Dinner - Penne with Peas

For you interested parties, I have several recipe collections. There's my giant cookbook collection, the recipe card box mentioned above, a shoebox full of recipes I tear out of magazines, and not one but TWO recipe card binders. It's pretty scary obsessive.

It's been my mission to organize all of these, and to date this has not yet happened. The last time I attempted to organize, I tackled the recipe card box, so it is nice and orderly, divided into categories then subdivided alphabetically.

Recently, I decided to delve into this nicely organized recipe card box in search of some recipes we have not yet tried. Penne with peas had a nice ring to it, and contained pretty great sounding ingredients, a fresh sounding combination for the beginning of summer.

Yes, I said BEGINNING of summer, because in our sorry state of Wisconsin, summer officially began (in my opinion) this past week. We've finally been having some nice weather, and it has been keeping me outside of the house, attempting to read books (Currently "Frank: The Voice", a great read!) and catch some sun.

Anyways, back to the pasta! The recipe seemed like it would be a nice light meal, filling but not heavy. It was everything I expected and tasted just like summer. I ate the leftovers the next day, which clocked in at a steamy 100 degrees (F) outside. I ate them cold out of the fridge and can say that this dish is not only delicious warm from the skillet, but also quite tasty chilled.

Penne With Peas

Ingredients:
-6 oz multigrain pasta (penne, but we used more like 8-10 oz, also not multigrain..or penne for that matter! Oops.)
-1 tablespoon olive oil
-2 slices bacon, diced (we used 5 slices of precooked bacon, heated. What can I say? It's good.)
-1 cup green peas (fresh or frozen)
-1 vine-ripened tomato, seeded and chopped
-1 cup edamame (soybeans out of pods), optional

Cook penne until al dente in large saucepan.
Meanwhile, heat oil in a skillet with sides over medium heat.
Add bacon and cook 1 minute. Stir in peas and tomato and heat through.
Drain pasta and toss with the pea mixture.

This recipe alone doesn't have much in the way of spice flavor. I threw in some Italian seasoning containing salt and pepper, and it tasted really delicious.