Surpassing a milestone...

When Jeff came home this afternoon, he brought me down to the computer and brought up the blog... he said "Can you believe it?" I had no idea what he was talking about and he finally pointed it out that the counter on the right side said we crossed over the 1,000,000 visitor mark! I'm not sure when it happened, but that's pretty cool! I had no idea when we started this blog that people would ever really come check out what we were bakin' for treats or what we had for dinner that night.

We've been turning to a lot of comfort-style meals with the chilly weather finally coming upon us - pasta dishes are a notable one for us (and can you believe I wouldn't touch the stuff growing up? Man I totally missed out!) so tonight's dinner of this Smoked Cheese Pasta Bake fit the bill. While we cooked a pound of whole wheat penne, we warmed up some leftover chunky marinara sauce from the freezer. I seasoned the sauce with a bit more salt, pepper and crushed red pepper - then tossed in some chopped frozen (but thawed!) spinach. Once this has a chance to warm up and the flavors begin to meld, the penne is mixed in and we started making a tangy cheese mixture. Sour cream, shredded smoked mozzarella and fresh basil are combined to form a creamy sauce that we layer in between the pasta when we assembled the dish. Fresh grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (which I didn't find too sharp this time... hmm!) is finally scattered on top and then this bakes until bubbly. I love how the top layer gets a little crispy, but the underneath layers still remain moist. The middle cheese layer has a mild, but detectable, smoky hint to it - I thought it could have used a bit more of the smoked mozzarella though. Filling and hearty, this is also a great way to sneak in some spinach to those spinach-haters out there - while the spinach does not totally melt away, it does not have a strong taste at all here.

*Bonus Tips -

The smoked mozzarella can be a little tough and messy to shred - if you have issues, you can freeze the cheese for about 15 minutes and it firms up just enough to be a lot easier to shred.

I've grown tired of squeezing the thawed spinach in a towel to remove the excess water - I've started using our potato ricer instead awhile ago and have not messed up another towel since!

Recipes
Smoked Cheese Pasta Bake