Pasta & Soup - Perfect Cure for Flu Season

I can't believe I've actually missed a few days this week. I really thought today was Tuesday! There's nothing like a Winter flu to knock one out for a few days ... and calling for "mommy" to make something warm and soothing like chicken soup. Since I AM the mommy, it's a good thing I made a huge pot of chicken broth back in December and froze them in 2 cup batches in ziplock baggies.

Which just happens to be my entry for Baby Steps to a Rockin' Life , a cool roundup put together by Alex of A Moderate Life .
Easy steps to 'instant mommy" when you're too sick to cook:
1. make a very big batch of broth;
2. allow to cool;
3. label ziplock baggies big enough to hold 2 cups of broth;
4. measure & pour soup into baggies & seal;
5. lay the baggies flat on a baking sheet that will fit in the freezer and allow to completely freeze (if you have a tiny freezer you might have to do this in a couple of batches);
6. Stand the frozen baggies upright and you'll be surprised at how many helpful "hugs" of soup you can fit in the space.

And just in under the wire for Presto Pasta Night, this week hosted by Jen of Tastes of Home... is this

Quick Ginger Chicken, Pasta & Spinach Soup

(seen at the top of the page)

Even sickly me... could crawl out of bed and throw it together. While the broth was defrosting, I threw a couple of handfuls of spinach into a bowl in the microwave, then chopped it up, added that plus 1/4 cup whole wheat fusilli and a slice of ginger to the soupThe whole thing took 15 minutes... and yes... I did feel like my mother was looking after me.

Pasta, Pasta, My Mind Sees Only Pasta

A somewhat misleading title because I actually made a delicious Hoisin Garlic Flank Steak, with Sauteed Ginger Garlic Kale and the last of the garlicky rice for dinner last night. That said....

Did you ever have one of those weeks when it seems like everywhere you look there's pasta? I've been drooling over every one of the dishes in the pasta chapter in Jamie Oliver's book Jamie's Italy and I've written about it before...

Mark Bittman's NY Times weekly column this week is all about making easy homemade pasta (I wrote about that too)

Don't even get me started on Donna Hay's newest book Seasons (well, see what I've written and then rush out to buy your own copy) but know that the Roasted Garlic, Ricotta & Kalamata Olive Pasta I made last week... and had for two wonderful leftover lunches, still has me licking my lips.

I guess I've been fixated on pasta because of tomorrow night's dinner. Our friends head back to Calgary after packing up their stuff and we wanted to spend the evening with them. A few obstacles stand between now and sitting down to dinner...

1. Braces on my friend's teeth - yes, even those a few years over forty sometimes need them, means something soft;
2. I'll be spending the day as I usually do with those little angels who sometimes give me time in the kitchen to prepare dinner, and often they would rather play - which means I have to prepare something in advance so I don't get stressed'; and...
3. I want something that all three generations would enjoy.

And what could be better than a baked pasta dish that I can prepare today and just throw in the oven an hour before serving. Well, after flipping through lots of books and lots of magazines, not to mention searching the Internet, I ended up coming back to a recipe I found on the Italpasta box of jumbo pasta shells about a million years ago.

Spinach & Cheese Stuffed Pasta Shells

Naturally... because why should things be easy... the grocery store was out of jumbo shells and since we were expecting a blizzard yesterday, I really didn't feel like traipsing all over the city to find some. A little luck and some flexibility, I found some oven ready cannelloni, also from Italpasta - I do love the brand.

Now... oven ready cannelloni means that I can do the stuffing without cooked pasta tubes splitting on me. I just fill a zip lock baggie with filling, cut one of the corners off and make my own piping bag. It makes the process very manageable, not to mention easy to clean up. Hopefully, I'll take a photo of the cannelloni version, if we're not having too good a time eating it!

And that's my tip for Baby Steps to a Rockin Life put together by Alex of A Moderate Life.

It's also my entry for this week's Presto Pasta Night. Claire of Chez Cayenne is hosting and you still have some time to send in your pasta before midnight tonight. Send your entries to cdmcculloch7 (at)gmail (dot)com and cc me - ruth (at) 4everykitchen (dot) com

What's your go to dish for such occasions?