Pop It, Stir It, Fix It, Serve It: Penne with Spicy Tomato Cheese Sauce

I feel like you can’t go wrong with something involving pasta, cheese, AND spiciness.  The last offering from this cookbook is my favorite of the three I made.  When I tasted the sauce, I wanted to just have that for dinner.  (As it turns out, spicy tomato cheese sauce probably isn’t the best meal idea.  So I had the pasta and a salad along with it!)

I’ve run into sort of an issue with the way I’ve been doing these posts.  Inevitably, something will happen during the preparation of the meal, or during the meal itself, that will make me think, “Hey, that would be a great story to include with the recipe!”  And then, thanks to the fact that my short term memory is. . .nothing, I’ll forget.

So while some food bloggers have great stories to go along with their meals, I just have. . .food.  But I think that’s OK.  Maybe I’ll start writing things down.  (Probably not, though.)

Penne with Spicy Tomato Cheese Sauce

Serves 6-ish

One 16-oz. box penne pasta

One 28-oz. can crushed tomatoes

One 28-oz. can diced tomatoes

2 tsp. sugar

2 tsp. garlic salt

1 tsp. dried basil (or 3 tsp. fresh basil, chopped)

1 tsp. dried red pepper flakes

1/2 tsp. onion powder

1/2 tsp. dried oregano (or 2 tsp. fresh oregano, chopped)

2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

1 cup shredded (real) Parmesan cheese

Cook the pasta according to the directions on the package.

In a medium saucepan, combine the remaining ingredients and cook over medium heat, stirring periodically.  The sauce is ready when it’s hot and the cheese is almost completely melted.

Either combine cooked, drained pasta with sauce and toss to coat or serve sauce over cooked, drained pasta.

That was so easy, you should make a salad to go along with it.  Go ahead.  It’ll just take a couple of minutes.