From the category archives:

Pasta

Lemon Spaghetti

October 11, 2011

Exhibit #5978b on why I’ve lived in suburbia for too long: I found it more than a little bit exciting that they recently redid our Target. New carts! Fresh groceries! (and the pièce de résistance) In-store Starbucks! I pushed our cart up and down each aisle of the grocery section (which is a financially dangerous [...]

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Sausage & Spinach Stuffed Shells

April 6, 2011

The panicked look on my face probably startled my husband into thinking something dire had taken place. “Where’s the ricotta???” Truthfully, for the first few seconds after I realized the stuffed shells recipe I was following seemed to have omitted the ricotta…well, I did have a minor momentary freakout. It shouldn’t have been a real [...]

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Penne with Artichokes…and How I Started This Blog

March 8, 2011

How many times have you come across a recipe like the one below for Penne with Artichokes on a food label? A tiny 3″ square with no photo or headnotes, significantly truncated to fit on the box? Recipes like this are kind of mysterious. You have no idea of what the dish looks like or [...]

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Spinach-Pesto Lasagna

July 8, 2010

Baked pasta – seriously?? I know that for a lot of folks the weather this week has been an absolute scorcher. But here in San Diego, we’ve kind of been experiencing the opposite (but not at all severe) phenomenon…it’s actually been a bit cold and blustery. In fact, I nearly turned the car around as [...]

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Shrimp with Orzo

March 11, 2010

I’m an Auntie! My sister and her husband welcomed their first child, a baby boy, earlier this week (with a rather quick labor for a first child, I might add – just 6 hours!) and we’re all overjoyed. They just brought him home from the hospital yesterday, so now the real fun begins. The “new [...]

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Fettucine Carbonara

January 24, 2010

Once upon a time, years ago, we had a good friend over for dinner. It was the first time we’d ever hosted her so I wanted to roll out the red carpet, so to speak, with a delicious, hearty pasta carbonara. I’d never made it before, but it was pasta – how hard could it [...]

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Broccoli Cheese Pasta Casserole

January 11, 2010

[tweetmeme] Is there anything more homey than a big ol’ broccoli casserole? Perhaps it’s a sign of my “settling down”, now that I’m married with two kids and live in the suburbs (when did this happen?) but I’ve rediscovered casseroles in the past year or so. You’ll almost never see one on a restaurant menu [...]

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Three-Layer Lasagna

October 1, 2009

When I assemble a lasagna – or any layered dish, really – it feels a bit like an art project. Like a pasta-based mosaic, where you thoughtfully arrange all the individual components in such a way that when it all comes together you have something exciting to behold. It’s almost therapeutic.

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Spinach-Bacon Macaroni & Cheese

April 1, 2009

Rich, golden spinach-bacon macaroni and cheese is kind of like having a little angel and a little devil on each shoulder. It’s decadent for sure, but the spinach relieves just a touch of the guilt. This was a rather simple recipe, from the back of a pouch of Kraft cheddar cheese, but the flavors were [...]

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Whole Grain Spaghetti with Cherry Tomatoes & Pecorino Romano Recipe

March 27, 2009

I’ve seen other pasta dishes that are similar to this one, with thinly sliced caramelized onions intertwined with spaghetti. It’s almost as if they’re in camouflage, their lithe lankiness assimilating amongst the pasta. My husband, alas, is no fan of onions so I usually end up choosing recipes where they’re not too prominent. But then [...]