Veggie and Parmesan Orzo

This post is a little off topic, but I had to share. I love messing around in the kitchen and sometimes, a dish will turn out so good that it becomes a staple in my recipe box. I am halfway writing this post so I don't forget! If you have a vegetarian guest in the house but also have to feed a six foot hungry dude, this will go over really well because you can cook the whole dish and add meat in later. Here are your ingredients:

(1) 16 ounce box orzo pasta
(1) medium sized zucchini
(1) medium sized yellow squash
(1) small red onion
(1) large head of fresh broccoli
(8) cloves of fresh garlic
(1/2) cup parmesan cheese
(1/2) stick butter
(2) tbsp olive oil
(1) pound hot Italian sausage (optional)
Salt and pepper

How you do it:

- Bring 5 quarts water to a boil with 2 tsp salt. Add orzo when it comes to a rolling boil, cook for ten minutes and drain as soon as it's done. Add pasta back to your boiling pot.

- Slice zucchini, squash and broccoli into small pieces. Steam them in a pot until tender and set aside.

- While water is heating and veggies are cooking, chop up onion and garlic into small pieces. Sautee them in olive oil on medium heat until onions are translucent. Add in steamed veggies, and toss with onions are garlic. Sautee for another 5 mins. Add back into pot with drained pasta.

- If you are using sausage, cook sausage until it's well done and set aside.

- Cube butter into small pieces, and add to big pot of veggies are pasta. Add in parmesan cheese, plus salt and pepper to taste. Heat on low for a couple minutes to melt the cheese.

- Serve as is, or add sausage in and toss.

Enjoy!

* This dish goes really well with homemade garlic bread! Let me know if anyone tries this out =)