Bacon and Green Pea Pasta

You all know my affinity for pasta. This is just another way to indulge my pasta favoritism. Peas and bacon go really well together. In fact, I have a feeling this is going to be a regular in the pasta rotation at my house. This was really quite yummy. And it has veggies in it, which makes it better, right? :)

This is a simple cream sauce, and I just added some pre-cooked bacon pieces and some frozen peas. So simple, so easy, so yummy. Try it out. You won't regret it.

Ingredients:
-1/2 box pasta (I used spaghetti, and this was for two people, and we had just a smidge left over. adjust accordingly)
-3 tablespoons butter
-2 tablespoons flour
-1/2 cup heavy cream
-1 cup milk
-1 teaspoon garlic powder
-1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese (optional, but oh so tasty)
-2 tablespoons pre-cooked bacon pieces (more if desired)
-1/4 to 1/2 cup frozen peas (no need to thaw)

Directions:
Bring a large pot of water to boil. Add the pasta and cook until al dente. Drain and set aside.

While the pasta is cooking, melt the butter over medium/medium low heat (a 4 on a 10 point burner) in a medium skillet. When the butter is melted, whisk in the flour to make a roux. Cook for a couple minutes, stirring frequently. Add in the cream and whisk to incorporate. Cook for a minute until the sauce begins to thicken. Add the milk and whisk to combine. Continue stirring frequently while the sauce cooks and starts to thicken. Add the garlic powder and cheese and continue stirring until well incorporated.

If the sauce gets too thick, just add a tablespoon or so at a time of milk to thin it out to the right consistency.

Add the bacon pieces and frozen peas.

Stir in to the sauce. Let the peas get warmed up by the sauce for a few minutes, stirring frequently.

Add the drained pasta

and toss to coat with the sauce.

Serve immediately and enjoy! So yummy!

Pasta with Herbed Bechamel

I don't know why, but cold weather makes me want comfort food. What better comfort food is there than pasta? And pasta with a creamy yummy sauce? Mmm.

For those who don't know, bechamel is a white sauce that is extremely basic. It's basically butter, flour, and cream. It's a great foundation for a million other sauces, including alfredo, and almost any cream sauce...ever. Haha. But you can also make it basic, and keep it simple. I made an herbed bechamel for this pasta, and it was pretty tasty. I got the hubby approval, so that's always good. Haha. Hope you enjoy!

Ingredients:
-pasta (any kind will do...I used rotini), enough to feed everyone
-3 tablespoons butter
-2 tablespoons flour
-1/2 cup heavy cream
-1 cup milk (I used 2%)
-1 tablespoon garlic powder
-1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

Directions:
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook pasta until al dente (tender but still firm...no mushy noodles!). Drain and set aside.

While pasta is cooking, heat a saucepan over medium low heat. Add the butter and let it melt. Add the flour and whisk to combine.

This is the roux. Let the roux cook for another couple minutes, whisking frequently. Add the cream and whisk to incorporate. The roux will thicken the sauce after a couple minutes. Keep whisking to keep it smooth.

Once the sauce has thickened a good bit, add in the milk. Whisk to incorporate. Let the sauce thicken slightly again, stirring frequently. Add the garlic powder and Italian seasoning. Stir to incorporate.

Reduce the heat to low and continue stirring frequently for another couple minutes. When the sauce is thick but still pourable, it's done. If it gets too thick, just add a smidge more milk, no more than a couple tablespoons at a time, until it reaches desired consistency.

Pour the sauce over the cooked pasta and enjoy!

Yum!

Baked Tortellini in Rose Sauce

I love rose sauce (pronounced ro-zay). It's a wonderful creamy tomato sauce that is just yummy. I also love tortellini. Mmm. Put them together with a bunch of yummy melted mozzarella cheese, and oh my goodness...lovely.

As we all know, pasta is my weakness, so it comes as no surprise that I have yet another pasta dish to share with you. For some reason, baked pasta seems to make the day better. Haha. I love me some pasta, topped with a yummy sauce, but there's something about baking it with melted cheese on top that just gives me a warm fuzzy feeling inside. Yum.

