The Secret To Great Pasta

by Anna
(New York City)

I love pasta. Who doesn't! That's just one of the benefits of being a runner. I get to eat lots of pasta and good thing my family loves it too!

I'm not much of a cook and I have a budget to stick too. So here's the secret to how I make great pasta.

I always keep in the house, plenty of pasta in every form, whole wheat pasta, thin spaghetti, angel hair, spinach fettuccine, fusilli and egg noodles...these are just some of our favorites.

I also stock up on canned pasta sauce. My favorite canned pasta sauces are Ragu tomato mushroom, Progresso white clam sauce and Classico vodka sauce.

Then I just add a meat and salad to the dish and we all sit down to a great family dinner.

Here's how I make 3 of our favorite pasta dishes.

Pasta and Shrimp A La Vodka

I made this for father's day and my baby's daddy loved it. He wanted to know where I got the recipe.

I bought some cooked frozen shrimp, heated them up on a low heat in the Classico vodka sauce, served it over fusilli and sprinkled Parmesan cheese and pepper over the top. Served it with salad.

The whole dinner took me about 30 minutes in the kitchen while wrestling the plates out of my two-year-old's hand.

Angel Hair with White Clam Sauce

Pick up some fresh clams from the fish market and steam them. Heat up Progresso white clam sauce, serve over angel hair pasta with salad on the side.

In the restaurants it is usually served with linguine but we like the thinner angel hair.

Spinach is a nice side for this dish.

Spaghetti with Tomato and Turkey Meat Sauce

Cook onions, add garlic and ground turkey meat, cook through. Add Ragu mushroom tomato sauce. Serve over thin spaghetti with Parmesan cheese and salad.

So that's my secret...sometimes being a super mom takes knowing where to invest your time and when to take advantage of some of the conveniences provides at the grocery store.