Bubble, Bubble Pasta Pot

Simple ingredients

Old-School flour well method

Little Frog floured up

Happy little (frozen) pasta nests

Who doesn't love pasta?!?

Okay, besides my dear husband, that is. Ohh he will patiently eat a small portion of pasta if it's put before him, and will enthusiastically eat more if it has lots of non-pasta ingredients like cheese or meat, but he does not love it as he should.

And frankly, that has to change. The kids love pasta, I love pasta, and so should he!

So, with a little time to spare and my Sunday urge to cook in full swing, I dug out the pasta machine that hasn't been used in a very long time. Pre-kid for sure. I don't know why it hasn't appeared in so long, but it's definitely overdue.

I grabbed the kids and showed them how, old-school, to make pasta. Well, okay, technically old-school would have meant cutting those noodles by hand, but that's just a little to old-old-school for me.

Making pasta is so simple, and especially now that we have all those beautiful fresh eggs to make it with, it's more satisfying. I think I will need to get some real semolina flour to play with, and try my hand at ravioli, too (add ravioli attachment to my Christmas list, along with an immersion blender). Also for sure, is that rustic flour well method will only be brought out on special occasions. I think I'll make it next with my trusted Kitchen Aid mixer's dough hook.

Because I won't have time to make sauce until later in the week, I froze the pasta into nests and popped them into a bag to be used later, maybe Thursday when I have a little more time to make dinners because it's piano lesson day. It's so simple to freeze the pasta, because they can be popped right into the boiling water with no thaw time (so easy).

Along with the pasta, I made up a batch of puppy chow (dangerous), crock pot Santa Fe chicken tacos (for dinner tonight), and chow mein casserole (for dinner last night) - old school satisfying. I am working to get my groove still, after nearly 8 years of being a working mom. Cooking more on the weekends to ease the time during the week seems to be the thing to do. Crocking one thing while making another makes it really easy. Yeah it would be easier to crock on the actual day we're going to eat it, but the reality is crock pots are finicky beasts, and that "cook on low for 6-8 hours" just does not fly with me when the timeline of a weekday is pressing. I need to know something will be done at the time I need it done, you know?

My fridge is stocked, ready for the week. Have a good one!