Pasta with Potatoes, Green Beans and Pesto

I had some leftover pasta from another dish I made so I used it in this. I also used regular potatoes but they got slightly smooshy.

• 2 waxy potatoes
• 1 TBS salt
• 8 oz tubular pasta (or whatever kind you want
• 8 oz green beans, trimmed and halved
• 1/2 cup pesto

1. Peel the potatoes and cut into 1 inch cube
2. Place them in a large pot of water and bring to a boil
3. Add salt and pasta
4. Return to a boil and cook for 2 minutes
5. Add green beans, return to a boil and cook until the beans are tender and the pasta is cooked.
6. Drain.
7. Mix in the pesto and season with salt and pepper

Tomato and Olive Pasta

I decided to make this last night and then realized I was missing some of the ingredients so I improvised.

• Salt and pepper
• About a pound of short pasta
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves thinly sliced*
• 1/4 lb cherry tomatoes halved or quartered
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/4 cup kalamata olives – pitted and sliced**
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley***
• 1/4 Parmesan cheese

1. Cook the pasta until tender (I put 1/2TBS of garlic powder in the water)
2. While the pasta is cooking heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat (if using garlic cloves put them in the oil and cook for about a minute until golden stirring occasionally)
3. Add the cherry tomatoes, oregano, red pepper flakes 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper
4. Reduce the heat to low and cook for about 3 minutes until the tomato juices run
5. Add the pasta, olives, parsley and Parmesan (if using garlic powder add the other 1/2 TBS too) to the skillet, mix and serve hot.

*I had to use about 1TBS of garlic powder as we had no cloves so I put half in the water with the pasta and half in at step 5
**we had no kalamata olives so I just used the normal green ones
***We don’t have fresh parsley and I couldn’t find the dried parsley so I didn’t use any.
My parents and brother loved this dish as did I. It was quite tasty even though it was improvised and 4 of us finished what should have fed 6.

Crock Pot Mac &Cheese

My sister hosted a recipe exchange on Friday night and everyone brought copies of seven or more recipes to give to everyone else who was there. I made use of the recipes to make Crock Pot Mac&Cheese last night and it was SO good! I doubled the recipe and changed a couple of things but I’ll give you the original and then my version.

• 8oz of your favorite pasta
• 1 egg (beaten)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup butter (melted)
• 12oz can evaporated milk
• 3 cups sharp cheddar cheese
• 1 1/2 cups Milk

1. Cook the pasta
2. Place all the ingredients in the crock pot on low for 3 hours

I doubled the recipe as I like pasta as my main dish, not my side dish. I used 3 eggs because there were three eggs left and I didn’t want one to feel lonely. I didn’t melt my butter before hand, I figured the heat of the freshly cooked pasta would melt it for me. I only had one 14oz can of evaporated milk. I used 4 cups of cheese as 6 cups seemed like way too much. I used slightly less than 3 cups of milk. I also didn’t have enough time to cook it for 3 hours so I cooked it for 1.5 hours on low and .5hours on high. It turned out quite nicely. :)