Pasta recipes

Spaghetti pizza with a pasta crust topped with seasoned ground beef, tomato sauce, mushrooms, and gooey mozzarella. A fun mashup of two Italian favorites ready in 25 minutes.

Vegetarian ratatouille lasagna layers Provencal vegetables with ricotta, mozzarella, marinara, and bechamel between tender noodles. Meatless, hearty, feeds six.

During the fall and winter I make homemade soup once a week. I’ve got dozens of delicious soup recipes, but the Pizza Soup was the favorite of our sons, Keith and Mark. It’s really easy to make. I apologize for the inexact quantities, but this is another recipe that I’ve never written down…and haven’t made it since last winter! I’ve given the basic recipe, but don’t be afraid to add other items you enjoy on your pizza…including a dash of red pepper sauce!

Spaghetti bread for the bread machine with Parmesan cheese, Italian seasoning, garlic salt, and olive oil. A savory, herb-scented loaf built for Italian dinners.

Hearty spaghetti meat sauce with ground beef, spicy Italian sausage, mushrooms, and tomatoes simmered in a Dutch oven. Feeds eight and tastes like it took all day.

Whole wheat spaghetti with a garlicky quick meat sauce built on a proper onion-carrot-celery base. Lean ground beef and crushed tomatoes make a weeknight pasta that eats like a weekend ragu.

Linguine tuna salad with canned tuna, green peas, tomatoes, and scallions in a lemon-Italian herb dressing. A cold pasta salad that chills to let the flavors blend.

Baked Italian sausage and mozzarella pasta casserole scaled to feed 150 people. Layered with corkscrew pasta, mushrooms, and spaghetti sauce across eight 6-quart pans.

Ground beef and eggplant macaroni casserole with sour cream, pimentos, and cheddar cheese. Italian-seasoned, baked until the eggplant is tender and the cheese is golden. A crowd-pleasing potluck dish.

Heavenly slow cooker chicken breasts in a luscious Italian cream sauce with mushroom soup, cream cheese, and butter served over angel hair pasta with parmesan.

Cheesy beefy chili mac bakes sirloin, elbow macaroni, and a chili-spiced tomato and pizza sauce under a blanket of melted mozzarella. A hearty baked pasta casserole that crosses chili with mac and cheese.

Granny's minestrone is a hearty vegan vegetable soup packed with carrots, cabbage, zucchini, leeks and kidney beans in a tomato broth, finished with elbow macaroni. Slow-simmered for deep, comforting flavor.

Hearty minestrone soup slow-simmered with kidney beans, cabbage, zucchini, leeks, and crushed tomatoes in vegetable broth. A big-batch Italian vegetable soup with macaroni.

Hearty ground beef minestrone soup with kidney beans, carrots, green beans, lima beans, and pasta shells in a beefy tomato broth seasoned with Italian herbs.

Minnesota minestrone is a Midwestern take on the Italian classic, built with ground beef, kidney beans, cabbage, and corn. One Dutch oven, feeds ten, pantry friendly.

Beefy Italian minestrone soup builds a full-bodied broth from chuck roast simmered with vegetables, then loads it with kidney beans, macaroni, bacon, zucchini, and a quirky splash of cola for caramel depth. Sunday simmer at its best.