This was super easy and super yummy, and I hope you enjoy it. :)

Ingredients:
-fresh tortellini pasta (in the deli section of the store, usually)
-your favorite brand of tomato pasta sauce (I only used half the jar, but I was making a smaller amount)
-1/2 cup heavy cream
-1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 F.

Cook the tortellini according to package directions until just al dente. Do NOT overcook, since baking the pasta in sauce will continue to soften it up. No mushy pasta, people! Drain and set aside.

In a sauce pan, combine the tomato sauce and cream.

Heat over medium low heat until warm and well incorporated. Add the pasta to the sauce and stir to coat. Pour into a baking dish

and top with the shredded mozzarella.

Bake for about 15 minutes at 350 F, or until the cheese is melted and everything is hot and delicious.

Serve and enjoy!

Toasty garlic bread is a great addition. :)

Creamy Orzo and Veggie Soup

As we get further into fall, I'm beginning to make soups more. It's just how it goes. Haha.

When I make soup for dinner, I try to make it hearty enough to fend for itself. Wimpy soup is no good. That's why I usually try to add a starch, and why my soup often times has a cream based broth. This has both. This is a great "get-rid-of-all-the-veggies-in-your-fridge-and-freezer" soup. I happened to have broccoli and carrots, so that's what made it in the soup. Feel free to adjust. Haha.

The starchy component was a rice-shapped pasta called orzo (which I also had leftover in my pantry). You only need about 3/4 cup, so it's a good use-up-leftover-pasta soup too. I would recommend, however, that whatever pasta you use is either small, or broken into small pieces. It just works better to have small pieces for this one.

You could also add some chicken to this if you'd like a little more meatiness. I would say two chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces. I didn't add this, however, because I am suffering from pregnancy-induced aversion to chicken. It's interesting. Haha.

And with that, away we go!

Ingredients:
-4 cups chicken broth
-1 cup water
-1 cup heavy cream, with 1/4 cup reserved
-2 tablespoons flour
-1 head of broccoli, cut into florets
-1 cup carrots, chopped
-3/4 cup orzo
-salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
In a large pot, heat the chicken broth and water until boiling. Add in the broccoli and carrots and let them cook for a few minutes, stirring occasionally. Add in the orzo and let it cook for several more minutes, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to medium.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour with 1.4 cup of the cream. Slowly stir into the soup. This will help to thicken the broth slightly. Slowly add in the rest of the cream, stirring to combine.

Let the soup warm up again. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Reduce heat to low and let simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 5 more minutes, making sure everything is hot a cooked through.

Serve immediately and enjoy!

Pasta Salad

Our church recently had a picnic, and it was a pot-luck deal. It's always hard to know what to bring to something like that, because you never know what everyone else is going to bring. And you don't want to bring something that is going to be nasty when it gets a little colder or warmer than it's supposed to be. Shudder.

This pasta salad worked out well. It was simple, had no ingredients that would spoil in the sun, and it's great at room temperature. All good things for a pot luck dish. So...yay. Haha. It was pretty tasty, too, I think. Hope you like it!

Ingredients:
-16 oz box tri-color rotini pasta
-olive oil, enough to coat the pasta lightly (approximately 3 tablespoons)
-1 link pepperoni (not the slices, but the full link. The chunks work better in this than slices)
-1 small can sliced black olives (like 4 oz or so), drained
-1 carton grape tomatoes
-2 tablespoons garlic powder
-1 tablespoons onion powder
-1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
-1/4 cup grated parmesan, or more to taste

Directions:
Cook the pasta until al dente. Drain and set aside.

Chop the pepperoni into small chunks (I did thick slices, then cut each round into quarters). Cut the grape tomatoes into small chunks as well.

In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients and toss to coat with the olive oil and to incorporate all the ingredients well. Serve immediately or chill in the fridge until ready to serve. Enjoy!

Southwest Pasta

I'm usually a fan of southwestern-type flavors. I guess it comes from my Texas roots. :) So when I decided to make pasta this time around, I decided I would try to make something a little different. Big shocker, huh? Haha.

