Pasta with Creamy Tomato and Goat Cheese Sauce

Well, it's another day stuck at home with sick kids. Unfortunately the baby seems to have caught the dreaded cold the boy has. :( I tell ya, there are few things more pathetic sounding than a baby's cough. Poor little guy. I think tomorrow we may make a trip to the pediatrician. We found out one of the boy's friends has pneumonia and another has a sinus infection, so I'm thinking it's worth it to have both my boys checked out to make sure they're okay. We did venture out last night for a birthday party, but before I get jumped on for taking a sick kid to a birthday party, the boy seemed to be doing better yesterday, and I knew the party was going to be outside, so I figured it was okay. Not like I was taking a sick kid to a small, enclosed space...which is why I'm home with him this morning instead of at church.

Anyway, since we're watching more TV (I've resorted to videos instead of TV shows...), I figured I'd update the blog since I'm just sitting on the couch too. Back before Christmas I was at Costco and saw they had a smokin' deal on goat cheese. I think it's an eight ounce log of goat cheese for only $4! I was beyond excited. I got it not really knowing when I would use it, but I couldn't pass it up. Of course it turns out they always have it, but whatever. I made this pasta once before, and we all really liked it. The goat cheese kind of melts into the sauce and pasta making it more of a creamy tomato sauce (dear lord, I just typed potato instead of tomato...can you tell it's been a long few days?!).

Pasta with Creamy Tomato and Goat Cheese Sauce
1 16-ounce box farfalle or rotini pasta
2 cups favorite prepared pasta sauce
1 4-ounce log goat cheese, cut into four pieces

In a large pot of lightly salted boiling water, cook the pasta according to package directions. Drain and transfer to a serving dish. In a small saucepan over medium heat, heat the pasta sauce for 5-10 minutes or until lightly bubbling, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to low. Add the goat cheese to the pasta sauce and stir until melted and smooth. Pour the hot sauce over the pasta; toss to coat.

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I've stopped buying jarred pasta sauce. I don't think I have any plain sauce tucked away in my freezer anymore, so I bought two jars of diced tomatoes--one is "Italian style"--and am going to make my own sauce. I'll just throw them in the food processor with some tomato paste and seasonings. Apparently that's what I did last time, and it turned out well. I think on the side we'll have some bread and maybe broccoli.

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YUM. This was so good, just like the last time we had it. My sauce turned out really yummy. I used one can of petite diced tomatoes, one can of Italian-style diced tomatoes, a can of tomato paste (to thicken it up a bit), some Italian seasoning, onion powder, and garlic powder. I threw all of that into my food processor and turned it on. Yum. I used most of it because we like saucy pasta. This comes together so quickly, I love it. If you used jarred spaghetti sauce it would be even faster. I didn't bother heating up my sauce, I dumped everything into the pot I used to cook the pasta. Oh, and I used whole wheat penne.

Oh, and the goat cheese...it was actually a pound, not eight ounces. What a smoki' deal. That's cheaper than a one pound bag of Kraft shredded cheese. I'm going to play on RecipeZaar.com and look for goat cheese recipes. I have another goat cheese meal slated for Thursday, but that will still leave me with eight ounces. Not that I'm complaining--I heart goat cheese!