What do I love about Winter? Pasta dishes!!! That’s about it. I’m ok with the first snowfall, when it’s soft and fluffy and white. But once it turns into a slushy, icy mess, no thank you! I dislike being cold. Hate having to wash the salt off my car all the time. Not a fan of the shorter days and less sunlight thing. Need I keep going?
Anyhow, I bring you a pasta dish! This one was super-simple to make! I was able to do it on a weeknight, which is sometimes tricky because by the time I work out after work, I don’t have a lot of time left before bed. I also try not to eat too late, but sometimes that can’t be helped.
Before I get into this dish, let me tell you what happened on the day I made this. Bitty, also known as Itty Bitty or the Bitster, is our 16 y.o. cat. You’ve seen her in the photos. She’s in the background of one of this post’s photos. 16 is fairly old for a cat. Lately, she’s been losing muscle mass and meowing loudly, especially at night when we are trying to sleep. According to the vet, this happens when they start to go deaf and maybe a little blind. So, we were dealing. She got some Kitty Prozac, we got some sleep. Cats also lose muscle as they get older. Needless to say, I have been worried about her. On this recipe day, she had what I thought was a seizure. She spun around in circles almost like chasing her tail. She was meowing loud. She looked freaked out and her eyes glazed over. She was shaking and fell over. I grabbed her up and called the vet, who said to bring her in. I promptly gathered her carrier and my backpack. As I was walking down our stairs, which are wood, my feet slipped out from under me, and I fell backwards. I had nothing to brace myself with, as I had cat in one hand and bags in the other, so I fell directly on my left butt. I knew I had Bitty in my right hand and didn’t want to fall on her, so I twisted slightly to the left. Luckily so, or I would have hit on my tailbone. Regardless, it was bad. I called Mr. FBBQ and told him what happened. I loaded Bitty in the car, and we went to the vet. By the time I got there, I was in a lot of pain. My butt cheek was swollen to grapefruit size and very, very tender. Bitty saw the vet and, thankfully, had not had a seizure. Unfortunately, that was not the end of that part of the story, but that’s for another post. Also unfortunately, I was not ok. It was a painful drive home. We live about a half-hour from the vet because when we moved, I didn’t want to change vets (LFOF is amazing and worth the drive). That half-hour was hell. I was sweating profusely. Stomach was upset and nauseous from the Motrin I took on an empty stomach. I couldn’t sit on my left side, so I was leaning heavily to the right, operating the pedals with my right foot only. Pain was shooting up and down my left leg. I broke at least ten traffic laws. I made Mr. FBBQ take me to the ER, which I’m sure he was thrilled about. Some X-Rays later, I learned I had not broken anything. I have a large hematoma and a lot of bruising. On the positive side, I finally have that firm, rounded butt I’ve always wanted. Unfortunately, it’s only on the left side. The next day I was very, very sore. It took a while to heal. I’m not good at staying still or taking it easy, so I was back to running as soon as possible. In fact, the first question I had for the doctor was, “When can I run again.” Stubborn. It runs in our family. So there is your background for this recipe!
Now, on to the recipe! You’ll need some pasta. The recipe was actually for rotini, but I had whole grain shells on-hand so I used those! You’ll also need a lemon, tomatoes, broccoli, chickpeas, and pine nuts. To start, cook the pasta. At the last few minutes, throw the chickpeas in there with the pasta. Because I used dry chickpeas, I soaked and simmered them a few days prior. While the pasta is cooking, steam the broccoli. I used our trusty vegetable steamer! It makes it so quick and easy! I also toasted the pine nuts in the toaster oven. This dish was so easy to put together. The pasta/chickpea mixture is the base. Once that is in the bowl, add the broccoli and tomatoes. I added a little bit of mozzarella cheese to the mix, just because I felt like having some cheese! Douse with lemon juice and top with the pine nuts and enjoy your simple, easy-to-make meal!
