Category: Pasta

Cheater, Cheater, Veggie Lasagna Eater

Pasta, Vegetarian

Black History Luncheon Tomorrow
I was going to make my meaty lasagna or baked ziti, but after seeing the crazy list of meat and bacon laden veggies, I thought I might at least bring a relatively healthy vegetarian dish. Here is the SUPER EASY recipe. I am also bringing some Crock Pot BBQ Pork(pork butt in the crock pot all day then mixed with sweet honey BBQ) and Asian Veggie Noodles (lo mein stir fried with broccoli, corn, green beans, water chestnuts, and bamboo shoots).

Easy Veggie Lasagna

Ingredients

1 package no cook lasagna noodles
2 jars mushrooms, drained
1 large package shredded mozzarella cheese
6 slices Provolone Cheese
1 container of your favorite marinara sauce
1 can diced tomatoes

Directions

Preheat oven to 350
Spray lasagna pan with no stick spray
In a large bowl, mix jarred sauce, tomatoes, and mushrooms
Line bottom of pan with a thin layer of sauce mixture
Layer pasta, shredded mozzarella, and sauce until pasta runs out, about 4 layers
To the top layer, add sauce, the provolone and remaining mozzarella
Cook about 30 min. or until top is bubbling.
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Pasta Alfredo with Chicken, Bacon, and Peas

Pasta

Tonight Becca had her 2nd grade performance…They were all super adorable! But since this is a public blog and I don’t want to post pics of random kids I don’t even know, I can’t post a pic in good faith. Basically there are pics of kids all looking at their moms making cheesy faces. It was awesome. We ate Jimmy John’s at 5:15. My favorite sandwich shop and you can’t persuade me otherwise. I came home and made this for lunch. I shared with 3 of my school friends.

Pasta Alfredo with Chicken, Bacon, and Peas

Ingredients

1 package of your favorite pasta
1/2 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, crushed and minced
6 sliced of bacon, cooked and chopped
1 container of cooked or frozen peas
1-2 pieces chicken (I used my leftovers from this recipe
https://funfoodiefamily.com/2015/02/17/chicken-milanese/
1 container of Alfredo sauce or make your own- https://funfoodiefamily.com/2013/09/02/shrimp-and-broccoli-angel-hair-alfredo/
salt and pepper to taste
butter/olive oil add to your liking, a couple tablespoons

Directions

Heat a large skillet and cook your bacon. Once done, set aside and drain on a plate with paper towels to soak up oil.

Cook your pasta until 2 minutes less than the package.

Meanwhile, make your sauce. Add a tablespoon of butter to your bacon fat. Cook your chopped onion on med.-low heat until soft, about 5-6 minutes. Add your garlic and cook about 3 minutes more. Make the Alfredo sauce in this pan or add your jarred sauce. Add your cooked meat and peas until warm through. Season to your preference. Add your pasta with a bit of the cooking starchy water. Mix well and let flavors combine and pasta finish cooking, about 2 minutes.

I made this pretty late, so the lighting was terrible. It tasted delicious, and we all enjoyed it!

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Pasta Salad with Chicken, Spinach, Feta, and Black Olives

Pasta

What a crazy week! Presidents day, Ice Day/No School, and more snow today while we were at school. We are in Georgia, which is notorious for freaking out during cold weather. Now for all you out there who are used to snow and cold and want to make fun, I want to tell you to shut your high and mighty pie hole and listen up. I might have left out a few expletives, because this is a family blog, yo! We only have 2 months usually where we freak out. January and February, or as my BFF Bonita likes to call the dreaded JanFeb. JanFeb is no stranger to this site. I have discussed it fully before. You can read all about it here… https://funfoodiefamily.com/2015/01/06/throwback-thursday-crock-pot-beef-stroganoff/

It sucks…we don’t just get cold. You get your dry sunny pretty snow where you get to go skiing, sledding, and build snowman families? We get stinging cold wind and mushy, crunchy ice. Trees fall, roads ice over, electricity goes out, people are bitchy and get stuck on the roads longer than you might think normal for a civilized city.

We have no budget to ice our roads and no reason really to invest in year round ice tires. Our kids go crazy at the sign of snow. I had to tell my 6th graders (mostly 12 year old Hispanic kids) to “take it down a notch” and “chill out” and “I don’t want to hear anything else about the snow!” because they turned in to adorable psychopaths fixated on the snow.

