Every September, our house goes back to "real" routines. Summer is loose and messy and full of no-cook dinners on the patio. Then the weather in the East Bay stays warm but the days get shorter, the twins' sleep schedule tightens up again, and I start needing dinner on the table by 5:30 without thinking too hard.
That's when pasta comes back into heavy rotation. It's cheap, the twins (29 months now) eat it without negotiation, and I can make most of these in the time it takes to boil the water and set the table.
Here are the five I'm cooking on repeat this fall.
My pasta ground rules
A few habits keep these fast:
- I cook a full pound of pasta almost every time. Leftovers become lunch for me on work days.
- I save a mug of pasta water before draining. It turns almost any sauce silky.
- For the twins, I pick short shapes: rotini, penne, orecchiette or small shells. Long noodles end up in their hair, on the floor, and somehow on the ceiling fan.
- I sneak in a vegetable every time. Not hidden, just there.
1. Creamy tomato and spinach shells
This is the one they ask for. While the shells cook, I warm a jar of basic marinara in a pan and stir in a big handful of chopped spinach until it wilts. Then I add a couple of spoonfuls of cream cheese and let it melt into a pink sauce. Toss with the shells and a splash of pasta water. Top with parmesan. Dan adds red pepper flakes to his; the twins add their fingers to everything.
2. Sausage and broccoli orecchiette
I brown some mild Italian sausage, removed from the casings, in a big skillet. At the same time I throw chopped broccoli into the pasta pot for the last three minutes of cooking. Drain everything, toss it all with the sausage, a little olive oil, garlic, lemon zest and parmesan. The little cup shape of orecchiette catches the tiny broccoli bits, which is honestly the only reason Theo eats broccoli at all.
3. Lemon butter chicken pasta
If I have leftover chicken from my Sunday prep, this is a ten-minute dinner. Melt butter with a smashed garlic clove, add lemon juice, a splash of pasta water and parmesan, then toss with penne, chopped cooked chicken and frozen peas I throw in the pasta pot at the end. It tastes like something from a restaurant and costs about $9 for all four of us.
4. "Clean out the fridge" baked ziti
This one takes a little longer, about 35 minutes, so I save it for a day off. Cook ziti for a few minutes less than the package says. Mix it with marinara, a tub of ricotta, whatever vegetables need using up (zucchini, mushrooms, bell peppers, spinach), and cooked ground turkey if I have it. Top with mozzarella and bake at 400 for 20 minutes. It makes enough for two dinners, so I freeze half. It's also my go-to meal to bring to friends with new babies.
5. Peanut butter noodles, the warm version
Yes, I shared cold peanut noodles back in June. This is the fall version: same sauce (peanut butter, soy sauce, honey, rice vinegar, hot water), but tossed with hot spaghetti, sautéed carrots and cabbage, and scrambled egg. It's quick, filling, and uses up the half cabbage that always seems to sit in my fridge. For the twins, I cut the noodles short with kitchen scissors.
What a pasta week looks like for us
I don't do pasta every night, but two or three nights a week during busy stretches is normal in our house. Here's roughly how a week looks:
- Monday: Creamy tomato spinach shells (my work day, so fastest one)
- Wednesday: Sausage and broccoli orecchiette
- Friday: Baked ziti from the freezer
The other nights are sheet pan dinners or freezer meals, which I've written about before. Between all three, I don't have to think about dinner much at all, which is the only way I survive fall.
A note on budget
Pasta is one of the cheapest dinners we make. Most of these come out between $8 and $12 for our family of four, especially if I buy pasta and marinara in bulk. It's one reason our grocery budget stays steady even when prices keep creeping up.
If you're also getting back into a routine this month, I hope one of these makes your weeknight a little easier. And if your toddler eats only the noodles and throws the spinach on the floor, welcome. You're in good company.
