Lise's Super Easy Fancy Pasta

Knock knock.
Who's there?
ME!

 

 

Finally, after a very long but much needed hiatus, I am back. The past year of my life has been nothing short of a roller coaster. I got pregnant, had a baby, nursed my son Simon back to health, bought and sold a house, helped my best friend through a divorce, tried to get a charity up and going, and now - well I am just trying to catch my breath.

On March 10th, 2014 we joyfully welcomed Isabella Hope Pelletier into our family. I still have trouble accepting the fact I have a daughter. She's beautiful, sweet, and I am so grateful for all the shopping trips and mani's in our not to distant future.





Bella Hope

The pregnancy was tough, so my cooking/baking endeavours ceased. I was so sick that the smell of everything made me ill. I needed Diclectin to get through my days and to keep food and water down. I have been finding it hard lately to find a proper balance between taking care of everyone else, and myself. I have suffered from Post Partum Depression with all my children, but this time it's different. It's more dark, and debilitating, and for lack of a better word "Hovering". There have recently been some major life changes going on, so I think that coupled with just having a baby, well I didn't really stand a chance. I have found hope though, through various friends, family members, and my doctor.

I have a friend who lost his wife almost a year ago, and I find him incredibly inspiring. He took up Karate, and now has a black belt, he wanted to learn guitar, so he went out and bought one and is teaching himself. He always wanted to be a runner, so he joined some friends at work and is now running daily. Though he had every reason to hide under the covers and never leave, he pushes forward, and still manages to be an incredible dad to his beautiful 6 year old little girl.

So this is my new resolution. To take a little time, each day - for me. I am getting a guitar (Because it's just ridiculous that I don't have one) and I bought new runners, and have started wogging every day. I can't really commit to a full jog get, so I kind of walk, fast (Hence, the WOG).

One of my best girlfriends sent me this recipe. She tried it out on her family and loved it. I took it, made a few tweaks, and served it to my boys. OMG. It was delicious. Restaurant quality, minimum mess and work, and totally scrumptious.

Enjoy. 

Ingredients

Fettuccini (One box)

Two cans of Accents Diced Tomatos (Garlic and Olive Oil)

1 Cup of V8 (I used almost a full can)

Tube of plain goat cheese

1 Package of baby spinach

Walnuts

Handful of kalamata olives (Chopped fine, or ground in a food processor)

Salt & Cracked Pepper

Small brick of parmesan cheese

Flaked parmesan

Preheat oven to 350*

On parchment lined baking sheet, toast walnuts for 4-5 minutes (Watching carefully as they will go from brown to burnt very quickly). Remove from oven and set aside. Cook pasta as per directions on box, however cut 2 minutes off cooking time, as the noodles will finish cooking in the sauce.

In a large saucepan, add V8 and diced tomatoes, cook until tomato's soften (Approx. 5 mins).

Add full tube of goat cheese, in chunks, until melted through. Once cheese is melted, add in the spinach, bunch by bunch until wilted into the sauce. Throw in the olives, stir.

With tongs, or a slotted ladle, toss un-rinsed pasta into sauce. Toss to make sure noodles are evenly covered in sauce.

Top each serving with toasted walnuts and shaved parmesan.

Next time, I plan on serving this with BBQ chicken a top....

Thanks for the great recipe Jaxi