Deb's Mexican Pasta w/ Veggies

I was going to make myself some Penne today in the more or less Italian style (translate that to Ragu). I had pulled out a roll of ground turkey that I THOUGHT was Italian seasoned. It turned out to be taco seasoned so I decided to experiment and here it is.

Mexican Pasta w/ Veggies

Box of whole wheat pasta - I used Penne but any whole wheat pasta should work
1 lb Taco seasoned ground turkey or 1 lb ground turkey and 1 packet taco seasoning
1 can Nacho Cheese soup (non-negotiable)
1 can tomato soup or small can tomato sauce
1-2 cups cooked beans or 1 can beans (I used pinto)
Veggies which can be a combination of any frozen veggie that suits your mood, celery, peppers, onion or any leftover veggies. How much you use is up to you, I usually use a total of a cup or two of veggies in this type of dish.(I used frozen broccoli, celery and onion)

Cook the pasta as directed and drain
Saute the onions, peppers and celery if being used then brown ground turkey in same pan
Cook frozen veggies in your preferred method, heat beans and any leftovers your adding
Put all this and the two cans of soup back in the pot you cooked your pasta in heat together then serve.

I live alone and this makes a lot. I freeze things like this in small plastic containers and it's perfect for when I don't feel like cooking.

Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme

OK, so I don't much care for rosemary but I do have the first two and more! I just bought a sage plant and a, well OK, it's marjoram not thyme at a BOGO free sale at our local veggie stand. The parsley and basil have been growing like crazy and I've been freezing a lot of it..What I'm trying is a way I read about years ago. You chop up the herb like you were going to use it fresh, then you measure out by teaspoons or tablespoons into ice cube containers. Fill with water, then freeze. When a recipe calls for one of these herbs you just take out the required amount of cubes and add to it! Just remember that it usually takes twice as much "fresh" as it does dried. Don't forget to compensate for the water although in most recipes it will be so minimal as to not make a difference.

Sauteed Zucchini

I took this to a pot luck the other night and it got rave reviews. I'm growing my own veggies and most of the ingredients came from my patio garden! It's really easy and flexible. I'm going to scale it down because your not generally going to want to feed ten or more people!

1 small to medium zucchini
1 or 2 green onions sliced
small amount of sweet peppers any color
two tbsp of chopped fresh parsley

Spray a frying pan with cooking spray and saute all ingredients until the zucchini is tender

You can use yellow squash instead of zucchini, regular onion instead of green, add celery if you want or experiment with adding other veggies. I really like how this comes out and make it for myself quite often.