Mac 'n Cheese Pie with Bacon Lattice for the Ultimate Pi Day

Do you guys know what today is? It's Pi Day! But it's not just any old Pi Day, it's the Ultimate Pi Day! *voice echo**explosion sounds**special effects*

As you may know, Pi Day is March 14th every year because 3/14 = 3.14, the first three digits of pi. This year, however, the date is 3/14/15, and 3.1415 are the first 5 digits of pi. Not only that, but at 9:26:53 AM, we're at 3.141592653, a full 10 digits of pi. This is the only time this will occur in our lifetimes, you guys, and I think that's pretty darn cool.

Does that make me a huge nerd?

Fun fact: even though I'm actually pretty good at math, I was really bad at geometry. I took it freshman year of high school, at a time when I was flirting with the idea of going into architecture. After taking geometry, I knew architecture was a bad choice for me. If you can't calculate shapes and angles, you shouldn't be building things. Statistics is more my speed. I killed at statistics.

Now, I knew I had to do something epic to celebrate the Ultimate Pi Day. Since Pi Day is traditionally celebrated with pie for obvious reasons, that was the way to go. But me and pie, we're not the best of buds. I don't really make it that often, and I wouldn't really know how to go epic, you know? So I did some interwebz research and found a bacon topped macaroni and cheese pie on Buzzfeed. That sounded pretty epic, and also pretty easy.

Now, since I'm me and I don't follow recipes, I sort of went my own way. But in this case, "going my own way" actually meant using a couple of short cuts. You may recall that I have a block against pastry crusts. I can't make them. It never works. So, I bought some frozen puff pastry to use as a crust. I also, and I'm ashamed to admit it, bought the cheese sauce from the grocery store. That's not a thing I ever thought I would say, but I didn't really feel up to making my favorite mac 'n cheese sauce, even if it would have tasted better.

I also cooked the pasta in my rice cooker, but that's not a thing you have to do. I've just been cooking everything in my rice cooker lately because it's kind of awesome, and it was so much easier to use it than to boil the pasta on the stove. (Side note: I love my rice cooker. It has a steamer tray so I can cook meat and veggies with my rice. Full meal, no added effort, what's not to love?)

I added some spinach to the pasta because... I couldn't bring myself not to add a little green. It in no way balances out the complete unhealthiness of the pie, but at least you get something good with it. You could also add some broccoli or zucchini, or skip the green stuff all together. I won't tell.

Assembling the pie couldn't be easier. Just press the puff pastry into a pie plate. Mix together the pasta, sauce, some shredded cheese, onion, and cooked spinach and put it all in the pie plate. Take 8 strips of bacon and lay it on top, basket weave style. I folded the edges of the pastry over the ends of the bacon to prevent any grease from dripping into the oven, then I baked it up.

How does it taste? It's macaroni and cheese with bacon in puff pastry. You really can't go wrong here. It it the absolute ultimate in comfort food. The cheesy pasta, the buttery pastry, the salty bacon, so many carbs it puts you in a coma, but the good kind.

One thing is that it kind of falls apart when it's warm, so you'll want to let it cool completely before slicing. I thought about putting an egg in as a binder, but I totally forgot to buy eggs when I was at the store, so I don't know if that would make much of a difference. You can warm up the individual slices to serve, or you could just eat it cold. I actually really like it cold. I know, I'm weird.

As a bonus, I remembered that I had a pi silicone ice cube tray, but since I wasn't making a dessert and couldn't really use chocolate, I was stumped as to how I could use it. I thought maybe I could pour some melted butter in the molds, but a random pat of butter on top of the pie seemed weird. Then I thought about using some of the cheese sauce and freezing it, but I wasn't sure how well that would work. Then I thought, why not just melt some cheddar and try that? And it worked perfectly.

All you do is heat the cheese in the microwave for 20-30 seconds, until it's melted. Then you just pinch off a bit and press it into the mold. Chill the refrigerator until set (between 30-60 minutes), then pop it straight out. I greased the mold first, but since the melted cheddar was pretty greasy itself, I don't know how necessary that really is. I'll just have to try it again (buy ALL the ice cube trays!).

And that's all there is to making an epic pie for an epic Pi Day. Nerd food at its finest.

Mac 'n Cheese Pie
Yield: 1 9inch pie (6-8 servings)

Ingredients
1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
8 oz. elbow macaroni
2 cups packed fresh spinach
1¼ cups cheese sauce
1 heaping cup shredded cheddar cheese
¼ cup diced red onion*
8 slices of bacon

Directions
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Press the puff pastry into a 9 inch pie plate and trim off the excess. Prick the pastry a few times along the bottom with a fork.

