Ever since I became a mom, preparing dinner has been a challenge. Before kids, fast, healthy, and cheap wasn't so hard. Take the summer in DC where I would buy an eggplant on Sunday. Every evening, I would slice a piece, roast it in the oven and make a sandwich with whole wheat bread, tomatoes and fresh cheese. It was fast, healthy, and really cheap. Now with two kids and a busy schedule, that can be a challenge. I occasionally run across a recipe that works, which is food recipe nirvana.
One such recipe is my goat cheese pasta. I came across it in a Martha Stewart magazine. I wanted to make a dish for a friend who just had a baby. She was nursing and couldn't eat anything spicy. Over time, I made tweaks to suite my own taste. The beauty is how yummy it is given the easse to make it.
First, cook a pound of whole wheat pasta. Drain the pasta BUT reserve a cup of cooking water.
To the pasta, add crumbled goat cheese. I know..GOAT CHEESE? That can be pricey, but I found crumbled goat cheese at a reasonable price at HEB, and you can also substitute other less expensive cheeses as well. I add about 6 oz, but you can play around and add what you want.
Now you can slowly add the pasta water to make the pasta creamy. Sometimes, I forget to reserve the pasta water and don't add any water. It's really up to your taste.
Finally, have fun with it. My kids love olives, so I add olives. The other day I added leftover chicken chopped up. You can add tomatoes, thawed frozen veggies, whatever you like.
When I serve the pasta, I like to drizzle some olive oil over it.
The pasta is is always a hit with the kids, it's fast, healthy, and inexpensive. Perfect.
