Homemade Spaghettio's

One time when I went grocery shopping our store was having a 10 for 10 special on Barilla Pasta. Pasta is like a staple in our family. However fattening and carb loaded it may be, we might as well be Italian because we eat pasta at least 3 times a week. So when I saw pasta was on sale I was all over it. I decided to mix it up a bit though and go for some noodles that I have never used before - instead of buying 10 boxes of macaroni and spaghetti noodles I branched out. I bought Stelline, Veggie Farfalle, and Ditalani noodles. I had no idea at the time what I was going to use them for but I figured I could find some recipes on pinterest!

I wasn't quite as adventurous as I first thought I would be when I bought the noodles, seeing as some of the boxes have been hanging out in my pantry for oh, about 6 months now. But after cleaning my pantry out the other day, I am on a mission to use up the majority of the items before grocery shopping again. {Aside from the milk, butter and bread shopping ;)}

The first to go?

I went on good old Pinterest and just typed in Ditalini in the search bar to see what came up. Homemade Spaghettios was the winner! I had most of the ingredients already in my fridge or pantry so thats what we went with. I am not a fan of the canned spaghettios but gave this a shot and it actually turned out good and Mark liked it too. So using food already in my pantry + yummy easy dinner equals a win/win in my opinion. 

Below are the ingredients and directions straight from the Original Recipe that I found on Pinterest. 

INGREDIENTS

16 ounces ditalini pasta
4 tablespoons olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
½ teaspoon red pepper flake {I didn't have any red pepper flakes in my pantry!}
2 tablespoons oregano
30 ounces tomato sauce
1 cup water
1 teaspoon sugar {I didn't see the need to add any sugar}
2 tablespoons butter
¾ cup milk
2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
Salt & pepper

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Prepare pasta according to package instructions.
2. Heat olive oil, garlic, red pepper flake, and oregano in a skillet over medium heat for 3-4 minutes.
3. Add tomato sauce, water, sugar, butter, and milk to mixture.
4. Stir and simmer on low heat for about 20 minutes.
5. Mix cheese into sauce until melted.
6. Season with salt & pepper.
7. Pour sauce over noodles.

Original Recipe