Crock Pot Pasta

Cooking pasta can be a great joy if you take the time to make it right. If you don't have the time to stand over the stove, consider using your crock pot to make the perfect pasta meal every time.

Every cook has their own weakness, whether it is cookies, cupcakes, chocolate…usually it's sweets. And of course, everyone who eats also has their weakness. For me, it's a two fold weakness. When I'm craving sweets, I always want cupcakes- red velvet or dark chocolate with butter-cream frosting. But when it's food, and not sweets, that I crave, it's carbohydrates that I just can't seem to get enough of. And it's not just any pasta, mind you. It's the complicated pasta stuffed peppers and chicken parm dishes with lots of carbs, protein and other yummy flavors of Tuscany and surrounding Italy.

You're probably thinking those dishes I'm describing are just too complicated and you're probably tired of pasta because you don't want to waste your time cooking just another bowl of spaghetti or just another frozen lasagna dinner. And of course, you would never make lasagna from scratch. It just takes too long. Or does it?

The reality of pasta is that if you do it right, it shouldn't take any longer than any other dish you've prepared. In fact, most pasta dishes can be cooked in less time than other meals. If you do it right. Everyone has their own rules for pasta-how much salt to put in, how to tell if it's done. Well, my only rules about pasta are that it has to be soft enough to slurp, sturdy enough that it's not mushy.

The reason I love to use pasta crock pot recipes is because everything can and should be cooked together. When I make a pasta crock pot recipe that uses chicken, alfredo, noodles and vegetables I can put everything together in the crock pot at once and it will cook together, coming out as perfect as if I had cooked the items separately. Not all pasta crock pot recipes can be cooked all at once-if you need to add breadcrumbs or you want to sauté your vegetables, you'll have to cook them separately. But in general, any pasta crock pot recipe can be done in one shot.

The other great thing about crock pot recipes, whether it's a pasta crock pot recipe or even just a simple beef crock pot recipe, is that the food tastes better, always gets cooked thoroughly and it's healthier because slow cookers retain the nutrients that high heat skillets and other cooking methods often drain away.

Pastas are supposed to both taste good and fill you up. If your pasta meals of late haven't been giving you the satisfaction you want, need and deserve, then it's time to break out your crock pot and start making pasta the right way.

If the thrill of a good pasta crock pot recipe isn't enough to get you cooking with your crock pot, just remember that it takes less time to use a crock pot so you can do more of the things you want.