Looking for Fast, Easy, Fun, Yummy Kid Approved Pasta Meals

I make pasta and carrots for my kids. I find a fun-shaped pasta, and when it is almost done I toss in some frozen carrots (or veggie of choice). When it is all done, I spray a little butter on it, and they eat it up every single time.
Something else that is good is to put a can of cream of chicken soup on the pasta. Or ranch dressing and parmesan cheese. You can use spaghetti sauce and mottzerella cheese...the possibilities are endless. Maybe you could set out a variety of toppings and let the kids "dress up" their pasta any way they want.

We make pasta salad. Cooked pasta, can of kidney beans (rinsed), and some cooked frozen brocolli. Toss with Italian dressing and top with parmesan cheese (fresh or the Kraft powder stuff). It's pretty quick!!

We just made this last night and its delicious. Similar to lasagna but WAY easier! Its very easy to prepare, but does have to bake for 50 min, so you need to plan ahead a little bit.

Baked Ravioli

bag of frozen cheese ravioli
jar of sphagetti sauce (I also add a can of diced tomatoes)
2 cups shredded mozzerela
grated parmesan cheese
1 lb. ground turkey/beef (optional)

*If you want to put this together VERY quickly, then skip the meat. But it is very tasty with the meat, and it adds about 10 minutes.

Brown meat, drain. Add sauce and tomatoes. In 9x13 dish, spoon about a cup of sauce in bottom of dish. Line a layer of the frozen ravioli in bottom of dish. Top with a layer of sauce. Sprinkle with parm, then spread 1 cup of mozz over. Add another layer of frozen ravioli. Top with remaining sauce. Sprinkle with parm. Cover, bake for 30 min. Uncover, bake for 15 more min or until very hot and bubble. Top with another cup of mozz and bake 5 min or until melted. Serve.

We've found 3 favorites at our house:

Most grocery stores carry frozen or refrigerated pasts (ravioli, gnocchi, etc). Those, with a little of your favorite sauce and a side of veggies/bread, go over really well in our house.
The frozen pastas take only about 3 minutes to cook, veggies (either frozen or fresh) take 3-5 minutes.

The other, which takes more time is basically lasagna without all the prep time.
take all the normal lasagna ingredients (ricotta, egg, cheese, pareley) and mix together. Cook pasta and mix into the other mixture. Add mozzarella and parmesan cheeses to the mix plus your favorite pasta sauce. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes.

A new and very kid-approved recipe for us is:
Pasta of your choice (just not noodles) cooked in about 2.5-3 milk (can be canned evaporated or mixed up milk from powder). When pasta is almost done, throw in 1 cup or more of cheese of choice - stir until melted. You can also add leftover meat. If you want to add fresh/frozen veggies, just add them while cooking the pasta. You can also add herbs, spices, salt & pepper as you like.

**The important thing is to keep stirring the milk/pasta the whole time it's on the heat so it doesn't scorch. The starch that comes out of the pasta is what thickens the milk for the cheese sauce.

It all comes together in less than 20 minutes. Email if you have questions.

Good luck!

First I totally recommend Barilla Pasta Plus because it is a nice whole grain and it has protein so you get more out of it. Here's a nice easy , very kid friendly pizza pasta

1 package rotini pasta
1 jar spaghetti sauce
1 package turkey pepperoni
1 8 ounce container lowfat ricotta
whichever pizza topping veggies your kids like
8 ounces shredded mozzerella

cook pasta then mix with sauce and ricotta. Top with pepperoni, and veggies then shredded cheese. Bake 350 for 30 minutes.

I saw a recipe for Funky Pasta on Oprah which looked good.
Use fresh small size or grape tomatoes.
Have the kids squoosh them up into a bowl with their clean hands.
Then let them tear some fresh basil over the tomatoes.
Cook your pasta and drain it.
Immediately put the hot pasta in with the tomatoes and basil.
Toss with some grated parmesan or mozzarella and a couple squirts of olive oil, maybe a little salt and pepper, and it is ready to eat!
Sounded good to me.

