Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Simple Pasta

We have started taking German lessons on Tuesday nights, so Tuesday is now pasta night as it is a very quick thing to make and doesn't have a lot of clean-up.  Both are important to me since as soon as our teacher leaves, we are trying to get the kids to bed...and with my luck, doing the dishes would wake them up :p  I would get tired of the same pasta every week though, and there are many to choose from, so here is one.
What you need:
Tricolor Pasta (you know, for those extra veggies!)
A jar of the new Barilla pasta sauce Coop carries - I chose the Kirshtomaten (cherry tomato) mit Karotten (with carrots)
A loaf of Baguette mit Knoblauchbutter - Garlic Bread - this one is cheaper than the frozen one and I think it tastes better.
1 Zucchini
1 can of mushrooms ( I prefer fresh, but didn't have any on hand)
Parmesan cheese.

Boil some water and add the pasta - it only takes about 3 minutes to cook.
While the water is coming to a boil, add some olive oil to a pan and let it heat.  Slice a zucchini thinly and add some mushrooms, saute.
Also bake the garlic bread.

When the zucchini and mushrooms are done, add the jar of sauce. Add the pasta when it is to your liking and cook for 1-2 minutes, or until everything is well mixed. Top with the cheese and serve with the garlic bread.




Ahh...Konstanz....

-So I have been here for about 3 years now, and finally, last week, I went to Konstanz!  I'll gloss over the non-food part, but get there early in the morning if you want a place to park.  If you take the train though, it drops you off right in the center and you should be able to get to closer shopping. I would recommend a car though, if possible - the trip from Zurich was only about 50 minutes and you can get a lot more in your car than on the train.
We went to Lago and looked around at the Aldi, but ended up going to Kaufland (think Wal-Mart-ish).  It was fantastic! (overlooking the crowds because I found some great stuff).  Be aware though, that there are regulations on what and how much you can bring back into Switzerland.
Some of the things I found:
I was very excited to find the Pillsbury Doughboy as you can see...all I have had so far is the garlic bread....and you had to peel the paper back from the can and the dough just popped out...wonderful! :)
 Some yummy looking cheeses
 They had a bunch of Weight Watcher and other prepackaged, non refrigerated foods
 Miracel Whip.  I had no reason to buy this other than it was 1.50 Euros and I was reminded of home.  I am quite happy with the Thomy mayonnaise.
There was a HUGE aisle of these packets - there were also mac n cheese packets and other Americanized items (as distinguished by the US flag in the corner...)






The beef I bought - I bought lots of chicken as well. The Pepper Steak was good, but the other tasted kind of 'funky' and it wasn't a cooking issue.  However, for as cheap as it was, it wasn't as disappointing as it would have been had I gone to Jelmoli or some other place.
In any case, here are the results: 
I made it with a scoop of rice and some broccoli.  The rice and broccoli were great as was my husband's steak :p

Enjoy Konstanz!