As I have mentioned in my earlier posts, meal times are some of best moments for our family. Regardless of what we have for that day, we always share it with good conversations, lots of laughter, and a great deal of fun.
Although we are fond of the usual Filipino food like my husband’s humba (braised pork belly with different herbs and spices)…
or our own version of the chicken afritada, (chicken stew with carrots, potatoes, and other special ingredients)…
or bam-i, (egg noodles and vermicelli cooked with pork, shrimp, and other ingredients)…
we also love to discover new dishes from time to time. As the day after tomorrow is already August, which is one of the birthday-filled months for our close-knit and large family (December is another), I began thinking of what we can cook up next to pleasure our palates.
As my aunt has complete baking equipment and we usually make her home as venue for our huge family gatherings, I was thinking of baking something really good for our celebrations next month. And, the first thing that came to mind is pasta.
Our family is far from being Italian because my grandfather was a full-blooded Chinese, but we love Italian food. My kids alone can probably inhale an entire kilogram of spaghetti by themselves in less than four hours. So, you can just imagine how many kilos of spaghetti we’d have to cook to feed our whole brood.
After pasta, another family favorite that tickled my brain is seafood, especially shrimp. Even if I have a daughter who is severely allergic to a lot of things under the sun, including shrimps, (but, who drools over this delectable Crustacean and is hoping for a day when she could finally eat them) we still love to have this delicious seafood, whether as a main dish or as an ingredient in one of our preferred dishes.
Because these two favorites occupied my mind for quite some time and made me crave for them so bad, I decided to round up some baked pasta recipes from the Internet. I may not be very good at following these recipes to the letter because I like to make some modifications to make everything I cook my own, but there is one thing I can say. My family will love what I will cook for them.
So, here are the recipes I found that I am eyeing to cook during one or two or three of the birthday celebrations we will be having this August:
- Shrimp Pasta Bake
Although this is a no-no for my daughter, Elle, I bet each and every member of my family will have second or even third helpings of this cheesy goodness. For us, this will be pasta and shrimp heaven in a bowl. Find its recipe here.
Baked Shrimp Scampi
Here is another shrimp and pasta recipe that will surely have us drooling even before it hits our plates. This will be a sure-fire hit as well, I can definitely feel that in my bones. Want to try this out yourself? Get the recipe here.
Bacon Pasta Bake
Okay, so this does not have shrimp in it, but it has bacon, so this is still a sure winner. The best thing about this pasta recipe everyone can eat it, even those with allergies (unless someone in the family is allergic to bacon, which I know is not the case). Find out how to make this in this video.
Chicken Enchilada Pasta Bake
Because our family loves food, you can bet we have tons of favorites and based on the chicken afritada I mentioned above, we like ourselves a lot of chicken. So, with that said, this cheesy penne pasta recipes is a shoo-in for our taste buds and will make our tummies happy. I’m happy to share the recipe for this here.
Baked Penne with Chicken
Although we like our pasta better when it comes with a tomato-based sauce, we will never say no to a creamy delight like this, especially when paired with bread fresh from the bakery oven. To make this yummy goodness, just follow its recipe here.
As you can seem, I’ve rounded up quite a good number of delectable dishes I can cook up really soon. How about you? Do you have any favorites among the ones I mentioned above? Or do you have your own recipe you wish to share? Please let me know and I will be glad to try out some of your suggestions very soon.
living a soulful life 