Merry Pasta Monday!

Browsing through my blog it may not be obvious, but I eat A LOT of pasta.  It's just that this blog tends to be more about my experiments than the things I eat every day.  But when you're looking for something quick and simple for dinner, which is the point of these Merry Monday posts, pasta is always a good choice.  It goes with anything.  Pasta with chicken, pasta with scallops, pasta with meatballs, pasta with...you get the idea.  And don't forget the vegetables!  Gotta have a balanced meal...

So, for today's Merry Monday post, I give you pasta with shrimp and veggies.

Pasta with vegetables and shrimp is one of my favorite quick dishes.  Why?  Well, I love pasta with any kind of meat, but when I'm in a hurry...it's way quicker to thaw some frozen shrimp than it is to cook any kind of meat.  I know there are lots of people out there who only eat fresh seafood, if they live near the water, and distrust seafood anywhere else.  Well...I don't live on the coast.  And I love seafood enough to take some chances.  I try very hard to always have a bag of pre-frozen, peeled/deveined, cooked shrimp in my freezer. 
For this pasta dish, you're going to start 3 things at once.  Two of them require pots with lids. 

Start by putting some water on the stove to boil.  While you wait for it to boil, chop up your veggies of choice.  I believe this particular dish of mine had zucchini, leeks, carrots, and onions.  I generally throw in whatever vegetables I happen to have.  Carrots are pretty much always thrown in, radishes pretty often, leeks whenever I was feeling motivated in the grocery store (they are SUCH a pain to clean! ...but so delicious...)  Once the veggies are chopped, throw them in a pot with some butter and salt, put on the lid, and let them steam on medium heat.  Take some shrimp out of the freezer, put them in a colander, and run cold water over them until they thaw.  By now your water should be boiling, throw in however much pasta you want. (Tri-color rotini is my favorite). Less if you just want one meal, more if you're feeding a bunch of people or want leftovers.  Once the shrimp are thawed and the veggies are soft, throw the shrimp in with the veggies so they can warm up.  (Turn down the heat if you don't want the veggies to turn to mush).  Once the pasta is done and drained, throw it in with the veggies.  Or if you're like me and steamed the veggies in a really small pot, throw everything in the pasta pot instead.  Mix it all up with whatever kind of sauce you like.  Olive oil is always good.  So is pesto.  My favorite pasta sauce is Classico's Sundried Tomato Alfredo.  Red sauce, white sauce, whatever your heart desires. 

Eat up!