Tomato and Squash "Alfredo"

This recipe comes from my sister Michelle's blog, Fabulous Food! She came up with this not-exactly-alfredo dish by doing something I do frequently - throwing things together and hoping it turns out tasty. In this case, it definitely did!

I altered her original recipe. She used chicken breast, but we don't have any on hand. I did pick a couple nice-sized yellow squash from our garden last night, so I added those instead. Also, she put cream in her recipe. I chose instead to add some powdered milk to regular milk, to thicken it up. It worked great, and saved a lot of fat calories.

She calls this "Alfredo" because of the Parmesan. It really isn't an alfredo at all, but like Michelle said in her post, "It's that parmesan flavor, I'm telling you!"

Tomato and Squash "Alfredo"
2 medium yellow squash, cut into bite-size chunks
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup chicken broth
salt and pepper
2 tsp. bottled minced garlic
1 tsp each parsley, thyme, and oregano
1 can diced tomatoes
2 cups macaroni
1/3 cup milk + 1/3 cup powdered milk
1/4 cup Parmenan

Heat oil and butter in a saucepan. Add squash, seasoned with salt and pepper, to the oil and saute until tender-crisp. Add the garlic and herbs, cook a minute or so more. Pour the broth in, and add the can of tomatoes, do not drain the juice out. Let that simmer on low to reduce the liquid by half while the pasta cooks.

Bring salted water to a boil, add macaroni (or pasta of choice). Cook for about 10 minutes, until done. By this time, the liquid in the veggies should have reduced nicely. Drain the pasta and add to the squash and tomatoes.

Whisk together the milk and powdered milk (or use 1/2 cup cream); add to the squash and pasta mixture along with Parmesan. Here I tasted it and realized I needed to add a lot more flavor (I kinda scrimped on the salt and herbs). I added more salt, some Italian seasoning, some garlic powder, and some more Parmesan. That fixed it.

I served this with some steamed green beans and wax beans, also from our garden. I really like having a garden, even if half the things we planted didn't grow. The beans and squash are all doing so well!