Acafella Pomadora

Buenas Lunes!  Happy Monday!  Are you caving under the stress of the holidays?  Running around town in search of that perfect gift?  Or are you one of those fools who has had your presents bought and wrapped and are now lounging around laughing at all of us procrastinators? 

Well, either way... I've got a super delicious recipe for you today that is E-A-S-Y.  And super impressive... if your dinner guest happens to be Jana, who is uber-easily impressed.

This Pasta Pomodora is a recipe I found in Runner's World Magazine.  The sauce is basically canned tomatoes simmered with olive oil and garlic.  Easy, right?  We're usually Prego people, and this sauce kicks Prego to the curb. 

Gi-normo can of maters from Costco.

It's as big as my head.  I have a large head.

The pasta was served at our now weekly showing of Glee.  My favorite bloggers attended for song and pasta.

T-Dub; looking overly excited for pasta.

This was Jana's first visit to the Hood.  Thankfully her car wasn't stolen.

Squiggly noodles, pomodora, and Panera bread.

Pasta Pomodora

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed (I used 5... and sweat garlic for two days).
• 3 16 oz cans of peeled, whole Italian plum tomatoes, such as San Marzano (or 1 can the size of your head)
• 1 tsp Sicilian oregano (I just used regular)
• 1 tsp salt (or to taste)
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 lb. pasta

Method:

• Heat oil in a saucepan over medium.  Add garlic and saute until golden brown, about three minutes.
• While garlic browns, pour tomatoes into a bowl.  Squeeze with your hands to break them up*.
• Add tomatoes and their juice to the saucepan.
• Add oregano, salt, and pepper.
• Simmer on low for 45 minutes.  Add a little water if needed to keep the sauce from becoming too thick (it should be bright red, if it becomes brick red, it's too thick). 
• Add one pound of pasta to a pot of boiling, salted water.
• Two minutes before it's cooked, remove pasta from water and add to the sauce.  Cook until tender, allowing pasta to absorb the sauce.  Add a little pasta water if needed to keep the sauce liquid. 
• Drizzle with olive oil (I forgot to do this).  Sprinkle with Italian cheese (unless you're a vegan).  Garnish with basil.  Serves 6.

Mya and Cade made fast friends when he decided to share his bread with her.  Mya has been on a grain-free diet for over a year, so one bite of carbs and she decided Cade was the best thing ever.

Sniff Sniff.

Chomp.

She kept an eye on him the rest of the night, just in case he happened to drop something scrumptious.   

"Give me a snack, baby!"

Cade liked Mya too.  I took a lot of pictures of the two of them.  I just love when Mya makes new friends.

T-Dub spanking Cade (???)

We watched episodes 3 & 4 from season 1 of Glee.  Although I don't think the girls were as impressed with the Acafellas as I am, they were hooked when the Celibacy Club pregnancy scandal was revealed in episode 4.

Mission accomplished.  I've created two new Gleeks.

More gratuitous baby pictures:

Cade shares his cell phone.

Mya snags Cades blanket.

Cade demands wine.

I hope he uses his cell phone to call social services.

Best wishes for a happy week-before-Christmas!  Remember, if you're in a time-pinch and need an easy dinner fix, this pasta is super super easy and infinitely better than Prego!

Happy {meatless} Monday!

*For many reasons I did not use my hands to squish the tomatoes.  One, sticking my hands in there kind of freaked me out.  Two, I don't think I'd want Cade squishing my dinner in his hands, so I'm sure he doesn't want me squishing his dinner in my hands.  And three, I totally slashed my finger open cutting into the bread when I got it home.  I guess I got a bit excited about the straight-from-the-oven loaf and let the knife get away from me.  Broken skin + tomato juice = gross & ouch.  So I just smashed the 'maters with a wooden spoon.   You're welcome.