Veggie Gluttony with a side of pasta

Ok.  So I really enjoy this farm co-op that Jason and I have invested in.  It has challenged me to try things I would have never tried, learn new cooking techniques and discover that you can eat things I never dreamed to be edible...  However, sometimes we get an overabundance of certain veggies that I can't really keep up with before they go bad.  For instance, zucchini, eggplant and yellow summer squash have filled my two bottom drawers in my fridge for the last month.  Definitely a beautiful display of God's great eye for design and color but not really sure what to do with all of it (coming from a girl whose extent of veggie preparation six months ago involved a microwave, something frozen and garlic salt).  This past week I was lazy.  I didn't plan my menu very well and come Wednesday night I had about four squash like creatures and several other freshies getting ready to turn nasty in my drawer.  They had to be eaten that night or I was going to become an American statistic of throwing out 40% of my groceries to waste.

What's a mommy to do? Make what I so aptly and grossly named, purge pasta. That's right.  I said it.  I sliced and diced zucchinni, eggplant, mushrooms, spinach and squash and threw it into a skillet with a little olive oil and minced garlic.  I sauteed the heck out of that stuff.  Now Jason insists on having meat in his pastas so luckily I had some chicken sundried tomato sausage from Trader Joes that was about to eat it as well.  Well, Mr. unrecognizable meat, come join the disposal party.  I let that stuff just hang out in all those glorious juices and a marinara sauce for a spell while I prepared some whole wheat spaghetti.  I also was lucky enough to find in my mystery produce drawer some fresh garlic cloves that were about to be not so fresh.  I popped those in a foil packet with a dab of olive oil and baked for 30 minutes while everything was just stewing.  At the end of this experiment lazy meal, I had what Jason quote un quote said was the best pasta he had ever eaten.  WHAT???? Not to brag but Italian is kinda my thing.  And I have made him some pretty stellar pastas.  So, my about to die lazy pasta is the best?  Well, I guess I can tote this up to a happy accident.  Enjoy.

Veggie Gluttony

Ingredients:

1 zucchini sliced thin
1 medium eggplant peeled and sliced thin
1 yellow summer squash peeled and sliced thin
8 oz container or so of mushrooms
two handfuls of baby spinach? (not so good with measurements)
2 tbs minced garlic
2 tbs olive oil
package of sausage of some sort
Red sauce (I am partial to Trader Joe's Four Cheese Sauce)
Whole wheat spaghetti
two fresh garlic cloves

Directions:

Step 1: Prepare the spaghetti as indicated on the packaging.

Step 2:  Pre-heat oven to 350.  Using a sharp knife cut the stem off of the garlic clove until the individual cloves are visible.  Place on a small piece of foil.  Drizzle olive oil over it and seal.  Set on a baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes.
 
Step 2: Meanwhile in a large skillet, brown your sausage with a tablespoon of water for approximately 7 minutes over medium flame.  Cut into bite size pieces and return to skillet.

Step 3: Add two tablespoons of olive, minced garlic, and all the veggies.  Saute until softened.  Lower heat and add sauce.  Cover and let simmer.

Step 4:  When the pasta and garlic are finished, throw the sauce in and stir. 

Voila!  Look Ma!  I'm eating my veggies!