Ooo, I should have saved the roasted Fall veggies for tonight – it’s straight up cold outside! Didn’t even reach 70 degrees today! 
With the cold weather, comes the inevitable change in scenery. I’ve been turning my nose up at the shifting colors of my neighbor’s tree leaves for a good month now, but it’s finally time I acknowledge it.
It’s Fall!
Are you excited?! I am. I cannot WAIT to get to the local apple orchard. Last year was a blast! Hmmm, that post makes me feel like I need to get new sunglasses. I’ve been rocking the same pair for a long time! It’s hard though. My face size is somewhere between child and adult, aka nothing fits right, so when you find a pair that semi fits, you HOLD ON TIGHT!
In other news, it only took the entire summer, but I declared my basil plant fit to be plucked today!
Who knew it’d take four and a half months to grow a basil plant from seed to seedling?! Sheesh!
The leaves were a wee bit smaller then I would have liked, but I’m tired of waiting…
plus I had plans to tear them up over my Italy-inspired dinner of Pasta Margherita!
The pasta of the Pasta Margherita was this Ziti Tagliati Ben and I brought back from Praiano.
Don’t you love the shape?!
Each noodle is super long, so I get more bang for my buck,
plus it’s great for trapping sauce and goodies inside. 
While my pasta boiled away on the stove, I sliced up some fresh garlic to make fried garlic chips as a base for my dish.
I added the sliced garlic to ~1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, heated in a large skillet over medium heat, and fried for ~1 minute, stirring almost constantly as to not burn the chips.
When the garlic was golden brown, I added in some frozen –> thawed shrimp and red pepper flakes, and let them heat through.
At this point, I added the mixture to the cooked & drained pasta, then let out an audible "D’OH!!!!" as I realized I completely forgot about the tomatoes. I forgot about the tomatoes!!
I quickly chopped up four Roma tomatoes and cooked them until they just started to break down in some extra virgin olive oil, a splash of balsamic vinegar and some salt & pepper. Problem solved!
Everybody in the pasta pot, toss with some feta cheese and a little more olive oil, then plate up and top with ripped basil!
My Iowa kitchen turned into an Italian trattoria, if only for the night!
I was bound & determined to cook my pasta to al dente perfection, like all the restaurants we ate at in Italy managed to do, and I think I did a pretty good job! This pasta shape was fantastic btw – perhaps my new favorite?!
And, ok, the shrimp wasn’t falling apart tender, but omg you HAVE to sauté shrimp in garlic infused oil sometime. It is fantastic!
Spicy red pepper, salty feta, fresh tomatoes and home-grown basil. Deeelish!
A second large scoop has left me stuffed. Stuffed I tell you. 
Well, I’m off to go show our vacation pictures to my parents – I haven’t seen my Dad since I got back! I’m coming Pops! 
Have a good night!
~~~~~
What’s your favorite pasta shape?
YUMMMMMMMMMM omg. my favorite shape is gemelli! the little tightly twisted knots make me so happy with broccoli and garlic!!
I used to think penne was my favorite, but I think what you snagged here is a new favorite! How interesting! And dinner looks amazing. I’m going to need to try this one – and not forget the tomatoes! Knowing me, I’ll somehow forget the pasta. Talk about D’OH!
I love fusilli, rigatoni, and fettuccine shapes.
i am so very jealous of your cool day. we are still stuck with 95+ degree days down here in austin. i’m hoping fall-ish weather to hit some time in october-i’d settle for an 80 degree day at this point!
Yum! It looks like extra long ziti. I am craving Italian now!
Such a basic, yet delish meal! I am hoping to do a herb garden next year in addition to our few veggies. My tomaters are finally turning red, which has been exciting.
PS-Thought I might see a little post about how you’re meeting up with Tina from CNC seeing that she is in Des Moines right now. ANywho, happy Thurs!
Thin Spegetti is my fav, it cooks so fast!
My FAVORITE pasta shape comes from when I was really little and Kraft Mac ‘n’ Cheese had “wagon wheel” shapes. I don’t know what it was about the wheels, but they really soaked up all the cheesy goodness!
what a beautiful dinner! i made a quick orecchiette with garlic infused butter & pecorino romano tonight… sometimes simple truly is the best. i love the idea of the garlic chips however, how wonderful!
it was close to 90 degrees here today – summer just doesn’t want to let go – but i’m okay with that!
My favorite pasta shape is rigatoni! That tree you took a picture of is gorgeous, makes me even more excited for Fall
That looks SOOOOO good! Simple, yet elegant and (obviously) delish! I know what I’ll be making for dinner next
Glad to have you back stateside!
That dinner looks delicious! My favorite pasta shape is rotini. Penne is a close second.
i heard if you pick the leaves, the plant grows faster, maybe its good you picked them today
I wish it felt more like fall here–it’s been 90 degrees every day for the past two weeks!
Favorite pasta shape=farfalle. Who can say no to those cute little bow ties?
I love gemmeli or bowties!
Delish! I love ziti, but my new fave is bucatelli. Of course, I end up with sauce all over my face when I eat it, but soooo worth it!
So fresh and delicious! Italy has definitely inspired you in a good way!
I’m actually not the biggest fan of pasta unless it’s stuffed. I do like gnocchi.
oh yummo indeed!! So fresh and tasty!
I am obsessed with broad rice noodles (common in Thai food), they have the best chew and the flavor almost reminds me of marshmellows!
This is one of my favorite things to whip up! I love Roma’s but for some reason I usually remove the skin before I cook them up. Also, that the long pasta looks like it would be really good and chewy! I need to find something like that.
Curious – did you see much in the way of whole wheat pasta’s in Italy? Something tells me no…? Hopefully, I didn’t miss a post about that.
Farfalle! Mostly because we’ve found it’s most conducive to pesto – our sauce of choice (we like our pesto thicker than most recipes make it, so more delicate noodles don’t work as well).
I’m horrible about wearing sunglasses…I don’t like stuff hanging over my eyes, I guess! My favorite pasta shape = bowtie, fusili or orecchiette!
I love orechiette- “ear” pasta, I discovered it in Italy and can’t ge enough of it! I love it with pesto, the little indents hold onto sauce SO well!
xo
Kris
I’ve never really thought about what my favorite pasta shape is. I’m really partial to angel hair, but I also really like bow tie!
little shells, hands down!
I know I’m late commenting on this post . . but just wanted to let you know basil can be picked after it has 6 leaves as long as you don’t pick more than 1/3 to 1/2 of the total number of leaves. That encourages the plant to keep growing.
Seriously, great pictures, two things;
1. what type of camera are you using and…
2. Really great eye for making food look great, perhaps a second career?