Hey there – are you ready for some pasta?   If you lived in this house – you would have to be or you would starve!  We eat pasta all the time.  It is truly one of my favorite foods.   When Alex was a toddler I used to make him the tri-color rotini shaped pasta with just a bit of butter and Parmesan cheese.  He loved it and he ate it all the time.  My mother in law used to make funny comments about it.  Somehow he survived and we all still eat a lot of pasta.  This recipe, or a form of it came from Gimme Some Oven.  When Jordan and I saw it we knew we HAD to try it.  It helped that I had just been to Costco and purchased bacon and asparagus.  YAY!  The original recipe calls for white wine, which we aren’t huge fans of , so the recipe listed below is what I did instead.

^^The curly pasta we used.

I found this adorable curly pasta at Target.  It was a lot more expensive then the pasta I normally buy – but it’s just so cute, I had to try it.  The pasta was actually quite delicious.  It had a great texture.  I would buy it again, plus the box was super cute too!  It was the Giada de Laurentiis brand.   If she can eat pasta and look like that – it can’t be all bad, right?

Pasta with Bacon and Asparagus 

1 lb. uncooked pasta

1 lb. uncooked bacon, diced

1 lb. of fresh asparagus, ends trimmed and cut into 2″ pieces

1 cup chicken broth (or white wine, if you go for that sort of thing!)

1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus a bit extra for garnish

Cook the pasta al dente according to package directions, drain and set aside.

Meanwhile, add diced bacon to large saute pan.  Cook until crispy.  Remove the bacon onto paper towel and set aside.  Remove all but a couple of tablespoons of the bacon grease.  Add prepared asparagus to the pan and saute in the bacon grease for about 3 minutes.  Add in 1 to 2 teaspoons minced garlic and stir to combine.  Pour in the chicken broth and stir well, scraping up the yummy bacon bits off the bottom of the pan.  Cook for another 3 minutes.  I like my asparagus crunchy so I tend to not cook it for very long.

Pour the cooked pasta into the pan with the asparagus and chicken broth, add the bacon and the Parmesan cheese and toss until combined.   Serve immediately topped with a bit more shaved Parmesan cheese and a bit of fresh basil.

We served ours with some spicy, Cajun shrimp – but it would have been filling enough to eat for a meal without the shrimp.

Cindy