Veggie Pasta- Just the Way (Great-)Grandma Made It

Most of my mom's (and also my) favorite recipes are from her grandmother, who I always called Grandmother Faith even though technically she was my great-grandmother. Unlike my mom and I, she never ate cheese. She wasn't allergic, but her reasons for not liking it were that her father didn't like it and that it smelled weird. Once, before I was born, my mom took her to lunch at Krystal's, a hamburger place. My mom decided to order Grandmother Faith's burger with cheese and not tell her. She never found out, but she said something like, "There must be something special about this Krystal burger because it's the best I've ever had!" It turns out she did like cheese after all, and she just never knew it.

One of our absolute favorite recipes is pasta with veggies. Some people may not like veggies, my brother included, but when my mom and I get the chance, we love to make our veggie pasta. Basically all we do is we cook spaghetti according to the instructions on the box, and at the same time we cook some vegetables in a separate pan. We use zucchini, yellow squash, mushrooms, onions, and sometimes red pepper or asparagus if we have it.

When the pasta is done, we put it into the pan with the veggies and put in some sauce. Sometimes we use Alfredo sauce, other times we make Grandmother Faith's Blonde Roux (white sauce). Take equal parts butter and flour-- melt the butter over medium heat in a sauce pan, take the pan off the heat and slowly add the flour sprinkling it in and stirring constantly, stir until it starts to get thinner and more like liquid  (that means it's cooked), put it back on the heat and add milk.  Whisk milk into mixture (about a cup for every 1tbs butter/1tbs flour).  Keep whisking!  The mixture will start to bubble and let it do that for about a minute if the sauce is too thick add a bit more milk.  Add Salt and Pepper to taste. 

Once the veggies are cooked (not too much or they will be soggy-- it's nice if they have a little crunch in them), add the pasta to the pan, and the sauce to the pan, and then grate lots of fresh Parmesan cheese over the top.  Delicious!  It is really good with a salad on the side.


If you want to make it in true Grandmother Faith style, leave off the cheese. After all, it smells funny!


It is one of my favorite dishes to make with my mom, and I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!