This was actually semi-inspired by a pasta dish I had at a restaurant in my hometown, which just happens to be the place my husband and I went on our first date. They have a southwestern pasta dish, but it's a little different than mine. I don't even think I could remember everything that was in it, but I could make up my own. So I did. :)

This was actually pretty simple, and I think it turned out pretty well, so I hope you like it!

Ingredients:
-16 oz box of rotelle pasta (corkscrew looking pasta)
-3 tablespoons butter
-2 tablespoons flour
-1 cup heavy cream
-1 cup milk (I used 2%)
-2 tablespoons garlic powder
-1 tablespoon onion powder
-1 tablespoon chili powder
-1 can whole kernel corn, drained
-1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
-1 can Rotel tomatoes and peppers, drained

Directions:
In a large pot, bring water to a boil. Add in the pasta and cook until al dente, stirring occasionally. Drain, return to pot, and set aside.

While pasta is cooking, melt the butter in a medium sauce pan over medium/medium-low heat. Add in the flour and whisk to combine, forming a roux. Let it cook for a couple more minutes, stirring occasionally. Add in the heavy cream and whisk to incorporate. Let the cream heat up, stirring occasionally. The sauce should begin to thicken slightly. Add in the milk and whisk to incorporate. Let the milk heat up as well. The sauce will again thicken a bit. Add in the garlic powder, onion powder, and chili powder, and stir to combine. Reduce heat to low and continue cooking another few minutes, stirring occasionally, until sauce has thickened just a bit more.

Add the corn, black beans, and Rotel tomatoes and peppers to the pasta. Stir to combine.

Pour the sauce over the pasta, and stir to coat.

Serve immediately and enjoy! Yum!

Shells and broccoli in Garlic Butter Sauce

Ok, so I've been trying really hard to add more veggies to my diet. I just need to. So this pasta dish got some broccoli. :) Go me. Haha. I also try to use up what's in my cabinets. I happened to have some shell pasta left from another pasta dish recently, so I wanted to use it up. Hence the shells. You could really use any pasta for this. This is pretty simple, so I think most people could manage it.

Don't be afraid to try making sauce from scratch. I know it sounds intimidating at first, but after you've done it a couple times, you'll be amazed at how easily you can do it. Just give it a try. Trust me. :)

Ingredients:
-3 tablespoons butter
-2 tablespoons flour
-1 .5 cup heavy cream
-1.5 tablespoons garlic powder
-pasta shells
-broccoli, about 1.5 cups florets

Directions:
Boil large pot of water. Cook pasta until just al dente. Drain and set aside.

Steam broccoli florets until crisp tender. Set aside.

Heat butter in sauce pan over medium heat. When melted, whisk in flour to make a roux.

Cook roux for about 2 more minutes, stirring frequently. Add the cream and whisk to incorporate. Reduce heat to medium/low. Stir frequently. Add in the garlic powder and stir to combine.

Continue cooking another 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until sauce has thickened and everything is hot and well incorporated.

Toss pasta and broccoli in sauce until well coated.

Serve immediately and enjoy!

Lemon Pepper Chicken with Garlic Parmesan Orzo and Broccoli

I've never cooked orzo before, and I wasn't really sure how it would turn out, but this was pretty good. For those of you who don't know, orzo is actually a pasta, but it's shaped a lot like rice. It really looks a lot like long-grain rice, actually. I was intrigued.

I knew I wanted to try orzo, but I knew that, unlike a lot of my pasta dishes, this would probably need to be a side dish. So I determined that making grilled chicken to accompany it would work out just fine. :) I used a Lemon Pepper spice blend I already had in my pantry to make it yummy without being overpowering. I think the two dishes made a good meal together. I also added broccoli to the orzo to get my veggie in there. Go me. Haha.

I hope you enjoy! This made plenty orzo for the two of us, with at least one serving left over, so you could probably feed four people with this recipe. Have fun!

