The maiden voyage

      I first sat down to write this months ago. I'm not really the self-doubting-dig-your-own-hole kind of gal, but this voice in the back of my mind kept saying, this is stupid. and ridiculous. and sooo stupid. And maybe it really is, but I'm going to do it anyway. This will help me organize my thoughts and my recipes. It will be great to have them all in one place. And if someone else will benefit somehow, that'll be great.
     I have a two year old girl, Zhara. She is amazing. And so she only likes amazing food. Am I likely to produce amazing food for every single meal? Pfffft. But at least I'm trying. When I was young and my mother was trying to teach me stuff I could care less about cooking. When I finally wanted her expertise, we had the Atlantic in between, so I mostly learned on my own, watching tv and simply reading cookbooks. Whenever I get a new one, I read it cover to cover, as I would a novel [insert puzzled husband thinking I've lost it here]. Fact is, I'm entirely obsessed with food now. And lately, with dough. It seems anything I want to eat comes on top of, wrapped in or around some dough or pastry.

    Anyhoo, my daughter is a very picky eater, but thankfully she loves pasta, rice dishes and soups, so we do ok. I still cannot get her to eat eggs or potatoes or most meats, but that will come too, in time.

   A simple, simple pasta dish that Zhara loves, to begin this then:

   

   Carrot Zucchini Pasta

Boil water to cook  8 oz favourite pasta to al dente. We like to use miniature shapes, they're just easier for toddlers. Cube 2-3 oz smoked bacon and pan fry for a few minutes, then add 1 small onion and cook 5 min more. Grate 1 medium carrot and 1 medium zucchini on coarse grater and add them to the pan. After a couple minutes add a ladle of pasta water and put a lid on it, and cook on high heat for 3-4 minutes. Add about 6 oz tomato sauce, season if needed and toss the pasta.

Zhara enjoys this pasta tremendously. And I kinda like it too :)).