Don't forget Hamburger/Chicken Helper either. You can cook the meat the day before and just warm it up in the pan before continuing on with the box directions, and you can add veggies in there as well.

How about homemade macaroni and cheese, or chicken (or turkey) tetrazini? You could make them ahead of time and bake them on Wed for supper that's hot and filling. Maybe lasagne? Or maybe tomato soup and grilled cheese?

Are you looking for pasta casseroles, pasta salads, etc.?

hi J.....Pasta night..i love :) Kraft mac and cheese (plain or with tuna and peas)..Homemade mac and cheese with Velveeta...pasta with alfredo sauce (bertelli i think, very good)...try a different kinda marinera sauce, angel hair pasta with Can of diced tomatoes( maybe 2 cans) alil tomatoe paste to thicken just slightly, if meat is not a prob. add alil sweet italian sausage links cut up...just a few ideas..GL

all 3 of mine love this one...1lb whole wheat rotini, 6 oz bacon chopped in little chunks(about 1/3 of the pack), like 3/4lb of green beans, small onion chopped, romano or parmesan cheese to top. while the pasta is boiling cook the bacon and the onion...last 5 mins of pasta cooking throw the green beans in. drain pasta and beans dump them in with the bacon season with pepper and top with cheese.

I have a great, fast and easy and great frozen meal that ALL my 6 kids love....but it is not pasta. It takes ground beef and cheese, pizza sauce and pepperoni,....if this sounds like something you might like, let me know and i can send you the specifics. :)
Blessings!!
G.

J.,

This is more of a lunch item for us, but I take plain maccaroni, after it is cooked, add one of the small, 8 oz cans of tomato sauce (good news is that you can find these for about 20 cents on sale!) then shred several oucnce of what ever cheese you like, we like colby, and let it melt. You can add sliced hotdogs or smoked sausages, or serve it with ham steaks.
M.

I used to make this all the time, but its been awhile and I'm a little foggy on the directions. I know it was very good, and fairly easy. I've been thinking about making it for me & my 15 month old. So here it goes.

Penne Pasta cooked
Zucchini
Bacon
Capers
Black Olives
Olive Oil

I'm pretty sure thats all thats in it.

Basically you cook the bacon, crumble & set aside.
Cook the zucchini in some of the bacon grease, add pasta capers and black olives and a touch of olive oil. Toss till heated through. You could also spriknle parmesan cheese.

You may vary this recipe to suit your taste!

Hope that helps!

~S.

Try adding any kind of soup to pasta, then add a meat and... a veggie (if you dare...lol). Cream of chicken soup, tomato soup, chicken noodle soup.

I recently changed my diet to mostly vegan, and my 4 year old practically takes over my plate every time I sit down. Maybe just trying something new for yourself and making them the same old thing will make them want to try something new. My picky 5 year old will sometimes wonder what I'm eating and at the very least try something new. Most of the time he won't even touch his plate if there's half a bite of something new on it.

Just last night I tried chicken carbonara with leftover Thanksgiving turkey and the family loved it!

spaghetti noodles or angel hair pasta (enough to serve 4-6 people)
2 cups turkey or chicken
8 slices of reg. bacon/turkey bacon
1 cup milk
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup grated parmasean cheese
1/2 onion, chopped
1-2 cloves of garlic chopped up small

cook the bacon thoroughly and while it is cooking, cook the spaghetti noodles. After bacon is done, remove from pan and drain all but 1-2 TBS of bacon grease. Add the onion and and garlic and sautee for 3-4 mins until soft. Shake milk and flour together in a gravy shaker and add to grease along with noodles, parm. cheese, and turkey. Heat back up and stir until thickened (doesn't take long and you may need to add more milk depending on how thick you want it). Last, break pieces of bacon all over the top (kids loved participating in this part). Made enough to serve 6 with only a little left over. I also cooked green peas as a side and added them to this as I dished it out.