsa "Soup"

This is for Emily, who needed something that her whole family would eat! Hopefully this works. :)

I love salsa. I mean, I could eat it with a spoon, straight from the container (and have been known to do just that). I’m talking about the salsa from the refrigerated section, full of tomatoe-y, garlicky goodness. I finally figured that maybe I should stop eating salsa from the container because a) it gets expensive (seriously – do you know how much those little containers COST?) and b) it’s not really all that good for you. I came up with this to split the difference. One of the things I like best about this recipe is the "build your own" component with all the add-ons at the bottom. I usually have all but the tortilla chips on hand, and I just throw things together as they sound good. It adds nice variety, and if you're serving this to guests (or families), everyone gets something they like.

The most important thing below is to make sure that you have RIPE tomatoes. Don’t even bother making this in the wintertime, and if you shoot for early summer or early fall, at the beginning and end of tomato season, it’s probably best to get tomatoes on the vine. Get the big round ones, too, not the skinny little Roma ones. You need the JUICE for this to work. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

The Recipe:
Serves 6

6 large hothouse tomatoes or tomatoes on the vine, chopped
1 medium white or yellow onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 cucumber, chopped
2 cloves garlic, FINELY minced
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
juice from 4 limes
½ -1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and FINELY minced (if you like spicy food, use the whole pepper; if you HATE spicy food, just leave it out)
¼ cup olive oil
2 10 ¾-oz cans broth (I prefer beef broth, but vegetable broth works, too. Chicken broth tastes WEIRD, though. Just FYI.)
1 pound cooked steak strips (optional – I don’t usually include them, but sometimes I need some extra protein)
sour cream, for serving
guacamole, for serving
crushed tortilla chips, for serving
shredded Mexican cheese blend, for serving

Combine everything not labeled “for serving” above in a LARGE bowl. (The picture below is a 4-qt. bowl, and it has no steak in it. This makes a LOT of soup.) Stir to combine, and (ideally) refrigerate several hours or (even better) overnight. (Note: it’ll be good even if you don’t have time to refrigerate it, but it’ll be FANTASTIC if you do.) Also, you probably will NOT need salt for this. I know, I know, I’m the salt queen, but the broth is already salted. Mix it up, let it chill and taste it before you add salt. Seriously. I’m NOT KIDDING. You might be sorry otherwise.

Serve with optional garnishes (not shown below):
sour cream
guacamole
crushed tortilla chips
shredded cheese

Practically Pasta Primavera

I love pasta in pretty much any way, shape or form. Pasta Primavera is one of my favorite things to eat, and it’s a great way to get a big helping of vegetables in the bargain. Most of the time I eat Pasta Primavera cold: some defrosted frozen veggies, leftover noodles, and some olive oil and lemon juice. But traditionally it’s served warm (with fresh vegetables, not frozen, LOL), as below. I added Mozzarella cheese to the recipe below, so this is a tiny bit heavier than traditional Primavera, but it comes out great. If you need more protein, you could add a pound of meat of your choice: chicken is easy and would be good, but shrimp would be FANTASTIC in this. If you do that, the recipe should serve closer to 10 people.

The Recipe:
Serves 6-8

3 small zucchini, halved lengthwise and sliced into bite-size pieces
1 large yellow squash (aka summer squash), halved lengthwise and sliced into bite-size pieces
24 oz. cherry tomatoes: 12 oz whole, 12 oz halved (I use 2 of the little bags of “Nature Sweet” on the vine)
1 red pepper, cut into thin strips
1 yellow pepper, cut into thin strips
1 orange pepper, cut into thin strips
½ small package frozen green beans*
15 baby carrots (the ready-to-eat kind in the packages)*
2 cloves garlic, minced, OR 1 tps garlic powder
½ cup olive oil
salt and pepper
1 pound pasta, regular or whole-wheat (farfalle/bowtie, penne/little tubes, fusilli/corkscrews – something that will hold sauce – NOT long thin noodles)
8 oz. ovolini mozzarella OR 8 oz. whole milk mozzarella, cut into ¾-inch pieces
grated Parmesan cheese for topping
(Note: if you want to add protein to this, add a pound of cooked large shrimp.)

*Or ½ package Trader Joe’s Brittany Blend, in the frozen food aisle.

Preheat the oven to 400F. In a large baking pan, combine the whole tomatoes with the zucchini, summer squash, peppers, beans and carrots with the garlic and olive oil. Add a little salt and pepper and stir to combine. Bake for 40 minutes, stirring once.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling, salted water until tender (about 8 minutes at a rolling boil). Drain, reserving 1 ladleful of the cooking liquid.

Add the roasted veggies and halved tomatoes to the pasta pot, along with the pasta, pasta water and the mozzarella. Mix thoroughly. The cheese will begin to break down a little bit, getting soft and gooey around the edges, but it won’t melt completely. (That’s how it’s supposed to be.)

Serve topped with a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese.