This is so easy I almost hesitate to share it.  Nonetheless, I recently taught it to my pal Elizabeth who quickly incorporated it into her culinary repertoire to universal raves.  If you don't already have a lasagna recipe to which you're attached, this is a good candidate I think.  At least, everyone around here is crazy about it , even though it doesn't have meat in it....come to think about it, they may not know it's meatless, so for goodness sake don't tell 'em! I use whole-wheat lasagna noodles because I really like their almost nutty taste, but if your family is whole-wheat averse, regular lasagna noodles are just fine.  Do not use those "no-boil" noodles however, which for some reason strike me as rather sinister because, though you don't pre-boil these noodles, they work perfectly anyway.

A trip to the farmer's market inspired a new take on an old favorite this week.  I was able to find these beautiful garlic scapes as well as oodles of beautiful "English" peas...at least that's what I call them.

But what to make with this delicious booty?  I was reminded of my one and only attempt at entering a food competition.  Many year's ago I somehow or other was inspired to submit a recipe to the California sun-dried tomato growers.  Needless to say,  I lost and was so annoyed that I ceased making the stellar recipe that I'd invented for the competition.  As I surveyed my peas and scapes, I was reminded of it as it featured peas and tons of garlic.

I'm positive that this isn't an original thought, merely original to me. However, that being said, I did stumble into a delicious and embarrassingly easy dinner last night. Earlier in the week I had a lovely dinner at Bacchus on Main where I had just the thing for comfort induced carb loading: an enormous bowl of penne and white beans tousled with pesto sauce.

Several days later, while looking through my fridge for something to make for dinner with the beautiful shrimp I'd just scored, I remembered that soothing pasta , and what I've always considered to be a great affinity between shrimp and white beans.

I am reminded every time I make this for dinner, how much we all love it, and wonder why I don't make it more often.  It's easy and so creamy and full of flavor that it's really just  glamorous comfort food when you get right down to it.  Actually, it's so easy to keep the ingredients on hand, that there's no reason for it not to become a good ol'  pantry special--you know, one of those things to make when you haven't planned anything and it's suddenly dinnertime and your beloved family clearly expect that it's going to magically materialize. Actually, at times like this, when you hear the crunch on the driveway that signals your brood is home and you've been lazing about the hacienda doing lots of stuff that doesn't include making dinner, my first advice is to lay the table.  That way, you can stall for time while you figure out what in the world you're going to do, and it lulls them into a false sense of security that you've got it together.