Baked Bowties for Book Club

Baked Bowties w/Tomatoes, Spinach & Mozzarella

I just realized that a month has passed since I posted. A WHOLE month. That was not an intentional break. But I think I didn't have anything to say. I haven't cooked a lot—at least not a recipe that you haven't seen a bunch of times already. I looked to see if there were farm photos I could share. At least I could post some nice photos! But there are barely any photos at all.

In this past month we did get some family time to celebrate a birthday. But there are no pictures of that either. All of that celebration was outside and we had significant distance between us. We didn't get the birthday hugs that we wanted, but it was fun. To quote one of my favorite bloggers, "I’m trying to celebrate what I’ve got, rather than (think about) what I wish could happen." 

I was reminded last night that my kitchen was not completely closed these past weeks like it felt. A friend returned some containers from a couple of meals I dropped off at her door while she was sick. I also left a dinner on the front porch for another friend last night. The dinner I delivered was her portion of our book club supper. She was sick and missed our gathering. This recipe has been on this blog before, but none of the book club girls had ever had it. It's so easy. I'm not sure why I had not taken it to book club before. I told them we were having a "meatless Monday."

These ladies always ask, 'Is the recipe on your blog?" I told them it was but it would be a good one to post again if I had made a new photo. I didn't think about snapping a picture last night until we had finished eating. One friend laughed and said, "You should make it now with that one spoonful left in the dish. Then people would know we loved it." The photo above is from several years ago. 

So here is the recipe again. Except last night I doubled everything. I know math is not my strong suit, but the recipe as written fits into a 2-quart dish. When I doubled it, I put it all in a 3-quart dish. (2 + 2 = 3?) It was full to the top. And we nearly ate it all!

BAKED BOWTIES with TOMATOES, SPINACH & MOZZERALLA (makes a 2-qt casserole)

3 cups uncooked bowtie pasta (that's about half a 16-oz box)

1 can (14.5 oz.) diced tomatoes, undrained (I often use the basil, garlic, oregano kind)

2 cups Alfredo pasta sauce (I use a 15-oz jar of sauce. Last night it was Bertolli.)

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese 

2-3 handfuls baby spinach (I remove the big stems.)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 2-quart baking dish with PAM. Cook and drain pasta as directed on package.

Meanwhile, in a saucepan, heat tomatoes to boiling. Reduce heat to medium and cook uncovered for  6 to 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until liquid is partially evaporated. Stir in spinach just to wilt it.

Put Alfredo sauce into a microwave-safe bowl and heat for about 90-seconds to heat. Stir in shredded cheese. Heat another 30-seconds and stir until cheese melts. (Mine usually is not totally melted.) Mix into tomato-spinach mixture. 

Put pasta in the baking dish and pour sauce over it. Stir gently to mix it all. 

Bake uncovered, about 30 minutes, or until hot in center.

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This is such a simple recipe, but I do have a few tips: 

• Heat the tomatoes in a non-stick pan. Then add the Alfredo sauce to that. The cheese-alfredo-tomato combination can be hard to clean in a regular pan. 
• I use a 4-cup measuring cup to microwave the Alfredo sauce. Or a big 8-cup one for the doubled recipe.
• I even use a silicone spatula to stir it all because that sauce really wants to stick to metal. Then the measuring cup and spatula can go in the dishwasher.

Back when we found this recipe somewhere (I truly don't remember where) it used a saucepan for the Alfredo sauce, a saucepan for the tomatoes and of course, a big pan for the pasta. It was too many dirty pans. And the cheesy sauce was really hard to clean up. It's a wonder I kept making the recipe. But we really liked it. Then one day, it dawned on me to heat the sauce in the microwave. SO. MUCH. EASIER. And we have changed the ingredients enough that this is only a cousin to the original.  

And I just remembered this photo from a couple of weeks ago. We saw the end of the rainbow. It ended in our pasture beside the house. This is the third time I've seen the end of a rainbow. Have you ever seen the end of a rainbow?