Pasta – Page 5 – Fun Foodie Family

Creamy Chicken Pasta with Peas

Another pasta? Guilty! I need one of those sweatshirts that says, “No Carb Left Behind!” Here is how this recipe went down…

First, the pasta. I have never seen this pasta ever, but the package drew me to it. Such a fun shape! Cook in salted water 3 minutes less than the package says.

Sauce- 1 container of Marscapone Cheese (or cream cheese) melted with 3 tablespoons of butter and 1/2 container (the small one) of heavy cream. Add in a small package of frozen peas and 2 bags of precooked chicken (Tyson precooked chicken was on sale at Publix). Once the pasta is done, add it to the pot and mix all together using about a half a cup of the pasta water to bring it all together. I salted and peppered to taste at the end. Add some crusty bread to soak up that sauce. YUM!

Vegan Red Lentil Pasta

gluten free, Pasta, Vegetarian

Evening guys!I made this yummy pasta this morning for a family potluck Christmas party. I have a couple of vegan family members, so I thought I would add a healthy dish to the table! I am in LOVE with red lentil pasta. It is great alternative, especially if you are vegan and gluten free. You will not believe how easy it was for this to come together…

First, the pasta…

Then the veggies… saute an onion in olive oil, cut up a stalk of broccoli and cook until tender, throw in some canned black beans, and some frozen corn…

Now for that sauce… 1 jar of roasted red peppers and a container of tofu. Throw those in a blender. The sauce was SO GOOD! No one would ever know there was tofu in there! Then combine everything together! So yummy!

Easy Skillet Pasta

Beef, Pasta

When my husband is on call (medical pilot), I don’t really plan dinner. There is really no point. Sure, the girls and I have to eat, but we will eat WHATEVER for dinner…cereal, eggs and toast, leftovers, pizza, fish sticks, corn dogs, buttered pasta, chips and dip etc.

When it is a surprise he is home, I try to make something out of nothing even when we just really want to go out. This time of year we skimp on eating out to make sure the girls have a good Christmas, so here is what I came up with tonight…

Ingredients

1 pound FROZEN (or not) ground beef
1 small jar of marinara
1 can roasted diced tomaoes
1 tablespoon Garlic Salt
1 package of penne

Directions

Boil salted water for the pasta. Drop pasta when boiling.

On medium high heat, cook the meat. If frozen, defrost a bit at a time and rotate in the pan until browned. If not frozen, cook per usual. I add all of the garlic salt halfway through, no matter what. Drain if its extra fatty and oily; or not. No one is there to see.

Add the marinara to the meat. I added a can of roasted diced tomatoes to the mix bc of the ratio of meat to sauce and pasta, but if you have a giant jar of sauce or homemade sauce; YOU DO YOU!

Add the slightly al dente pasta to the meat and marinara. Parm it up!

I mainly added this recipe bc you can cook dinner on a weeknight with frozen ground beef.

Vegan Asparagus and Chickpea Fettuccine with Tomato Butter

Pasta, Vegetarian

I am notorious for watching, reading, and changing recipes. I love the idea of taking someone’s idea, and making it my own. Sometimes I am good and follow it if I have all the ingredients. Sometimes I improvise and use what I have when I want to make something similar to what I see. Sometimes I take a meal kit like Purple Carrot and replace or change ingredients for what I think I would like better. Only makes sense to me, I guess???

This recipe was supposed to have garlic, scallions, and parsley, but I omitted them. First, I used the scallions in the last dish, because it was Asian and made more sense. I left out garlic, because I just wanted to. I left out the parsley, because honestly I don’t really like parsley that much and it looked a little sad.

So here is what I did…

Ingredients

1 can chickpeas
1/2 pound of fettuccine
1 small bunch of asparagus
3 tbsp of vegan butter- SO GOOD! But regular butter is totally fine if you are not a vegan.
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp lemon juice

Directions-

1. Boil salted water for fettuccine. Drain the chickpeas, rinse, and pat dry with paper towel. After the pasta is done, make sure you save the pasta water to add what you need to.

2. Asparagus- snap the bottom section that naturally snaps. If you are confused, just cut about an inch about off the bottom. Then cut them in half.

3. In a non-stick pan, cook the chickpeas and asparagus in about 2 tablespoons of olive oil for about 6 minutes. Stir every minute or so. They will crisp up just a bit.

4. Add the butter and tomato paste to the skillet and reduce to low heat. Then add in the fettuccine and slowly add in a bit of pasta water. Then let it thicken just a bit and make sure you toss everything to coat all the sauce.

Leftover Loving- Chicken Cordon Bleu Baked Pasta

Chicken, Leftovers/ Freezer Meals, Pasta

So the other night, Becca and I made some Chicken Cordon Bleu .

Sometimes I bread them or wrap them in bacon, but this time it was simple. Becca pounded out 3 chicken breasts, rolled up with ham and Swiss cheese coated with olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper, and baked at 350 for about 40 minutes.

We had some leftovers, so I deiced to dice everything up and make it in to a pasta bake. Here is how it went down…

I boiled some fat rigatoni pasta in salty water. Once it was very al dente (a bite still to it), I drained it and put it back in the pot. Then I added in 2 small jars of Alfredo sauce, the chopped chicken cordon bleu, and half a package of frozen peas. After mixing them all together, I added them to a greased baking dish, and topped with shredded Parmesan and sliced Provolone. You could top with mozzarella or whatever Italian cheeses you have in the fridge.