Cook the pasta according to the package directions, for 1-2 minutes less than recommended. Drain and return to the pot. Stir in the cheese sauce and spinach. Heat on low while stirring, until the spinach is wilted. Remove from heat and stir in the shredded cheese and diced onion.

Spread the pasta evenly into the prepared pastry. Place the bacon on top (4 strips vertically, 4 strips horizontally) and weave in a basket weave pattern (1 over, 1 under). Tuck the ends of the bacon into the pie. Fold up the edges of the pastry over the bacon to prevent grease runoff.

Bake for 15-25 minutes, until the bacon is cooked through and the pastry is golden brown (tent the edges with foil if it starts to brown too quickly). Allow to cool before slicing.

*If using a cheese sauce that already has onion, feel free to skip

Recipe inspired by Buzzfeed

Things you may need (affiliate links):

One Pot Spinach and Tomato Pasta

I'm going to be completely geeky for a sec (though really, when do I ever stop?). I bought myself and early birthday present in the form of a video game called Life is Strange. That title may or may not sound familiar to you, as there was recently some controversy when every publisher except for Square Enix told the developers that they wouldn't touch the game unless they changed the protagonist from female to male.

But I'm not here to talk about that (although I could give a good long rant), even though I'm a little happy that it happened. Not publishers going, "no, girls have cooties!" but the fact that it gave the game such early publicity. I've recently gotten into adventure games, and I've been waiting for a more interactive title. Adventure games have the tendency to feel a little bit passive, but Life is Strange promises choices that have real consequences to the story, plus the power to reverse time that will probably lead to a kind of butterfly effect. (The first time Max reverses time, she was taking a picture of a butterfly. Subtle, devs, real subtle).

I'm not pleased with the fact that it's being released in chapters, though. That's a new thing that's been happening with adventure games lately, and while it makes a certain amount of sense for indie games, a big publisher like Square Enix should be able to release the whole game in one fell swoop. The first chapter is mostly exposition with a couple of fairly basic fetch quests, and even though I'm a pretty slow gamer (I like to explore and talk to everyone), I finished it in one sitting. Still, I'm excited to play the next chapter and see how my choices effect the rest of the game.

Anyway, that concludes my geeky update for today. I was just really excited about that game. Now we can move on to the stuff you care about: the pasta.

Do you ever notice that there are a lot of recipes out there that claim to be one pot recipes, but then you read the ingredients and it will say, "8 oz. spaghetti, cooked and drained," or "1 cup cooked white rice." Umm, no. If I have to have the pasta or rice already cooked, then I have to use a second pot to do that cooking, ergo, you are not a one pot recipe so go sit in the corner of shame.

That's not to say that there aren't actual one pot recipes on the interwebz, but then these imposters will show up while I'm looking for a real recipe and they'll make me so angry that I ragequit and just end up making a bowl of pasta in the microwave, like you do.

This recipe, however, is a real one-pot recipe. Or technically, a one skillet recipe, since I didn't actually make it in a pot. The first time that I made it was during snowmaggedon, which while being a lot less snowmaggedony than predicted, was still not weather I wanted to go out in. I had spent most of the day making brownies and then realized I had nothing prepped for actual food. I searched the fridge and found some chicken I had defrosted, some cherry tomatoes, half a carton of chicken broth, and some frozen spinach. In the pantry, I had half a box of rotini. I threw all of these things into my big skillet and it turned into this super delicious pasta and crazy easy pasta dish.

This time I made it with canned tomatoes and fresh spinach. I like it better with the canned tomatoes because fresh tomatoes take longer to cook down, but honestly you could go either way. With the spinach, I prefer using the fresh just so I don't have to defrost the frozen. It's all about the priorities.

The key to this dish is in its simplicity. The sauce is no more than tomatoes and chicken broth, with a little parmesan stirred in at the end. The pasta cooks directly in the sauce and in turn, the starch from the pasta helps thicken the sauce. The spinach cooks alongside the pasta. There's onion and garlic in there for flavoring, but if you want the dish to come together even faster, you can always use onion and garlic powder. You could even skip the chicken (and use vegetable broth) for a vegetarian dish.

