Each volleyball season the varsity team parents get a chance to host all those boys for a meal before one of their games.
I signed up for one of the last games to make sure we were at least semi unpacked before feeding the masses. We barely made it, and boy it was so fun to have those cute boys over.
Have I mentioned how much I love that volleyball team? I’m missing those games and hearing one or another of them say “hey Mom!” from afar when they spot me. (I think they do that to all the team moms, but I like to think that I’m sort of the special one. Ha!)
In trying to figure out how in the world to feed that many big boys I asked my great chef sister-in-law who suggested her delicious “red and white pasta.” Oh my word it is so darn good.
It also has absolutely zero fat so that’s good. (Ha! again)
But sometimes you just need a good hearty meal and we all loved it so much (which means a lot coming from a family who rarely eats pasta) that I have to share the recipe. I tripled this for these boys but I will share the single recipe. It is a really big recipe even single, fills a 9×13 pan to overflowing, so adjust accordingly to your own needs.
Here you go:
Cook one 16oz. box of ziti noodles (or penne if you can’t find ziti at the store like me). Put cooked noodles in a 9×13 baking dish (or if you are baking for your big family as well as 17 growing boys use a humongous turkey roasting pan 🙂
You can do this while you make the other sauces if you want, just wanted to show it first.
For the RED SAUCE:
1 lb. mild breakfast sausage (I used a tube of Jimmy Dean…new thing for me).
1 onion finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 large (4 lb. 3 oz.) bottle of Prego traditionally spaghetti sauce (whoever the blessed woman was who wrote this recipe noted that she uses about 3/4 of the bottle…about 50 oz.)
Cook sausage, drain, mix in Prego sauce:
Set that aside.
For the WHITE SAUCE:
4 Tbs. butter
1 c. whipping cream
1 8-oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened
1 clove garlic, minced
1/3 c. parmesan cheese
Melt the butter, then add the whipping cream, cream cheese, garlic and parmesan cheese (did I mention this is low fat? 🙂 Whisk together for 1-2 minutes or until it thickens a little bit:
Pour the white sauce over the noodles.
Kind of push it around a little so it can find it’s way to cover a lot of them:
Pour the red sauce mixture over the top of that:
Then top with 2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese:
Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes.
The pan will be super full so it would be wise to put a cookie sheet or tinfoil or something on a lower rack to catch anything that might spill.
The awesome thing is that you can whip this up the night before you need it. That’s what I did. If you do that, you just have to cook for closer to an hour rather than 20-30 min.
Eat that stuff up with a big piece of fresh garlic bread and salad.
Preferably along with a whole bunch of cute high schoolers who are very grateful and polite.
Oh Wow! That looks so delicious!!!! I love the boys all dressed up to come over too. Very nice!!!
Are all the boys on the team Mormon? How do you feel about Max spending so much time away from home and with boys who might not have the same values as he? Would love to know! My kids 2,3 and 5 and we're a big sporting family already so I know this kids will definitely be playing varsity sports.
That looks really good. I am definitely trying it.
Good question about the association thing with sports. My parents wanted me to only associate after school with people of their/our religion growing up for fear of turning me away from the church, so I wasn't allowed to be in any clubs or sports things.
Also, I love your new home, but are you going to put some color or something on the walls? I'm sure you are because it almost looks like an office building, maybe because of it being so modern and so white….
For what it's work, I had friends of various faiths, although most of my closest were of the same values and faith. For that reason, I feel I have some experience on the influence part.
This might sound weird, but here goes. My friends who were somewhat bad values (sex, drugs, etc) did NOT influence me in a bad way. Everyone knows who to go to if they want to experiment. But I wondered what went wrong,and I felt badly for those friends; they'd have no hope, no one to turn to nor praise. I felt it important to teach them, as our Lord did and instructed.
As for those with similar values but different faiths, they influenced me more. Those of no faith were lost, and therefore my responsibility. But those I respected but went to a different type of church, we'd have conversations, and I was curious. One friend's church did not allow him to visit other peoples. This is a good rule for teens,to prevent confusion, or the wish to maintain going to that one's church, because they know lots of kids at that church, etc.
Life is confusing enough without throwing in more, ya know?
My sister has a similar recipe, but it's the reverse of yours… Stir the red sauce into the pasta then pour the white sauce over the top. It's a great company meal and also a good one to take when someone needs dinner brought in. Always a hit!
That is so sad. I always thought that it was the amount of time spent in church and seminary… not that LDS kids were actually not allowed to associated with nonLDS.
Don't worry, lds kids are allowed to socialize with non lds. Some parents just get over protective. I grew up in an area where there weren't many who were lds, so my closest friends weren't. I think it gives kids an opportunity to stand up for what they believe and usually other kids respect that and don't push them to do things they don't want to. We have recently moved to Idaho and the lds population is about 50% for our town. I'm honestly worried about raising my kids here and them never being exposed to "normal" life where not all of your friends go to church with you.
