Simple Comfort Food: Easy Baked Spaghetti

Baked Spaghetti

I had a case of blog burnout last week. Approximately twice a year I have to take a break from blogging. I love blogging for so many reasons, but I also have kids and a household to run and sometimes they don't blend well together. So a couple of times a year I have to take a step back. It didn't help that the herb garden that I had spent the last two months perfecting was stolen off my porch over the weekend. Sometimes I really do not understand people or what they are thinking. I was more than a little upset. Luckily the farmer's market had all their herb starters on clearance, so I started a new pot. It will take a while though before it resembles the one that was stolen. I am trying to keep my meals simple this week to keep my sanity. Tonight I tried a new recipe for Baked Spaghetti from Taste of Home.

This recipe has 10 ingredients. It takes 1 hour 25 minutes of total time, 25 minutes of which is active and makes 10 servings. I did make a few changes to the original recipe. First I used frozen spaghetti that I thawed. I seem to always have leftover pasta, so I freeze it for later use. For the seasoning salt I used Tony's for a bit of spice. Finally, my total cooking time was slightly longer than the original recipe. I allowed the spaghetti to bake for 35 minutes with the foil off in order that it fully browned.

Since I can't eat gluten the rest of my family sampled this dish. My kids were huge fans of this recipe. I liked that it was very easy to put together and made enough servings for multiple meals. Plus the servings are very big, so if you cut the pieces smaller you could make it stretch even further.

For the recipe go to Baked Spaghetti.

Watercress Pesto Recipe

Watercress Pesto

I make a lot of pesto in my household. Especially in the spring there is something very comforting about a big plate of pasta with a pesto made from greens. Even my two picky boys can agree that pasta is delicious and will eat it happily. Since basil pesto can get boring I love switching up the pesto that I make with various spring greens. Last month I even tried a delicious asparagus pesto, which turned out perfectly. My husband is a big fan of greens that have more of a bite, while my kids would be happy eating basil pesto frequently. This week I tried a new recipe for Watercress Pesto from Martha Stewart Living.

This recipe has 7 ingredients. It takes 30 minutes of total time, 20 minutes of which is active and makes 4 servings. I only made a few changes to the original recipe. First I made two versions, one gluten free and one with regular pasta. I did not use whole wheat spaghetti for the regular pasta, my family will not eat it (and I have tried I promise - every brand and they still hate it). To toast the pine nuts I used a skillet on the stove, very easy just make sure to watch them and they should only take a couple of minutes. Make sure to adequately salt the pesto, it will need a fair amount.

My husband and I thought this pesto was good. I would suggest adding more garlic, I like my pesto pretty garlicky tasting. I also would add a fair amount of crushed red pepper. It can be a little bland without it. The addition of cheese would also be nice, Romano would work nicely with the flavors.

For the recipe go to Watercress Pesto.

$4 Spaghetti That's Almost as Good as $24 Spaghetti

My family has a slight pasta obsession. Not just a little bit, but my two boys are currently refusing 99 percent of all food, with the exception of pasta. They love pasta and would eat it three times of day if given the option. Since my husband isn't currently eating pasta I have had free rein to make any type of pasta that I chose. While I love pasta, I really love homemade pasta sauce and meatballs. Growing up my mother's idea of homemade pasta sauce was to add vegetables to jarred sauce. Granted it never tasted bad and I loved it. That is until I realized that homemade pasta sauce is no comparison. It is so much better! Last week I tried a new recipe for $4 Spaghetti That's Almost as Good as $24 Spaghetti from the August issue of Food and Wine magazine, which looked simple and delicious.

This recipe has 9 ingredients. It takes 3 hours of total time, 30 minutes of which is active and makes 4 to 6 servings. I did make a few modifications to the recipe. I think I maybe one of the only food bloggers on the internet that does not own an immersion blender. Everyone I know keeps telling me that I have to buy one and that I will love it. However, I have stubbornly stuck to my blender. For this recipe I poured the tomatoes, garlic, oil and mushroom broth into the blender and pureed until smooth. Then I added it back into the pan and followed the remainder of the recipe as written. I did leave out the torn basil leaves due to the fact that I completely forget to buy them at the grocery store (opps).

My family was very impressed by this recipe. The flavor from the garlic oil and mushroom broth made for a great tasting sauce and my husband thought this maybe one of the best pasta recipes he has ever eaten. The mushroom broth creates a great undertone to the sauce and makes a delicious taste combination. I made veal meatballs to go with this pasta recipe and the combination was perfect. A great recipe that I will definitely make again.

