Giving dip a run for its money.

Have you seen The Pioneer Woman's gorgeous Spinach Artichoke Pasta floating around on Pinterest lately?  The second I saw it I pinned it to my "To Eat" board.  It didn't last long there before I jumped onboard and made it myself.  

It was easy to follow her recipe and still alter seasonings and such, mainly to meet my tastes (and the fact that I can't tolerate spice worth beans on a good day, let alone when I'm hugely pregnant).  And because I didn't really do much different besides change up some amounts and use cavatappi instead of penne, I'm not providing a recipe card.  She's got it all tied up with a pretty bow over on her site, so follow the link.

All I can really say here is eat this.  Eat it now.
The one and only thing I'll do differently next time is add a smidge more cheese.  Because we ARE in the dairy state after all, and doggone it, I like cheese.  And spice up the panko a bit - maybe mix it with some melted butter.

You know the deliciousness of spinach artichoke dip?  You know how you kind of just want to scoop it up with a spoon?  Now you can.  Although, a fork would likely be easier.
If you've seen it but weren't sure about it, consider us your guinea pigs, because the entire family loved it.  Even bug.  mini had a hard time eating the artichokes, but maybe that's an acquired taste?  

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The only meal ALL of the children will eat... and even ask for seconds.

(No, I'm NOT kidding.  They really did ask for seconds.  For real.)

Do you have picky eaters at your house?  Do you opt for ease/minimal time commitment when it come to lunch?  Does the idea of creating any kind of pasta dish that does NOT come out of a royal blue box with yellow lettering on it around noon make you shudder?  Would you feed your children peanut butter and jelly every single day if you, yourself would not get sick of it by day two?

I have a solution.

I know, I usually share some kind of dinner entree.  Or dessert.  But the thing is, this is a dinnertime taste with a lunchtime effort.  Pretty perfect, right?  Did I mention that your kids will ask for seconds?

Sound too good to be true?  I swear it's not.  The secret is in the seasonings, kids.

We've had this for dinner in many variations and every time we do bug informs we that we need to make it more often.  As I sat staring at an empty pot around lunch time the other day - no, really, I was standing in front of the stove staring at the empty pot - I was tempted to make some more mac and cheese.  But I really didn't want to.  And then I had an epiphany.

What we generally call mommy pasta (or pasta a la kim if we are being really fancy) is the perfect lunch food too!  If you have lunchtime dilemmas like I do, you'll be grateful for the recipe.

Variations?  You could even add broccoli or uncut green beans (we did that once, and mini asked me for "more flower stems, please and thanks") if you want to feel healthy.  If you want to feel even healthier, you can omit the cream cheese entirely.  I promise they'll still think it's yummy, it's just not creamy.

No, no, YOU'RE the best!  Really!  No, YOU are!  Well, ok.  I'll take it.  Thanks.

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