Easy, Delicious Weekly Meal Plans for Busy Moms!
One Pot Pasta
I've been on a mission to create the ultimate one pot pasta. Cheesy, saucy, and easy to make were my three goals when creating this recipe. Fortunately, I've been able to meet all three of those goals.
This pasta has three cheeses: ricotta, parmesan and mozzarella. Also, it's full of my favorite spicy tomato sauce - Rao's. And easy it is! Cook, make cheesy sauce, and combine the two - it's truthfully that easy. If you don't want to add veggies, it's even easier!
Healithier Options
I will be the first to admit that this recipe is not on the healthier end. However, I have a few ideas that can make it a bit on the healthier end:
- Use gluten free or whole wheat pasta.
- Skip one or two of the cheeses. Just remember that will make the dish not as creamy!
- Add more veggies. When sautéing the veggies you could add twice the amount of zucchini and spinach, diced carrots, finely chopped cauliflower or diced red bell pepper.
- Add chopped lemon chicken.
Cheesy Tomato Pasta
A three cheese, tomato pasta that is the ultimate weeknight meal. It's a one pot wonder that everyone loves.
Ingredients
- 1 pound noodles you can do any kind but for this dish I prefer fusilli, penne or rigatoni.
- 2 tbsp oil
- 1 medium zucchini shredded - I use a cheese grater.
- 2 cups spinach whole or chopped
- 1 jar tomato sauce
- 15 oz. ricotta cheese Some containers are 15 ounces or 16 ounces. Either will do.
- ½ cup parmesan cheese plus extra for topping
- ½ tsp salt or more if needed
- 2 cups mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- In a large pot, boil water and cook noodles according to package.
See notes to make it a one pot meal.
In a large sauté pan, heat oil to medium. Cook shredded zucchini and spinach until cooked through and wilted – about 3 minutes. If your kids don’t care about eating veggies, I would add the spinach whole. Since we are still getting my son to eat vegetables without saying NO, I take the spinach and cut it into small pieces. This makes the spinach leaves much smaller and harder to detect by a picky eater!
- Once the veggies are cooked, add ricotta, tomato sauce, parmesan cheese, and salt. Mix until combined. Turn heat to low and let cook until noodles are done.
- Drain the cooked noodles and add to tomato and cheese mixture. Add mozzarella cheese and mix. The mozzarella will melt and become extra gooey.
- Options:
- You can serve now or you can put under the broiler (make sure your pan is oven safand broil mixture until the top has browned and crisped up a bit – about 4 or 5 mintues. Both options are delicious.
Recipe Notes
*You can make this a one pot meal by sauteing the veggies and making the sauce in the same pot you boiled the pasta in. You just have to wait until the pasta is done cooking. Or you can use two pots and make the sauce while the pasta is cooking.
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hi, I'm leslie
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