CHEF JEFF: Pasta provides comfort during any season

• Chef Jeff

Chef Jeff
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• PASTA RECIPES: Tuna casserole ... Cheesy baked ziti ... Buffalo chicken lasagna
• PASTA FACTS
• CHEF JEFF: Fried Apples

There are a lot of good reasons to like pasta.

For one thing, it’s inexpensive. The cost of a pound of pasta — enough to feed a family of four — is about $1.20.

Pasta also is nutritious. It contains roughly 100 calories per half-cup serving, has very little sodium or fat and no cholesterol and is an ideal foundation for building healthy meals. (For more pasta nutrition information, go to ilovepasta.org/nutrition. html.)

It also is easy to prepare. Its takes no time at all to throw together dishes such as mac ’n’ cheese, a pasta salad, hamburger noodle casserole or spaghetti with a meat sauce. (For those who like to get a little more extravagant, there are more time-consuming dishes such as multi-cheese lasagnas or stuffed pasta shells with Italian sausage and spinach.)

But perhaps the nicest thing about pasta is that it can provide comfort in just about any season. I’ll attest to that.

I recently returned from a couple of hunting trips — one to Colorado and the other to western North Dakota — and pasta dishes figured prominently on both of them.

My friend, co-worker and hunting companion Mark Young was the author of both pasta meals I enjoyed.

While stalking elk, our hunting party feasted some of his Southwestern Pheasant Soup, which included pheasant, cream mushroom of mushroom soup, salsa and — of course — pasta in the form of medium egg noodles. It was comforting as well as nourishing after we’d spent the day trudging through wet snow and mud up and down the mountains at an altitude of nearly 10,000 feet.

Less than a week later, we dined on a supper of Mark’s tuna noodle casserole one night after chasing pheasants in Divide County during a four-day excursion.

For additional pasta information and recipes, visit the following websites:

• American Italian Pasta Co. — www.aipc.com.

• Dakota Growers Pasta Co., a subsidiary of Viterra — www.viterra.com/pasta.

• Dreamfields — www.DreamfieldsFoods.com.

• Philadelphia Macaroni — www.philamacaroni.com.

• National Pasta Association — www.ilovepasta.org.

• North Dakota Wheat Commission — www.ndwheat.com.

Pasta Lovers’ Week

October is National Pasta Month, and in North Dakota, it’s Pasta Lovers’ Week. Once again, the Herald is teaming with the North Dakota Wheat Commission to celebrate pasta.

As in past years, readers will be given a chance to win some pretty nice prizes by testing their pasta knowledge by completing the crossword puzzle on Page C3. Ten winners will receive a pasta month T-shirt featuring this year’s “North Dakota — Where the Best Pasta is Born” logo from the NDWC, pasta spoons from the U.S. Durum Growers Association and pasta from Dakota Growers Pasta Co., American Italian Pasta Co. and Philadelphia Macaroni.

The contest is one of the year’s highlights for me because it helps promote pasta, which is routinely recommended by health experts as part of a well-balanced diet.

And, it gives readers a chance to “use their noodle.”

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