Ingredients:
Chicken-
-chicken breasts (enough to feed everyone)
-olive oil, for coating chicken
-about 1 teaspoon of a lemon pepper spice blend per chicken breast

Orzo-
-approximately 1 cup uncooked orzo
-2 tablespoons butter
-approximately 1 cup heavy cream
-about 2 tablespoons garlic powder
-about 1/2 cup to 1 cup shredded parmesan cheese
-two small heads of broccoli, cut into florets (about 2 cups), steamed

Directions:
In a plastic bag, pour in enough olive oil to coat the chicken breasts. Add in the spice mix and the chicken and seal the bag. Massage the oil and spices into the chicken and let rest to marinate for a few minutes.

Grill the chicken until no longer pink in the center.

I used my countertop grill.

In a large pot, cook the orzo in boiling water until al dente. Drain and return to the pot, reducing heat to medium. Add the butter and garlic powder and stir until it's melted. Add the cream and parmesan and stir until incorporated. Add the broccoli and continue stirring until everything is hot and yummy.

Serve immediately with the chicken and enjoy!

Alfredo Pasta Shell Bake

I think pasta shells are fun, don't you? I mean, pasta comes in lots of fun shapes, but shells make me smile for some reason. Haha. I know, I'm a little nutty, but hey. They are fun. :)

This recipe is super simple and super yummy, if you like alfredo sauce. Which I do. You can add some other goodies like chicken, spinach, etc, to make it even better if you want. I just kept it simple this time. :)

This will probably feed 3-4 people depending on appetite, so adjust accordingly.

Ingredients:
-8 oz pasta shells (the medium sized ones)
-1.5 cups alfredo sauce (I made mine from scratch- find my recipe here, just don't add the spinach...unless you want to)
-1 cup shredded mozzarella or Italian Cheese Blend

Directions:
In a large pot, cook pasta until just al dente; slightly underdone is better than slightly overdone. Drain it and return it to the pot. Pour in the alfredo sauce and stir to coat the pasta.

Next, pour into a 1.5 quart baking dish

and top with the shredded cheese.

Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 10-15 minutes, until the cheese on top is melted and everything is hot and yummy.

Serve immediately and enjoy!

Three Cheese Tortellini in Garlic and Herb Butter Sauce

This was the first "real food" I cooked in my new kitchen. I made a frozen pizza and some spaghetti with jarred pasta sauce, but those don't "count." Haha. This was actually really yummy, and I was very happy that it turned out well. It's always a little iffy in a new kitchen. Appliances can be finicky, so you never quite know how things will work right away. This, however, was a success. I used a smaller package of tortellini because it's just my hubby and me, but you can easily double this for a family. I hope you enjoy. :)

Ingredients:
-1 small package three cheese tortellini (use fresh or dry, doesn't matter)
-1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) butter
-3 garlic cloves
-2 or 3 tablespoons flour
-1/2 heavy cream
-1/2 to 3/4 cup milk (I used 2%)
-1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
-1/4 cup parmesan cheese (optional), plus a sprinkle for garnish

Directions:
Boil a large pot of water. Add in the tortellini and cook until al dente. Drain and set aside.

While the pasta is cooking, heat the butter in a skillet over medium low heat (a 4 on a scale of 10).

Smash the peeled garlic cloves and add them to the melted butter.

Saute the garlic to infuse the butter with the flavor. DON'T let the garlic burn. When the garlic starts to get translucent, but before it starts to get brown, remove the cloves from the butter.

Whisk the flour into the remaining garlic-infused butter, making a roux.

Add the cream to the party and continue whisking to incorporate. When the cream and roux are well incorporated, and the sauce has started to thicken, add in the milk to thin it back out a bit.

Continue stirring as you add the Italian seasoning, letting it flavor the whole sauce.

When the sauce has thickened slightly again, and everything is hot and yummy, you can add the parmesan if desired, and let it melt into the sauce for a couple minutes before serving. If you're leaving it out, then the sauce is done! Toss the tortellini in the sauce until well coated, then serve. Yum!

I served mine with yummy garlic and parmesan Italian bread.

So delicious. (To make this bread: Slice a fresh Italian loaf into thick slices. Spread butter on each slice and sprinkle with garlic powder. Sprinkle on a little parmesan, then broil for a couple minutes in the oven until the butter is melted, the garlic has seeped into the bread, and the parmesan is melted an yummy on top. Voila!) This made the meal so much better. Anyway, have fun and enjoy!