Daddy Mitch & Paul, Cooking School Night Dinners With @barillaUS! #InTheKitchenWithDad #ad

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Barilla®. The opinions and text are all mine.

It’s back to school time which means we need a new schedule, I am referring to dinner time and bed time! My son also needs to get back to eating healthier during the school year so he can have the nutrition he needs to study, and one of the staple foods at many of our meals is pasta!

Pasta is one of our favorite dishes! And Barilla is our favorite, I love the taste of their delicious semolina pasta! So when challenged to come up with a 30 minute recipe for dads to prepare with their kids, my son and I knew exactly what to do! Plus, as you can see, there is always a bountiful supply of Barilla® Blue Box pastas on hand in my home at all times! Barilla is a classic pasta brand with over 35 pasta cuts and a dozen complimentary sauces in their repertoire! We always have many choices from this high quality company on hand, and trust me, if I lived in a house, not an apartment, I would have all of those pasta cuts and sauces!

 

There are many sizes and shapes of pasta to choose from. I do put in a lot of thought into the shape of the pasta and the type of sauce I am serving. The sauce has to complement the pasta, especially when it is delicious Barilla Blue Box pasta, Italy’s #1 brand of pasta that cooks up perfectly “al dente!” I always have a couple of choices on hand:

I am always trying to make sure that all food groups are covered when feeding my family a meal. That’s why one of our favorite side dishes is my pasta with cream sauce. To save time I start with Barilla’s Alfredo sauce, and then we add our own touches. I use frozen peas to add a vegetable component (and some crunch) and some pancetta to get in some protein and extra flavor. This is one of my family’s favorite dishes!

I chose the Barilla Blue Box large shells for this recipe. My hope is that the sauce will get caught on the inside of the shell with a pea! This is the level of concern I put into every dish I make for my family!

And my recipe is easy and quick. While the Barilla Blue Box large shells are cooking, we start frying the pancetta, until crispy. Then we drain the extra fat and add the peas. Then the pan is ready for the Barilla Alfredo sauce! Having your child assist you is also the perfect way to distract them from wanting to eat immediately, what a great way to teach patience to this generation!

Sometimes I am the sous chef, sometimes Paul is the sous chef. Cooking with your kids at a young age prepares them for the day when they can handle kitchen duty on their own!

Please, always remember that it is important that your sauce not over power your al dente pasta. The ratio of sauce is to pasta is of utmost importance!

I was also preparing the rest of the meal when you weren’t looking! A simple house salad and some chicken cutlets. FYI, we may on occasion spoon some pasta and sauce on top of our chicken cutlet and eat all our flavors together to create a food symphony in our mouths! We grate fresh Parmigianino Reggiano cheese at the table to each family members liking, to further bring out the delicious taste of our Barilla Blue Box pasta!

Dinner time has extra importance these days. It is time for us to bond with our teenager. We have a “no cellphone” rule at the dinner table to encourage conversation. My son also enjoys helping me in the kitchen (except for clean-up!), so when we make pasta dishes together, we are also getting in some great quality time. I am always making a conscious effort to do these types of things to maintain a relationship with my son, and as a family. We have so many distractions available to us, these are things we all need to remember to do. I also find that having your child participate in making the family meal gives them a great feeing of usefulness.

I have a multitude of choices with Barilla, which is more helpful than ever, now that I have a busy high school student in the house. Meals that are quick and easy to prepare, and I get to offer my son a break from his homework! Barilla pasta and sauce help me raise my cooking game to a higher level, after all, I am in continual competition with my Italian mother-in-law!

For additional inspiration please visit Barilla US!

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Disclosure: I have partnered with Life of Dad and Barilla Pasta for this promotion.

Recipe for daddy Mitch’s Barilla Pasta with Pancetta & Peas Alfredo Sauce:

4 ounces of uncooked Pancetta
8 ounces of frozen peas
14.5 ounce bottle of Barilla Creamy Alfredo Sauce
Barilla Blue Box Pasta

1. Cook the Pancetta, heat up the sauce, and boil the peas until crispy.
2. Boil the waster and cook up a box of your favorite Barilla Blue Box Pasta.
3. Combine one half of the sauce and the pasta in a large bowl. Top off the pasta with the remaining sauce.
4. Serve in four ounce helpings.

Note: Your sauce should never overpower your pasta, but rather your sauce should complement your pasta, so that the flavor of this delicious Barilla Blue Box Pasta is not overwhelmed!

Additional disclosure: My son, Paul, has taken pasta and sauce cooking classes with Barilla previous to this experience!