Day 9: Insomnia and Healthier Homemade Pasta! (Not necessarily related!)

After my complaints about waking up grumpy on Monday morning, it seems my body decided to play a little joke on me and give me insomnia last night! I did get a good 4.5 hours of solid sleep at least, while reminding myself that I would have been thrilled with that much when my daughter was a newborn. As I tend to do when I can't sleep, I laid in bed for awhile listening intently for random sounds while at the same time trying not to listen so I could actually sleep. My brain is very perverse that way. Finally I got tired of fidgeting and decided on a change of scenery. For whatever reason when I can't sleep in bed, the couch usually does the trick. It worked....until my daughter came wandering to find me in the middle of the night with her flashlight. 

I did try my "happy wake up" tricks this morning and they helped somewhat, although I'm sure they'd be more effective yet if I got a solid sleep. I can still smell the essential orange oil on my wrists. Mmmmm. Crossing my fingers for a better sleep tonight!

On a different note, I had a very satisfying dinner last night. I like to make my own pasta about once a week from flour, eggs and pureed veggies (usually either spinach or cauliflower- they add a very mild flavor that doesn't overpower the palette). I feel good about feeding it to my non-veggie eating daughter. She likes to eat it plain with a little butter and salt. The adults like it with pasta sauce of course, although it is delicious all on its own. I usually have pre-prepared pureed spinach and cauliflower in my freezer so that makes the process fairly quick and easy...crucial when you work full time and arrive home starving!

I use 2 cups of flour, 2 eggs and 1/2 cup pureed veggies. After hand-mixing in the bowl, I turn it onto a floured surface and knead until it has a smooth, elastic consistency. I often add a few more pinches of flour to reduce  the stickiness at this point. Sticky pasta dough does NOT work well in the pasta maker. I pull out my beloved Pasta Queen, which I scored at a garage sale for $5. Technically I bought it as a gift for my mom, but she moved away, and after some negotiating I got to keep it...although she's never let me forget! The dough can be divided into 4 portions. I don't find it necessary to use a rolling pin- I just flatten each piece slightly and feed it through the flattening roller. Often, I will fold the piece back on itself and roll it again to get a nice, smooth piece. Once I'm satisfied, it goes through the pasta cutting roller. I like to sprinkle a little flour in there before feeding the dough through so it doesn't stick together.

I lay the pasta out on parchment paper and make sure the individual pieces are separated so they don't clump together in the water. Once the water's boiling, fresh pasta cooks super-quick. It's done when it floats at the top, which takes a couple minutes max. Voila! A very filling and nutritious dish.