Pasta Carbonara with Bacon and Zucchini

I went to Trader Joes last week and picked up some mini zucchinis. One, they were so tiny and so cute! Two, it's just a lot easier buying these then the bigger ones because I don't eat that much zucchini and I don't want to end up tossing it. Dinner selections have been incredibly boring here and I'm sorry for the lack of posts! Hopefully this upcoming week I'll have more posts. My friend is coming into town and I do plan to take a ton of photos and I'm having her cook me up some tacos!



So. I decided to make pasta carbonara which you know, seems like a fairly simple dish. Cook pasta, mix with egg cheese "sauce" and add bacon and veggies right? Apparently not. Seems like I made it a lot more complicated and used a lot more dishes and utensils then I originally wanted. I'm telling you guys, I feel like I do waaay more dishes living by myself then when my husband is home. It's ridiculous.

Grating my fresh parmesan, done. Chopped up my veggies, done. Cooked my bacon, drained, made a mess, used a new pan, done. Cooked veggies in bacon grease, done. Cooked pasta, which took foreverrrrr. My dual burner using as a single literally took forever to boil and cook the pasta. At that point I was getting pretty impatient and famished, so I scooped out a bit of the pasta water and whisked it in my egg cheese sauce. I didn't even drain the pasta fully, I just scooped out the noodles and quickly tossed it in my sauce.

Through all that, it was a great meal because I ate 2 small bowls of it. Well, more like I wolfed it down. I liked that I had added zucchini so I get my fill of greens for the day. I also added some mushrooms because I needed to use them. I promise you, this recipe isn't complicated whatsoever, I just happened to make it extra difficult on myself.



Pasta Carbonara with Bacon and Zucchini
Recipe adapted from The Pioneer Woman

1/2 a box of pasta, any kind (i used spaghetti)
4-6 pieces thick cut bacon, chopped in bite size pieces
5 mini zucchinis (or 1 large zucchini), diced
4 mushrooms, diced
1/2 whole medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 whole eggs
3/4 cups grated parmesan cheese
3/4 cups heavy cream (optional)
salt & black pepper

Cook pasta according to package directions.

While the pasta is cooking, fry up the bacon. Remove from pan and drain on paper towels. Pour off all of the bacon grease, but don't clean the pan. Return the pan to the stove over medium-low heat and throw in the onions and garlic. Add in zucchini and mushrooms. Set aside.

In a bowl, mix together eggs, Parmesan, cream, and salt and pepper until smooth.

When the pasta is done, reserve a cup or two of the pasta water. Drain the pasta and place it in a bowl. While the pasta is still really hot, slowly drizzle in the egg mixture, stirring the pasta the whole time. The sauce will become thick and should coat the pasta. Splash in a little hot pasta water if needed for consistency.

Add in your vegetables and serve immediately with extra cheese and black pepper!