One Pot Spinach and Tomato Pasta
Yield: 3-4 servings

Ingredients
1 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 lb. boneless skinless chicken breast, chopped into bite size pieces
1/2 cup diced onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 (14.5 oz.) can diced tomatoes
2 cups packed fresh baby spinach
8 oz. rotini pasta
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese, plus more for garnish
Sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste

Directions
In a large nonstick skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the chicken, onion, and garlic, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is no longer pink.

Add the tomatoes and the chicken broth and heat until it starts to bubble. Stir in the pasta and spinach, turn the heat to low and cover. Simmer for 8-10 minutes, until the spinach is wilted and the pasta is tender. Stir in the cheese and season to taste.

Remove from the heat and let stand for 5 minutes, until the sauce has thickened. Serve hot.

Recipe by Kim

Things you may need:

*Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links*

How to Make Pasta in the Microwave

So, my new stove and I are not the best of friends. The oven's fine, though I'm pretty sure I found a hotspot, but the stove totally frustrates me. It's an electric stove, and not an especially high-end one at that. My whole life, we had gas stoves, so I'm not used to using electric. And it's soooo sloooow. There's this "hot surface" indicator light so you don't accidentally burn yourself while it's cooling off, and that light doesn't even come on until I've had the burner on for at least 30 seconds. It's not so bad when I'm making chicken or something that requires prep, but it's torture when all I'm doing is boiling a pot of water for pasta. I'm Italian fer cryin' out loud, and I've been avoiding making pasta because it just takes too dang long.

Then I realized I could make a single serving pasta in the microwave. Now I'm eating pasta again and all is right with the world.

This isn't really a recipe, since I don't measure, but it's a technique I had to share.

The things you will need will be:

• A microwave safe bowl (preferably one that is very wide and deep)
• A microwave safe plate
• Uncooked pasta, about 1 serving's worth (~2 oz)
• Water-- enough to cover the pasta

You do not need a Kitchenaid or mums. They are attempting to hide the kitty meds that still managed to get in the frame.

Add the pasta and water to the bowl-- like I said, I never measure. I just pour out what looks like a decent sized serving of pasta and stick it under the faucet. (Just keep in mind that the cooked pasta will expand, so use less pasta than you actually want). The amount of water isn't fussy either: if you add too much, you can drain it off; if you add too little, you can add more while it's cooking.

The reason you want a wide and deep bowl is because the water will boil like nobody's business in the microwave. If your bowl is too small, it will boil over and make a mess. That's where the microwave safe plate comes in-- my bowls are actually the perfect size for this, but on the off chance it does boil over, it's caught on the plate and not all over the microwave.

There are sites that tell you you can do this in a mug. Do not listen to them. It will make a mess and there will be boiling, starchy water everywhere.

Microwave on high for 6-8 minutes. My microwave isn't especially high powered, so I need 8 minutes (and I like my pasta very firm-- you might need to leave it in even longer if you like softer pasta)

Stir every two minutes or so (if the pasta seems too dry, add more water). Test the pasta for doneness at 6 minutes.

Decide how you want to prepare your pasta. My favorite way is with shredded cheese (Mexican blend), salsa, and a pat of butter (about 1/2 tbsp). You could add fresh spinach, artichokes, and shredded swiss for spinach and artichoke pasta; cheddar, shredded or canned chicken, hot sauce, and butter for buffalo chicken pasta; even just mix in some garlic, olive oil, and fresh basil. Whatever your little heart desires.

Please note: a TARDIS does not actually help you make the pasta, but is always recommended.

Now, using pot holders because the bowl will be very hot, remove the bowl from the microwave. There will be a little water left in the bowl-- that's great if you're looking to melt cheese or wilt spinach (though if there's a lot, you may want to drain some out), so leave it in there. Add your mix-ins and stir it up.

Once the mix-ins have been melted/wilted to your heart's content and are well mixed, return the bowl to the microwave for another 30 seconds to 1 minute on high.

And serve! A bowl of fresh pasta has never been so easy and required so little clean up. Now, is it as quick and easy as Easy Mac? No. Easy Mac is specially formulated to be, well, easy. But is it still quick and easy, not to mention much tastier, healthier, and cheaper than Easy Mac? You bet your booty it is.

Just remember to be super careful handling the bowl after cooking, since it will be very hot. You could transfer the pasta to another dish, or you could do it my way and just wrap the bowl in a dish towel. That way you can still have it on your lap to eat while watching the season premiere of Sleepy Hollow (I have three words for you: naked Benjamin Franklin)

I have not tried this method with whole wheat or gluten free varieties, but I dare say it should translate. I'd just suggest using more water, since they tend to absorb more of it, and cooking times may need to be adjusted.

