Layered pasta bake

 

What I had:

• 8-10 ounces (roughly half the container) of cooked angel hair pasta
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
• 1 lb hot sausage, cooked
• 1 lb butternut squash, sauteed and mashed a little
• 1 large white onion, sauteed
• 1 15 oz can of tomato sauce
• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Honestly, once you have the base, you can use whatever meats and veggies you want!

What I did:

• Mixed the cooked pasta, eggs, and parmesan cheese
• Spread it evenly in a 9X13 pan
• Baked at 350 for 10 minutes
• Spread the cream cheese over it (some recipe I saw said to use wax paper to roll the cream cheese, didn't work for me. I think it would be better to heat it up and pipe it over the base)
• Layered the squash, onions, and sausage
• Sprinkled the mozzarella cheese evenly on top
• Tented aluminum foil over the pan
• Baked for an hour at 350
• Moved pan up to top shelf, removed foil, broiled on low for 5 minutes

Hey, the kid and husband loved it, so I can it a winning experiment!

Spicy orzo crab salad

What I had:

• 16 oz Pappardelle's spicy red hot Thai curry orzo pasta
• 16 oz lump crab
• 8 oz heavy cream
• 6 red bell peppers diced
• 2 red onions diced
• 1 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• Old Bay seasoning to taste
• Key lime sea salt to taste
• Cumin powder to taste

What I did:

• Brought a pot of salted water to boil. Added orzo and cook until al dente, stirring occasionally.
• Meanwhile, melted a pat of butter in a saute pan over medium-low heat; added red peppers and onions and cooked until soft and fragrant. 
• Added crab and cook until heated through. 
• Added orzo, lemon juice, heavy cream, and stirred to combine.
• Added the cumin powder, Old Bay and sea salt to taste and mixed well.
• Served warm as a side to a fisherman's stew. 

It was DELICIOUS!!!

Pasta salad

What you need:

• a box of any colorful pasta. I've used Wacky Mac, tri-colored rotini, plain shells (though the colorful pasta looks prettier)
• a pint of grape tomatoes, cut in halves
• a pint of olives, any pitted ones you like, cut in halves
• 8 oz feta cheese or goat cheese
• a bag of mini pepperoni
• some hard salami slices, chopped smaller
• some Genoa salami slices, chopped smaller
• a red or orange bell pepper, cut into 1/2 inch thin slices
• a red onion, cut into 1/2 inch thin slices
• 2 tsp oregano
• salt & pepper to taste
• garlic powder to your taste
• olive oil
• balsamic vinegar or red wine vinegar

Boil pasta according to directions. Rinse with cold water pretty well so it's not hot. Throw it into a big glass bowl. Add all the dry ingredients. Mix well. Add about 2 tbsp of olive oil and 2 tbsp of vinegar to start with. Mix it well. You want all the ingredients coated, not swimming in the sauce. Add more if needed. Put it in the fridge for a couple hours, it lets the sauce actually infuse the ingredients and it tastes so much better cold.

Variations I've done: used fat free Italian dressing or any vinaigrette dressing instead of oil & vinegar