Pasta has to be one of the best quick and easy weekday meals to put together for the family on busy evenings. There are so many varieties and twists you can try out to add variety, and it’s definitely a crowd pleaser in our house!
We’ve been working with Barilla, Italy’s biggest pasta brand, to celebrate quick, fun pasta recipes. Barilla have a great range of all kinds of pastas and sauces, which are all really tasty and so handy to have in your kitchen stock cupboard.
One of the best things about pasta is that you can keep the recipe as simple as you like, or when time permits make something more complex.
On busy weekday evenings after school, particularly on nights when we also have activities like swimming, I love being able to make something super simple with pasta, to give the kids a good meal with minimum fuss.
Their favourite combination with the Barilla pastas and sauces has been the Tortiglioni pasta with Barilla Basilico sauce (tomato and basil) and grated cheese, served with salad.
Another really simple way I like to serve pasta, and to sneak in a few extra vegetables, is to use one of the vegetable sauces like the Barilla Mediterranean Vegetables sauce, and also mix in extra cooked frozen vegetables like peas or sweetcorn, or you could use a packet of mixed frozen vegetables for more variety.
When serving chicken with the pasta, we find the Arrabiata sauce works really well to give it plenty of flavour, and we would normally use either the fusilli or the penne.
With the spaghetti, meatballs are a great accompaniment and again this works really nicely with the kids favourite pasta sauce, the Basilico. Spaghetti and meatballs is a particular favourite with my 8 year old, Z.
What’s your favourite quick and easy way to serve pasta? Visit the Barilla website to get more recipes and pasta inspiration and you can pick up the Barilla pastas and sauces in most supermarkets.
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Anna Marikar, mum of four and seasoned blogger, has spent over a decade sharing her parenting journey and passion for kid-friendly crafts and free printables.
Her easy-to-follow craft ideas and practical parenting advice have transformed In The Playroom into a cherished resource for parents.
Hi Anna,
First time visitor here. But I already fell in love with what you have here!
Thank you for sharing this.My children love pasta. I’m going to try it now. Thanks for sharing it with us ????
Jennifer