Technique adapted from various internet sources, but mostly from Ella Claire

Game Day Recipe Round Up

Soooo, there's this game thingy coming up soon? And people, they throw parties about it with lots of food? And it's going to be in New Jersey this year? So I did a round up of recipes on the blog that you could serve at said party. I've gathered up the manliest recipes and the cutest finger foods for this list, and I'm slightly amused at how many started life as a geeky-inspired recipe.

Starting from left to right:

• Honey Wheat Pretzels-- don't cater soft pretzels for the big game; make your own!
• Savory Cornbread Waffles-- serve these with chili for a fun twist on the usual cornbread
• Kim's Favorite Mac 'n Cheese-- baked mac 'n cheese, with homemade cheese sauce and loaded with bacon. Not for dieters.
• Fiesta Pasta Salad-- make the night before for the best results
• Nathan Fillion's 7 Layer Bean Dip of the Gods-- Go Browncoats!
• Ham and Cheese Puffs-- the perfect, poppable finger food
• Spaghetti and Egg Pie-- a no-mess way to serve pasta, loaded with bacon and cheese

• Southwestern-Style Chicken and Sausage Pies-- spicy, flavorful filling, wrapped in flaky puff pastry
• Tamale Pie Ring-- a cornbread bundt ring stuffed with smoky chili filling
• Homemade Uncrustables-- fill these with ham and cheese, or use football cookie cutters to make a kid-friendly dish
• Thai Lime Tuna Wraps-- a full meal wrapped in a tortilla for easy portability
• Spinach and Sausage Calzones-- try not to eat more filling than you put in the calzones; it's not an easy feat.
• Crispy Oven-Baked Chicken Strips-- easy and quick to make, they're great for dipping in sauces
• Fish Fingers-- an oven-baked alternative to regular fish sticks. Skip the custard unless serving to Whovians
• Buffalo Chicken Pizza-- even not shaped like a dalek, this pizza rocks
• Italian Hot Dogs-- a native New Jersey dish, loaded with fried potatoes, peppers, and onions

• Peanut Butter Cookies-- ain't no one don't like these thick, soft classic-style peanut butter cookies
• Cinnamon Sugar Mini Doughnuts-- super addicting, extremely poppable, and not terribly bad for you
• Wookiee Cookies-- are not only geek chic, but happen to be my favorite chocolate chip cookies
• Cheddar Cornmeal Popper Cookies-- a cookie inspired by jalapeno poppers. Where else would you serve them?
• Individual Elvis Pies-- a pie with bacon. 'Nuff said.
• Jammie Dodgers-- a popular sandwich cookie across the pond, they can also be used to fend off alien invasions.
• Fudge Frosted Brownies-- moist brownies topped with a thick fudge frosting
• Drunken Apple Pie-- apples and booze. You can make individual pies for ease of eating
• Push Up Cake Pops-- color the frosting to represent your team. Go panthers! They're pink, right?

Spinach and Goat Cheese Gnocchi

I feel like I'm out of practice with this whole food blogging business. Like, this whole mini-vacation I gave myself kind of screwed me over.

Like this recipe, it came from my photo archives. The archives, man. I don't archive. This is not how I do things.

But you know, it's all your fault. You said you wanted more savory dishes, even though this was always meant to be a primarily dessert blog (and crafts. Desserts and crafts. That's why I called it Treats & Trinkets). I don't do recipes when I cook savory. I do throw-things-in-a-pan-and-see-what-happens. But here I am, with a savory dish from the photo archives and now I'm all screwed up because of it, and it's all your fault.

Good thing is, I can cross something off of my foodie bucket list. I've wanted to try making gnocchi for a while now, and I stumbled across this recipe from Brokeass Gourmet when I just-so-happened to have some spinach and goat cheese in the fridge that needed to be used. The gnocchi was good, tangy, flavorful, and filling. Spinach and goat cheese is an a-plus combo in my book, and pasta is always a good thing, so when you put them together, something magic happens.

I also had some Roma tomatoes in the fridge that were on their way out, so I whipped up a simple tomato butter sauce (literally just tomatoes and butter, with some seasonings), but while it was good, it was a little too creamy to go with the gnocchi in my opinion. I'd suggest going with something lighter, or maybe even just toss it with some olive oil, minced garlic, and diced fresh tomatoes. You really want to give the gnocchi a chance to shine.

