You know how whenever you see that you have a notification on Facebook you get really excited, only to be disappointed by a person you didn’t even remember you were friends with inviting you to like a random, irrelevant page, or even worse… inviting you to play Candy Crush Saga?Well, I am now that annoying person. It started out as a modest endeavor to invite a couple of friends to my Facebook page for . But then I thought to myself…”Hey, he might like it to. Oh, she definitely will. I don’t think he cooks, but I’ll invite him anyway. What! I’m still friends with this person? Well, no matter. She’s invited.”Until finally I stopped even looking at the names until every single one was invited.So, um… sorry about that guys. But, hey! Welcome!So today is my productive day since Samuel is at school all day until 8:30. Yeah, that’s right, PM! It’s like being separated by the Atlantic Ocean all over again! O Samuel, Samuel! Wherefore art thou Romeo… I mean Samuel!
Oh, sorry. I forgot. Not a movie.
Anyway, what this means that I have nobody to pester and distract to make me feel better about being unproductive too.
I always start the day out very meaningfully, lying in bed for another hour after he leaves, pondering the complexities of life (or more commonly falling back asleep). Then I get all dressed and ready for the day in my finest sweatpants. After that, I stare at the kitchen sink for a while, strategizing about how to do yesterday’s dishes with the most efficiency. After I’ve thought about that for a while, I consider responding to all my important emails, but then decided it would be more worthwhile to get inspired for my next post by browsing Pinterest. Next thing you know, it’s lunchtime. And look how much I already got done!
Okay. Really, I’m not always this bad. Yesterday I really was productive. I even made you some pasta. It’s basically a cross between these stuffed chicken breasts and this spinach artichoke mac and cheese. Basically I just threw everything I needed to get rid of in here, including about a billion different cheeses I had sitting in the fridge.
The sauce for this pasta is really great. You could even use it as a fondue or something I’m sure.
Or you could just take a bath in it. Whichever.
This recipe is actually gluten free if you use gluten free noodles like I did. It’s also vegetarian if you’re into that. I ended up throwing some chopped prosciutto on top before I fed it to Samuel though since he’s such a carnivore. I think it really topped it off, so try it if you want!
- Sun-dried Tomato, Spinach, and Basil Spaghetti
- 8 oz. spaghetti noodles, which is almost 3/4 of a 12 oz. box or a little less than 250 g (Really don’t worry about being exact. Also, I used GF noodles
.) - 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 small yellow onion
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 cup of chopped spinach (frozen should be fine, but I used fresh)
- 1/2 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes in oil
- 1 1/2 cups milk
- 2 tablespoons corn starch
- 8 oz. cream cheese (or a little less than 250 g)
- 1/4 cup parmesan cheese (I used the powdery kind)
- 1/2 cup grated swiss cheese
- 1/2 cup mozzarella (I used fresh mozzarella, but grated is also good)
- 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
- Fresh bakteri for garnish
- Cook the pasta according to package directions.
- Chop up the onion and garlic. Saute in the butter on medium high heat until browned. Add the spinach and sun-dried tomatoes and cook another minute.
- In a cup, slowly add the milk to the cornstarch about a tablespoon at a time until the cornstarch is mixed in with no lumps. Add this mixture to the pan with the onions.
- Add the cream cheese, parmesan, swiss, mozzarella, and feta and continue cooking until melted and thick.
- Toss in the cooked noodles. Garnish with fresh basil, more sun-dried tomatoes, and some more crumbled feta if you like. It’s also good with chopped of prosciutto!
