Friday, June 15, 2012

June 15, 2012

We tried two new things this week; one was a hit, and one was okay.  First, the hit: taco pasta.  While not a meal you will likely be serving to company (unless of course your guests are all under the age of 8), it is very easy to put together and you likely have all the ingredients on hand.  The only thing I didn't have was the cream, and was tempted to use milk, but in the end I didn't stray from the ingredients list.  Milk probably would work, and I bet half and half would too, but the cream helped melt the shredded cheese (I think!).  Let me know if you try it and use milk - I'd love to know how it turned out!

Only "alright" was a lemon blueberry breakfast roll for which I had high hopes!  Owen and I thought it was okay, but not quite lemon-y enough.  The filling all melted out of the rolls, but my non-blueberry lovers were rather happy with that fact! All in all, I tossed this recipe.

Summer vacation is off to a great start!  We didn't have time to try too many things, but we did look through a few recipes from my bin and tried to pick out some things to try over the next few weeks.  We'll see what is voted a keeper!

New Recipe
Taco Pasta

Taco Pasta



Ingredients
* 1 lb. ground beef
* 1 taco seasoning packet
* 1 1/2 cups salsa
* 1/2 cup water
* 1/2 - 3/4 lb. pasta
* 2 cups grated cheddar cheese
* 1/4 cup heavy cream
* salt & pepper, to taste

Directions
1. Bring water to boil to cook the pasta as directed on the package.
2. While the pasta is cooking, in a large skillet, cook ground beef, breaking apart as you go. Once thoroughly cooked, drain meat and then place back on heat. Add taco seasoning, salsa and water. Simmer until pasta is finished cooking.
3. Once pasta is cooked, drain well and pour into ground beef mixture. Top with cheese, cream, salt and pepper. Stir until cheese melts and noodles are coated in sauce. Serve immediately. 

Notes
While this is certainly not Sunday dinner fare, it was a big hit at our table, and very quick to put together!  So, next time you have kids running to and from sports practices and adults racing to evening meetings, perhaps give this a try!  We paired it with spinach salad and everyone was satisfied.