For the recipe go to $4 Spaghetti.

Spaghetti with Clams

Growing up we went to the beach in Washington state every year for vacation. If you've never been to the coast in the NW it isn't like the beaches in other parts of the United States. The water is cold, rocky and you are likely to get hit by logs if you go too deep. Add in the jelly fish that I had the pleasure to step on more than once and the 60 degree temps in the middle of the summer and it's an adventure. Best of all my mother had a knack for finding in need of a little love motels to stay in. Granted this was the late 80's and early 90's so most of places to stay were a little on the funky side. However, I loved the whole thing! There was something very fun about 'roughing' it on the coast for weeks during the summer. My kids have never stayed in anything other than nice hotels with swimming pools and in a lot of ways it makes me sad. When there aren't televisions and modern day room service you learn all the fun things that make your family great. I remember my dad and I taking day long walks along the beach and my mom teaching me to play rummy. I never appreciated the experiences as much as I should have growing up, but since my mom passed away these are some of my favorite memories. One of my favorite parts of our vacations would be the days we would go into Ocean Shores and stop at the roadside stand that had the best fried clam strips. I adore clams and the beach always meant lots and lots of clams. One year my dad and I had the brilliant idea to go clamming. It went great until we found out we had unknowingly broke the law. There are firm laws on the amount of clams that you can catch, thanks dad! Luckily we weren't found out, but we had to have a large clam bake that year and ever since I have been the number one advocate for not over clamming. My two boys have acquired my love of seafood, especially clams. Since we live inland I am not a fan of preparing what is considered "fresh" (I use the term loosely) clams so I was intrigued when the May issue of Family Circle had a recipe for Spaghetti with Clams using canned clams.

This recipe has 8 ingredients. It takes 21 minutes of total time and makes 6 servings. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local grocery store and made no ingredient modifications. For the bacon I used thick cut, my family loves thick cut bacon. Instead of 9 ounces of baby spinach, I used the full 11 ounce container that I bought. I always find that recipes need more than the amount of spinach called for so I thought this was a warranted change. The grocery store which I shopped out was out of minced clams so I substituted chopped clams instead. Finally, I let the pasta cook longer than the three minutes suggested by the recipe. I let the dish cook until all the liquid had reduced almost completely. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

My kids loved this recipe. They ate their entire servings and then all the leftovers the next day. I loved the taste of the clams and bacon, it was a great combination. My only complaint was that there wasn't enough spinach for the amount of pasta. This seems to be the norm for many magazine recipes. I would have preferred if this recipe had about twice the amount of spinach. Also if I was serving this just for adults I would definitely increase the amount of crushed red pepper. As the recipe is written it has the right amount for kids, but needs more for adult tastes. Overall, a very easy pasta recipe that was very kid friendly.

For the recipe go to Spaghetti with Clams.

Rao's Spaghetti with Marinara Sauce

There is something about homemade pasta sauce that brings a smile to my face. It's not hard to make, but it can take a bad day and make it into something warm and memorable. I remember growing-up that my mom kept an herb garden and I would wait impatiently every year for the basil to be ready to eat indicating that pasta sauce was in my future. I loved watching the sauce boil on the stove and the smell of the garlic and herbs simmering, yum! I'll admit that when I moved out on my own in college I became lazy. I am going to share something that I am embarrassed to confess. The last two years of college I would buy a jar of Alfredo sauce and a box of spaghetti, cook them and eat that for diner for the entire week. Now granted I was a marathon runner and could easily burn off the carbs, but as I look back on the memory and cringe. I don't think I have eaten jarred Alfredo sauce since I was 23 and it is probably largely due to this habit. After getting married I decided that I was going to start making pasta sauce from scratch again. It took me some fails, but eventually I learned to make delicious sauce and I rarely if ever buy the jarred variety anymore. However, my husband has fallen in love with the Rao's pasta sauce that he bought at the store last year. I will agree that for a jarred sauce it is pretty delicious, so I was very excited when Saveur Magazine had a recipe for Rao's Spaghetti with Marinara Sauce in a recent issue.

This recipe has 10 ingredients. It takes approximately an hour and 20 minutes of prep and cooking time and makes 4-6 servings. All the ingredients are basic and I had no problems finding them at my local grocery store. For the bacon I chose to use thick-cut bacon. I started using this variety about a year ago and I love it, I cook with it now pretty much exclusively. For the onion I used sweet onions, when they are in season (such as now) I use them frequently. After starting this recipe I discovered that I had ran out of oregano, so I substituted a teaspoon of Italian seasoning instead. I followed the remainder of the recipe as stated.

