Month 6 day 1: Baked pasta

Back in Boston after two weeks on the West (best) Coast! I went to a conference (with dorm food) for one week, then a family reunion (with handmade hippie-type food) the next, followed by a weekend of restaurant food with G and his family around the bay area (with ramen in SF and tempura soba at Caffe Macs at 1 Infinite Loop)

Today I made:
Baked ziti Shells and Summer Veggies, Cooking Light July 2011
Mixed Greens Salad, Cooking Light July 2011

This was a 40-minute recipe, and I chose it just because I was really hungry all of the sudden and wanted to make something pretty fast. It features a lot of fresh summery vegetables, but New England summery vegetables aren't really that tasty anyway, at least the ones from Shaw's, so it was a little bit bland. I added extra ricotta (because it wasn't that creamy, and anyway ricotta is always sold in much bigger containers than you ever need), and that might have also been to blame for muting out all of the flavor. All in all, I would put more salt and pepper and more of the spices. I used dried oregano and just added it to the skillet early. I used fresh basil though, which was sold as a hydroponic plant with the roots still attached. It says to put the bunch in a cup with water. It also says "not intended for repotting," and I wonder if that's because it wouldn't work or if basil-for-immediate-consumption and basil-for-repotting just have different regulation and so it needs to say that.

I might try to repot it, or at least see how long it lasts in a cup. Hopefully enough for a couple meals, anyway.

I don't think I'll save this recipe. It needs an extra oompf. Maybe some smokey bacon or spicy sausage? Or just more spices? Maybe if the vegetables were garden-fresh? Most of the reviewers loved it, so maybe it was just me....