Whole Wheat Spinach Fettuchine Sauced Two Ways

Good morning! I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while, I have a lot to post by now! I made this pasta a while ago and froze it for later use. I went through my freezer to use up what was in there, so decided to make it, and use half with one sauce, and the other half a different way. Husband was still gone, so I had enough to make two different ways, but one recipe of the pasta will feed four.

Shh, don't say it. I don't have pasta hangers, so I used ones from the closet!

Here's how to make your pasta:

This recipe takes an hour to prep, and 2 to 9 minutes to cook, depending on how you cut it.

2 3/4 cups whole wheat all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained

1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil

In a large bowl, stir together 2 cups of the flour and the salt. Make a well in the center. In a small bowl, beat the eggs, add water, spinach and oil. Add to the flour and mix well.

Sprinkle a clean surface with the remaining flour. Turn our dough and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 to 10 minutes. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes.

Divide dough into four equal portions. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough into a 12 inch square, about 1/16 inch thick. If you use a pasta roller, pass through according to the machine's directions until it is 1/16 inch thick. Let stand, uncovered, for 20 minutes. Loosly roll up and slice to desired cut (Fetucchini, would be about 1/4 inch wide, linguini should be 1/8 inch. For lasagna, leave the dough unrolled, and slice into 2 1/2 inch strips.)

Bring a pot of water to a boil, salt heavily, and add pasta. Fetucchini and linguini will take about 2 minutes to cook, lasagna will need 3 minutes. If you use the pasta for ravioli or tortellini, that will take 7 to 9 minutes.

If you wish to store the pasta, after cutting, hang the pasta on pasta drying rack, or hangers, or lay out on a cooling rack and let dry for 1 hour, or until completely dry. Store in an airtight container and chill for up to three days, or freeze in a ziplock bag.

This recipe makes 4 entree-sized, or 6 side dish servings.

Here are the two different ways I prepared the pasta:

This was super cinchy, all I did was boil half of the pasta in super salty water. I had a baggie with half of a jar of veggie primavera sauce leftover from the Spinach Lasagna I made a while back in the freezer that I thawed and heated over the stove, and added some French cut green beans to and let heat through. I then added the pasta to the sauce and gave it a good toss, plated, and shredded some mozzarella and parmesan cheeses over top, and garnished with some oregano leaves and basil cut into a chiffonade. Yummmmm!!!

This made 2 servings.

This isn't gorgeous, but it was delicious!!

I cooked the remaining half of the pasta. In a small saucepan, I brought 1/2 cup evaporated skim milk, salt and pepper to a boil, brought to a simmer, and let bubble gently for 5 minues, until it had thickened up, and added 1/2 cup of peas to heat through. I then took the pot off the heat and added 1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese, and tossed the pasta in the sauce!

For the chicken, I cut the breast in half along a diagonal and seasoned each half with salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning. In a pan over medium-high heat, I seared the chicken for 2 minutes on each side, then put in a 350 degree oven for 8 minutes to cook through, sliced the meat, spread it over the pasta and garnished with a little extra Alfredo and freshly grated parmesan cheese! It was very good!!

This serves 2.