Vodka Pasta Sauce

My husband and I went to small local restaurant for Valentines Day this year. We decided to be slightly adventurous in our meal choices. Well, I tried. I ordered their White Lasagna only to be informed that they were out so instead I went with the regular lasagna which was fine. My husband's choice was more successful, resulting in a new addition to our at-home menu. We both loved the flavors and thus the mission was to recreate it at home.
Since we're two months removed from our initial taste of the restaurant's version it's debatable if this even resembles it. However, we enjoy this, as do the kids so this is now our "house version" of Vodka Cream Pasta. It has a slight spicy kick to it at the end of the bite but just enough to let you know it's there, not so much your eyes are watering. It doesn't take much sauce to nicely coat the noodles so keep that in mind as you are dishing up.

Vodka Cream Pasta
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Yields: ~6 servings
Adapted from: $5 Dinners and Spice Islands

Ingredients:
1 T butter
1/2 onion, chopped
1 tsp garlic powder
14 oz can tomatoes
2 T tomato paste
1/4 cup vodka
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp basil
1 chicken breast, cooked and chopped
1 lb spaghetti, cooked

Directions:
   1.  Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and garlic powder; cooked until softened.
   2.  Add tomatoes and tomato pasta; bring to a boil for 1-2 minutes.
   3.  Add vodka; cook for 2-3 minutes.
   4.  Add cream, salt, pepper and basil; cook until warm.
   5.  Serve over pasta and chicken. {Two large spoonfuls of sauce will cover a serving of pasta nicely.}

Ham & Peas Mac & Cheese

Be careful! This recipe might turn your family into mac and cheese snobs! We used to enjoy the boxed stuff but now, after having this version, find the boxed stuff to be acceptable but not all that great. This mac and cheese though is beyond acceptable and really great!
The addition of the ham and peas really puts the mac and cheese over the top. This works well to use any small amount of leftover ham you might have. It's a perfect make-ahead meal that I've often made in the morning or during nap time and then had it quite easy come dinnertime.

Ham & Peas Mac & Cheese
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Yields: 8-12 servings

Ingredients:
1 lb pasta
2 T butter
2 T flour
2 cups milk
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp nutmeg
~4 cups shredded cheese
1 cup peas
1/2 lb ham, diced 

Directions:
   1.  Cook pasta following package directions.
   2.  While pasta is cooking, melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in flour; cook 1 minute. Whisk in 1 cup milk until smooth. Whisk in remaining milk; cook until smooth and thickened, stirring often. Remove from heat; stir in spices. Whisk in 2 cups of cheese until smooth.
   3.  Mix together pasta, cheese sauce, and 1 cup shredded cheese. Stir in peas and ham. Pour into greased 9x13 pan. Scatter remaining cheese over top.
   4.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until warmed through. Cool 5-10 minutes before serving.
Notes:
   ~I often will put this in two smaller pans and freeze one.
   ~To cook from freezing let it thaw overnight in fridge; follow directions as normal. 

Adapted from: Family Circle

This is linked to Good Cheap Eats and Tasty Tuesday.

Southwestern Pasta with Chicken

My sister picked this recipe out for us by going through my binder of recipes torn out from magazines. It was from an issue of Woman's World from September 2006. Yikes! I'm glad she picked it because in 4+ years I hadn't gotten around to it so who knows how long it would have taken.
I personally found this dish to be a little spicy, but ironically only the first time. When we had it as leftovers it had somehow mellowed out quite a bit. So if you like a kick to your food you might want to add more hot sauce if you have leftovers.

Southwestern Pasta with Chicken
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Yields: 8 servings

Ingredients:
12-16 oz pasta
26 oz pasta sauce
1 can Rotel
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp paprika (not pictured)
1/4 tsp pepper
2 dashes hot sauce
1 cup cooked, diced chicken
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
sour cream (not pictured)
shredded cheese

Directions:
   1.  In a large pot, cook pasta according to directions.
   2.  In a large skillet, mix pasta sauce, Rotel, and seasonings. Bring to a boil over medium heat; reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes.
   3.  Combine sauce and pasta; stir in chicken and black beans. Cook until warmed through, about 5-10 minutes. Serve with sour cream and shredded cheese.

Source: Woman's World Magazine

Lasagna Soup

In the pot this soup looks like a normal vegetable and broth soup. Once you dish it up on top of the cheeses it turns slightly creamy and absolutely beautiful. There are wonderful layers of flavor in this surprisingly hearty lasgana soup.
The work time for this recipe, like many soups, is not too long but the simmering time means you don't have to prepare it immediately before dinner. The slightly longer list of ingredients might be intimidating but since many of the ingredients are spices they don't create a lot of work.

Lasagna Soup
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Yields: 6 servings

Ingredients:
1 lb Italian sausage
1 tsp olive oil
1 large onion, diced (not pictured)
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
2 T tomato sauce
2 14.5 ounce cans diced tomatoes
3 cups chicken broth
2 cups water
2 bay leaves
1 cup uncooked pasta
1 cup spinach, roughly chopped
1/2 tsp basil
1 1/2 cups cottage cheese
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1 cup shredded cheese

Directions:
   1.  In a skillet, cook Italian sausage until no longer pink. Drain fat.
   2.  In a large stock pot, saute onions in olive oil until translucent. Add garlic powder, oregano, Italian seasoning, red peppers flakes and tomato sauce. Cook 2 minutes.
   3.  Add cooked Italian sausage, tomatoes with juice, chicken broth, water and bay leaves. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes.
   4.  Add pasta; bring back to a boil on medium heat until pasta is tender, about 7-8 minutes. After five minutes add spinach and basil. Remove bay leaves.
   5.  To serve put 1/4 cup cottage cheese, 1 T Parmesan cheese and 2 T shredded cheese in each bowl. Ladle soup on top. [When we had this as leftovers it worked well to warm up the soup then put the cheeses on top and stir them in.]

Adapted from: Our Simple Life

Cream Cheese Pasta

This recipe is a favorite of the entire family. It has pasta, cheeses, sour cream and sauce--what's not to love?
This is an easy meal to put together. The hamburger can be cooked well ahead of time or the entire dish can be assembled and then refrigerated or frozen until ready to use. Meals like that can be lifesavers sometimes!

Cream Cheese Pasta
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Yields: 6-8 servings

Ingredients:
1 lb hamburger
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 can pasta sauce
1 1/2 cups shredded cheese
1 lb pasta, cooked (I typically use rotini.)

Directions:
   1.  Brown hamburger until no longer pink.
   2.  Using a mixer with a wire whisk, mix cream cheese, sour cream and Italian seasoning. Add pasta sauce and stir by hand. Add hamburger and 1 cup shredded cheese; stir until combined. Add pasta; mix.
   3.  Pour mixture in a glass 9x13 pan; sprinkle remaining shredded cheese on top.
   4.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes, or until warmed through.

Source: For the Mommas

Broccoli Ham Pasta

When I was looking at this recipe I thought, "Well, it's pretty simple, just pasta, meat and veggies but that's always good." This time was no different. We all loved this dish, especially my one year old who knew she wanted more!
I can't personally speak about the ease of making this as my husband made dinner this night. (Wonderful!) However, he did tell me it was simple to make and he didn't have any problems. He even made an addition to the recipe and shredded colby jack cheese over the whole dish when it was done. It was a wonderful finishing touch!

Broccoli Ham Pasta
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Yields: 6 servings

Ingredients:
1 pound short cut pasta
1 bag frozen broccoli
1 T butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 cup cooked ham, chopped
3/4 cup heavy cream or whole milk
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1/2 cup shredded colby jack
salt
pepper

Directions:
   1.  Cook pasta according to package directions. Add broccoli for last 3 minutes of cooking time. Drain and return to pot.
   2.  While pasta is cooking, melt butter over medium heat in a large skillet. Add onion and saute until softened, about 3 minutes.
   3.  Add ham and cook 2 minutes longer. Stir in cream; simmer until thickened, 3-5 minutes.
   4.  Pour cream mixture over pasta. Add Parmesan cheese and toss to combine. Salt and pepper to taste. Top with shredded colby jack.

Source: All You