The other day I was playing around on my iPhone when I came across an app for allrecipe.com’s Dinner Spinner. It is the neatest little app and I am officially in love. I am in the process of reserving a flight for me and the dinner spinner. We are running off together and never coming back. Goodbye forever.

Before I go, I thought I would share a recipe that I discovered while sitting in the car at the grocery store parking lot wondering what the heck I was going to make for dinner that night. Dinner Spinner totally saved the day.

Country Pasta with Mozzarella is a delicious little recipe that I need to go make again, right this minute, because my husband ate it all before I could stop him. Doesn’t he know that the pasta is mine and he was supposed to eat all the grilled meat and leave me the girl food? It must be the bacon in this pasta that made him forget the rules.

This recipe is simple and quick. I made it as a side dish with grilled chicken, but it’d be a perfect lunch on it’s own.

First things first, let’s boil up about 8 ounces of pasta. I used farfalle. I love the shape. The original recipe called for rigatoni, but, let’s be honest here, rigatoni is boring.

While the pasta is boiling, chop up two cups of fresh broccoli, eight slices of bacon, and a couple cloves of garlic.

Dump the bacon in a large frying pan and cook until it is almost crispy. Dump in the garlic and broccoli and cook them in the bacon grease for 4 to 5 minutes, until the broccoli loses a bit of the raw crunch. Don’t freak out about the bacon grease either. This is Buns In My Oven, you wouldn’t be here if you didn’t love bacon grease.

Dump your al dente pasta right in the pan with the bacon and broccoli (and bacon grease, I SAID don’t freak out!) and top it with 2 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese, 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese (I used the powdered stuff, it was delicious), 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper, and 1/4 cup of fresh chopped parsley.

Stir it all up over very low heat and don’t panic. It will be a big gloppy mess. The mozzarella gets all stringy and melty and it isn’t pretty. Pasta doesn’t have to be pretty though, just close your eyes and take a bite. You won’t regret it.

Real quick, let me tell you about all the different ways you could make this dish your own. You could make this a main dish by adding cooked, chopped chicken. You could replace the bacon with the chicken (you’d need to add a tablespoon or two of olive oil to cook the broccoli in) or you could just use the chicken in addition to the bacon. You could substitute asparagus for the broccoli. You could chop up a bell pepper and cook it in with the broccoli. You could chop up a sweet yellow onion and add it while the bacon was cooking, but only do this if you aren’t married to my husband, because he would probably throw a fit about the addition of onion. You could play with the cheeses, adding different varieties or swapping the mozzarella for something else entirely. I’m thinking cream cheese would be beautiful in this dish.

Country Pasta with Mozzarella
Recipe from allrecipes.com

• 8 ounces farfalle pasta
• 8 slices bacon, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 2 cups broccoli florets
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1. Cook pasta according to package directions and drain.

2. In large skillet, cook the bacon until almost crisp. To the pan, add broccoli and garlic. Cook until the broccoli is slightly tender, stirring often, about 4 to 5 minutes.

3. Pour in the cooked pasta, mozzarella, parmesan, cayenne and parsley. Stir together over very low heat until the cheese is melted.

I’m sorry, okay? I just can’t help myself. I like bacon. It’s who I am. It’s what I do. It’s an integral part of me and I won’t deny it.

The first time I tried this BLT macaroni salad, I really didn’t have high hopes. Macaroni salad should have mayonnaise, eggs, and green olives and that’s about it! That’s the way my mama made it and my mama couldn’t be wrong. Who decided it was okay to add bacon? And tomatoes! In a macaroni salad? Who the heck authorized that?

I am happy to report that bacon and tomatoes in a macaroni salad is actually completely legal and very yummy. (Also, my mama was wrong. Don’t tell her though, okay?)

This would be a perfect side dish for just about any kind of grilled meat. Macaroni salad just screams summer.

To get started, bring a large pan of water to a boil and add one pound of pasta. Cook until al dente or about 8 minutes. (I made this for a big group of people on Easter, so I used an entire pound of pasta. This recipe would be simple to half if you are making it for a smaller crowd, though.) Don’t forget to salt your water.

Grab two medium to large tomatoes and start dicing them up. My tomatoes were on the small side and, I’ll be honest here, it made a difference. The sweet juicy tomatoes really add something to this, so don’t skimp.

Go ahead and chop up two to three bunches of green onions, depending on how much you love green onions. Me? I love them. Add them to the bowl of diced tomatoes along with one cup of mayonnaise, 1/4 cup white vinegar, salt and pepper. Stir it all up and lick the spoon.

Now fry up around 8 slices of bacon, or more if your husband is a bacon thief like mine. It’s always good to have extra bacon laying around for back up. When the bacon has cooled off a bit, crumble it all up into bite sized pieces.

Drain your pasta and dump it into a large bowl. Chill in the fridge until good and cold. Pour on the mayonnaise mixture and stir it all up. Do a happy dance. Dump the crumbled bacon on top of it all and mix it all up again. Do another happy dance. Take a few bite to make sure it’s properly salted. Repeat the happy dance.

Dump it all into a pretty serving dish, stick a pretty serving spoon in, and garnish it with some pretty green onions.

Oh, and if anyone asks what the “L” stands for in the “BLT” portion of this dish, just stick your tongue out at them and then eat their share. That’ll teach ‘em.

BLT Macaroni Salad

• 1lb. macaroni pasta
• 8 slices bacon
• 2 medium-large tomatoes
• 2-3 bunches of green onions, plus extra for garnish
• 1 cup mayonnaise (NOT Miracle Whip)
• 1/4 cup white vinegar
• salt and pepper, to taste

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add macaroni. Cook until al dente, about 8 minutes. Drain and pour into large mixing bowl, chill.

2. Fry 8 slices of bacon and, when cool enough to handle, crumble into bite sized pieces. Set aside.

3. Chop tomatoes and green onions, add to small mixing bowl. Mix in mayonnaise and vinegar. Add salt and pepper, to taste.

4. Pour mayonnaise mixture over macaroni and stir together well. Stir in the crumbled bacon.

5. Serve in a pretty dish with some chopped green onions sprinkled on top. Enjoy!