Cheesy No Bake Pasta

I am always so confused with Diva. This graceful dancer is the most uncoordinated little thing when she isn't dancing. I mean walking into signs, walls, fences, people, displays in stores and falling over her feet, or anything else on the ground, like dirt. She constantly has some sort of bruise from falling, tripping or running into something. When she is on that stage though she becomes this totally different creature. Graceful, coordinated, balanced. A little star! Sadly for her, though, she doesn't get to dance for a week or so.

This has been a hard week for the little one. Her not so graceful self fell earlier in the week, fracturing her tailbone. Then she had surgery to remove her tonsils and adenoids. We chose to give her full control over the dinner menu the night before her surgery since she was having such a bad week. I was impressed by part of her decision.

I wanted to make a particular recipe out of a Giada DeLaurentis cookbook for years but never got around to it. That night, however, it made it out of the book and into the pot. Not without a few alterations though of course. So here is my altered version of a great recipe. Good enough, apparently, for a seven year old's "last meal".

Shells and Cheese with Arugula

• 1 pkg gluten free shells (Tinkyada)
• 2 cups finely grated Pecorino Romano cheese
• 1 cup finely grated Parmesan (I really like Parmesano Reggiano but it's spendy)
• 1 cup sliced mushrooms
• 1 TBSP EVOO
• 1/2 TBSP garlic powder
• 1/2 TBSP onion powder
• 1/4 cup half and half
• 1 handful of arugula leaves
• salt and pepper to taste

Boil noodles in lightly salted water. In the mean time, saute the mushrooms in EVOO. Place the cheeses, mushrooms and seasonings in a large serving bowl.

Drain the noodles and put them in the bowl. Add the arugula and half & half. Stir well to melt the cheeses. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve!

I recommend serving this with a nice Mediterranean salad but my child stuck with peas and corn for accompaniments. Enjoy!

Kalamata Meat Sauce with Noodles

The holidays, they are upon us. It is not only "the most wonderful time of the year" but seriously the busiest!!! We have multiple birthdays coming up as well so between hand made gifts (pictures coming, I am ultra excited) and hand made invites to parties on top of the holiday preparations, I haven't been doing a WHOLE lot of cooking, just quick, easy stuff. The weekend is coming up as are multiple, more complicated recipes but in an effort to get some stuff done for our "Vision of Trees" girl scout tree and dance performances tonight's dinner is an old stand by.

My Kalamata Meat Sauce and noodles is an easier, and tastier, version of my Mama's sauce recipe. The olives lend it a TON of yummy flavor, while the ground beef makes it hearty. It's also pretty cheap, making it a very good choice for this time of year.

Kalamata Meat Sauce

• 1 lb ground beef or turkey
• 1 Tblsp garlic powder
• 2 Tblsp onion powder
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes
• 4 Tblsp Italian Seasoning
• 7 - 8 pitted Kalamata olives, halved
• 1 large can Tomato Sauce
• 1 pkg gluten free noodles (your choice. I used macaroni for this one because it's what I had on hand)

Cook noodles according to package directions. Meanwhile, brown meat in seasonings. Add olives and tomato sauce. Simmer until noodles are cooked.

That's it, enjoy! I added Parmesan cheese after the picture was taken and as you can see, we had peas along side. The kids take after their Mama. I never met a pea I didn't like. ;)