Spaghetti with Summer Veggies and Goat Cheese

I am doing a smoothie cleanse this week, so I just had to blog about something appetizing. Yesterday's smoothie was kale-based, which I'm used to eating kale a lot, so it was fine. Not ideal, but fine. Today's smoothie is beet-based. I only occasionally eat beets and don't love them but don't hate them. But today's smoothie is not ideal nor fine-it's barely tolerable. I've decided I need to get a straw so I can choke it down at dinner. Something about a combination of beets, swiss chard, raspberries, strawberries, and cacao powder, is not actually appetizing. Who would've guessed?

Anyways, this summer linguine dish is purely delightful and unlike my smoothie, the ingredients all actually go together really well! We picked up all our veggies for this at the farmer's market, which of course makes everything taste better. And when we went to the market, we hadn't picked any recipes yet, so we got lucky that this one aligned so well with what we had purchased. I had spotted it in my latest issue of Real Simple (yes, in my mind I am in my mid-30's and love house cleaning tips and recipes, so it is necessary to subscribe) and thought it looked pretty good. So when we were scavenging our cookbooks for good summer veggie recipes, we checked the latest issue of RS and rediscovered this recipe, seeing that it matched our purchases perfectly! Will whipped it up in no time and voila! We had a couple dinners and lunch leftovers before we knew it.

Cooking Notes: The original recipe called for linguine, but we had just used some, so we made it with spaghetti. We changed walnuts to pine nuts and toasted them in a frying pan without oil as opposed to baking them, like we were supposed to with the walnuts. We halved the amount of tomatoes we used. And we accidentally didn't reserve cooking water, so that was a shame.

Spaghetti with Summer Veggies and Goat Cheese (adapted from Real Simple; serves 4-6)
3/4 lb. whole wheat spaghetti
1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted
3 tbsp olive oil
2 cups fresh corn (from 2 ears)
2 cloves garlic, sliced
S&P
1 pints cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
2 small zucchini, cut into thin ribbons with a veggie peeler
2 tbsp fresh oregano leaves
4 oz. goat cheese, crumbled

Cook the pasta according to package directions. When it's ready, reserve 3/4 cup of the cooking water, drain the pasta, and return it to the pot. While the pasta is cooking, toast the pine nuts over medium heat with no oil, stirring occasionally until they are browned. Set aside once ready.

In a large skillet, heat 3 tbsp olive oil over medium heat. Add the corn, garlic, and 1/4 tsp each salt and pepper, tossing occasionally, until the corn is tender, 2-4 minutes. Add the corn, tomatoes, zucchini, and 1/2 cup of the cooking water to the pot of cooked pasta. Cook over medium heat, gently tossing, until liquid is slightly thickened and coats the pasta, 2-3 minutes (add more cooking water as necessary). Serve sprinkled with fresh oregano, pine nuts, and goat cheese.

Recipe: Real Simple: Linguine with Summer Vegetables and Goat Cheese