So here's your savory dish. I must admit, it was pretty tasty, and I'm glad I tried out something new. But can we please go back to our regularly scheduled sugar and butter posts now?

Spinach and Goat Cheese Gnocchi
Yield: 2 servings

Ingredients
1 cup packed chopped spinach
2/3 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for sprinkling
4 oz. creamy goat cheese
1 egg
1 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper (I used freshly cracked)
Pinch nutmeg
Olive oil, for frying

Directions
In a large mixing bowl, mix together all ingredients except for the oil until well incorporated. If the dough seems too sticky, add some extra flour. Gather the dough into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.

In a large frying pan, add just enough olive oil to coat the bottom and heat on medium-high. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into two thin logs, about 8 inches long. Cut them into one inch pieces.

Add the gnocchi to the prepared pan, and cook for about 2-3 minutes per side, until golden brown. Serve immediately.

Recipe adapted from Brokeass Gourmet

Bowties Are Cool Blueberry Goat Cheese Pasta Salad

It's Saturday! You know what that means, kids: It's Doctor Who time!

Yay!!!!!

In case you missed it last week, I'm doing a new weekly series in honor of Doctor Who's 50th anniversary this year.

(Btdubs: Feel free to share your thoughts on last week's episode, The Bells of St. John. It wasn't my favorite episode, but I now totally get why Oswin was such a genius, and why the daleks turned her into one of them (although, I still don't get why the daleks would make other people dalek when they view everything else as inferior. They're not cybermen for crying out loud. They don't do upgrades) Annnnnnd discuss)

This week we're still focusing on the newest Doctor, because if he's only taught us one thing, it's that bowties are cool.

Source

On the interwebs, I read that Matt Smith's costume was originally supposed to be completely different and kind of pirate-y. I also read that Steven Moffat (executive producer and head writer) was completely against the idea of a bowtie, but that Matt wasn't really the Doctor until he donned the tweedy jacket and the bowtie and then started to pretend that his pen was a sonic screwdriver.

Side note: How adorable is Matt Smith? I want to shrink him and keep him in my pocket. Is that weird? I think that might be weird.

Given the inherent coolness of the bowtie, there was no doubt that I would make something with bowtie pasta for this series. My original thought was to do that trick where you dye the pasta by adding food coloring to the boiling water. Just a few drops it said. That's all you'll need, it said. It's so easy, it said.

It lied. Like a rug.

Instead of lovely TARDIS blue bowtie pasta, I had sad little grayish bowtie pasta. Those bowties were NOT cool.

Disheartened, I went to Home Goods for some retail therapy, where among other things, I found elderberry white balsamic vinegar. I was intrigued (and my brother immediately started quoting Monty Python), and grabbed it. Then I was watching Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives, and they made a pie with blueberries, goat cheese, and fresh basil. That flavor combination sounded fabulous, but we all know that I have some issues with pie.

Then suddenly, like an invasion of Sontarans, it struck: Blueberries. Blue, like the TARDIS is blue. With a fruity balsamic vinaigrette. In a pasta salad. A bowtie pasta salad. Which would be cool. Literally. Because it's served chilled.

...

My mommy thinks I'm funny.

Time itself must have bent over backwards to get me to make this salad, because it is officially my favorite salad in the history of ever. I'm not usually not a fan of the sweet/savory combo, and I never like fruit in my salad, but for some reason, this hits all the right notes. The firm pasta, the lightly sweet homemade vinaigrette, the bitterness of the spinach, the tang of the goat cheese, the slight tart of the berries, with the underlying note of the fresh basil. (The tomatoes are really just there for color. I picked them out afterwards. They didn't really go. Hashtag foodbloggerproblems)

Best. Salad. EVER. And also one of the prettiest. :3

Whovian or not, there are three facts that must be universally acknowledged as true:

1. Bowties are cool.
2. This salad is awesome.
3. And this is me almost every time I go to cook something:

Source

"What are you making?" "I don't know. It's a thing in progress. Respect the thing!"

Blueberry Goat Cheese Pasta Salad {Printable Version}

Yield: 6-8 servings

Ingredients

1 box (16 oz.) bowtie pasta

½ cup fruity white balsamic vinegar

½ cup olive oil

2 tsp. spicy brown mustard

2 cloves garlic, minced

½ tsp. sea salt

½ tsp. freshly cracked black pepper

½ tsp. dried oregano

1 pint fresh blueberries

½ cup fresh basil, julienned

4 oz. goat cheese, crumbled

12 oz. fresh baby spinach (or your favorite lettuce)

Optional—cherry tomatoes

Directions

Cook the pasta according to the directions on the box. Drain and rinse well with cold water. While the pasta is cooking, mix together the vinaigrette: in a small mixing bowl, whisk together the balsamic, oil, mustard, garlic, salt, pepper, and oregano until smooth. Refrigerate until use.

