Swap out Nona’s red sauce (sorry Nona!) and try dressing up your pasta with this Pistachio cream sauce. It’s sweet, nutty and besides shelling the pistachios it’s super easy to make. Of course, you can always enlist the help of a few friends or treat yourself to some pre-shelled nuts. To gild the lily and make this dish even more delicious try using fresh pasta.
Pistachio Cream Sauce Ingredients:
1 cup Shelled Pistachios
1 cup Heavy Cream
1 cup Milk
½ cup shredded Parmesan cheese
¼ tsp Fresh ground nutmeg
1 tbsp Palm sugar (or white sugar)
Cherry or Grape tomatoes
Juice from half a lemon
Salt to taste
Fresh chopped Basil
Pro Tip: Double the recipe, it’s easy to freeze and use at a later time.
Slow cooker chili mac combines two of your favourite dinners into one satisfying meal. Does your family celebrate Taco Tuesday every week? Do the kids always request pasta nights? Slow cooker chili mac (also known as taco pasta) gives you the best of both worlds. And it couldn’t be easier to make in your Hamilton Beach® slow cooker.
In a large skillet over medium-high heat, saute onions and garlic for about 3 minutes until the onions are translucent. Add a pound of ground turkey (you could substitute ground beef if you prefer) to the skillet and saute until browned.
Add the meat mixture to the slow cooker crock with the remaining ingredients – 2 cans of diced tomatoes and green chiles, 1 can of crushed tomatoes, 1 can of kidney beans, an additional can of green chiles, chili seasoning, salt, and black pepper.
Cover the slow cooker crock and cook on HIGH for 3 ½ to 4 hours or on LOW for 7 to 8 hours. When the meat sauce is finished cooking, stir in a pound of cooked pasta and some cheese (feel free to be very generous with this step). Let the cheese melt a little before serving.
Slow cooker chili mac is a hearty meal complete with pasta, beans, meat and cheese – what more could you want? This big bowl of pasta swaps out marinara for a flavorful sauce packed full of your favourite Mexican flavours. While this dish is delicious served directly from the slow cooker, we took the liberty of adding some (OK, a lot) of our favourite taco and chili toppings. Fresh jalapenos, sour cream, hot sauce, even more cheese. Put a few of your a favourite mix-ins on the table and let everyone customize a bowls to their liking.
Serve chili mac for family dinner any night of the week or at your Cinco de Mayo party alongside a build-your-own margarita bar. Your guests will undoubtedly enjoy customizing their dinner and drinks.
In a large skillet over medium-high, heat the oil.
Add onion and garlic. Cook until onion is translucent, about 3 minutes. Stir in ground turkey, cooking until browned, about 6 minutes. Drain fat if necessary.
Add meat mixture to slow cooker crock with tomatoes and chilies, crushed tomatoes, kidney beans, tomato sauce, green chilies, chili seasoning, salt and black pepper.
Cover slow cooker and cook on HIGH for 3 1/2 to 4 hours or LOW for 7 to 8 hours.
Stir in cooked pasta and 1 cup shredded cheese before serving. Let stand on WARM for 15 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining cheese, if desired.
If you’re hunkering down for the winter, chances are you’re cooking more at home. Soups, stews, pot roast – it’s high time for comfort food. If you want a stick-to-your-bones recipe that’s perfect for those 30 degrees and below days, make slow cooker goulash.
There is a lot of conversation around goulash and how to make this popular wintertime dish. While we aren’t calling our recipe Hungarian goulash, the dish did originate in Hungary. It’s a meat and vegetable stew seasoned with lots of paprika and other spices.
North Americans have reworked the recipe into a more familiar Hamburger Helper-style dish – and we aren’t complaining. The slightly spicy sauce, ground beef, and pasta combine for a comforting meal both the kids and adults at the table will love.
Make the meat sauce in your slow cooker, then stir in cooked elbow macaroni and plenty of cheddar cheese. Switch the slow cooker to WARM and melt a little extra cheese on top before serving or transfer to a baking dish and melt the cheese under the broiler for a few minutes. No matter how you serve it, slow cooker goulash is sure to warm you from the inside out this winter.
In a large skillet over medium-high, heat oil. Add onion and garlic. Cook until onion is translucent, about 3 minutes. Stir in ground beef, cooking until browned, about 5 minutes. Drain fat if necessary.
Add meat mixture to slow cooker crock with tomato puree, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, bay leaf, paprika, salt and black pepper.
Cover slow cooker and cook on HIGH for 3 1/2 to 4 hours or LOW for 7 to 8 hours.
Meanwhile, cook pasta to al dente according to package directions. Drain and stir into crock with 1 cup shredded cheese.
If you’ve been on Instagram, Pinterest, or flipped through a food magazine over the past year you’ve probably come across a one-pot pasta recipe. These one pan wonders (usually) take under 30 minutes to cook from start to finish, leaving you with a tasty meal and, since it’s all made in one pot, minimal cleanup.
No need to pull out a stock pot or dutch oven for this one-pot shrimp alfredo. We cooked this 30 minute meal in a deep-edge skillet instead.
In the skillet, arrange dry spaghetti in the middle of the pan. Then place frozen, cooked shrimp on one side of the pasta and frozen peas on the other.
Pour 2 ½ cups of water over the ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 10 to 15 minutes until the pasta is al dente and most of the water has evaporated.
Add butter and stir until it’s fully melted and mixed with the other ingredients. Then stir in a cup of half-and-half and a cup (or if you’re a cheese-lover like me, a cup and a half) of grated parmesan cheese. That’s all there is to it. I guess it’s pretty easy to understand what the one-pot pasta hype is all about, after all.
Serve this shrimp alfredo with a sprinkle of cracked black pepper, some fresh basil, and a little extra parmesan (for good measure).
These 30 minute meals are perfect for feeding the family when you’re crunched for time and want to clear out some room in the freezer. Watch one-pot shrimp alfredo disappear from your table and smile knowing there’s only one pan to wash after dinner.
In a large skillet, arrange dry spaghetti noodles in center of pan. Place frozen cooked shrimp on one side and frozen peas on the other. Add salt to water and pour over ingredients in skillet.
Over high heat, bring water to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-high and simmer until pasta is al dente and water has nearly evaporated, 10-15 minutes.
Add butter and stir until melted. Stir in half and half and Parmesan cheese. Sprinkle with black pepper.
The big game marks the end of football season – one last hurrah. And what better excuse to pull out all the stops at your watch party? If you’re already brainstorming gameday goodies, put this Buffalo Chicken Pasta Salad on the menu. It’s a guaranteed W.
This recipe is everything you love about Buffalo wings – plus pasta. Sign. Me. Up.
In a large bowl, stir together mayonnaise, hot pepper sauce (we used Frank’s Red Hot for that authentic Buffalo wing flavor), white vinegar, salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper.
Add shredded chicken, pasta (we used bowtie), celery, blue cheese (plenty of it), and green onion to the mayonnaise mixture. We used a rotisserie chicken to save on time, but you could use leftover slow cooker shredded chicken or canned if you have it in the pantry.
Toss it all together until the pasta and chicken are fully coated with the spicy, creamy sauce.
The blue cheese is the perfect complement to the heat in the sauce, while the celery adds texture – a nice crunch – to the pasta salad. It’s bright, it’s flavourful, it’s perfect for feeding a crowd.
Serve it chilled alongside Buffalo wings and Buffalo chicken dip for an all-Buffalo-everything watch party or put it in your back pocket and make it for the first backyard BBQ of the summer. No matter the season, this Buffalo chicken pasta salad is sure to put you on the winning (menu-planning) team.
