Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Dinner time!

See, I told you I'd come up with something. I got my idea from Pioneer Woman (see her link on my blog roll over there <---) who always makes yummy looking stuff but my friend Julie has done a few of these too. In fact, she started a second blog just for her recipes. Anyway, I don't cook much anymore since becoming pregnant. And this is what I usually do- throw something last minute together. Here it is in all it's pictorial glory. I have step by step directions so this may get long. Feel free to ignore as unless you can't boil water, it's not exactly a gourmet meal.

The cast of ingredients. Please pretend there is actually pasta in that box. I added a cast member after I had poured the pasta. I didn't realize I had cheese! Btw, if you don't usually like Ragu sauce, try the Organic version. Yum!!
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Boil water...ignore all my pregnancy pills in the back ;)
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Add salt- AFTER boiling water. Did you know salt before boiling can scar your pan? You can only truly season pasta in the water it's boiling in, not afterwards.
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Pour pasta
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Stir it around. Cook until al dente. Okay, so I've never known exactly when that was, so I just taste as it cooks....a few times. Mmm.
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Drain well, shake a bit to get all the excess water hiding away in the pasta. Noone wants watery pasta.
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Pour into your baking dish- can you see the steam in the back?
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Time to pour the sauce!
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Add some cheese and stir it around. Taste test...mmmm
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Add some extra cheese on top.
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If you have time, just put it in a 350 oven until it's really hot and the cheese is melty, but I was hungry (I'm pregnant people!) so I just put it under the broiler until the top layer was melty. I really like a browned cheese top but didn't feel like waiting that long. Low fat cheese just doesn't brown very well either. Dh is on WW though so low fat it is.
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And it's done! Scoop some out to feed your children and nibble on some more until it's time to make your plate.
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I decided to see if we had some garlic bread and found some in the back of the freezer. Here it is in it's frozen state. I chose to throw it in our Advantium oven so I didn't have to use the normal oven again.
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And after it was done. Yummmmmy! I could eat all 3 pieces but I'll be nice and share.
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And that was the end of my not-so-gourmet pasta dinner. Quick and easy!

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