Mix the cooked pasta with the blueberries, basil, half of the goat cheese, and about half of the vinaigrette (and cherry tomatoes, if using). To serve, line the bottom of a serving bowl or platter with the spinach, and top with the pasta. Sprinkle the remaining goat cheese on top, and drizzle with the remaining vinaigrette.

Serve cool.

Tip: Salt the boiling water for more flavorful pasta. I usually cook the pasta 1-2 minutes less than the shortest cook time on the box because I prefer it more firm.

Recipe by Kim

It kind of looks like it's crying, doesn't it?

...

OMG, don't blink, it's the weeping pasta salad!!!!!

Spaghetti and Egg Pie

Work is sucky. It just is. Corporate is outsourcing our IT department. I like our IT department. And the people taking over are loud and obnoxious and mean. That's right, I said mean. No, I can't give you a security badge just because you say that you're from the company. Why? Because it's a security badge. No amount of yelling at me is going to change that. And if you're secretly a Russian spy trying to break in and steal all our sensitive information, I'm not getting fired over that.

(I should stop watching Covert Affairs before work, huh?)

And if that wasn't enough, we're closing another office with everyone moving in here, so they do all need security badges and name plates and directions to their offices and help with their phones. You know who they come to for that? That's right: me. And we picked up a new contract, so call center went on a hiring spree. Oh, and did I forget to mention this all happens the week Mr. Migraine decides to rear his ugly head? (Well the move has been happening all month, to be fair. But there were 18 this week. Plus the 30 call center people. Plus the mean people. I don't know how many there are of them. I think they multiply.)

I'm currently in migraine-hangover. So if I'm a little incoherent, I apologize. But the pain's mostly gone, and I was actually able to eat a real breakfast, rather than just choke something down to cushion the pain killers. And it's been gloomy and cloudy the last few days, like Mother Nature's trying to help me out by cutting out the sun glare.

Three days of pain and nausea and dizziness and decreased mental acuity (a side effect listed on my migraine meds) calls for comfort food. And what's more comforting than pasta and bacon and eggs and cheese? Baked in the oven and sprinkled with more cheese. Yeah, that's the stuff.

I was flipping through Old Reliable (is anyone surprised?) and saw a recipe for spaghetti with bacon and eggs. I decided to make it with tri-color pasta (of which I had fetuccine, so I used that). I also added in some garlic (because what's pasta without garlic?) and baked it. Then I smothered it with more cheese and baked it just a few minutes longer.

Although it worked well enough with the fetuccine (and was super yummy with the tri-color pasta), I think the pie would be a little more sturdy with spaghetti. I think spaghetti strands would just fit together better.

A few notes about the recipe: I used a 12 oz. box of pasta. It's an odd size, but that's how Ronzoni packages their tri-color pasta, and that's what I had on hand. 16 oz may have been too much.

Also, it's a little onion-y, so feel free to cut down on the onion. I liked it, but I also think my onions may have started to caramelize (I cooked them low and slow while waiting for the pasta to boil; it was entirely accidental).

Spaghetti and Egg Pie {Printable Version}

Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients
12 oz. spaghetti, or similar long, thin pasta (I like tri-color)
6-8 slices of bacon, chopped into small pieces
2 small onions, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
6 eggs
Approx. 1 cup shredded cheese, plus extra for melting (I use a Mexican blend)
Pinch of sea salt
Freshly cracked pepper

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Cook and drain the pasta according to the directions on the box, undercooking slightly. Rinse thoroughly with cold water to prevent sticking. In a large, oven-safe skillet* cook the bacon over medium heat until crispy. Use a slotted spoon to remove the bacon and set aside. Add the onions and garlic to the bacon drippings and continue to cook until the onions are soft. Remove from heat. Add the pasta and bacon to the pan. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs with the salt and pepper. Add the cheese and eggs to the pan and toss until well mixed. Place the skillet in the oven and cook for 20 minutes. Sprinkle with extra cheese and cook another 5 minutes, until the cheese is melted. Serve warm.

*If you don’t have an oven-safe skillet, add the mixture to a pie or baking dish before putting it in the oven.

Recipe adapted from The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook