by Texas Homesteader ~ 

I remember when I first found out how easy homemade pasta is to make. Now pasta purists typically use a special pasta flour called semolina. And of course when I first started making homemade pasta I did too.

But y’all know I’m far from a purist with anything, especially in the kitchen! I want quick, easy & delicious without special ingredients.

So I now just typically use plain ole all-purpose flour for my homemade pasta noodles and they always turn out great!

Flour – salt – egg – water and BOOM! 

Now don’t tell anyone else how easy it really is – people always seem to be impressed to find out when someone makes their own pasta! So don’t rat me out, m’kay??  Pinky swear??

Recently I decided I’d try to make colored/flavored pasta using powdered dehydrated vegetables from my garden last year. I knew I had dehydrated Malabar Spinach in the pantry, and dehydrated carrots too! 

Come see what I did.

Now if I were making all my pasta dough the same flavor/color, this whole shebangie would have been much easier. I’d just toss in my dehydrated veggie powder and mix it all up as usual. 

But I wanted 3 different colors from one batch – plain – green spinach – orange carrot. So I’ll have to prepare the dough regularly, divide into thirds and then amend the spinach & carrot portions.

Mixing The Pasta Dough

So I mixed the flour, salt, egg and water as usual to make the dough. I added about 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder and about 1/4 teaspoon cracked pepper to the mix for a little extra umph. RancherMan loves garlic & cracked pepper!

(For the original pasta recipe & more detailed directions, you can see my original pasta recipe here)

Then I divided the pasta dough into thirds. Two of the dough chunks were placed under a wet cloth to keep them from drying out.

But I kneaded the remaining third and used my *Pasta Machine to make a sheet of pasta dough. I rolled it through first on the thickest setting, then smaller & smaller until I got to the #3 setting. I like my pasta noodles thick & hearty so I don’t typically go any lower than that.

Then I flipped the dough sheet over to the fettuccine-cutting side and cut it into noodles with a quick turn of the handle.

Since suppertime was not for about 3 hours, I dusted the noodles with little flour to keep them from sticking together & piled them in a ‘nest’ to dry for a bit.

Green Spinach Noodles

Now I turned my attention to one of the remaining dough thirds. I want this one to be green and spinach flavored.

So I took several dehydrated spinach leaves from the pantry & crushed them using a *coffee grinder that I have reserved for just this purpose. When the spinach leaves were powdered I had about a tablespoon of powder.

Since the liquid had already been added to my dough when I initially put it all together, I sprinkled just enough water into this powdered spinach to make a thick baby-food consistency. 

Then I kneaded it into the dough. (I dusted with a little more flour on when it seemed to be a little sticky due to the extra moisture) Finally I rolled the dough into a pasta sheet & cut it into noodles the same as before.

Orange Carrot Noodles

For the final third of dough I brought out dehydrated sliced carrots from my pantry. Again into my coffee grinder until it was powdered.

I followed the same procedure as the dehydrated spinach above, adding just enough water to make it a thicker baby-food consistency.

Then I kneaded it into the dough. Again, I did have to dust the dough ball a few times with flour to adjust for the additional moisture. But soon it was smooth & not sticky, ready to be made into noodles.

So I used my pasta machine & rolled the dough flat before finally cutting it all into noodles. This last third was dusted with flour the same as the previous two flavors and nested on the countertop to dry a bit.

Delicious Home-Cooked Meal Comes Together

Supper tonight would incorporate these delicious (and PRETTY!) noodles with leftovers from previous nights.

I brought out leftover broth from the Pork Roast we had the other night, and for the actual meat I used some charcoal-grilled steaks leftover from last night’s supper.

Fresh pasta cooks in only about 4 minutes so I first boiled the noodles in the leftover broth. The flour I used to coat the noodles thickened the broth somewhat.

I drained the excess broth and added the meat, chopped into about 1/2″ cubes and stirred until it was heated through. So it was perfect with nothing added but salt & pepper.

And as I said, I love a hearty, thick noodle. These tri-colored noodles were perfect!

I steamed a little fresh asparagus from the garden for a veggie side and a quick homemade meal was ready in a flash – homemade noodles and all!

~TxH~

Links In This Post

• Growing Malabar Spinach
• Dehydrating Carrots
• Homemade Pasta Recipe
• *Pasta Machine
• Dehydrating Fresh Spinach
• *coffee grinder
• Planned Leftovers: Pork Roast

Other Side Dishes We Love

• Rosemary Rice
• Buttered Rice w/Fresh Sage & Garlic
• Ranch-Style Beans
• RancherMan’s Green-Bean Casserole
• Roasted Vegetables
• Fresh Pico de Gallo
• Fried Okra
• Fried Okra Fritters
• Homemade Cottage Cheese
• Deviled Eggs With a KICK!
• Pasta Salad FAST
• Rosemary Skillet Bread
• Fun Flavor Variations For Plain Pinto Beans
• …and MANY MORE!

See All Our Recipes

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