I am actually kinda mad at myself for not letting them freak out a bit more, because, seriously, they have not had many interactions in the snow. If I thought I might not have gotten in trouble, I would have taken them out and let them catch snowflakes on their tongues. Any kind of recess for kids in middle school is frowned upon, so surely frivolous snow catching instead of reading a short story about a Chinese boy in San Francisco Chinatown is surely against the rules. I am sorry to say I followed the rules. If it snows again anymore this stupid cold winter, I will be a rebel and take the kids out to catch snowflakes!!!!

I was supposed to run with my middle school girls tonight, but due to the freaky and unpredictable snow weather, we cancelled practice. The hubby picked up buffalo wings on the way home. Wings and blue cheese is something I can always get behind.

On to the recipe…I made this for lunch tomorrow. I taste tested this and it is so yummy!!!!

Pasta Salad with Chicken, Spinach, Feta, and Black Olives

Ingredients
Suddenly Salad Traditional Box
3 tablespoons black olives
2 tablespoons feta cheese
3 large handfuls of spinach
1 thigh/breast shredded chicken, chopped or shredded- I used my leftovers from https://funfoodiefamily.com/2015/02/17/chicken-milanese/
1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese
Olive oil- about 3/4 cup…eyeball to your liking

Directions
Cook pasta according to box
Add in spinach, wilt
Add olives and chicken
add cheeses and mix well

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Cheesy Mushroom and Sun-dried Tomato Lasagna

Pasta, Vegetarian

It has been awhile! Last week was pretty crazy. I cooked Sunday and Monday from the meal plan..Sunday I posted. Monday was a repeat. Tuesday I had an impromptu date night with the hubby. Wednesday I pan sauteed some chicken thighs. The girls ate them with leftover mac and cheese and corn, and I added mine to my leftover pasta from Tuesday’s date night (angel hair with artichokes, tomatoes, and capers).

Thursday was Chinese night; delivery and wine with one of my BFF’S from college. We try to get together at least once or twice a month. Last night the family went out for Mexican. I got 2 things; a veggie quesadilla loaded with mushrooms, peppers, squash, and onions and a cheese stuffed poblano. Oh, and a giant margarita!

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Tonight it is just the me and my little girls. I had planned on making this for myself on Tuesday.  Since I already had the ingredients in my pantry, I thought I would go ahead and make it tonight instead of just eating cereal. This is a super easy throw together meal!

Cheesy Mushroom and Sun-dried Tomato Lasagna

Ingredients

1/2 box of no bake lasagna noodles

1 jar Alfredo sauce

1 jar sun-dried tomato pesto

1 container sliced tomatoes

1 large pouch of shredded Italian cheese

Directions

Take a Pyrex and spray the bottom. Put a layer of Alfredo sauce and a tablespoon of sun-dried tomato pesto. Add pasta, another layer of Alfredo sauce, a tablespoon of sun-dried tomato pesto and a handful of mushrooms and shredded cheese. Repeat the process until you run out of room.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until top is bubble and golden brown. 011 012

Kid approved! Excuse Katie’s eye…she had a bit of a fight with a bookshelf on Thursday. Her eye looks much better..014

Veggie Fettuccine

Leftovers/ Freezer Meals, Pasta, Vegetarian

So tonight the girls had dinner with the grandparents, while I went to yoga. When I was in shavasana (total relaxation pose), I was thinking of what I could make for dinner when I got home. I was totally relaxed and zen. My body was loose and stress free. Then my stomach growled and I knew feeding it pasta would be the only choice. This was yummy, and I will be taking the leftovers to lunch tomorrow.

Veggie Fettuccine- I cleaned out my fridge and cabinet for this one. Please use what you have and be inspired by this recipe!

3/4 box fettuccine

3 carrots, sliced

1 small onion, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, minced

3/4 can black olives, sliced (the girls ate the rest)

1 can diced tomatoes

3 tablespoons tomato paste

1 tablespoons red pepper flakes

1 tablespoon Italian seasoning

olive oil- about 1/3 cup or so…use your judgement

1 teaspoon pepper

salt if needed—-olives are super salty, so don’t overdo it

Directions

Add a few tablespoons of olive oil to a med heat pan. Add your carrots and onions. Cook about 5 minutes. Add your garlic and tomato paste. Stir and cook 2 minutes. Add your black olives, red pepper flakes,  Italian seasoning,  and a bit more olive oil if needed. Cook about 5 minutes or more.

Meanwhile, cook your pasta in salted water just under done. Add to sauce and cook long enough to mix pasta in sauce and cook a few more minutes. Add a splash of that starchy cooking water. veggiepasta