I think it's wrong for youth – & adults – to only mix with other members. Even as a Mormon/Lds myself I've never understood the emphasis of mixing mainly with other members, especially the youth.
Madam queen, did you find it hard not being allowed to go to sports?
I'm not saying that Shawni's children do this, I just mean in general.
I love bright colours in my house, especially pink & yellow, in fact my Dad chose the pink colour for our lounge walls etc. They're so cosy on a dark winter's night:)
That pasta dish looks brill, even for a fussy eater like me:)
Thank you for a great blog Shawni.
Thanks for the recipe Shawni…I'm going to print it for one of those days when I need to serve a crowd!
I have to chime in here on the "LDS kids aren't allowed to associate with non-LDS kids" comments. That is NOT true for the vast majority of LDS kids and parents. Of course, there are those here and there who are freaky about that, but it is not the norm, nor is it in any way church mandated or policy. Please don't assume things that get passed around as "fact" when it is not the case at all. I seriously doubt that the entire high school volleyball team could be LDS, they don't attend a private school that I'm aware of.
I grew up in northern Wyoming, and if my parents would have had the attitude that I could only associate with LDS kids, I would have had NO friends at all. My best friends were a variety of different religions to none at all. They were good kids and are still good friends. Even now, although we live in Utah, all 5 of my boys have friends who are not Mormon and we love them.
Please do not perpetuate stereotypes and rumors about what LDS people do and don't do. We are just like everyone else in a lot of ways and we want our kids to be well-rounded and respectful of others religious beliefs. There are good people with good kids everywhere who aren't and who never will be members of the LDS church.
I apologise for my comments, I didn't mean to offend anyone. I was just trying to say that members should be encouraged to mix with non-members, as well as members.
As you said Jonele, it's not church policy to do that.
Julie – no need to apologize – you didn't say anything offensive.
Yes, I did feel left out – my parents were not LDS they were Jehovah's Witnesses. At least my Mom was, my Dad was not religious.
Lot's of JW kids leave the religion when they become adults simply because of all the rules, one of the main one being "bad associations spoil useful habits" 1 Corinthians 15:33.
They take that literally to mean that association with anyone of a different religion than you can possibly turn you away from your moral values even if they are a "good" person.
Could be true to an extent, peer pressure is very easy to succumb to -and the forbidden is always tempting to teens. But some religions do carry it to the extreme.
Julie – no need to apologize – you didn't say anything offensive.
Yes, I did feel left out – my parents were not LDS they were Jehovah's Witnesses. At least my Mom was, my Dad was not religious.
Lot's of JW kids leave the religion when they become adults simply because of all the rules, one of the main one being "bad associations spoil useful habits" 1 Corinthians 15:33.
They take that literally to mean that association with anyone of a different religion than you can possibly turn you away from your moral values even if they are a "good" person.
Could be true to an extent, peer pressure is very easy to succumb to -and the forbidden is always tempting to teens. But some religions do carry it to the extreme.
I like the bare space. So much decorating is actually clutter. The blog devoted to just the house had shown some areas with wallpaper and tile. And the fireplace so far had photo canvases in mind in the mock up. Can't color up the wall too much if you plan on using photography to hang on them. I hope she puts a map up again. The map table her sister did was also nice.
I wrote a big comment here that wouldn't publish because it was too long. So I posted it on the next post. There you go with my thoughts 🙂
I can't wait to try this recipe! It looks delicious!
This looks like a great recipe and I love the fact that it will feed lots of people–a good Sunday dinner recipe, for sure! Please post the "secret" Caesar salad dressing recipe you mentioned last summer so we can make that salad to go with it….thanks, Diane
That pasta looks so good! I just found your blog via Teachable Moments and I just wanted to tell you that my husband and two of my sons had extra fingers. I am sorry for your diagnosis, but you do have a most exceptional family. (hugs)
Thank you for the recipe. When cooking it in the big turkey pan, did you double the recipe? How many do you think this Will feed? I have a big group to cook for and I'm wondering how much to cook.
I have a question I really hope someone can answer:chicken. I was thinking this would be good with some chicken, but how would I cook the chicken? Should I add it to the red ingredients and shred afterwards, before adding to pasta? Or is there a way to cook up chicken to add to the pasta?
I have a question I really hope someone can answer:chicken. I was thinking this would be good with some chicken, but how would I cook the chicken? Should I add it to the red ingredients and shred afterwards, before adding to pasta? Or is there a way to cook up chicken to add to the pasta?
Have you ever made this as a freezer meal? It's so good and easy enough to triple the recipe to get a couple of extra meals. Any suggestions? Thanks!
Quick question? How many does this recipe feed? All that sauce of only 1 16oz box of noodles? Sorry, I;m confused
I have made this recipe at least 10x times over the last 7 years and I always tripled it when my kids played sports on my dinner nights. I use my turkey roaster and it works perfect everytime!
Thank you for the amazing recipe you shared! My kids always say “yes! Make the red and white pasta mom!” 💕