My family was very impressed with this recipe. This is more than likely the best magazine recipe for pasta sauce that I have tried. The flavor from the bacon was delicious and the taste of the tomatoes wasn't over powered by too much meat or spice. Best of all it doesn't take all day on the stove to create a great pasta sauce that I would be more than willing to serve to company. The recipe made more than enough for my family of four for dinner plus leftovers for everyone the next day. This will definitely be a recipe that I will be making again (soon).

For the recipe go to Rao's Spaghetti with Marinara Sauce.

Spaghetti with Spicy Tuna Marinara Sauce

Growing up I loved tuna melts. I thought they were one of the best foods on earth. To me there was nothing better than my mom's homemade tuna melts. As you can imagine we had a lot of canned tuna growing-up. Both of my parents worked very hard, but living in an expensive city and only having a high-school diploma made money very tight. Luckily for my mom I loved inexpensive food and my mother was a great cook. She could take something from a can and make into something spectacular. It was these early food experiences that made me into the cook that I am today. I learned quickly that just because you have only a handful of ingredients doesn't mean that you can't make something fantastic. My two kids have grown-up in very different circumstances. Both my husband and I have masters degrees and fresh food has always been in abundance. However, I am still my mother's daughter and I am frugal to the core. I love making complex expensive meals, but I leave them to the holidays and special occasions. My kids are growing up understanding that just because you can spend a lot of money on something doesn't mean you should. The same goes for the food we eat and serve. I love cooking from scratch, but I also understand and appreciate that canned food can be both convenient and nutritious when used correctly. Recently, the May issue of the Food Network Magazine had a recipe for Spaghetti with Spicy Tuna Marinara Sauce, which looked like a simple combination of fresh ingredients paired with canned tuna.

This recipe has 10 ingredients. It takes 30 minutes of total time, 25 minutes of which is active and makes 4 servings. I did have to make a  recipe modification due to a lack of available ingredients. Finding plum tomatoes around here can be hit or miss so I bought roma tomatoes instead. I had no problems finding any of the other ingredients at my local grocery store. After the pasta was added to the sauce I felt that it needed to be cooked down more than the recipe suggested. I allowed the pasta sauce to cook until the sauce completely coated the pasta. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

My two boys loved this recipe. I was pleased with how the tuna didn't end up tasting fishy even though it came from a can. The leftovers heated up great the next day and the flavor was even better. I appreciated that the recipe only took thirty minutes start to finish. Plus, with the main meat being canned tuna the total price for the recipe was very low, which always helps my family budget. Overall, a very easy pasta recipe combining both fresh and canned ingredients.

For the recipe go to Spaghetti with Spicy Tuna Marinara Sauce.

Saveur Spaghetti and Meatballs

I love spaghetti and meatballs. There are few foods as comforting as a huge plate of homemade spaghetti and sauce. I have nothing against jarred pasta sauce, but it can't hold a candle to day long simmered homemade. Especially in the summer when tomatoes are fresh homemade sauce is delicious from the first to the last bite. Growing up my mother was the queen of doctoring up store bought sauces. She would add onion, basil, and oregano and serve it as homemade. In every other way my mother was a fabulous cook, but pasta sauce was never her strong suit. Luckily I was able to learn to create great tasting pasta sauce from friends and family that I still use as base for my homemade sauce to this day. Always up to trying new things, I was interested when a recent issue of Saveur Magazine had a recipe for Spaghetti and Meatballs combining three types of meat.

This recipe has 19 ingredients. It takes approximately an hour and half to prep and cook and makes 8 servings. I made a few modifications to the recipe. First off I always grind my own meat, which I did with the pork and beef in this recipe. I would have loved to have ground my own veal, but my local stores only carry it pre-ground. Second I was unable to find provolone that wasn't sliced, so I actually had to shred my cheese using cheese slices, luckily it worked pretty well. The biggest changes I made the recipe were the size of the meatballs and the cooking time. To make 6 oz meatballs seemed extreme to me, especially when feeding two kids, so I made my meatballs substantially smaller. I also found that the liquid evaporated from my sauce very quickly, so make sure to watch the sauce so it doesn't get too dry.

The meatballs are the best part of this recipe. They were moist and had a great flavor. The sauce was a little too sweet, it would almost be better on a hoggie with the sauce and banana peppers. However. the meatballs are well worth the recipe and my family loved them. I would suggest adding an additional can of tomatoes to cut down on the sweetness and possibly crushed red pepper. Overall, a kid friendly recipe that still appeals to adults.