Spinach and Artichoke Wonderpot

I've been seeing the wonderpot pop up on Pinterest and Facebook.  To digress a bit, is anyone else a bit annoyed by people sharing recipes on Facebook?  I don't know why it bothers me but it does.  Anyhoodle, the wonderpot seems like a genius idea.  Throw pasta and sauce fixin's in a large pot and let it do its thang.  Easy peasy, right?  I made this for dinner and it was solidly okay.  I asked Dave to rate it and he gave it a B+.  Which is to say that we both ate it but weren't terribly impressed with it.  Don't get me wrong, it's not bad.  It just didn't earn rave reviews.  I may still play with it and tweak it because it has potential though.

Ingredients:

1/2 onion, sliced
1 cup frozen artichoke hearts, thawed
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp olive oil
5 cups chicken broth
12 oz box of fettucine
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried thyme
salt
pepper
5 oz frozen spinach (about half a bag)
cooked bacon, for garnish
parmesan

Put sliced onion, artichoke hearts, garlic, olive oil and chicken broth in a large pot.  Break the fettucine in half (I did this in batches because my puny arms couldn't break the entire boxful in one stack) and add it, your dried spices and salt and pepper to the pot and stir well.  Bring to a rolling boil and cook for 10-15 minutes, until pasta is cooked through.  Stir every couple of minutes to make sure pasta doesn't stick.  Once the liquid has mostly absorbed, dish up and top with crumbled bacon and grated parm.

Adapted from Budget Bytes

Sauteed Chicken Pasta

This was a recipe born out of things I had around the house one weekend when I needed to make a meal, and it turned out to be easy and delicious. Growing up, we never ate pasta (and only ever spaghetti) without massive amounts of Prego on it. I do still have a nostalgic love for cheap pasta sauce with hamburger in it. Trying to get away from that, I like finding new stuff to put on pasta. Also, it feels kind of hamburger-helper-y, and I am, you know, fancier than that, ya'll.

Basics are:
Butter
Olive oil
Chopped garlic
Chopped tomato
Sliced mushrooms
Cubed/sliced chicken breast
Lemon juice
Salt/Pepper/Basil
Pasta

First, saute the garlic in butter and then add the chopped tomatoes. A few minutes later, add the mushrooms. Dredge the chicken in flour and add it to the pan after a little olive oil.

Start water boiling for your pasta, and get it cooking at the same time. I like angel hair, but in this instance, pretty much anything you like will work.

Cook the chicken through, then add some more olive oil, lemon juice, and the salt, pepper and basil to taste. I try to make sure there is enough liquid to make it a tad saucy, and then throw in your cooked pasta and toss together!

I love garlic and lemon together on pasta. I usually think pasta is pretty boring, but lemon and garlic make everything bright and tasty. It's not really anything revolutionary, but it is basic, has ingredients that are usually in the house, and tastes really good.

Also, this makes great leftovers. It seems like a lot of stuff I make isn't good on the second day. It gets mushy, or discolored or otherwise weird and unappetizing, but this is almost just as awesome reheated!

Chuckie's Pasta Salad

My brother makes the best pasta and potato salads.  Seriously, if I go home and he doesn't make at least one of them, I'll probably die.  These salads are so delicious (how delicious are they??) that they make me buy things I never do like bread and butter pickles and mayo.  I think mayo is one of the most over-used condiments ever and I don't like the way it feels on my finger when I'm wiping the last of it off the spoon I just used to make pasta salad.  It's the definition of sqwick.

But back to pasta salad!  I had some leftover pulled pork and needed a side to go with it so I called my brother and wrestled the recipe out of him.  He learned to cook from my dad who never measures anything so I basically scribbled down a list of ingredients and ranges of how much of each to put in.  That's how we do.  The recipe below is for a full pound of rotini but the picture shows but 1/3 of a bag of pasta.

Pasta Salad

Ingredients:
1 lb rotini, cooked according to package instructions
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1 tbsp mustard
2 tbsp bread and butter pickle juice
1/4 diced bread and butter pickles
1 tsp garlic powder
generous sprinkling of black pepper

While the pasta is cooking, mix the rest of the ingredients in a large bowl.  Drain pasta and give it a quick rinse with cold water.  Pour the drained, cooked pasta into your dressing and stir well.  Chill at least an hour and then devour!

Creamy Taco Mac

In the span of about 10 minutes I went from "I don't want to cook dinner" to "oooh, taco mac!".  Cuz that's how I roll.  I've seen about a dozen variations of taco mac come through my Google Reader (which reminds me, I should probably find myself a replacement for that) and it turns out I had most of the fixin's to try out the recipe.  I made a few substitutions because that's what I do but it got a glowing review from Dave so this is clearly a keeper.  I still want to try it as written though.

The photo was taken right before we dug in, fresh out of the pan.  The pasta definitely absorbed the sauce in the fridge so leftovers weren't quite as soupy.

Ingredients:

1 1/4 lb ground turkey
8 ounces medium pasta shells
1 medium onion, diced
1 bell pepper, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 tbsp taco seasoning, divided
1 can of diced tomatoes
2 triangles Laughing Cow cheese
1/2 cup half and half
salt
pepper
shredded cheddar
hot sauce

Cook pasta according to directions, reserving 1/4 cup pasta water and mixing it with 1 tsp bouillon concentrate.

Brown your turkey, breaking it up really well.  Add about 2 tbsp taco seasoning to the meat.  Once the meat is mostly browned, throw in the onions. Stir them around until the onions start to soften and add the bell pepper and garlic.  After they cook about a minute, add tomatoes and stir.  As soon as the juices start to lightly bubble, add the cheese triangles and melt.  Stir in the cooked pasta.  Add half and half, pasta water, salt and pepper and a handful of shredded cheddar. Simmer for about 5 minutes to reduce the sauce and let the flavors meld.

Serve with additional shredded cheddar and hot sauce on top.

Adapted from Annie's Eats

Fettucine with Sausage, Roasted Red Peppers and Spinach

I love pasta.  Love it.  Dave does too so if I come across a recipe like this one that combines our favorite things with pasta, it's a no-brainer that it's going to get worked into rotation.  It isn't super saucy but the noodles, sausage and spinach all get well coated and it's an excellent weeknight recipe because it comes together pretty quickly.

Ingredients:

12 oz box of fettuccine
1 tbsp olive oil
12 oz hot Italian sausage, casings removed
3 cloves garlic, minced
12 oz jar of roasted red peppers, drained and chopped
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp chicken Better than Bouillon concentrate
2 handfuls of baby spinach
3/4 cup pasta water

Cook fettuccine according to directions on box.  While pasta is cooking, brown the Italian sausage over medium heat for 4-5 minutes.  Add garlic to browned sausage and cook for about 30 seconds, until fragrant.  Add the red peppers, bouillon concentrate and heavy cream and simmer on low until sauce thickens, about 8-10 minutes.  Drain the pasta, reserving 3/4 cup of the water and add the water to the sauce.  Add spinach to the sauce and stir until it begins to wilt.  Combine the pasta and sauce in a large bowl and toss using tongs.

Adapted from Elly Says Opa