5/23 + 5/24 -- Similar ingredients, different flavors.

I'm a huge lover of using the same ingredients but achieving different flavors with them. A few tweaks here and there will produce something completely new and still, very delicious! Let's explore two dishes I made to eat with dinner. They were of course accompanied by other dishes, but these were  definitely the stars.

Last night (Wednesday) I made a (vegetarian friendly) zucchini and tomato salad. It's super easy and really good!

4 small zucchini
2 cups or so of cherry tomatoes
handful of fresh mint
handful of crumbled feta cheese
sprinkle of dry mint, olive oil, lemon, salt

There is really no wrong way to do this. Slice the zucchini in half, then again into small pieces. Cut the tomatoes in half and throw those in a bowl with the zucchini. Roughly chop the fresh mint and add it to the mix. Add the crumbled feta and just eyeball the lemon juice, olive oil, salt and a dash of dry mint. Mix and enjoy!

For this next guy (vegetarian friendly) -- which I made today -- you're still sticking to the basic three ingredients that you did with the salad up there. We had the pasta cooked already and frozen, so we just let it defrost. You can also cook it from scratch. Leave it whole if you want to eat this warm, but if you want an easier to eat salad, break the pasta in your hands then throw it in the water. It'll give it an interesting texture. Feel free to use other types of pasta too!

2-3 cups of cooked pasta (I used whole grain)
1 zucchini
2 cups or so of cherry tomatoes
handful of crumbled feta
handful of basil
yogurt, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic
salt & pepper

After you've cooked the pasta, put it in a bowl as you begin to prep the salad ingredients. Cut the tomatoes in half and put them in the bowl. For the zucchini, I decided to cut it in half, then cut it into fairly thin strips. I then cut those strips into more strips, sort of mimicking a "spaghetti" look. Of course, it's thinner than spaghetti, but it adds some interesting texture and a look to the salad. Roughly chop the basil and add that in, along with the feta. In a separate bowl, eyeball some yogurt, lemon juice, olive oil, and minced garlic. Be careful to use a small amount of yogurt if you want a runnier sauce or a larger amount of yogurt for a thicker sauce. I'd say a teaspoon for a runny sauce and a heaping tablespoon for a thick sauce. I used a mini whisk, but you can use a fork to whip everything together into a smooth consistency. Pour it into the salad. Add some salt and pepper (I used cayenne) and toss it up. It's ready to eat!

Enjoy your two fairly healthy and fairly easy dishes, using almost the same ingredients.