Pasta w/pumpkin sauce, easy garlic bread, and pumpkin smoothies

Okay, I'm getting this thing started. I'm Kittens, I'm 21 and a college student currently in her senior year. I've spent much of my college career living on cafeteria food or ramen and chips, and have only this year really pushed myself to eat healthier. Especially since I'm now living off campus, my meals are really up to me. So I plan to share some fairly simply, cheap recipes. Most of my groceries have been bought at Wal-Mart (hey, don't hate, I'm poor). When I can, I buy from the local sustainable market as well as the local Neighborhood Co-Operative Grocery, which supplies locally grown organic/fair-trade ingredients to my community.

If you've got the cash, I definitely suggest looking into it.


My very first entry on actual food!

So. Today my boyfriend and I had a rare day in which both of us had the day off, which of course led to a lazy, lazy morning. When it finally came time to eat, I'd found a recipe for pasta with pumpkin sauce I wanted to try. I was missing a few of the ingredients, but we went right on ahead. So I have my own version of Pumpkin Penne Pasta!

Easy Pasta with Pumpkin Sauce
Ingredients:
1 can pure pureed pumpkin (DO NOT USE pumpkin-pie filling for this) (less than a dollar at the Wal-Mart)
Penne Pasta (any pasta really will do) (I bought a huge bag at Sam's Club for incredibly cheap-enough pasta to last a couple of months at least)
3 cups chicken broth (Wal-Mart, cheap)
half a regular-sized onion (Bought a bag at Wal-Mart)
3 gloves of garlic (Got a bag of about twenty-five heads of garlic at Sam's Club)
Tabasco (or other hot sauce) (giant bottle from Sam's Club)
1 cup skim milk (whole milk or heavy cream will make it saucier, use the same measurement) (Wal-mart's cheapie brand)
One heaping tablespoon of butter (Country Crock Light-one of my splurges)
Dried oregano (fresh will also do) (bought a giant spice dispenser at Sam's Club for ridiculously cheap)
Pumpkin pie spice (bought at Wal-Mart, more expensive than I would have liked, but, I also use this to make Pumpkin smoothies)
Salt & Pepper (Bed, Bath & Beyond: one in which you crack the salt and pepper yourself. Another splurge, but the difference in taste is worth it.)
Grated parmesian cheese (Wal-Mart, cheapie brand)

I ended up using enough pasta to make about four servings. you can add or subtract amounts all on your own. In any case, I got the water salted and set it on to boil. While it was cooking, my boyfriend cup up half an onion and the cloves of garlic.

Once the water was ready, I poured the pasta in and let it cook. Then I heated up a tablespoon of olive oil in a fairly large skillet. (I reccomend using the largest skillet you've got; this makes a lot of sauce)

I sauteed the onions and garlic until they had gone soft. I salted and peppered them, then added the three cups of chicken broth, the can of pureed pumpkin, a good four generous splashes of hot sauce, the cup of skim milk, and a few dashes of pumpkin pie spice. I forgot to add the butter until later, but adding it at the start is a good idea too.

Once it was all stirred together, I turned the heat down to low and let it simmer. The original recipe (which called for heavy cream) said it would only take five minutes; but at twenty we decided toc all it a day and use what sauce we had.

We poured the sauce over the saucepan of pasta and then kind of tossed it all together until the pasta was totally covered in sauce.

After that, we dashed the top with dried oregano (the boyfriend's idea) and added grated parmesian cheese. And ta-DA, a meal!

Now if you're looking for a side and you like garlic bread, but you're tired of buying that stuff that's covered in butter from the store, here's an easy way to make your own. My friend Becca showed me this.

Easy Garlic Bread
You'll need:
Whole-Wheat bread (white can also be used, but I don't recommend it): I tend to use about four slices, but that's for two people. Adjust accordingly to fit your meal needs.
Garlic cloves: I only needed one, but again, adjust accordingly.
Olive oil
Salt & Pepper

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. Take your slices of bread and tear into roughly rectangular chunks. Drizzle each small piece with olive oil, then add salt and pepper to the top. When each piece is covered, place into oven. Leave for ten to fifteen minutes. When you pull them out, CAREFULLY rub each piece with your garlic clove until they are heavily flavored. Then add them as a side to your meal!

If you leave the pieces of bread for twenty minutes, you can also have homemade croutons-just don't add the garlic.

If you simply toast the pieces of bread without adding anything to them, they make good bread-chips for dipping in olive oil or dip at a party.

Pumpkin Smoothie

Ingredients:
One can pureed pure pumpkin (starting to see a theme here?)
1/2 cup Vanilla Soymilk (I use light soymilk, regular milk could also be used with the addition of some vanilla flavoring)
1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 cup chopped ice

Place all ingredients into a blender. Blend until smooth, then pour out. This is a good, filling breakfast smoothie. If you're eating them for dessert, top with some whipped cream and pie-crust crumbs and you've got a healthy smoothie that tastes just like pumpkin pie!

That's all I got for this first one! So heidy-ho, y'all.

-Kittens