I found this pretty cheesy recipe from Pinterest and gave it a try last night. I've got no real cute anecdote to go with it so onward:

Two Timin' Pasta

Recipe can be found at the original source here or transcribed below.

Ingredients

• 1 Box Penne Pasta
• 1 15-oz jar Alfredo Sauce
• 1 24-oz jar Marinara Sauce
• 2 cups Shredded Mozzarella
• 1 cup Parmesan

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350.

Cook pasta according to directions and drain.

Mix the Alfredo and Marinara sauces together in a large bowl (ok - I did the lazy way and just mixed them in the 9x13 casserole.  Didn't think it was worth dirtying another bowl).  Add the mozzarella and stir to combine.

Add in the penne and toss to coat.

Pour into 9x13 baking dish (unless you're already there like I was) and cook for 20-25 minutes or until bubbly.  Remove from oven, sprinkle with shredded parmesan, and bake for another 5.

Notes

Look at all that cheesy goodness.

So I picked this recipe because the pin on Pinterest said "just like Olive Garden 4 cheese Ziti al Forna!!!!!".  I was skeptical, particularly when I opened the link and saw that it's just mozzarella and parmesan cheeses rather than the 4 used by Olive Garden. And the original post itself doesn't mention Ziti al Forna at all so not sure where that comment came from.

Skepticism aside, I figured either way, why not - particularly when I saw I had ShopRite 3 cheese tomoto sauce and Classico 4 cheese alfredo on hand to boost up the cheesy factor.

Well definitely not like the 4 Cheese Ziti al Forna - but definitely good nonetheless.

The recipe gave Boyfriend and I enough for dinner, seconds at dinnertime for both of us, and leftovers for both to bring to work for lunch.  For those who're better at portion control than either of us are, this could go a long way.

Only criticism I have is with the parmesan on top.  A full cup was too much for my taste.  Next time I would probably just take it out and sprinkle whatever cheese we each want on top after it's been scooped to bowls.

I think I'll definitely be adding this as an alternative for when we're bored of either marinara or alfredo, both together is different and pretty tasty.

Let's Get This Show on the Road

So - I've been contemplating the merits of blogger vs wordpress.  I've been pretty happy with the ease of posting on blogger but I recently realized it's really difficult to connect with anything else.  To add things to reading list, you have to know their actual site name.  If there's a way to just wander around Blogger reading without relying on Googles blog search - which was giving me results from news sites and blogs beyond just Blogger - than I don't know it.

So I'm taking this blog on the road.

Check me out on Wordpress at MakeNomsNotBombs.wordpress.com. (Click there. No seriously do it.) Easy enough - same name as here only .wordpress.com instead of .blogspot.com.

I haven't decided yet which I'm going to use long term.  I was able to import blogger over to wordpress which was pretty awesome.  For the new stuff - I'll probably update both here and there, at least for a little while I get the feel of everything and deciding which is ultimately better for my purposes.

I hope to see you over there (if anyone's even reading this :-P)

Chicken Bruschetta Pasta

This isn't so much a recipe as a item review.

With Boyfriend's wiffleball on Mondays (fall seasons done but he's prolly starting the winter league in January), my dance Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and $1 off Thursdays at the Laundromat, our weekdays are typically pretty crazy.  I try to cook real food rather than rely on fast food or delivery so something that I can make really quickly is pretty appealing to me.  I know I've mentioned the Kraft Fresh Take bread crumbs and cheese before and I've also used Hamburger Helper occasionally.  Well I recently saw the Kraft also has Recipe Makers and the other day, we tried the Chicken Bruschetta Pasta recipe maker.

Picture from Kraft's website

The box has directions on it and they're really simple.  Boil up some pasta to al dente.  Cook chicken in half of the first of two sauces - the "Simmer Sauce".  Add the pasta to the skillet with the remainder of the Simmer Sauce.  Add the Finishing Sauce on top with some parmesan cheese, cook just a few more minutes to heat throughout.  About 20 minutes total.  Easy as pie.

The Simmer sauce was really good - it was a zesty garlic sauce that was really enjoyable on the chicken and pasta (I tried some prior to the Finishing Sauce).  The Finishing Sauce though - the Bruschetta - I didn't enjoy as much.  It was pretty acidic and gave me bad heartburn; that doesn't happen to me often or easily so it's got to be pretty bad to make me feel that way.

I'll probably try other of the Recipe Makers at some point.  As I'm sure I've said earlier, I like low key recipes like this so it's probably worth trying the other varieties. I may even get this one again and just give more of the Finishing Sauce Bruschetta to Boyfriend and keep the simmer sauce for me.