Pasta Bar Party

I love to entertain! Every holiday season, for the past I don’t know how many years, my highschool friends and I get together - usually for a wine and appetizers party. Well this year, we wanted to keep the tradition alive, but I will be honest I was a little nervous. I hadn’t entertained since our little guy was born. I really wanted to do it, so needed to get creative so the time commitment wouldn’t be so heavy. This time I decided to ask others to help - more of a potluck, where as past years I have wanted to do it ALL. So, what I suggested to the group was ‘what about a pasta bar’? Everyone liked the idea. We started out with an appetizer and ended with homemade sweets, but for the pasta bar, here is what we did.

For the pasta bar, we had:

• Whole wheat penne pasta
• Chicken
• Shrimp
• Ground beef seasoned with dried Italian seasoning
• Cooked red onion slices
• Cooked chopped yellow onion
• Cooked cherry tomatoes
• Cooked sliced mushrooms
• Oil
• Balsamic vinegar
• Traditional red pasta sauce
• Parmesan cheese
• Chopped parsley

Better Bonus Tip: After you make the pasta, toss it in some oil, so it doesn't stick together.

We also had a yummy salad to complement the pasta and some garlic bread.

As you would assume, each person could just build their pasta the way they wanted.

There are lots of other things I would consider adding to the bar next time, such as chopped garlic, spinach, artichoke hearts, meatballs, basil, pesto, feta cheese and much more. When I eat pasta, I don’t usually go for the spaghetti style. Instead I prefer light with veggies and oil and vinegar, whereas most others probably prefer the spaghetti style. That's the benefit of a bar - everyone can have the style they like!

I think the party turned out really good and allowed my stress level to not be high. Plus, we got to all hang out and enjoy each other and good food. I would definitely do it again. Sad, we missed some friends, but that's what happens as we all get older.

Better Bonus Tip: I made way too much pasta, but didn’t want to just toss it. I decided to see how it would freeze. I tossed it with a little more oil and added it to a large pyrex jar. When I thawed it a couple weeks later, it made an already easy pasta dinner even easier and it tasted completely normal.

What’s your favorite party meal?

~Ashley