Pasta with Spinach and Sundried Tomato Alfredo Sauce

In case any of you were worried, Becca and I survived the hurricane.  We lost power for about 1/2 an hour in the early AM hours.  Mostly, we used the natural disaster as an excuse to eat insane amounts of junk food and drink.

So tonight, we were looking for a simple, delicious dinner that would use up some of the veggies that we had in our apartment.  This recipe is basically just a starting point for a delicious pasta dish with almost unlimited possibilities.  You can add mushrooms, peppers, zucchini, grilled chicken, salmon, steak, whatever you have on hand.  Spinach and grape tomatoes are what I happened to have on hand.

So here goes:

Start with some pasta.  I used linguine.  This recipe would probably work equally good if not better with penne pasta or rotini.  But I only had linguine.

Bring a pot of water to a boil and add the linguine.

In the meantime, chop up some garlic.

Heat up some olive oil in a pan.

Saute the garlic in the olive oil until its golden brown.  Be careful not to let it burn.

Next, grab a bag of spinach.

Add the entire bag of spinach to the pan.  It's going to look like a lot, but it will wilt down to nothing.  Do not be fooled by the quantity of raw spinach.  Cook the spinach until it is all wilted, stirring often to keep it from burning.  Burnt spinach = blechhh.

Next, get some cherry or grape tomatoes.

Slice the tomatoes in half and add them to the pan with the spinach.  See how much the spinach has wilted down already?

Now for the sauce.  I used a jar of Classico Sundried Tomato Alfredo sauce.  I'm sure the Barefoot Contessa would have made her own sauce.  On other days, I might have made my own sauce.  Today was not one of those days.

Pour the sauce into the spinach/tomato mixture.  I only used about 3/4 of the jar.

Stir it all together.

If you like a little bit of spice to your food (and I like a bit of spice in my food), add some red pepper flakes.

Add in the cooked linguine and mix it all together.

Serve and enjoy!

It was super good, and FAST.  Ok, that's about all from me tonight.  Have a good week everybody!

Sarah

Pasta with Spinach and Sundried Tomato Alfredo Sauce
1 lb pasta (I used linguine)
1 tbsp. olive oil
3-4 cloves garlic
1 bag spinach
1/2 container grape tomatoes
1 jar Sundried Tomato Alfredo sauce
1 pinch red pepper flakes

Cook pasta according to package directions.  Heat 1 tbsp. olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Peel and mince garlic and add to pan.   Saute until golden brown.  Add spinach to skillet and and cook until wilted.  Cut tomatoes in half length-wise and add to pan with the spinach.  Stir in alfredo sauce, and add a pinch of red pepper flakes.  Add cooked pasta to the pan and stir to combine.  Enjoy!