White Bean & Artichoke Pasta

Sorry I've been neglecting posting! I have an awesome and SUPER simple recipe to make up for it.

Anne, you can make this for charles if he can eat any of it just yet, because it's a pasta dish but, get this folks, has NO cheese! And trust me, it doesn't need it. Not even to sprinkle on top. Mom pulled this out of a Simply Recipes magazine. And Erin, to the best of my knowledge this is also vegan, I know you cook like that sometimes, hopefully you can use this!


White Bean & Artichoke Pasta

Cook 3/4 lb fettuccini pasta using the directions on the box. Don't forget to make your boiling water "salty as the sea"
Reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking water

In a pan over the stove, heat 1/4 cup EVOO and saute one can of chopped artichokes, one can of white beans (Canelloni) and 2 cloves of chopped garlic. Heat all items through, don't let garlic brown. (Heat everything together at once instead of sauteing the garlic first and burning it to death like I did).

In a food processor, pulse 1 cup of toasted bread to make breadcrumbs. Add 1 tsp of dried oregano. While pulsing, add one tablespoon of EVOO. In the pasta pot, mix drained pasta with the bean/garlic/artichoke mixture and the breadcrumbs. Toss to serve.


The flavors are immense in this, you won't believe it and don't skimp on the EVOO when mixing the beans/artichokes/garlic. You don't even need to sprinkle cheese on top.

yum! (i'm having leftovers for lunch today at work).

It's cold out! I need soup!

I don't remember where I got this recipe. It may have been from the time Danielle Bean had everyone submit easy recipes? I decided to make it because it looked easy. I wasn't sure how it would work -- it kind of looked like I was just throwing in a bunch of stuff that tasted good individually.... would they taste good together?
It did!

Tortellini Soup
9 oz. tortellini
14 oz. can whole tomatoes
1 can navy beans
1 jar artichoke hearts
1 c. chopped onion, 1 c.red pepper and garlic (amount to taste)
1 1/2 large box vegetable broth
1 bag fresh spinach
Heat in crockpot. Serve with Parmesan cheese and sourdough bread.

So this is what the recipe looked like.... not very specific, though! How big of a jar of artichoke hearts? How big is a "large box" of broth? And is the red pepper and garlic TOGETHER a cup, or is it a cup of both? And is that red pepper, like the vegetable, or red pepper flakes?
So... I used real red pepper, and used about half of that, and then threw in a couple of cloves of garlic, chopped up. I think I would use less artichokes next time, too -- I got a big jar, and I think I would get a little jar next time.
But it was good! Anne, perhaps you can throw something in there instead of tortellini so it would fit the regulations?
(Italians wouldn't like this, because the tortellini gets very soft and very un-al dente! Hee hee!)