Bowtie Pasta Bowl

I lived in Oregon last year with my family taking care of a great house and cooking for everyone in it. We often didn't have much variety int he fridge but I always managed to come up with something. If you've never learned to cook without a recipe, I dare you to do it. It is freeing to be able to take what looks like "nothing" and turn it into something. This was one of the family's favourite "inspired" dishes. I'm sorry measurements aren't accurate; I don't use the measuring cups but I'll guess for you.

Bow tie Past Bowl

Ingredients:

Package of bow tie noodles

package of mushrooms

About 3 tbs butter.

garlic

Fresh salsa (can be made up with small diced and fresh tomatoes, cilantro, garlic, little lime juice, red onion finely chopped and hot pepper finely chopped if desired) It might be easier to buy freshly made salsa. Do not use a packaged or canned salsa...definetly not the same taste. You need to go to the "fresh" section of the grocery store.

About 2 cups of Parmesan cheese.

1. Cook pasta while making sauce. Saute between 1/2 and the whole package of mushrooms in butter and garlic. Amount of mushrooms depend on how much you like them. I would use the whole package. We all love mushrooms.

2. Add package of fresh salsa to mushrooms when they are cooked. (I'm not sure the size in oz of salsa but the package will be about 4inX5inX3in. Hope that makes sense. Otherwise, just add as much as you want. I hope this recipe will help you get out of the recipe box and experiment and see how you do. Don't worry-enough cheese can hide any unexpected error :)

3. Heat sauce until salsa is hot. Don't over cook it otherwise it will become too liquidy and you don't want that.

4. When pasta is ready, drain, put in serving bowl or back in pot and add sauce. Mix all together. Start adding cheese just the way you like it. You may use only 1 cup but if you're like me...I'm a fan of those cheese commercials...can't have too much cheese. I would use all 2 cups but add little by little.

ALL DONE :D

COOKING TIP OF THE DAY:

Taste test ALL THE TIME! This is the best way to cook without a recipe. Get a spoon...or several if you don't want to wash them while you're cooking and every time you make a change to your food, taste it. Your taste buds will tell you what you need more of.