Quick recap for those who are new to my blog:

  1. I like to cook
  2. I like to try new recipes
  3. I read old school, paper, get delivered in the mail magazines
  4. I rip out recipes from said magazines
  5. I think too much
  6. I love a list

A few months ago I found a recipe: it was entitled Cheesy One Pot Pasta. For those of you that do know me, you still might not know these things:

  1. I love a meal where I only dirty one pot
  2. My husband doesn’t eat any cheese except for mozzarella on pizza and sandwiches
  3. My daughter and I love cheese so make it whenever my husband isn’t home for dinner
  4. I like a recipe where I don’t particularly need to think

So my husband was going out for dinner and I decided to make this pasta. I scanned the recipe…

I needed:

  1. rimmed baking sheet
  2. skillet
  3. large pot

Ok- I admit that one can say that the writers of the magazine weren’t wrong. You only needed one pot…

However,

In the spirit of all things easy and simple…

Why would you label a recipe “One Pot” and then need three different cooking vessels with which to cook?

Now, all this got me thinking…

  1. How often do we say one thing, but mean another?
  2. How often do we say things that are misleading?
  3. How often do we not communicate to our partners exactly what we expect to happen?
  4. How often do we not think about the details involved in something?
  5. How often do we not read something or do research before we embark on something?

Yes.

I got all this out of a pasta recipe…

(Of course, now I can’t help but wonder if real people in real life actually do take a walk in the park and quote Nietzsche- I mean if I can get all philosophical while reading a recipe featured in Real Simple, maybe those beach read writers know something I don’t…)

So….

Are things as simple as they seem?

Do we delude ourselves with the best of intentions?

To close, if I were to speak to this recipe I would simply say:

“I’m not upset that you lied to me. I’m upset that from now on I can’t Beleive you.”

–Friedrich Nietzsche

50 thoughts on “Cheesy One Pot Pasta”

  1. If you are making it again, I am coming over.😋😋😋
    Btw, they are not wrong when they say “one pot”… you used only one pot right? Not two or three…😉They could have mentioned “one pot one skillet one rimmed baking sheet cheesy pasta” but it is too long a name…

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  3. When I cook, I seldom follow a recipe. Obviously baking is science and different from cooking. To me, recipes are suggestions to how you could make something but I always make it my own way.

    Regarding not being able to believe what someone says, that’s a bigger problem.

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  5. That would have irritated me to no end. Knowing me, I would have still tried to find a way to only use the one pot, minus the additional pans. Knowing my kids, they would have started yet another argument about pans vs. pots and what qualifies for each label.

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  7. That was a very misleading recipe! Also, I think people seldom say what they mean. Some couch the truth or often say the opposite. I prefer people who are straight forward and don’t play games.

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  8. Great quote, and I believe it.

    As for the cheesy one pot pasta? I wish I’d thought of it sooner, I’d have paired it with the chicken parm I have ready to bake up later tonight. Oh well . . now I get to pair it with leftovers. Gracias!

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  9. It’s why I don’t like to cook much. That said, I’m about to go through my Keto cookbooks to see if I can find some interesting things to kick start the weight loss again. I’m looking for simple, one pan/pot meals. 🙂

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    1. The pasta was delicious. I will say, I once had a recipe where you cooked the dry pasta in the sauce, (I think there was wine and stock in the sauce) and it turned out delicious!!

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      2. FYI…I made a vodka sauce the other day. Slice an onion and garlic, throw in olive oil for 8 minutes. Add large can of diced tomatoes…cook on medium for 25 minutes till liquid dissolves. Add some vodka and heavy cream (depends on how creamy you like it) boil for two minutes and simmer. Salt and pepper and yum

        Liked by 1 person

      3. Oh my gosh, that’s so easy. My mother is Italian, but she never made all sorts of sauces, etc. When she grew up it was after the war, she said they were lucky if they had an egg. So, I have to learn from others. LOL

        Thanks – now, I need some vodka.

        Liked by 1 person

  13. Another fantastic post, LA. Excellent. Human beings like to make things more complicated than is necessary. In this instance, maybe the writers of the “one pot” recipe. Gosh you made me laugh today! Awesome.

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  14. If you have ever been in a teacher’s room at noon, you know life gets more complicated…so those old cartoons about the kids wondering what really went on in the teacher’s room and picturing a mini vacation, hmm….reality bites.

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  16. Semantics. Technically, they were correct in that it only took one POT! So, is the issue how you interpreted it and assumed something more (wink, wink)? Just kidding…..Yes, we are all guilty of sometimes lying by omission and not necessarily sharing the entire truth. Either way, it erodes trust. 🤔

    Liked by 1 person

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  17. I LOVE Real Simple magazine!! And I love cheese, too. 😃 I could eat it every day, like chocolate, if I didn’t suffer from acid reflux. 🤦🏽‍♀️
    Tell your husband he’s missing out on so many delicious cheeses!! He doesn’t eat cheddar?!!

    Liked by 1 person

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  18. Well, damn girl! I’m like some of the other commenters and probably would have tried to figure out a way to use, technically, only one VESSEL as opposed to one POT. Looking at the recipe, though, I’m not sure that really would have been possible.
    I like how my sister chooses recipes to try. She limits herself to the ones that are touted as needing 5 ingredients max. I should ask her if all of those hold true or if they’re sometimes deceptive, too.

    Liked by 1 person

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